Should I trade in my RBH system for Klipsch?

[merwine]

I currently own a complete RBH system including 661-SE/R (LCR) and a pair of 44-SE's. I have owned this system for about six months now and I don't have any complaints. My questions is for those of you who have heard the set-up, how would the Klipsch THX Ultra-2 compare? I absolutely love my RBH setup but I have come across as sweet deal on the Ultra-2 system. Would you consider this an upgrade over my current system. Now i know that you should always listen to speakers before you buy them, however I don't have the opportunity in this case. Has anyone heard both of these setups?

 

[manly p hall]

I currently own a complete RBH system including 661-SE/R (LCR) and a pair of 44-SE's. I have owned this system for about six months now and I don't have any complaints. My questions is for those of you who have heard the set-up, how would the Klipsch THX Ultra-2 compare? I absolutely love my RBH setup but I have come across as sweet deal on the Ultra-2 system. Would you consider this an upgrade over my current system. Now i know that you should always listen to speakers before you buy them, however I don't have the opportunity in this case. Has anyone heard both of these setups?

if your soo happy with your current set-up why bother spending money on new gear that might not make you happy? i say keep your gear until they fail

 

[trnqk7]

Many people, myself included, would say that Klipsch and RBH has an entirely different type of sound. If you like RBH, Klipsch may not be your favorite. Klipsch tend to be "bright" to most people, which didn't bother me, but I didn't find it as clear and accurate as some other speakers I listened to when I was researching my new speakers (B&W, RBH, and Dali). RBH was much more "accurate" and "laid-back"...the highs were easily heard, but weren't quite so in your face as with the Klipsch's. I thought they imaged better too, but not as well as the Dali's I ended up buying. RBH was a great deal for what they are though, that is for sure.

Take allt his with a grain of salt-it's just my opinion, but hopefully it can give you something to consider if you can't make it to a store to listen to any of the Klipsch setups.

 

[MatthewB.]

If you like the RBH, why upgrade? Use that money in more effective ways to better the sound. Room acoustics or another sub (PB13 Ultra) maybe. You have a great speakers and feel over time you may not like the "brightness" of Klipsch if you are used to the great audio quality of RBH.

 

[alexsound]

I currently own a complete RBH system including 661-SE/R (LCR) and a pair of 44-SE's. I have owned this system for about six months now and I don't have any complaints. My questions is for those of you who have heard the set-up, how would the Klipsch THX Ultra-2 compare? I absolutely love my RBH setup but I have come across as sweet deal on the Ultra-2 system. Would you consider this an upgrade over my current system. Now i know that you should always listen to speakers before you buy them, however I don't have the opportunity in this case. Has anyone heard both of these setups?

Does anyone remember the Maxell commercial with the guy sitting in his chair right in front of the speaker with a glass of wine on a table next to him, he turns on Ride of the Valkyries, and his hair starts blowing back, and the wine glass starts sliding back from the powerful sound coming from the speaker, etc.? Well, with this Klipsch system, imagine the same scenario, only when you actually crank it up, (and it probably won't take much power to "crank"), imagine instead of your hair being blown back and your wine glass sliding back, your head and body and chair, get flattend against the back wall and the wine glass is vaporized back into sand. Ok, a little exageration to get to my point. I don't know just how big of a room you have, but the Ultra 2 system from Klipsch is designed for very, very large home theaters, like at least 2500-3500 sq ft rooms and bigger and is designed to hit VERY high SPL's in rooms of that size. If your sound/av room isn't as big as described above, the Klipsch Ultra 2 system would be overkill to the extreme. Stick to what you have, you will be happier. Large systems like this don't sound good in small to medium sized rooms.

 

[jamie2112]

No you shouldn't buy the klipsch. The RBH speakers sound much better than the klipsch IMO...

 

[merwine]

Thats what I am afraid of. I have heard time and time again that many people feel that Klipsch speakers sound bright. Especially when compared to something more laid back and open such as my RBH's. My only complaint with the RBH's is that they don't seem to be very loud. Maybe it is just me but even when the volume on my Denon reads -15 (playing through my XPA-5) they just don't seem to be loud. I have always been afraid to turn them up any louder in fear of pushing them too hard.

 

[rnatalli]

I wouldn't trade RBH for Klipsch.

 

[alexsound]

Thats what I am afraid of. I have heard time and time again that many people feel that Klipsch speakers sound bright. Especially when compared to something more laid back and open such as my RBH's. My only complaint with the RBH's is that they don't seem to be very loud. Maybe it is just me but even when the volume on my Denon reads -15 (playing through my XPA-5) they just don't seem to be loud. I have always been afraid to turn them up any louder in fear of pushing them too hard.

