Opinions on RF-82 IIs?

[ledzep1968]

I'm looking into purchasing Klipsch RF-82 IIs sometime soon, but reviews are rather hard to come bye on Google.

Does anyone here have any experience with these speakers?

 

[SET12]

Personally, from experience with some of the best two ways I have heard. Going with the RF82 II's the mids will suffer from the mass of the 8in cones.

For me typically I hear a recessed mid-range from the larger mid-woofer cones.

By stepping down to the RF62 II's with 6.5in cones the mid-woofer mass is better able to give the resolve and impact of a decent 3-way.

DaveC here has RF-25's which have 6.5in cones as well here

Dave has done some modifications where he substituted higher quality components to replace the stock crossover which necessitated an external box added to the rear of his RF25's pictured.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=457307

The work was first rate if I do say so myself The sound was even more amazing and further the bass was pretty astonishing without any sacrifice of mid-range performance.

His speaker has great coherency from top to bottom not to mention sound quality that reviles something costing thousands more.

The neat thing about his project was the cost, $600 for the speakers and $600 for the high performance parts vs my own Forte mods that cost me $2500 in parts alone.

Another plus for Daves speakers is that they have no listener fatigue and can be listened to all day smooth as silk.

The stock networks were not to bad by any means in fact one of the better Klipsch I have heard. But the mods as I said took the speaker to a whole new level of performance.

So I would buy the RF 62 II's and listen a while then think about what DaveC did.

As the late Steen Duelund like to say the weakest link in a loudspeaker is its networks.

SET12

 

[LAB3]

They are great for HT use with rest of the Reference surrounds....... for music a sub is a must. Follow Klipsch instructions on placement and use your tone conrols or room correction program. My neighbor purchased a pair used local and I was impressed with them after he added the matching surrounds and a sub for his medium sized room on HD movies.... The guy he purchased them from upgraded to the RF7II........ :thmbsp: Go for it you can get a deal on them.

 

[HiFiCanada]

I bought the RF-82's about five years ago and it was disappointing, the harsh sound and not much bass, got me thinking what the average consumer would think and do after he placed them in his living room.
I bi-amped that speaker and bought a small Elite 80 tube amp for the horns, which improved the sound dramatically, it now really brings out the sounds of the reed stops, better then anything I have heard so far.
The bass is lacking and wants to produce more of a boomy bass sound and the mid range sounds muddy, my guess at that time was that it is caused by the original crossover and it needs to be changed.
The OP is right in saying that there is not much info on the RF-82's and the RF-83's , I have them both, right out of the box I prefer the RF-82's over the RF-83's.
My opinon is that if you buy those, you will need to spend a fair bit of cash to get then sounding good, but if you do, they will be amazing.

 

[LAB3]

I bought the RF-82's about five years ago and it was disappointing, the harsh sound and not much bass, got me thinking what the average consumer would think and do after he placed them in his living room.
I bi-amped that speaker and bought a small Elite 80 tube amp for the horns, which improved the sound dramatically, it now really brings out the sounds of the reed stops, better then anything I have heard so far.
The bass is lacking and wants to produce more of a boomy bass sound and the mid range sounds muddy, my guess at that time was that it is caused by the original crossover and it needs to be changed.
The OP is right in saying that there is not much info on the RF-82's and the RF-83's , I have them both, right out of the box I prefer the RF-82's over the RF-83's.
My opinon is that if you buy those, you will need to spend a fair bit of cash to get then sounding good, but if you do, they will be amazing.

If he adds a sub and adjust the tone controls to pull back the mids he will kill the harsh or too bright mids that I read about. I had to adjust my friends Audessey room correction program several times manual to get them to balance out(his RF82 have Good networks) and the sub Made a HUGE difference on stereo music, I moved the bass cross over so the subs did mostof the bass/LFE. I have had tube seperates over the years and back in the day we did not use tone controls everyting was set flatt. That was 40 years ago, you Can get a RF82II and sub to play music great if placed and adjusted correctly without buying a tube amp. If the RF82II networks are in spec and you are not playing them in a Huge room with hard wood floors and tall ceilings.

 

[HiFiCanada]

Personally, from experience with some of the best two ways I have heard. Going with the RF82 II's the mids will suffer from the mass of the 8in cones.

For me typically I hear a recessed mid-range from the larger mid-woofer cones.

By stepping down to the RF62 II's with 6.5in cones the mid-woofer mass is better able to give the resolve and impact of a decent 3-way.

DaveC here has RF-25's which have 6.5in cones as well here

Dave has done some modifications where he substituted higher quality components to replace the stock crossover which necessitated an external box added to the rear of his RF25's pictured.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=457307

The work was first rate if I do say so myself The sound was even more amazing and further the bass was pretty astonishing without any sacrifice of mid-range performance.

