Which Speakers are the best?

[Nooby]

Alright guys, I am completely new to the audio world, I have never owned a surround system before.

So, on the advice from my co-worker who says the Klipsch KSF are the best of the 3, he say's really knows audio equipment, I have come across the following Tall speakers on Craigslist and would like to know which pair are the best!?!

1. Klipsch RF-25- $275
2. Klipsch KSF 10.5- $150
3. Polk audio monitor series 70 II- $200

Thanks!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

None of these 3.
These instead : http://philharmonicaudio.com/aa.html

 

[Seth=L]

Alright guys, I am completely new to the audio world, I have never owned a surround system before.

So, on the advice from my co-worker who says the Klipsch KSF are the best of the 3, he say's really knows audio equipment, I have come across the following Tall speakers on Craigslist and would like to know which pair are the best!?!

1. Klipsch RF-25- $275
2. Klipsch KSF 10.5- $150
3. Polk audio monitor series 70 II- $200

Thanks!

Of those the KSF-10.5 present the best value on paper and from what I remember of that series it was pretty well regarded among Klipsch fans. If rock, trance, rap, pop, etc are your bag these would absolutely rock.

The RF-25 price is a tad high in my opinion, the tweeters are a bit better (smoother) but not to such a significant about to sell yourself short on about 10hz extra bass extension.

The Polks claim more extension, but I rather doubt they achieve as much useful output as the would lead you to believe since they don't coincide their frequency response with a deviation figure like the Klipsch do.

I'd put my money on the Klipsch KSF 10.5 as they are very efficient and even loaded, but they are definitely the largest option. If each pair of those speakers were $200 I'd still buy the KSF 10.5s of those three.

Since you're buying off of craigslist make sure you can test these speakers before you hand over the cash. Make sure the woofers don't have any holes and the foam/rubber surrounds are in good condition. Also be sure the tweeters are operating.

I hope this was helpful.

 

[Seth=L]

None of these 3.
These instead : http://philharmonicaudio.com/aa.html

That's rather scaled down compared to these tower speakers, he would need a subwoofer to come close to the same level of performance, which means he'd easily spend more than $300 and I still am not sure it could keep up with any of those towers.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

That's rather scaled down compared to these tower speakers, he would need a subwoofer to come close to the same level of performance, which means he'd easily spend more than $300 and I still am not sure it could keep up with any of those towers.

Like everything else in this hobby - the answer - it depends.

Klipsch towers will certainly very dynamic (aka MUCH louder) speaker - very good fit for HT, but I'm willing to bet that if very loud volume is not needed, then for AA's will beat these in regards to representation accuracy hands down and have respectable bass output as well.

 

[Seth=L]

Like everything else in this hobby - the answer - it depends.

Klipsch towers will certainly very dynamic (aka MUCH louder) speaker - very good fit for HT, but I'm willing to bet that if very loud volume is not needed, then for AA's will beat these in regards to representation accuracy hands down and have respectable bass output as well.

It's been my experience the average user would sacrifice a little accuracy for a stronger presence that still sounds very good. Of course, as you said it all depends. This hobby is funny and does funny things to people.

For a person like me in my current situation I'd rather have the Phils because I live in apartment and I wouldn't get much use out of the Klipsch, plus they're huge compared to the Phils. My Boston VR-M50s are a tad smaller than the Phils and my Infinity IL10s are a tad larger. I don't need towers that have a footprint dimension that exceeds 1 foot.

If I had a house and I came across those Klipsch I'd pick em up in a heartbeat if the looked good and worked. If it turned out that I hated them I could just as easily recover what I paid (assuming the $150 price). Not as easy to accomplish that with the little Phils, although I might be able to get most of it back because they are a "hot bargain speaker" right now.

 

[TheWarrior]

It's been my experience the average user would sacrifice a little accuracy for a stronger presence that still sounds very good. Of course, as you said it all depends. This hobby is funny and does funny things to people.

You need to hear how good the Affordable Accuracy's are! The only reason they are affordable is that Dennis builds them for the love of good sound, not profit!

 

[Seth=L]

You need to hear how good the Affordable Accuracy's are! The only reason they are affordable is that Dennis builds them for the love of good sound, not profit!

Eh, I won't spend $200 hardly ever on audio equipment. I rarely spend more than $100 if I'm honest. The last time I spent over $200 was on a pair of Thiel CS.5s, I spent about $300 on those. Ended up selling them for $500 or $600 after having them about a year and a half. Thiel is a tricky speaker to place.

Here's all the other times I spent more than $200 on an audio purchase.

• Yamaha HTR-****, It was a THX Select model with preouts from around the same time as the RX-V659, but it was a higher model. I paid something like $300 open box at Best Buy at the time.

• JVC RX-DP9, one of the nicest AVRs I've ever had, paid around $200-300 I believe.