BTW, you may want to actually go and listen to some of the smaller Klipsch speakers out there like the RF-83's or 82's and see how you like them. they will more than likely play louder than your RBH's and you may actually like the way they sound. They may sound "bright" to some, but to many, they sound just right.

 

[trnqk7]

I doubt you'll push them too hard, those speakers can handle quite a bit of power according to the website (up to 225 watts).


I have noticed, personally, that speakers that sound "quiet" even though the volume is turned up, are actually playing quite loud. It's a lack of distortion in the sound that doesn't make it seem as loud or bother the ears as much. Perhaps the loudness you seek is really a lack of distortion? Dunno, just a thought.

Going out to listen to some Klipsch systems, even if they aren't exactly the same, would be a great idea to see if you even like the sound of that company. Some love it. I found nothing wrong with it, but nothing great about it either.

 

[zumbo]

If you are going to audition Klipsch, take some suplies.

 

[manly p hall]

If you are going to audition Klipsch, take some suplies.

hahahaha

 

[gene]

I currently own a complete RBH system including 661-SE/R (LCR) and a pair of 44-SE's. I have owned this system for about six months now and I don't have any complaints. My questions is for those of you who have heard the set-up, how would the Klipsch THX Ultra-2 compare? I absolutely love my RBH setup but I have come across as sweet deal on the Ultra-2 system. Would you consider this an upgrade over my current system. Now i know that you should always listen to speakers before you buy them, however I don't have the opportunity in this case. Has anyone heard both of these setups?

The Klipsch THX system is very nice for home theater and wow effect but its not even in the same league as the speakers you currently own with respect to music and tonal neutrality. Why fix something that isn't broke?

 

[The Dukester]

I vote for the RBH's, also, but I own some. I use two 1044, two 44 and a 441 center right now with a HSU sub. I have bought a front set up of the T2P's but have not set them up yet. For music, the RBH will sound better in my opinion. The Klipsch will sound great in a HT setup but sound too bright for me on music. I looked at several before bitting on RBH.
It depends on your room, also. A room with big, stuffed furniture, wall to wall carpet, not much glass, but with heavy drapes will tame the Klipsch down some. Hardwood floors with maybe a small rug (or not), a lot of glass with say, mini blinds and sparse furniture will really make the horn loaded speakers bright.

 

[WmAx]

Let's do a quick over view.....

RBH: Uses average to high quality drivers and superbly engineered crossovers in moderately resonant cabinets. Features very good off axis response and low driver energy storage. Average sensitivity. RBH tries to produce a neutral response with wide off axis coverage to produce room reflections that match the on axis sound - a very important feature to high quality sound. Though they fall down due to average resonance across the board - but most speakers have poor behavior in this regard.

Klipsche: Uses average quality drivers and average to medium high quality crossovers in moderate to highly resonant cabinets. Features poor off axis response and relatively low driver energy storage. Very high sensitivity. Off axis, the treble rapidly drops off due to the horn loaded tweeter. As a consequence, off axis response is a very poor match to on axis response. The mid range on down has a radically different off axis output as compared to the treble. Bad for sound quality, as the room response will not be close to the on axis response. Heavy room treatments will be more beneficial to this type of speaker as a result. Cabinets are average resonance in the bookshelf category from Klipsche with the floorstanders having typically extreme levels of resonance. I am referring to the Reference series. The lesser lines have even less potential.

The RBH has far more potential for realistic sound. The Klipsch has more potential for in-your-face loud sound.

-Chris

 

[klondike]

Does anyone remember the Maxell commercial with the guy sitting in his chair right in front of the speaker with a glass of wine on a table next to him, he turns on Ride of the Valkyries, and his hair starts blowing back, and the wine glass starts sliding back from the powerful sound coming from the speaker, etc.? Well, with this Klipsch system, imagine the same scenario, only when you actually crank it up, (and it probably won't take much power to "crank"), imagine instead of your hair being blown back and your wine glass sliding back, your head and body and chair, get flattend against the back wall and the wine glass is vaporized back into sand. Ok, a little exageration to get to my point. I don't know just how big of a room you have, but the Ultra 2 system from Klipsch is designed for very, very large home theaters, like at least 2500-3500 sq ft rooms and bigger and is designed to hit VERY high SPL's in rooms of that size. If your sound/av room isn't as big as described above, the Klipsch Ultra 2 system would be overkill to the extreme. Stick to what you have, you will be happier. Large systems like this don't sound good in small to medium sized rooms.

I had a framed version of that poster hung up on my wall in my room as a kid growing up. I still have it in the garage somewhere. If sound quality is what you are after I would stick with the RBH.