Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-1600SW Subwoofer Review

[TLS Guy]

When I say "couldn't make a bad sound," I mostly mean high distortion from over-driving the cone. That is the one to worry about since that can put the sub in danger. Chuffing doesn't put the sub in danger by itself, and most ported subs can be pushed into port turbulence. In fact, I can't think of any that didn't off the top of my head. However, some only do it mildly. The problem with this sub is that it would run into port turbulence pretty early on as I raised the levels, at least at 20Hz and below. It's still a very good sub. And port chuffing is easily addressed by making the subwoofer face away from the listening position since that sound is fairly directional.

As I'm sure you know well though Shady, that is only half of the story. Even if you do not hear the chuff, it means that air flow in the port is turbulent and therefore distortion rises. In a reflex design in the active range of tuning when the port is active, most of the output is from the port as cone displacement decreases. You can see that in all models of ported speakers. At tuning, cone displacement is drastically curtailed and vent air flow increases. Below tuning, cone displacement rises rapidly.
You can see what I am saying in your distortion measurements. The port airflow is turbulent at low frequencies. I can say categorically that I make sure that does not happen when I have done designs for members. So, I absolutely would not make that trade off. Can I just say once more that I am so glad I have never had to shop for my speakers.

 

[moodysj33]

Would love to see this test re-run with some additional poly-fill. Seems like Klipsch does not do the best job of adding it to their subs. I did add more to both of mine and got real good results, in both REW measurements as well as improving the port chuffing. My results are below.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/another-project-adding-polyfill-to-a-ported-spl-150-with-results.3207099/&share_tid=3207099&share_fid=47413&share_type=t&link_source=app

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

[TLS Guy]

Would love to see this test re-run with some additional poly-fill. Seems like Klipsch does not do the best job of adding it to their subs. I did add more to both of mine and got real good results, in both REW measurements as well as improving the port chuffing. My results are below.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/another-project-adding-polyfill-to-a-ported-spl-150-with-results.3207099/&share_tid=3207099&share_fid=47413&share_type=t&link_source=app

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

You have to be careful adding damping material to a ported enclosure. There is a very fine line between killing the box resonance and not. You certainly NEVER pack it full of damping material like a sealed enclosure. The rule of thumb is generally to cover half of the inside area (not volume) with damping.

 

[moodysj33]

You have to be careful adding damping material to a ported enclosure. There is a very fine line between killing the box resonance and not. You certainly NEVER pack it full of damping material like a sealed enclosure. The rule of thumb is generally to cover half of the inside area (not volume) with damping.

Understood. I got improvements from adding poly to ensure that all sides were covered, but made sure to not fill the center volume, well as much as I could. But the results were encouraging.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

 

[gene]

► Deal Alert - Buy the Klipsch RP-1600SW for $1,439 shipped: https://bit.ly/KlipschRP1600SW

 

[squeedle]

@shadyJ I'm interested to hear more about the "Class D *with Analog Preamp Stage*". Can you clarify what that means here, or how that is different from competing designs? Why does it need a preamp stage?

 

[caioferrari]

As I'm sure you know well though Shady, that is only half of the story. Even if you do not hear the chuff, it means that air flow in the port is turbulent and therefore distortion rises. In a reflex design in the active range of tuning when the port is active, most of the output is from the port as cone displacement decreases. You can see that in all models of ported speakers. At tuning, cone displacement is drastically curtailed and vent air flow increases. Below tuning, cone displacement rises rapidly.
You can see what I am saying in your distortion measurements. The port airflow is turbulent at low frequencies. I can say categorically that I make sure that does not happen when I have done designs for members. So, I absolutely would not make that trade off. Can I just say once more that I am so glad I have never had to shop for my speakers.

I did some speaker models in my life, not as good as yours but I saw plenty of woofers that the ideal enclosure is a very small box with a very low Fb. It’s almost impossible to tune in correctly. Or you get a long port that doesn’t fit inside the box and have resonances or you have a small port area with chuffing.
I’ve been there a lot. Since I saw some SVS designs with this problem, a don’t doubt that Klipsch would do the same since they’re know for some bad designs

 

[squared80]

Impressed.

 

[Bobby Bass]

A beast of a sub. One contest winner is going to be very happy. Not sure about their neighbors though lol.

