What do you know about klipsch rb-81 mkii?

A

Appoddigare

Audiophyte
Hi everyone, this is my first thread since im new in the forum. So i'm in the market for a pair of bookshelf speakers and my budget is 400-450€ (i'm italian). My current system is composed by a onkyo tx-sr501e 6.1 receiver at 65 wpc on 8 ohms, a pair of jbl tlx-6 and a klipsch r-12sw. I know none of this is hifi and that the avr is not great for a stereo system, but the part i would like to change first are the speakers, since i think it's the worst. I bought them some time ago because i found an old technics stereo integrated amp, i had 150€, i wanted to start my "audio journey" so i bought them used from a dude in my city. I was attracted by the jbl brand but i wasn't really satisfied, despite the 8 inch woofer the base isn't great, the voice and mids sound "nasal", closed and boxy. Now the type of music i listen to can vary, when i'm alone i like to listen to pink floyd, 70's and 80's disco and pop hits, but also ac-dc queen and led zeppelin. Sometimes though i invite some friends at home and i like to put some music like electronic dance, rap and music usually used in parties like migos or whatever, just to get a lively ambience. Basically what i'm looking for is a type of speaker that i can listen to without getting sound fatigue just to to chill a bit, but also that have enough liveness when i pump the music with mt friends. Until now, all these informations brought me into the triangle borea br03, i watched zero fidelity review and he basically said that they are good for relaxed listening but are "live" enough to have some fun, they have an exceptional midrange for the price, strong bass, and clear enough trebles, and are easy to drive, so at that point i was pretty convinced. A year and a half ago however, while i was trying to find the "next" speaker, i stumbled into the klipsch rb-81 mk2, this speaker caught my attention because it featured a 8 inch midbass driver and (as traditional klipsch's) a horn loaded tweeter, and because it is a beautiful big speaker. Now i particularly like big speakers that theoretically deliver big wide sound, that's why i was interested in the jbls, it's just that small tiny speakers dont really give me the feeling of a strong lively sound (i know it might me a bias), and according to what-hifi the rb81s have good (maybe too much?) Bass for parties, and the tractrix horn delivers some good forward trebles. I dont have enough space in my room for some floorstanders, and nobody today makes bookshelfs with a woofer larger than 6.5". I gave up with them because i wasnt able to buy them with my budget and no one was selling them, i couldn't even listen to them, and they wer not found on amazon or ebay. Now that i was looking at the triangles i found the klipsch are retailed at 200 each on ebay and amazon in my country, so they are now in my budget range, the only problem is im not so sure about them anymore, though they still interest me. Listening to steve guttemberg, zero fidelity and other reviewers i developed the idea that klipsch has a particular sound, not for everybody, some may call it "harsh" and to date there isnt any actual review of the rb81mkii on the internet, no suggestion about who might like it and who might not. I think they may be more fun than the triangles but more fatiguing in the long run, i also saw the rp600m but i think that even if they sound very open, they have little bass, and little warmth, so i preferred the triangle over them. I actually dont know anything about any of them, so is there anyone who onw a pair of them that could tell me how they sound? Their pro and cons, what amp get better sound out of them? And the same questions goes for the triangles br03 if anyone owns them. I apologise if i made some mistakes but english isnt my first language. Thanks to everyone
 
Last edited:
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Hi everyone, this is my first thread since im new in the forum. So i'm in the market for a pair of bookshelf speakers and my budget is 400-450€ (i'm italian). My current system is composed by a onkyo tx-sr501e 6.1 receiver at 65 wpc on 8 ohms, a pair of jbl tlx-6 and a klipsch r-12sw. I know none of this is hifi and that the avr is not great for a stereo system, but the part i would like to change first are the speakers, since i think it's the worst. I bought them some time ago because i found an old technics stereo integrated amp, i had 150€, i wanted to start my "audio journey" so i bought them used from a dude in my city. I was attracted by the jbl brand but i wasn't really satisfied, despite the 8 inch woofer the base isn't great, the voice and mids sound "nasal", closed and boxy. Now the type of music i listen to can vary, when i'm alone i like to listen to pink floyd, 70's and 80's disco and pop hits, but also ac-dc queen and led zeppelin. Sometimes though i invite some friends at home and i like to put some music like electronic dance, rap and music usually used in parties like migos or whatever, just to get a lively ambience. Basically what i'm looking for is a type of speaker that i can listen to without getting sound fatigue just to to chill a bit, but also that have enough liveness when i pump the music with mt friends. Until now, all these informations brought me into the triangle borea br03, i watched zero fidelity review and he basically said that they are good for relaxed listening but are "live" enough to have some fun, they have an exceptional midrange for the price, strong bass, and clear enough trebles, and are easy to drive, so at that point i was pretty convinced. A year and a half ago however, while i was trying to find the "next" speaker, i stumbled into the klipsch rb-81 mk2, this speaker caught my attention because it featured a 8 inch midbass driver and (as traditional klipsch's) a horn loaded tweeter, and because it is a beautiful big speaker. Now i particularly like big speakers that theoretically deliver big wide sound, that's why i was interested in the jbls, it's just that small tiny speakers dont really give me the feeling of a strong lively sound (i know it might me a bias), and according to what-hifi the rb81s have good (maybe too much?) Bass for parties, and the tractrix horn delivers some good forward trebles. I dont have enough space in my room for some floorstanders, and nobody today makes bookshelfs with a woofer larger than 6.5". I gave up with them because i wasnt able to buy them with my budget and no one was selling them, i couldn't even listen to them, and they wer not found on amazon or ebay. Now that i was looking at the triangles i found the klipsch are retailed at 200 each on ebay and amazon in my country, so they are now in my budget range, the only problem is im not so sure about them anymore, though they still interest me. Listening to steve guttemberg, zero fidelity and other reviewers i developed the idea that klipsch has a particular sound, not for everybody, some may call it "harsh" and to date there isnt any actual review of the rb81mkii on the internet, no suggestion about who might like it and who might not. I think they may be more fun than the triangles but more fatiguing in the long run, i also saw the rp600m but i think that even if they sound very open, they have little bass, and little warmth, so i preferred the triangle over them. I actually dont know anything about any of them, so is there anyone who onw a pair of them that could tell me how they sound? Their pro and cons, what amp get better sound out of them? And the same questions goes for the triangles br03 if anyone owns them. I apologise if i made some mistakes but english isnt my first language. Thanks to everyone
The RB-81s are a bit sharper than Klipsch's newer speakers, and the highs might be a bit more harsher. The waveguide used in the RF series is not as sophisticated as the newer waveguides. I have heard them and I didn't think they sounded terrible at the time. It you wanted something in a bookshelf speaker size that has some solid bass, look at studio monitors with 8" woofers. The Klipsch RB-81 will definitely have a dynamic range advantage over most other bookshelf speakers that you can buy thanks to the titanium compression driver.
 
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