Klipsch SF-2 3 way towers

ProAc_Fan

ProAc_Fan

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Now that I am a proud horn speaker owner I'd thought why not go see how the latest horn speakers compared. So I went to audition some current model Klipschhorns. The model I chose was the SF-2 tower speaker. Its a 3 way design with 2- 6.25" woofers and a 1" tractrix horn. Supposed to be 35hz-20Khz +/-3dB. The power was supplied by some 6 channel Panasonic home receiver( 130 watts per)and the source was a cheapy CD player. I guess you could sum it up like this :puke: :puke: The bass was muddy and lacking. The mids and highs sounded muted. It was as if someone was holding a pillow in front of the horn. They didn't sound at all horn like to me. They certainly weren't dynamic and couldn't wake my senses at any volume level. There supposed to be 96dB efficient but they sure didn't seem that way. The volume was damn near cranked on that HT receiver and the volume level was :rolleyes: These sound like a pair of $200 fart boxes IMHO. Oh and cheap looking fit and finish, no dual binding posts, and a price tag of $1,000. You'd have to pay me $1,000 to listen to these things for more than 20 minutes.


Mike
 
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I have not been impressed with the offerings of Klipsch since the old man died. I understand in a way but it does seem like a prostitution of Paul Klipsch's good name.
 
To be fair, that mass market Panasonic receiver probably didn't do them any justice either. At a carded 130wpc, you could probably halve that and arrive at a more realistic figure. Probably didn't handle the dynamic load during the track you demo'd very well either.
 
I have listened to the line right next to other lines and found it lacking. And I wasn't that excited about the competion either.
 
Here we go again..

Baa baa baa, new Klipsch sucks. I'll say what PWK said. Yeah. What he printed on the buttons he'd hand out at shows. How appropiate, the forum has the right smily! :bs:

I have SF2's. Lacking bass is one thing I won't attribute to those speakers. They do bass, and do it well. To the point one can tell if the kick drum is damped or not, loose or tight.

Even with organ they do OK, tho they lack the extension to do a large organ properly.

If they sucked, I dare say you were listening to the amp, not the speakers. Klipsch is a brutally honest speaker. Don't like the highs? Check your equipment. Do'nt like the lows? Check your equipment, plus speaker placement.

They've guided me through rebuilding my amp. Harsh highs? That was teh 40+ year old caps and resistors.

I run mine with a 100% restored Dyna Stereo 70, driven by a Sansui CA-2000 pre. Flat, no tone controls. I *used* to use a sub, but not anymore. It's going back to its owner.

And thor? C'mon, man. Klipsch is still made in Hope, AK.

Have you seen the bass motors on these? They are effin' HUGE, the same size as the driver itself. And it only gets better in the RF series.

If you want lightweight bass, go Lowther :rolleyes:

Oh, and btw -- SF2 are $600 / pair.
 
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Tiger I live in Canada so these Klipsh are $1,000 CAN which is roughly $600 USD. My opinion of these is relative to the LaScala's and Khorns which I've heard in the past. I agree that choice of amplification has a profound effect on the way these speakers behave and perhaps with a good set of valves these speakers may perform better. However the store selling these wouldn't know a valve if it fell from the sky, so I'm assuming that they intend them to be powered by some sort of SS amplification. And I stand by my views with SS amplification.

Mike
 
There is a Klipsch Museum in Hope Arkansas but they are now located in Indianapolis. As for check your gear that is pretty much a must with any speakers. As for the quality of the new line since it is being sold mass market by mass market dealers by salespeople who tend to know very little about the product I agree that the speakers are not set up to their best advantage. On the other hand neither are the other lines and I felt that the Klipsch line overall did not sound anywhere close to what I would expect for the money.
I owned a pair of the early Heresey speakers and they were in my opinion of a much higher quality than any of the new products and they were considered by Paul Klipsch to be back up speakers to the mains being built.
When the speakers were built in Hope, they were built by cabinet makers as that was all they did. They built cabinets, installed crossovers and bought the drivers mainly from EV. Klipsch was not making the raw drivers then and more than likely now they are sourced out of China like Infinity does theirs.
Boutique speaker builders have to charge so much for their product it takes it of reach of 95% of the people that would buy them. The other choice is to go the route that Klipsch has to reamain in business. Use plasitic, sheet metal, and cheap cabinet materials, walk the edge of High End and HT, good systems and cheap high wattage recievers full of googahs or go out of business. You have to follow trends, use cheaper parts and pump a lot of the $$ that could be used in the products into adds and brochures.
Glad you like yours and good on you for the rebuilt ST-70, I have owned a few and spent many hours enjoying them.
 
One thing to consider: Is it possible the Panasonic rec. had bass management turned on, and sending all the LF to a non-extant woof?

2nd poit: On SS they are the same as tubes. If it sounds like s*it, the amp is sh*t. On my SAE Two 100w/ch the SF's are unbearable. Period. Don't do it. Won't work.

I hate to say this, byt my Pioneer SX650 did well on 'em, save for a hint of grain on the treble. Guess what that is? The cheesy IC packs Pio was using instead of discretes.

on a Bryston 4B I borrowed they were sweet as honey.

It's the amp, not the speakers :) I'm DYING to take 'em to a friend's house, he's got a pair of 45 / 2A3 monoblocks by Supratek.

He uses Lowther.

He has *no* bass :o
 
Hi thoriated_tiger...welcome!


The new Klipsch aren't in the same runnings as the new ones...but...I would give consideration to the amp used...and of course, I would use tubes whenever possible too! ;)

After you listen to your speakers with the 45/2A3...why don'tcha post what you thought?


Hey...we all have different tastes in what we like...but I don't think the new Klipsch are anything like the good old...of course...that's another entire topic entirely.


take care>>>>
 
I would love to listen to some of the new stuff with tubes. I'm just not going to buy any to do it. The overly bright nature was the thing that turned me off them to begin with, but that is what attracts me to tubes.
I don't have a clue as to what piece of black plastic was hooked up to the speakers because I wasn't there to listen to recievers.
TT, did you get a chance to hook the Klipsch up to your Dyna before you brought them home?
 
i recently got a pair of heresey from a local listing for 375 mint dont know if it series I or II, when i came by to take a look and listen he had it hooked up to a ss receiver and i wanted to leave, but i heard so much about these on the net that i took a chance took them home hook it to my mag 6bq5 console amp and wowww beautiful alitlle bright but not intorable but maybe i need to get the old maggie a freshin up .
tubes on klipsch is a must!!! im no expert but i like what i heard...
 
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