Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-8000F II Floor-Standing Loudspeaker Review

[Danzilla31]

They will crush it alright, probably all the way to the bankruptcy receiver!


In my opinion, it is long passed time you designed and built your own speakers. What's keeping you? Yes, it is a heavy lift, but you will learn a lot and be glad you did.
Everyday, I count myself so fortunate to have never had to go speaker shopping! You seem prime to make good progress. I know I enjoy speakers of a quality I could never afford if I had not designed and built them. Even then, I'm not sure they are even out there. They are very much personalized to their space and provide the presentation and perspective that I like. More members here should take the plunge. It is an arduous, but rewarding process.

Someday I'd like too build speakers I agree with you no way if done correctly you can beat there performance to value ratio but work just takes too much out of me for now. My hospital is just so slammed. When I retire I'd LOVE to do nothing but create my own personal workshop and just learn how to build audio equipment!!!!!

 

[BMV]

Hey @shadyJ, thanks for a great write up as always. I wonder if you could comment on how the 8000F II compare to the Heco Aurora 1000 you tested earlier this year please. I am currently in the market to build a living room home theater with one of these two options and your input would be appreciated. Perhaps you could quickly say something regarding these two speakers during your video on YouTube later today since here in Germany, the price between them are only a few hundred euros difference. You spoke quite highly of the Heco Aurora 1000 speakers in your review so I wonder if they would sound better than the 8000F II.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gene]

Join us tonight at 11:30pm EDT for a Klipsch YT discussion:

 

[shadyJ]

Hey @shadyJ, thanks for a great write up as always. I wonder if you could comment on how the 8000F II compare to the Heco Aurora 1000 you tested earlier this year please. I am currently in the market to build a living room home theater with one of these two options and your input would be appreciated. Perhaps you could quickly say something regarding these two speakers during your video on YouTube later today since here in Germany, the price between them are only a few hundred euros difference. You spoke quite highly of the Heco Aurora 1000 speakers in your review so I wonder if they would sound better than the 8000F II.

Thanks in advance.

The HECO 1000s are a more neutral speaker overall, plus they are very undemanding regarding listener height; you can be seated high or low, and it's all good for them, and the response doesn't change much. With the Klipsch speakers, you really want to be listening at tweeter height. The HECO's tonality remains largely the same over a wide horizontal angle as well. The HECOs have a very wide dispersion pattern but the Klipschs have a narrow one, and the changes that will make in the soundstage is a matter of preference. The Klipschs have more bass and a more authoritative low-end.

 

[JengaHit]

Thanks for your thorough review. Question about time-intensity extreme toe-in with these Klipsch and other controlled-directivity speakers with which you've used TI trading (Arendal 1723 Monitors and Hsu CCB-8s). Have you experienced comb filtering? I would expect CF with conventional speakers as you move off-axis from MLP because of the difference in signal time arrival. But wondering if TI trading with its off-axis loudness compensation somehow masks or balances out any comb filtering with controlled-directivity speakers. (In my CCB-8 set up I don't hear anything resembling the CF examples with speech that some audio-engineering sites demonstrate. Dialogue is crystal clear even 7 ft off-axis of MLP.) This topic came up in another forum. Thanks.

 

[shadyJ]

I don't see how comb-filtering would affect a time-intensity toe-in more than a normal placement. I don't think comb-filtering is a significant issue in a typical stereo speaker placement. It might be something to think about if you were in a highly reflective room, but even then the distance between the right and left ears, the shape of the ears, and the head's acoustic shadow would mitigate that a lot. I wouldn't worry about comb-filtering unless it was coming from the individual speakers themselves and they were getting into the frequency bands of human voices.

 

[Hugystyle]

Hey there! Just bought those beauties on sales. Managed quite quickly to find a correct positioning compromise thanks to your advises. I am using it in a home cinema set up with a marantz 5015 and I was wondering how should i set the crossover and cutoff ? Right now it s at small 80hz and cutoff at 200hz. My room has strictly no sound treatment. Thanks for your help

 

[shadyJ]

Hey there! Just bought those beauties on sales. Managed quite quickly to find a correct positioning compromise thanks to your advises. I am using it in a home cinema set up with a marantz 5015 and I was wondering how should i set the crossover and cutoff ? Right now it s at small 80hz and cutoff at 200hz. My room has strictly no sound treatment. Thanks for your help

Your settings sound about right. You can play with the crossover if you want to see if you like the sound of more or less of the bandwidth going to the speakers. I would experiment with 60Hz to 100Hz. Just go with whatever sounds best to your ears. Most people stay with 80Hz which is perfectly fine too.

