Which Klipsch speaker (new of used) is best for playing classic rock??

[MD1032]

It is absolutely all about synergy. When I first got my Fortes, I was using them with my T-amp. I thought "man, these sound great, but they could really use a tad more bass", so I bought my Harman/Kardon 430. The HK had a problem, which I fixed later in the summer (also got a refund... free!). I then used my parents' Pioneer SX-3700. That amp was pretty good and had a beefier bottom-end, but didn't nearly have the detail in the highs that the HK had. After I figured out that the hum in the HK 430 was in the rectifier C board (the one for the main amp board), I replaced and upgraded the main capacitors. I listened to it and thought it was an improvement, then I realized I had left the bass knob turned down after fixing the pots with deoxit and the bass hit me and I nearly went through the roof. Literally, this amp completely transforms these speakers. Quite honestly, I turn down the bass a tad now because it's almost too much. In conclusion, though, it's all about synergy.

Anyway, getting back to my original post, I know you mentioned that you listen to the Rolling Stones. In my opinion, they recorded with some of the worst recording quality of that time period. Their music sounds like a garage band with a microphone put down next to it. Honestly, any Klipsch speaker you buy is going to reveal that, but especially heritage and Fortes. Does this mean that I don't listen to poorly recorded music on my Fortes? No, I listen to everything. It's just that when your favorite band uses a crappy mic or hits a clunker, you're just going to cringe even more. Heck, I listen to The Who, Led Zeppelin, Kansas, you name it. I am a huge classic rock fan, and most of it sounds AMAZING on the Fortes. Still... there's always that one in 20 track that just sounds like garbage.

In terms of size, your room is easily big enough to accomodate Fortes. I put them in my tiny 13x9x7 room back home and they fit... sort of. Well, I made them fit. Bottom line, unless you're a complete pack-rat, you'll want to make the room for these babies. The Choruses are definitely larger than the Fortes. Wider, taller, and bigger. My recommendation would be to do as much research as you can and don't get stuck on one speaker. My Fortes are the best speakers I've ever heard in my life, and truly produce an awesome sound, but I've never owned heritage or high-end reference like the RF-7's. Do your best to educate yourself before buying, and invest in a good amp like the HK 430!

[SWL]

Do you like the sound of your RF-5's? If so, you'll love RF-7's. []

I'll be interested to hear your comments on the RF-7's compared to the Forte. I had Forte ll's breifly........Heresy's breifly......Chorus's breifly.......all side by side with RF-7's. Amped them with tubes, solid state and pro-amps.......three different preamps......vintage, tube and solid state......and to my ears the RF-7's were much more to my liking for many reasons.

Of course it's just my opinion and my taste in music.

If you're happy.....and used to the sound of the RF-5's........you'll fall in love with the 7's. They do however, like a lot of power to make them shine.

My second vote would be for KLF-30's...........awesome rock and roll speakers. [Y]

[Mighty Favog]

If you ever listen to either the KLF-20's or 30's just remember, for not a whole lot of money you can hot-rod those things pretty good with less than $400 in parts. Bob's son made some crossovers for my 20's (almost the first set for that model), also got the titanium tweeter diaphragms (tooooo easy to install) and finally rewired the inside cab with 12 ga. Monster Cable by soldering the connections to the driver tabs instead of using spade connectors.

You could probably do the speakers and the upgrades for under $1k.