• Vandersteen 2Ce floor standing pair and VCC center speaker - $350 (kept them about a year, the center channel and Kimber cables alone net my return investment with change)

• Sunfire True Sub - $400 (one of my worst purchases)

• B&W 603s3 pair in mint condition at local dealer for $300 (still going for about $450-500 in the used market last I checked)

• Def Tech SuperCube I, I think I paid $400 (bad purchase)

• Earthquake Sound subwoofer (not sure of model) I think I paid $300 or so, not sure. (another bad purchase)

You would think I would have learned my lesson with subwoofers with passive radiators after the first two. After the 3rd I finally got it. Passive radiator subs suck. (actually I didn't learn after the first 2, I bought another smaller Earthquake for like $130 or something that had 6.5" woof and radiator, it was cute but boy did it suck something awful).

Lesson, NO MORE PASSIVE RADIATORS! ha ha

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

ELAC S12EQ

 

[Seth=L]

ELAC S12EQ

Eh, no thanks. It's not even tempting anymore.

Sorry OP for derailing your thread.

 

[fmw]

Alright guys, I am completely new to the audio world, I have never owned a surround system before.

So, on the advice from my co-worker who says the Klipsch KSF are the best of the 3, he say's really knows audio equipment, I have come across the following Tall speakers on Craigslist and would like to know which pair are the best!?!

1. Klipsch RF-25- $275
2. Klipsch KSF 10.5- $150
3. Polk audio monitor series 70 II- $200

Thanks!

The best are the ones that sound best to you. Is there no way for you to go listen to them?

 

[afterlife2]

Go listen if you can. Ask the guy to play music and a movie.
2. Klipsch KSF 10.5- $150(Try to get him to go a little lower 100-120)
If not to your liking get what BSA suggested.

 

[Nooby]

Great!

Thanks for all the help everyone, i contacted the person selling the ksf 10.5 and was informed they are selling a complete set: 2 -Klipsch standing rear speakers- lowest is 31 inches, adjustable stands- Model KSF S51- Klipsch Subwoofer- Model SW10-11 Black1- Klipch Center Channel Speaker Model KSCS Black2 Klipsch Towers- Model KSF 10.5 for $225!!

So, I don't think I can pass that up!

Thanks

 

[Seth=L]

Great!

Thanks for all the help everyone, i contacted the person selling the ksf 10.5 and was informed they are selling a complete set: 2 -Klipsch standing rear speakers- lowest is 31 inches, adjustable stands- Model KSF S51- Klipsch Subwoofer- Model SW10-11 Black1- Klipch Center Channel Speaker Model KSCS Black2 Klipsch Towers- Model KSF 10.5 for $225!!

So, I don't think I can pass that up!

Thanks

Dang, that is a good deal. I wouldn't even bother haggling at that price. The subwoofer won't keep up with the rest of the speakers, but you can replace that later.

 

[afterlife2]

Run!

 

[Seth=L]

Run!

Rabbit...

 

[ematthews]

You need to look at Ascend Acoustics.

 

[Sachb]

Alright guys, I am completely new to the audio world, I have never owned a surround system before.

So, on the advice from my co-worker who says the Klipsch KSF are the best of the 3, he say's really knows audio equipment, I have come across the following Tall speakers on Craigslist and would like to know which pair are the best!?!

1. Klipsch RF-25- $275
2. Klipsch KSF 10.5- $150
3. Polk audio monitor series 70 II- $200

Thanks!

I'd stay away from the Horn tweeters because they are not meant to be in the living room. It will scare the living hell out of you if you by mistake had it on high volume, i.e closer to 100 or 80 even.

Horn tweeters are Harsh on ears, something like Silk dome tweeter is best , if u want smoothness.

Klipsch are mostly equipped with Horn tweeter, stay away if u want smoothness.

 

[Seth=L]

I'd stay away from the Horn tweeters because they are not meant to be in the living room. It will scare the living hell out of you if you by mistake had it on high volume, i.e closer to 100 or 80 even.

I don't know what you mean by this. Who says that horn tweeters aren't meant to be in the living room.

Horn tweeters are Harsh on ears, something like Silk dome tweeter is best , if u want smoothness.

This is quite the misnomer. Klipsch do tend to be on the bright side and more directional due to the horn, but not inherently "harsh on ears". Consider the following.

• Crossover design/driver selection - Just because a speaker has an aluminum, fabric, titanium, or silk dome does not dictate how bright, smooth, harsh, etc.. a speaker will sound. A speaker is a sum of its parts. Crossover integration with the tweeter is the determinate of its signature.
• The Listener - Somehow who is hard of hearing may well prefer a brighter sound, or maybe the listener just prefers bright sounding speakers.

Klipsch are mostly equipped with Horn tweeter, stay away if u want smoothness.

I had a pair of Klipsch Reference floor standers, I didn't find them to be harsh. After reading so many comments about how harsh and bright Klipsch speakers sound I was pleasantly surprised to hear they sounded quite smooth to me. There were among the most enjoyable speakers I've owned in fact. And it's worth noting I am not hard of hearing either.