Review: Klipsch RF-7II Reference Series Home Theater Speaker System

Today we are giving Klipsch a review with its flagship RF-7II Reference Series Home Theater Speaker System. An award-winning system that has also won Editors’ Choice with us. We have been spending a lot of time testing this system out off-site. We visited 3 different sample theaters with this system setup and took detailed notes of each of our experiences so that we can combine it all into a simple and easy to understand review!

It is easy to say that Klipsch has a long record of outstanding quality and long-lasting speakers. They create amazing speakers that deliver crisp, loud and vibrant sound to the listener, regardless of what they are listening to. Always great for movies, sports and listening to music, their speakers can introduce listeners to the gateway of true reference sound. This series is one of those (as well as Palladium Series…but that’s a whole new level for those who can afford a whole new price, so we won’t touch on those right now), it leaves nothing behind when it comes to performance and quality.

The RF-7II system can deliver the perfect sound for daily listening of TV but delivers something much more when it comes to sitting down for a movie or listening to a high-quality music source such as an SACD, DVD-A disc, DTS album or high-quality FLAC files on a PC (and so forth). When you dive into the latter, you experience a very warm range of sound delivered comfortably to the ears almost forcing you to close your eyes and smile.

The full range of the main (floor-standing) speakers is outstanding. The lows are very well defined and the highs are sharply delivered thanks to the 1.75″ titanium horn-loaded tweeter (aka Tractrix® Horn) that creates shockingly realistic sound effects in movies (ie, gunshots, sword fights, and the sort) and captures your attention instantly when playing high-quality music with horns/brass, vocals or strings.

The rear speakers produced perfect levels. Nothing seemed distant or soft, and with the right settings on your receiver/amp, none of these speakers will over-power the other. The center speaker presented the dialogue in movies perfectly as well as the vocals in some of the tracks that focused on the center. The center speaker was very comparable to the mains in quality and presence. Comparable to the point that you have to take it down a few DB as it was a little too powerful at first.

We watched various movie (blu-ray) samples with the RF-7II system and each one resulted in instant satisfaction. We felt as though we were actually at the theater…only this sounded better than that. We then tested our ears to some SACD albums and FLAC material to see how well it performed. The music was absolutely outstanding. The horns melted you as the full mid and low range swept you from your feet and kept your inner child floating around the room in an ecstasy of excitement. We listened to some jazz, classic rock and live performances. Some would say that there are those in the world who’s life would be literately changed if they heard this full system as they would have never expected to hear speakers produce a whole new level of sound like this.

At times, it felt as though you could close your eyes and imagine yourself on stage. The breathing of the horn players, the sliding of the strings and the vocal transitions in the singer’s voice. If only everyone could afford to buy this system for their home (of course the smaller and mid-range companies would fall out of business quickly if that were possible).

The volume these speakers can pull off is also exceptional. You will permanently damage your ears before you create any distortion within these speakers. They sound just as good loud as they do turned way down to a relaxing distant level.

Like all Klipsch speakers, it takes very little power to light these up so you can use them moderately on a mid-range receiver, or you can choose to go all out using your pre-outs and dedicated amps (stick to tube amps though with these speakers to get the most out of them).

These speakers may not compare fully to brands like Bowers & Wilkens or MBL, but they (like Paradigm) provide a perfect “next best” solution…and they won’t cost as much as 2 new cars or your entire house for that matter. These speakers will, however, surpass anything your eyes could expect to hear from a typical electronics store speaker display. Polk Audio, Sony, Samsung…even BOSS and Infinity by Harman couldn’t live up to what these sound like.

So if you are an audiophile who prefers high fidelity full-range sound, have a decent size room/theater to set these up in and the price range is right for what you are looking for, this is a system for you. It doesn’t get any better than this unless you switch over to Klipsch Palladium or Paradigm Signature series (and then graduating to B&W and so forth).

The system generally goes for around $6600+ but you can find it at a low of about $5499. We have provided as many links to such as possible to make it easy.

