How should I find a pair of RF-X?

[cainlevy]

I'm rather new to the home audio "thing", which I try to excuse by being new to the home "thing". But I do love music and am confident I could learn to be discerning about speakers given the chance. My budget for a pair of floorstanding speakers is <= $800, plus some tax.

My problem, though, is that the closest retailer I can find is Best Buy, who steadfastly refuses to provide me with any decent customer service over the phone or in person. Why go through the trouble to find an authorized dealer when you dread the thought of servicing warranty through that dealer? And anyway they only stock the Synergy line. So the closest authorized Reference dealer is 70 miles away in a direction I never drive - again, not a lovely prospect for servicing warranties.

Usually I do my shopping online. And I can find some discounts on RF speakers online, new and used, but neither way gets me warranty support. Purchasing online means giving up on warranty service anyway, since the cost of round-trip freight isn't trivial compared to the <$800 price tags I'm looking at.

In the end I'm looking at four options:

• Wait for a road trip to some major city (4+ hour drive one-way) and pick up speakers from an authorized dealer there.
• Forget about warranty service and purchase online, new or used. Any recommendations?
  
• Buy Synergy speakers from Best Buy. I'd rather not give my money to such a unfriendly business, though.
  
• Find another speaker line sold in a 60 mile radius. My basic criteria are price (<= $800), efficiency (92db+), and reputation among people more knowledgable than myself.

What say you all? I'd love some advice.

[colterphoto1]

The lack of local dealers has been a catch-22 for then entire audio industry. The growth of the 'Big Box' stores and internet sales have unfortunately run many great local audio emporiums out of business. Remember that speakers have a very low failure rate due to manufacturing defects, not like electronics at all.

Sorry about the BB thing. Klipsch does fully back our retailers on our 5 year guarantee on our loudspeakers. Even if they do not have a service shop at that store, they should have one regionally and we'll send them whatever they need to get you back up and running, if should ever have a speaker failure. Speaker failures are relatively rare, with the exception the electronics in powered subwoofers, so there really is no need to fear. If you do experience a service difficulty with a Best Buy location, you can ask that service manager to contact their head office at 1-888-best buy and they will reiterate the policy with Klipsch.

You DO NOT need to purchase an extended warranty to receive Klispch's full FIVE-YEAR warranty against defects in worksmanship (as detailed in the literature accompanying the products). The store may offer a replacement policy within 30 days from time of purchase, at their option.

If you need purchase advice, please email your room size, listening tastes and music/theatre % to me at the below Tech address. I'll be glad to make recommendations within your budget. These days Tech Support is kind of an informal Internal Sales dept. anyway. Probably half my calls are regarding purchase decisions.

Michael

[jimmy4300]

I take it that your BB does not have a Magnolia within the store?  Magnolia does carry the RF-62 and the RF-82, though they do not carry the correct center, the RC-62, they carry the RC-52.  I bought my 82s from Magnolia, and my RC62 from an online reseller.  The RF62 falls within your budget.

Lou

[cainlevy]

Nope, no Magnolia.

Supposing I could get someone at Best Buy to take my money, they could probably special order the RF-62 for me. Or maybe I could pick them up at another branch when I'm out and about, then just have them serviced locally if need be.

But Michael, you're saying that the warranty service just isn't as important for passive speakers. It's symbolic, though - a standard 5-year warranty tells me that you guys really build durable products that you're willing to bet I won't have a problem with. That right there is comforting. So what's the benefit to me of going through an authorized dealer? Especially when it's this difficult in my particular area (SE corner of Washington, by the way).