NoMjolnir Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I currently have a RC-64 and a pair of RF-82 up front. The sub is an SVS PB-12 plus with xover at 80hz with all speakers set to small. Even though the RF-82's are great, they are no match for the realism and smoothness that the RC-64 provide. A local electronics shop has just started selling Klipsch and I had the pleasure of behold and experience the RF-83's. Sadly they did not have the 63's in their showroom. The 83's were marvelous even though the room was heavily reflective and bright together with "boominess". After some change of toe-in and seating position I got a good impression of what they can do and there is no doubt in my mind that Im getting a replacement for the 82's. The question is of course wether the replacements are the 83's or the 63's.The speakers are pretty much equal according to specs, 1600 vs 1650 crossover and 175 vs 250watts of power handling. Size is no issue. I will be employing subwoofage in one form or the other, and all speakers set to small measures best and sounds best to me. Were getting a house with a dedicated room( with planned IB ) roughly 21x13x9 feet not to long down the road so all my purchases are with that installation in mind. So... Do I really need the RF-83's, if so how are they better than the 63's when crossed over at 80hz? Thanks in advance fellow Klipsch enthusiasts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoudnClear Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I own RF-63s. I haven't heard RF-83s. I would recommend the RF-83's if you can afford them. Even though the specs on paper are similar, I'd expect that the RF-83s really offer a fuller more balanced sound, and better midbass and mids from 120hz - 1600 hz. I find that my RF-63s are missing a fair of midrange compared to my cornwalls. The 3 8's instead of 3 6.5's should help with this. I bought RF-63s with the expectation that if I start wishing I had the RF-83's I would get them and use the RF-63's as rears. I had to buy the RF-63s without hearing them because my local dealer doesn't have the 63 and 83 on the floor. If I were you, I'd find it worth it to call dealers around you, up to 200 miles out to find one that had the 83s and 63s sitting next to each other so you can make a better judgement. In lack of this kind of a side by side comparison, go with the 83s and don't look back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risky Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 I just traded my RF3's RC3 and RS3's for RF83's RC64 and RS62's. I went to my dealer Saturday and auditioned the RF83's, they 83's and 63's set up in the room. I listend to them in two channel only with no sub. Salemans thought he had the 83's hooked when we started the listening session. They sounded pretty good but it wasn't what I expected. I walked up front and he had the 63's on instead of the 83's. They changed wiring around and fired up the 83's and there was big difference between the two. I don't know if it is that big of deal if your are going to set crossover at 80hz. I was looking for performance in two channel with no sub for music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoudnClear Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Risky: What dealer in what city did you go to that had both 83 and 63. I'd like to go there sometime when I'm in Illinois. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risky Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Good vibes audio video Champaign IL. They have been a klipsch dealer for 30 years or better. They also have a store in Bloomington IL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMjolnir Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 Thanks for the input guys. Loud&Clear: The dealer i mentioned is the only one in a 300 miles radius at least lets just say that Klipsch isnt that common here in Norway. The RF-83 will cost me 3,260 and the RF-63 2,580 in dollars, and thats with a 20% discount. Considering the price difference I think its better to go with the 83's if they are only slightly better since speakers is'nt something you change as often as electronics f.ex. Ive read everything I could find on RF-83 vs RF-63 on this board, and it seems that most think the 83's are the clearly better speaker whereas some say that the difference is minimal with the 63's being the more neutral speaker and a better match for the RC-64. Any further observations and/or comments will be helpful for me in this decision though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesV Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Risky: What dealer in what city did you go to that had both 83 and 63. I'd like to go there sometime when I'm in Illinois. Also try Simply Stereo in Hoffman Estates, great people. I picked up my RF-83 setup from them and they also have the Heritage Line. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetJockey Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Get the 83's...they friggin rock baby..lol. Whats the point of saving a few bucks and a year later upgrading again? I know, I did it, a few times actually.[] ENjoy! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMjolnir Posted March 20, 2007 Author Share Posted March 20, 2007 Thats what I did today ! I got the beautiful beasts today ! Thanks for your input guys, however there is a slight problem... So I hooked them up, ran auto eq for distance and spl, and finally measured the response with an SPL meter to find the best phase setting on the sub. To my great disappointment they are shriller than my RF-82's..... I do pray that this is just a matter of break-in.... I'll let em play all day while were at work tomorrow, hopefully this will do the trick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoudnClear Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Try running your receiver in a pure stereo mode, no crossover, no sub, not EQ whatsoever. There's gotta be something about your receiver or source or source material. Please tell us more about this shrillness, about your equipment and your setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ram2500 Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I have both the RF-82 and RF-83 did side by side compairson. No contest between the two. The RF-83 were much more refined sound to them. To me the RF-82 smeed a little brighter sounding. I had the RF-83 first and puechesed the RF-82 for rears. I have all my speaker set to Large. I all so have the RC-64 and two Velodyne subs one DLS-5000 and a DD 15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon20x Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Congratulations on RF 83's, I think you made the right choice. The difference in money is not that much between the two and if you had got the 63's you will always have the but what if I had got the 83's? This way you won't have to worry and you can start to fully enjoy them. Hell, I drove 400 miles to get mine. Love is blind or something like that isn't it? Enjoy you new speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNRabbit Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 I found my RF-83s to be shrill as well when I first installed them; I recommend a nice, long low power break-in for several hours, followed by a multi-hour bump up to moderate levels, then a final blowout at the loudest CLEAR volume you can muster (this depends LARGELY on your amp) for an hour or so. My initial impression was they sound "metallic" which only makes sense as they have aluminum drivers. They DO get better with time....I suspect much of the alleged shrillness has to do with compression of the audio signal thru a less than capable amp (& i'm running sunfire 200 watts into these babies!