Klipsch RF-35 Speaker System

I recently traded up from the Klipsch SF-2 (see my other review) as these were lowered in price just after I purchased the SF-2's. Though the SF-2 is an incredible speaker these are much higher quality and I am glad I made the trade up.

The RF-3II's are basic in design with a 2-way setup: dual 8" bronze Cerametallic (TM) woofer cones and the titanium 1" horn loaded tweeter tied together with an "audiophile grade" crossover. They weigh in at 56 lbs. and stand 38.5" tall. They can be bi-wired. Nothing fancy or over the top...until you crank them up.

The equipment I use to drive them is fairly basic as I do not beleive in spending thousands of dollars in that area since the early 90's showed a lull in advances there and the cost for good, clean, reliable power is very low now. There have been many more advances made in loud speaker technology whereas amps and CD players have peaked for the time being. I am using SONY for both CD player and amp with 100 WPC dual channel only. No frills here with the exception of nice high quality inter-connects. I did not use the Sony provided.

First, I allowed a 36 hour mid-high volume break in with various material. I then picked Eric Clapton's "24 Nights", Annie Lennox's "Medusa" and Steely Dan's "Gaucho" to listen as I know those recordings very well.

The most stunning portion of this session was Annie Lennox's voice on "Thin line between love and hate". Oh, Man! Admitted, "Medusa" is very well recorded so it can really bring out the best (and worst) in a speaker. Her voice had all the attributes intended and nothing more. Her breathing, facial expressions and location with respect to the mic were all present and accurate. Annie Lennox is a very emotional and talented performer and the RF-3II's do her work justice. She shared the room with me that night (ha).

Clapton. This live recording is a must to all fans of the man and offers a lot of detail for auditioning or just enjoying two channel setups. The scuffle of feet on stage, random pick scrapes, subtle background vocals and crowd noises are all brought across very well. I was very impressed with this live performance.

Steeley Dan are masters of the studio and Gaucho is, IMHO, their best example. I have heard this recording hundreds of times and hearing it again on the Klipsch's was a warm and welcome expierence. If the RF-3II's could pull this off they'd have me convinced. They did it in style!

The RF-3II's offer a very human quality to vocals as well as solid but not over bearing bass. Subtle passages are very detailed and kept in check. No matter what is said of the loaded tweeter design these reference loudspeakers are carefully engineered to make the best use of them. The commonly reported "harshness" in the transition from the horn tweeter highs to the lower mid-range is not present in the RF-3II's.

Klipsch has stuck by their theory of horn loading the tweeter to divert much more precious energy to the rest of the speaker. They have made an art out of the craft of horn loaded tweeter design. With consideration of how much energy a crossover can take from your amp (if designed with detail in mind) this efficiency is very crucial. My 100 WPC amp is not taxed at all. My guess is that with ~30 WPC my ears begin to hurt due to their incredible 98dB efficiency. Effortless. I am a full fledged believer Klipsch's manner of engineering loud speakers and I seriously doubt I will own anything else.

I sat down to listen that night and decided these speakers are superior to any I have ever heard in the so called "mid-fi" range. I would pit these against any high end speaker in a similar build regardless of price. I have listened to a lot of equipment recently and these are superior to all the speakers I have heard in my recent quest to build a system for my new listening room.

Placement and location of the sweet spot was a breeze. The spiked feet are a must as these rock pretty hard for their heft.

Solid RECOMMEND.