Full Klipsch RF-7II 5.1 System (Black):
Full 5.1 system with Onkyo TX-NR838 7.2 AV Receiver

Full Klipsch RF-7II 5.1 System (Cherry):
Full 5.1 system with Denon AVR-X4000 5.1 AV Receiver

Klipsch RF-7II Stereo Set-up (Cherry):
Stereo RF-7 II Floorstanding Pair With Onkyo TX-NR838 7.2 AV Receiver

Here is a list of some of the SACD media we listened to that got the best reaction out of us (aka, our absolute favorites):

• Beatles – Love (Audio DVD)
• Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms [Hybrid SACD – DSD]
• Rush – Hemispheres [Hybrid SACD – DSD]
• Yes – Close to the Edge [Hybrid SACD – DSD]
• Diana Krall – Look of Love [DVD-A Audio] (note, get a used copy for best price)
• Eagles – Hotel California [Hybrid SACD – DSD]
• The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out [SACD]

System Specs

RF-7 II Floorstanding Speakers (Black or Cherry):

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:	30Hz-24KHz ± 3dB
SENSITIVITY:	101dB @ 2.83V / 1m
POWER HANDLING:	250W RMS / 1000W Peak
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE:	8 ohms compatible
HIGH FREQUENCY HORN:	8″ square 90° x 60° Tractrix® Horn
LOW FREQUENCY DRIVER:	Two 10″ (25.4cm) Cerametallic cone woofers
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY:	1200Hz
ENCLOSURE TYPE:	Bass-reflex via dual rear-firing ports
INPUTS:	Dual binding posts / bi-wire / bi-amp
HEIGHT:	48.5″ (123.3cm) with feet
WIDTH:	11.6″ (29.5cm)
DEPTH:	16.3″ (41.5cm) with grille
WEIGHT:	87.1lbs (39.5kg)
FINISHES:	Black Ash , Medium Cherry furniture grade wood veneer
BUILT FROM:	2010

RC-64 II Center Speaker (Black or Cherry):

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:	59Hz-24KHz ± 3dB
SENSITIVITY:	99dB @ 2.83V / 1m
POWER HANDLING:	200W RMS / 800W Peak
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE:	8 ohms compatible
LOW FREQUENCY DRIVER:	Quad 6.5″ (16.5cm) Cerametallic cone woofers
HIGH FREQUENCY CROSSOVER:	1100Hz, 1400Hz
ENCLOSURE TYPE:	Sealed
INPUTS:	Dual binding posts / bi-wire / bi-amp
HEIGHT:	8″ (20.3cm)
WIDTH:	35.8″ (91cm)
DEPTH:	13″ (33cm) with grille
WEIGHT:	51.8lbs (23.5kg)
MOUNTING:	Uptilt and Downtilt feet
FINISHES:	Black Ash , Medium Cherry furniture grade wood veneer
BUILT FROM:	2010

RS-62 II Surround/Rear Speakers (Always Black):

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:	50Hz-24KHz ± 3dB
SENSITIVITY:	97dB @ 2.83V / 1m
POWER HANDLING:	150W RMS / 600W Peak
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE:	8 Ohms compatible
LOW FREQUENCY DRIVER:	Dual 6.5″ (16.5cm) Cerametallic cone woofers
HIGH FREQUENCY CROSSOVER:	1300Hz
ENCLOSURE TYPE:	Bass-reflex via quad side-firing ports
INPUTS:	Single binding posts
HEIGHT:	15″ (38.1cm)
WIDTH:	16.3″ (41.5cm)
DEPTH:	9.2″ (23.4cm)
WEIGHT:	22.7lbs (10.3kg)
MOUNTING:	Keyhole bracket and quad 1/4″-20 threaded inserts
FINISH:	Matte Black vinyl
BUILT FROM:	2010

SW-115 Subwoofer (Always Black):

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:	18Hz-150Hz ± 3dB
MAX ACOUSTIC OUTPUT:	121dB @ 30Hz 1/8 space, 1m
AMPLIFIER TYPE:	BASH® Digital Hybrid
AMPLIFIER POWER:	400 watts continuous @ <2% THD / Dynamic Power*: 800 watts
DRIVE COMPONENTS:	15″ (38.1cm) Active non-resonant Woven Fiberglass driver
ENCLOSURE TYPE:	Bass-reflex via front-firing slot port
INPUTS:	L/R Line-level RCA jacks, L/R High-level speaker binding posts, WA port
OUTPUTS:	None
WEIGHT:	69lbs (31.3kg)
DIMENSIONS:	19.75″ (50.2cm) H x 17.5″ (44.5cm) W x 26″ (66cm) D
FINISH:	Black pica
VOLTAGE:	100-120V / 220-240V~50/60Hz 4A (Auto-voltage switching) with 1 Watt standby
EXPORT VERSION:	NA, EU
BUILT FROM:	2011

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Are you a manufacturer or vendor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.