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InVeNtOr Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 my 2 cents says, don't make a decision until you have heard them both. you are right, between the 63 and 83, specks are close, but the deciding factor will be your ears. i truly wouldn't make a decision until you sit down and listen to both. i myself have only heard the 83's and i will agree, even though the room sucked (as far as acoustics and placement) those speakers sounded great. if you can't listen to the 63's, then since the money factor is so close you can get either one, then i would just go for broke and get the 83's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMjolnir Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 Acoustics: The room has many reflective surfaces and is bright when not treated. When were having a movie night or Im listening to music I have some acoustic panels that i place around in the room. I used these yesterday when i first listened to the 83's Equipment: I use a pioneer 1015 and htpc with spdif out from a soundblaster x-fi. All music in .flac. Settings: The speakers set to small and crossover at 80hz, the same goes for stereo. I've tried the stereo pure direct mode but the harshness is the same. This is the same setup that I've used with my RB-75 and RF-82. I noticed no harshness from the 75's but they were bought used. The 82's were bought last September, and I remember thinking that they were harsh in the beginning as well. I made a post about ithttp://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/796755.aspx ...and the conclusion was to not bi-amp with my hk avr 7000 and try different toe-in after some good advice from DrWho. He also suspected that the acoustics of the room had a big part to play in the resulting harshness. After a following the guidelines of DrWho and when some time had passed the 82's sounded smoother and the highs were not harsh. I'm not a big believer in speaker break in, Ive seen tests showing minimal change in T/S parameters but nothing big. Perhaps its just a question of me getting used to the sound, but if that is the case i don't understand why I'm perceiving the highs as harsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetJockey Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 If the 83's have a fault it is that they are so revealing and reproduce pretty much exactly what is fed into them. I have found through personal experience that some source material does indeed sound shrill. Some CD's I have are so bad I can't listen to them, this has been said by reviewers as well but I can't remember where I read that. Luckily, almost all DVD's wether they are concerts or movies sound great to fantastic depending on recording etc. I think you will have to be like me and others who have turned into "music snobs" and find CD's that sound really good. The good news is that when you find really great source material you will be in sonic nervana, its that lucious. Of course there are other factors involved here as well, room ecoustics for one, tweaking your AVR, you will have to try lots of different settings and manually playing with EQ, speaker positioning is critical, what worked for one speaker will not work for another, and to some extent perhaps a little break-in although I am pretty hesitant to believe that. I am installing my new Emotiva DMC1 this afternoon and I am wondering if its going to help in this area at all, I hope so it costs 3 times what my yammy 2500 did and that had its own amp. Overall, I am super happpy with my 83's but they do have some limitations as above. When you hear something that sounds really really excellent it will be so worth it. If you can find it, pick up "Ray Charles" Genius loves company on the Monster disc in hi-res stereo and DTS96/24 surround, this will show you what these speaks REALLY sound like not all the garbage CD's the record companies have been ramming down our throats for years. Also try Poncho Sanchez, amazing SQ on his stuff too. Of course Eagles HFO and I think "Farewell One Tour"sounds even better. These are just my opinions/observations and I'm sure I'm going to get roasted alive for these statements Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMjolnir Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 I've noticed what you describe, most CD's I have are much worse than a good DVD soundtrack. The SQ of the music in LOTR and Star wars f.ex is astonishing. Yesterday I only tried three .flac CD's, Iron Maiden - "Seventh son of a seventh son" and "A matter of life and death" in addition to Nightwish "Century Child". These are recordings are very good and some of the best in my CD collection, still I noticed the "harshness". I've got one hour left before I'm finished at work, then the speakers have played non-stop for 9 hours. I'll try the music listed above again and some high quality DVD's. Btw, thanks for your input so far guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMjolnir Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 After I got home from work I worked on placement and most importantly placement of the acoustic panels. No EQ though, I prefer the sound without it.Since the 83's are so tall and the ceiling of my current apartment only >7' I believe that reflections off the ceiling was the main culprit here. In the ceiling I placed one of my 60x120x10cm bass traps in the first reflection point for both speakers, this was the key. When I had it all dialed in I sat back and enjoyed the best sound I've ever experienced. I've had alot of speakers in this room, dali, b&w, audiovector etc, but none has sounded as realistic as these obelisks. Theres really no need for more adjectives, the only words I need to describe the sound is; realistic and dynamic. With movies, man these speakers rock with the RC-64, how can it get better than this? (note to self: get the surrounds ) Now I almost feel like I'm treating my LCR bad for not having a Pio elite instead of the 1015 These speakers really stand out aesthetically, brutal and powerful yet beautiful, something special indeed. Thank you Klipsch, I am proud to own this great piece of art and engineering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catharsis147 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Anothr satisfied customer!! Glad to hear the RF-83's are as amazing to you as they could be....Those monsters truly rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcon20x Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 Told ya ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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