Heard someone demo'ing Klipsch speakers today. (1 Viewer)

[Steve Russell]

I was at a local stereo/hometheater store today and heard someone listening to a demo of Klipsch RF series (10's I think)speakers. People say that NHT speakers are bright but my NHT's are positively laid back compared to these. These were so bright I instinctively thought of nails on a chalkboard and wished he would turn it down. Don't want to offend anyone since speakers are a very subjective choice and everyone's ears are different. This was the first time I had ever heard Klipsch speakers and they almost made me run for the door, made my SuperTwo's sound warm. I'm not sure what electronics they were using but they have some nice stuff- yamaha,marantz, adcom, etc... definitely not a low end shop. If you own Klipsch and love them, more power to you, this is just my opinion.(you know what people say about opinions).

 

[Greg Br]

I also had just demoed these speakers in a dedicated room at HIFI store, and I mean dedicated, Klipcsh RF7, Krell Amp, Krell Pre Amp, Pioneer Elite 47A, sweet stuff mind you, the guy puts in ELP Brain Salad Surgery DVD Audio and cranks it up, and my first thought was whats with all the rasp in the vocals, and the salesmen told me I was just not used to hearing music at 192khz and the right way. I could not agree or disagree as I am new to DVD Audio but my first thought was ouch, know I am demoeing more stuff to know if this guy was full of it, but for sure its a different sound.

I would say minus the vocals the surround fidelity was awsome.

 

[Jim_C]

>>If you own Klipsch and love them, more power to you, this is just my opinion.(you know what people say about opinions).

 

[MatthewJ S]

Paul Klipsch, who ,incidentally is one of only about 45 people in the U.S. engineering "hall of fame", often wore a pin on his lapel that simply had the word "B--LS--T' on it. He knew what many people discover after participating in a blind test.......A/B Klipsch against another brand and see how many people prefer the Klipsch.....Efficiant speakers bring subtler sounds off the noise floor by making better use of power (micro voltage)....and while many people will find them "fatiguing" it seems that this is often due to the harshness of the front-end components whose inadequacies more efficient speakers will reveal....

No, I don't have a Klipsch surround system.....just tired of the "bright and harsh" debate....

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

I don't have anything against Klipsch, I just prefer a smoother sound (warm and muffled you may call it).

I just couldn't live with speakers that make me squint my eyes occasionally.

 

[Kevin McCurdy]

I have Klipsch speakers and agree with Matthew's remarks about the front end equipment. When I demoed my first set of Klipsch I heard a significant difference between a Yamaha and Denon receiver. I prefered the Denon.

The other thing I've discovered with Klipsch is the way they change with different rooms and room placement. These speakers (at least RF-3's & RF-5's) will change quite a bit when moved closer or farther away from walls or corners.

I recently demoed speakers again, I had a buyer for my Klipsch and was prepared to switch. I listened to a NHT 2.4 setup, Paradigm studio 100's and Klipsch RF-5's and RF-7's. After my demo's I decided only to sell my center and I came home with RF-5's and purchased an RC-7 online. When setup properly on the right equipment Klipsch speakers can sound pretty darn good.

I demoed my setup to a friend of mine who has an NHT setup (2.9's, ac2, 2.4's and super zero's) and he went on to say that it was nothing like he expected and if anything my Klipsch setup was neutral and not bright at all.

 

[DonnyD]

My son and I were on a crusade to get his HT set up and went to a local B&M to check out Klipsch...... among others.

Their setup was several of the larger K's powered by a Sunfire Cinema Grand amp... don't remember the pre.....

To both of us, the K's were "nails on the chalkboard" with 2 channel stereo but for HT, they were much better but a bit "bright" although to me, it was just distinct imaging. The salesman assured us that all the speakers were broken in. They sounded good until he turned up the volume which had us holding our ears....

My son ended up with Energys RVS which had a much better mid range and not quite as bright. I have to agree with his choice.