 

[lovinthehd]

Hey there! Just bought those beauties on sales. Managed quite quickly to find a correct positioning compromise thanks to your advises. I am using it in a home cinema set up with a marantz 5015 and I was wondering how should i set the crossover and cutoff ? Right now it s at small 80hz and cutoff at 200hz. My room has strictly no sound treatment. Thanks for your help

Cutoff?

 

[Hugystyle]

Cutoff?

The fact to limit equalization above a given frequency. The audissey app give you this option. This great video explaining this between other things

On a side note for shady, i am also still iterating on imaging vs treble. Right now i toed in the speakers and decreased treble tonality. Is it a viable approach ? Or it s better to keep native treble and not toe in at all ? I have 3 meters between each speaker and 3 meters between speakers and listening spot.
Thx for your help !

 

[lovinthehd]

The fact to limit equalization above a given frequency. The audissey app give you this option. This great video explaining this between other things

On a side note for shady, i am also still iterating on imaging vs treble. Right now i toed in the speakers and decreased treble tonality. Is it a viable approach ? Or it s better to keep native treble and not toe in at all ? I have 3 meters between each speaker and 3 meters between speakers and listening spot.
Thx for your help !

Thought that's what it was but some might refer to LPF of LFE.....

 

[shadyJ]

The fact to limit equalization above a given frequency. The audissey app give you this option. This great video explaining this between other things

On a side note for shady, i am also still iterating on imaging vs treble. Right now i toed in the speakers and decreased treble tonality. Is it a viable approach ? Or it s better to keep native treble and not toe in at all ? I have 3 meters between each speaker and 3 meters between speakers and listening spot.
Thx for your help !

To answer your question, the short version is that if you want the strongest treble, angle the speakers to face you directly. The further away from you that the speakers are facing will taper off treble energy- that isn;t a bad thing, but rather just a matter of personal preference. It can also affect imaging. The more inward that you face the speakers, the sharper the imaging can become, but that might come at the cost of spaciousness and envelopment.

The long answer to your question is contained in these videos that Audioholics did with Matthew Poes. Those videos are worth watching, especially since you have more controlled directivity speakers.

 

[conducator]

Hi there from Italy, I have a couple of RF82II, 33Hz-24KHz 98dB and I bet they sound pretty similar to RP8000fII. I was used to have a wonderful Heco The Statement speakers and "downgraded" to these Klipsch but even if I lost something in the bass area I found great presence, clarity and a very bold sound with Klipsch. But I have to say that most of us don't consider our ears as a part of the hardware, with all their pros and cons. Give your sound the right equalization and these Klipsch will surprise you avery time you listen to them. I play my music through pc, on a versatile Pioneer SC-LX87, connected to the built in usb Pioneer DAC, apply the Fletcher Munson curve of equal loudness to fit human ears limits through Equalizer Apo and the Voxengo Marvel GEQ plugin, a quantum leap is inevitable.

 

[Hugystyle]

Hey there ! I see the crossover of the speaker is at 1630hz and i was wondering if i should remove the audissey mid range compensation that occur at 2000hz. It can potentially decrease overall quality if i am not wrong. What do you think ?

 

[shadyJ]

Hey there ! I see the crossover of the speaker is at 1630hz and i was wondering if i should remove the audissey mid range compensation that occur at 2000hz. It can potentially decrease overall quality if i am not wrong. What do you think ?

I would restrict Audyssey to only address low-frequencies. This speaker's crossover is good enough, so its best not to tamper with it, especially with an automated EQ system.

 

[Hugystyle]

I would restrict Audyssey to only address low-frequencies. This speaker's crossover is good enough, so its best not to tamper with it, especially with an automated EQ system.

That s what I thought thanks a lot for the confirmation !

 

[DEECARRADINE85]

I could explain the ratings, but that would spoil the magic!

The only change that was made to pander to Atmos was the height channel binding posts and pass-through. I don't think they built these with a mind for HT or 2-channel. I think they just tried to make a good all-rounder.

i really wish you would have explained the ratings for the sake of not being misleading or contradicting. or maybe i just don't understand the whole magic reference??? i don't know. I'm thinking of selling my 6000f IIs for bigger klipsch's and I'm thinking of getting the 8000fs instead of the 8000f IIs because I have a hunch that they'd perform better. there's something weird going on with the horns on the new line of klipschs where the sound stage acts weird and the center focus is hard to lock in and is coming from above the speakers instead of in between at ear level. also i hear that 8000f has much better bass than 8000f II. So which is it. WHich is the better speakers? I have a feeling that your ratings are accurate but the reviews are contradictory.