 

[gene]

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[Merc62]

Hi! Planning to buy one for a room of 30 m2 (90 m3 in volume). Since it has a Extreme bass rating here, maybe I should go for a RP-1400 model? It's a bit smaller and way lighter.
A consultant at the AV shop told me to get two RP-1200 SW or just one Velodyne DB-15, trying to convince me that this way the bass would cover the whole room and be larger. I need just one seat to have a perfect sound, not for 5 or 7 seats. I also doubt whether even two 12" speakers will produce as low bass as one 16" speaker.
Perhaps I should go for something in the middle: first to get one RP-1400 SW and to add a second one if it is needed.

 

[shadyJ]

Hi! Planning to buy a one for a room of 30 m2 (90 m3 in volume). Since it has a Extreme bass rating here, maybe I should go for a RP-1400 model? It's a bit smaller and way lighter.
A consultant at the AV shop told me to get two RP-1200 SW or just one Velodyne DB-15, trying to convince me that this way the bass would cover the whole room and be larger. I need just one seat to have a perfect sound, not for 5 or 7 seats. I also doubt whether even two 12" speakers will produce as low bass as one 16" speaker.
Perhaps I should go for something in the middle: first to get one RP-1400 SW and to add a second one if it is neede.

Multiple subs can get you a better room response and thus better sound quality in bass. Always go for the multiple subwoofer solution when possible. It does take a little bit of effort to realize the gains of multiple sub solutions, but the advantages are major, and single sub solutions can not compete.

 

[Merc62]

Multiple subs can get you a better room response and thus better sound quality in bass. Always go for the multiple subwoofer solution when possible. It does take a little bit of effort to realize the gains of multiple sub solutions, but the advantages are major, and single sub solutions can not compete.

For a 30 m2 room what subwoofer do you propose?

 

[shadyJ]

For a 30 m2 room what subwoofer do you propose?

The RP-1400SW's look decent. If you can get a deal on those, maybe go down that road.

 

[Merc62]

I can get both RP-1400SW and RP-1600SW. From one hand, I doubt what if the latter is too big for a room of this size, from another, I'd like to get the best model in the series just not to feel sorry for my choice.
The RP-1600SW is pretty big and heavy, though you are going to set it up once and never move it again.

 

[shadyJ]

I can get both RP-1400SW and RP-1600SW. From one hand, I doubt what if the latter is too big for a room of this size, from another, I'd like to get the best model in the series just not to feel sorry for my choice.
The RP-1600SW is pretty big and heavy, though you are going to set it up once and never move it again.

The 1600 is likely the better performer, but multiple subs are the way to go. If you can do multiple 1600s and want the best performance, that would be the ticket. However, if the 1600s are too big for a multiple sub system, 1400s would be really good too.

 

[Merc62]

Eventually I decided to go with two M&K Sound V15+ instead. The price was good.
They are pretty dynamic, though less punchy and cannot obtain so low bass. But overall bass quality will be higher, I believe. And they are smaller and much lighter. I guess I will manage to put them just under the screen, while that's not gonna be the case with RP-1600s.

 

[squared80]

Eventually I decided to go with two M&K Sound V15+ instead. The price was good.
They are pretty dynamic, though less punchy and cannot obtain so low bass. But overall bass quality will be higher, I believe. And they are smaller and much lighter. I guess I will manage to put them just under the screen, while that's not gonna be the case with RP-1600s.

Not understanding your rationale for buying less capable subs at a much higher price, stating they are 'less punchy and cannot obtain so low bass... and they are smaller and much lighter', but somehow coming to the conclusion that their 'overall bass quality will be higher'.

 

[Merc62]

Not understanding your rationale for buying less capable subs at a much higher price, stating they are 'less punchy and cannot obtain so low bass... and they are smaller and much lighter', but somehow coming to the conclusion that their 'overall bass quality will be higher'.

The price was the same, but two subs are definitely better than one. I’d have struggled to place two RP-1600s anyway—they’re just too heavy and bulky. Plus, they don’t come with a DSP, which makes them harder to fine-tune. And if I wanted to use Dirac Live Bass Control, I’d have had to shell out extra for the license. So those were my main reasons.