Personally, I believe the B&M we were at could do a better job for a demo setup. K's have always been brighter than most but can be offset somewhat if setup properly.

 

[Ron Shaw]

The problem too many people have today is a lack of a reference. Go listen to live music. I don't mean a rock concert, either (amplified, too many ways to alter the music). I mean live acoustical instruments. Go to your local symphony. Calibrate your ears to what real music sounds like. Listen to real live dynamics and impact. After that, I bet more people will pick a horn system for reproducing reality. Of course, horns have the disadvantage of being brutally honest in the quality of the entire chain, from the source material to the amplifier. Also, I think (any) system needs to be equalized to bring out the best. This is not an expensive proposition, as equalizers can be had starting at a few hundred dollars. This will give far more benefit than more expensive tricks you will spend your money on. I have gone from direct radiators, to horns, to planer loudspeakers, and back to horns. Nothing else can reproduce sound at realistic dynamic levels while still maintaining low distortion levels.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

It's funny that they are demoing Klipshc with power amps. Back in the 60's-70's, power was everything. Klipsch made it's place in the speaker market with the horn design that did not require 200+ watts per channel to produce sound.

The one consistant criticism I have heard about horn design is they produce a lot of off-axis distortion.

A salesman told me that once you own Klipsch, you tend to re-buy Klipsch because you get used to the sound and all other speakers sound funny by comparison. So I guess you get used to it.

 

[Ron Shaw]

Off axis distortion?? What exactly is that?

 

[Doug Drake]

One thing about Klipsch, for sure, they really polarize the listening community. I don't think I've ever heard a middle-of-the-road comment from anyone !
I think all comments are fair, but being a Klipsch fan of course I have to toss in my .02. Poorly set up Klipsch's can and do sound bad. Also, poorly recorded/engineered source material sounds bad too -- they are incredibly merciless. Amp/preamp equipment makes a big difference, too. Remember, PWK used to say that what this country needs is a good 8 watt amp (if I remember right).
Klipsch's will pump out incredible volumes with very little power -- just a few watts, most of the time. Trouble is, alot of solid state amps don't hit their stride until they are well up the wattage meter, with quite a bit of distortion at the low power levels. Coupled with the revealing nature of the horns, it's easy to see why bad electronics (in terms of being a bad match for Klipsch) really sound bad, since they are working in their worst area on very revealing speakers.
I love the live, natural sound and could listen to it all day without fatigue, when they are well matched to the electronics and well positioned.
Doug

 

[Tom Brennan]

Klipsch makes far from the best horns IMO. They are easily bettered by Altec and JBL horn systems, I've owned all 3. A friend has a set of Klipsch LaScalas, these are "real" Klipsches, 3-way fully horn-loaded speakers designed by ole PWK (Paul Wilbur Klipsch) himself (I owned a couple of pairs of these myself). My friend also has a pair of JBL Pro 3115 speakers, small theater speakers with a vented 15" woof and horn mid and horn tweeter. The JBLs sound much smoother and have better clarity and tonal balance. PWK made good speakers but you can't judge all horns by Klipsch anymore than you can judge all cone-dome speakers by the KLHs sold at Sams Club. As for the stuff the Klipsch company makes now, well let's say it's not the kind of stuff PWK made, not even in the same leauge. The best speakers Klipsch makes now are in their pro line, some very good stuff there.

 

[Steve Russell]

It could well have been the set up that really made them sound bad. I don't want to give the impression that I hate klipsch or would never give them another listen but that first impression was not a great one. I don't think they were given a lot of thought when positioned in the listening room. They were in the main room and rather close together and rather close to the walls. The L and R speakers were flanking a small audio rack with the equip. that they were attached to(didn't notice what brand). They were rather packed into the room with all the other stuff(not to mention they had a closeout sale going on so they had alot of tables of old equipment sitting around). They were definitely not EQ'ed. I will say that they play really LOUD, didn't take the guy long with the volume button to make my ears hurt. Anyway, klipsch look like a well made speaker that probably sounds much better than that demo with the proper setup.