His speaker has great coherency from top to bottom not to mention sound quality that reviles something costing thousands more.

The neat thing about his project was the cost, $600 for the speakers and $600 for the high performance parts vs my own Forte mods that cost me $2500 in parts alone.

Another plus for Daves speakers is that they have no listener fatigue and can be listened to all day smooth as silk.

The stock networks were not to bad by any means in fact one of the better Klipsch I have heard. But the mods as I said took the speaker to a whole new level of performance.

So I would buy the RF 62 II's and listen a while then think about what DaveC did.

As the late Steen Duelund like to say the weakest link in a loudspeaker is its networks.

SET12

Would you be willing to post the schemtic with the values of the caps and coils?

 

[HiFiCanada]

If he adds a sub and adjust the tone controls to pull back the mids he will kill the harsh or too bright mids that I read about. I had to adjust my friends Audessey room correction program several times manual to get them to balance out(his RF82 have Good networks) and the sub Made a HUGE difference on stereo music, I moved the bass cross over so the subs did mostof the bass/LFE. I have had tube seperates over the years and back in the day we did not use tone controls everyting was set flatt. That was 40 years ago, you Can get a RF82II and sub to play music great if placed and adjusted correctly without buying a tube amp. If the RF82II networks are in spec and you are not playing them in a Huge room with hard wood floors and tall ceilings.

I have the KW-120-THX subs also, I find that using a tube amp, the sound these small K-horns can produce are incredible.

 

[BRAC]

For what use?

If it's for HT they will be great. For music I'd look into a good three way heritage with a mid horn. The two ways really suffer in the midrange region with music, imho. I recently unloaded my RF-7 II's in favor of some Cornwalls and the difference is quite significant. The Corn's do vocals SOOOO much better.

 

[cubdog]

For what use?

If it's for HT they will be great. For music I'd look into a good three way heritage with a mid horn. The two ways really suffer in the midrange region with music, imho. I recently unloaded my RF-7 II's in favor of some Cornwalls and the difference is quite significant. The Corn's do vocals SOOOO much better.

Well, I will beg to differ. I "unloaded" my Cornwalls in favor of RF7IIs and couldn't be happier. Bottom line we all have different opinions and they are all valid to a degree.

cubdog

 

[BRAC]

Well, I will beg to differ. I "unloaded" my Cornwalls in favor of RF7IIs and couldn't be happier. Bottom line we all have different opinions and they are all valid to a degree.

cubdog

I agree... But, lets go with "preference" in this case and not "opinion", because these are both great speakers. That said, I would enjoy hearing your take on the pros and cons of each. And, if you don't mind, which version/year of CW's did you own? I suppose we should take this to pm, since it may be getting a little too far off topic.

 

[LAB3]

I have the KW-120-THX subs also, I find that using a tube amp, the sound these small K-horns can produce are incredible.

Small K-horns???

 

[HiFiCanada]

Small K-horns???

I am glad that you questoned "K-horns" as I have always thought that they were a small compression driver and horn, instead of a 1in horn tweeter.

 

[HiFiCanada]

Whats the difference between the RF-82 and the RF-82 II's?

 

[LAB3]

I am glad that you questoned "K-horns" as I have always thought that they were a small compression driver and horn, instead of a 1in horn tweeter.

Klipschorns or "Khorns" as they are refered too have a "Folded horn Bass Bin"
This design is all about how the bass wave is bent/foulded and sent out the back of the cabinet and rooms wall reflects the the bass wave into the room. The cabinet Has to be in the corner of a room for the speaker to work correctly. None of the Reference Series are designed that way. Look for a print of the Klipschorn cabinet and you will see what I am talking about.

 

[ledzep1968]

I'm going to be using these for music use 90% of the time. But I'm going to be using them for home theater use too.

Whats the difference between the RF-82 and the RF-82 II's?

I'm wondering the same thing.

 

[Rocko81]

I've owned more pairs of Klipsch then you can shake a Bose at.
From heritage, to reference, to synergy. Most has been run off Marantz gear. I have to say that I thought the RF-82's were great speakers. They took a little playing with placement but once that happened they sounded great! My room was 18 feet long by 12 feet wide with 7 foot high ceilings. I'd put them up there with my Fortes as my favorite speakers.

-R

 

[jdmccall]

I'm looking hard at RF82 II's myself. $359 ea. right now is so tempting. I owned cornwalls from '85-'93, k-horns from '93-'98 and la scala II's for less than a year ('07-'08). So in light of that, I'm wondering if I could love the 82 II's. Are they better/worse than the newer RP280F? My trigger finger's gettin' itchy!