Klipsch KLF-20 vs. RF-7 speakers

I have owned the 7's and use to sell the 20's... The 7's are a 2 way, and not the best balanced speaker, they are brighter in general than the 20's... The 20's are a 3 way, for a used price the 20's would probably be a better deal, both speakers may need an Equalizer to completly smooth them out, they both crank pretty good. However the 7's are in no way even close to the cheap build quality and cabinetry of the 20's... We would get 20's in the store and the baffle sometimes would come loose from the glue letting go.. Now this was fixed I believe on some more current models, but the cabinets were like maybe 3/4" particle and VERY cheap particle, and the other side walls were like 1/2", but I actually remember them being slightly thinner wood than that... very bad joints and veeners... And being such a large and heavy speaker have pretty bad bracing, way cheaper wire and stuff with the crossovers, but they still did not sound too bad, probably a better balance than the 7's, this is my opinion, so if you can find them cheap go for it if they are in good shape. 7's have very nice cabinets for the money I would say easily far superior to the old KLF series, they are MDF, very tight and solid joints, resonably good veener, would probably last forever, and gimmicky monster cable wire in them, which are fine.. but still fairly cheap crossovers. Without an Absolute A-B test with YOUR own ears this is a near impossible debate to choose, and will always depend on the equipment it is hooked too... But like I said if you can pick up a pair for like 500 or whatever a killer deal is these days, thats a deciding factor.

Myraj,

I've owned my KLF-20's for six years now and have heard the RF-7's. I haven't A/B'd them in the same room using the same equipment but will offer up my opinions of each.

The RF-7's that I heard were at a high end audio store hooked up to some very nice equipment. They were stock and sounded nice. Overall sound was really good, a little bright, soundstage, imaging and dynamics were very good too. The RF-7's respond really well to crossover mods and, in fact take this speaker to an entirely new level. I have not heard a modded RF-7.

I have spent six years with my KLF-20's. The first almost five years in the unmodified form. The last year and a half with modified crossover networks. Night and day. Stock these speaker just rock. They have balls to take plenty of power and the dynamics with horns is just fantastic. I upgraded the crossover networks and these speakers are just at an incredible level. Across the entire spectrum, these speakers are at an entirely new level of performance. They are not bright, they have dynamics in spades, excellent soundstage and imaging.

As far as the build quality of my KLF-20's, I've never had any issues with the cabinets, veneers, or construction.

Differences are mainly going to be that the RF-7 is a two way design and the KLF-20 is a traditional three way design like all the heritage Klipsch. Ultimately, it's up to your ears.

My components are as follows:

EAD-CD1000 mkIII cdp
EICO HF-81 integrated tube amp (14 watts/ch)
Plinius 8100 integrated SS amp (100 watts/ch)

Both are plenty of power for either one of these speakers. Either way you go, make sure to upgrade the crossover networks.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I have owned KLF-20 for a while but I have not upgraded any in them yet. Would you give informations likes...where to buy, what should I buy, how to do .....Thanks

123henry97,

I send you an email. Let me know how I can help.

Thanks,
Mike

I own KLF-20 and RF-7 Klipsch speakers. I've also had the Forte II Klipsch speakers and the KLF-20 were on the thin side compared to the Forte's that kind of really bugged me, nice sounding but thin compared to the Forte and RF-7 but I replaced the diaphrams with the Titanium kit and this helped the KLF-20's not be so thin sounding.

The RF-7's are smoother and all the way around better from top to bottom than both the KLF-20 and Forte II. I've heard the RF-7 sounding just ok, to absolutely stunning sound by just what it's run on, so the equipment you pick for it is very important as the RF-7 are very dependant of what sound you get with just how good of gear you run on it. Give the RF-7's the best quality and it will give you back stunning nirvana sound like no other, the RF-7's perform better than my 1995 Klipschorn's with imaging, resolution, and detail. The Klipschorn's have a larger soundfield but the RF-7's come darn close to it.

My KLF-20's are from 1996 and I've never had any problems with them and the build quality is pretty good for todays speakers but yes, the build quality on the RF-7's are better.

Klipsch speakers are not bright unless you put a bright source to them. The trick with any Klipsch speaker is to not put a bright source with them because Klipsch is VERY revealing speakers.

The sound from the RF-7's are stunning and the crossovers DO NOT need to be changed, run them with very good quality high current gear and you will get great quality sound. People who changed the crossover are doing it to tame down the sound when using it with bright gear. I don't recommend that because it takes out the "presence" that is so revealing and involving that the RF-7's have.