I compared them side by side with Energy's, even Polks in Bestbuy years ago, and found them hard to listen to, yet Energy's been out of business and Klipsh still booming.
The Klipsch are popular (I believe) mainly as Home Theater and Rock n Roll speakers. They have an "in your face" forward sound that adds excitement to HT. If you are listening for accurate reproduction of an orchestra, they are definitely not the way to go.
Of course, much of their continued success is based on their legacy. For all I know, they may have never produced a truly accurate speaker, but certainly they have great name recognition.
I bet if you did a random survey, over 90% of the population would know the Klipsch name, while less than 10% would recognize KEF or B&W. Focal might do a little better since they have a presence in car audio.
For the guys walking off the street to buy speakers without doing the kind of research we do, name recognition is huge (and this is what Audiovox seems to specialize in milking the bucks from).
I am disappointed to hear this since I recently bought a pair of RF-82ii's (the exact speakers that blew on Nick).
At the same time, I wonder if they changed components along the way. I know ATLAudio has a pair of sister product RF-62ii's, recently added a 250WPC Emotiva XPA-2 (for use with his Denon AVR-X4000), and has been rocking out hard to Metallica! But maybe it is just a matter of time!
So far mine have done well for HT, but HT won't generally push the tweeters the way music will.
On the positive side, Nick, you should be happy this happened sooner rather than late,r so you do not have to struggle with the return/repair system/policies. Crutchfield usually does well for CS, but I'm not sure how long before they quit giving free return/exchanges.
I bought mine maybe 6 months ago, and if I blew a tweeter today, I believe they would send me to my local authorized service center (which is often a major exercise in patience!)
