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Klipsch RP-600M Speaker Review

gags11

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Klipsch used to use titanium dome compression drivers for their horns. They have gone cheap and have started using something they call LTS tweeter.
 

mhardy6647

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To my ears the boom-tizzz is more curve shaped. This speaker has the middle midrange (250-1000Hz) at the right level.

The dip in the presence region is preposterously gargantuan, though...

You're probably correct -- I'd still expect these to sound right at home on those old white metal shelves in any mall's Radio Shack, ca. 1975. :oops:

Oh, and the review mentioned above at https://hometheaterhifi.com/reviews/speaker/bookshelf/klipsch-rp-600m-loudspeaker-review/
contains one of the more amusingly worded statements I've seen lately (very few statements lately have been amusingly worded :( ).

The tweeter of the RP-600M shows signs of careful engineering.
Is that like showing signs of life [e.g., fogging up a mirror held under its nostrils] -- or signs of intelligence?

At this point I'm convinced the "Klipsch sound" is intentional.
always was, AFAIK.
 

gags11

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PS: some more expensive models still use compression drivers, but most of their affordable line has go to these cheap LTS tweeters.
 

wwenze

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Is the phase curve normal? Never seen it before, though to be fair I haven't seen many.

Phase can do a 360 a few times

Example:

Or a simpler picture example from stereophile
Lsfig16.jpg
 

wwenze

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bigbag34

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They obviously understand marketing and engineering. Their waveguide is well designed so I can only assume that they purposely design in their “house sound.”
 

PierreV

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I own a pair of some version of Klipsch RF-7 I picked up in a sale. They are really, and I mean really, awful speakers. Granted, they were much cheaper than the Giyas or Focal. But if I have ever heard a night and day, veil lifting difference that was it.
 

Cahudson42

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Inevitably, GR-Research has crossover mods that greatly improve the frequency response:
Just to confirm I understand this (at least a bit) one could use a miniDSP 2x4 (or 4 channels of a DSP-408), have a 4-channel amp (such as 2 RX-596), add a pair of terminals to each speaker, remove completely the existing analog crossover, wire each woofer and tweeter to their own pair of terminals and amplifier (resistor in series with a tweeter lead? Needed - or not?) - and accomplish the same thing.

If true, advantages and disadvantages?
 

A800

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Klipsch going Bose?
 

Honken

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The floorstander version that I own, the RP-8000F, measures more or less the same with the same extreme dip. After having owned them for a while, I'm a bit unsure how Audioholics measured them to be 'neutral'. I honestly didn't really dislike the sound though, personal tastes I guess.

With EQ having "beat it into shape" it sounds quite great, to me. The horns seem to be incredibly sensitive to positioning, so I guess if you have a large listening position these would be out of the question.
Just to confirm I understand this (at least a bit) one could use a miniDSP 2x4 (or 4 channels of a DSP-408), have a 4-channel amp (such as 2 RX-596), add a pair of terminals to each speaker, remove completely the existing analog crossover, wire each woofer and tweeter to their own pair of terminals and amplifier (resistor in series with a tweeter lead? Needed - or not?) - and accomplish the same thing.

If true, advantages and disadvantages?
I'm quite curious about doing something like this as well.
 

levimax

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Just to confirm I understand this (at least a bit) one could use a miniDSP 2x4 (or 4 channels of a DSP-408), have a 4-channel amp (such as 2 RX-596), add a pair of terminals to each speaker, remove completely the existing analog crossover, wire each woofer and tweeter to their own pair of terminals and amplifier (resistor in series with a tweeter lead? Needed - or not?) - and accomplish the same thing.

If true, advantages and disadvantages?
Yes you could do this (no resistors needed) and then with the help of REW and a USB mic you could make measurements and design and test your own active crossovers, balance driver levels, and even adjust the phase. Based on this review it looks like the enclosure and drivers and wave guides are decent and you should be able to come up with a well preforming active bi-amped speaker which would out perform the stock version of this speaker by a wide margin. That is the advantage. The disadvantages are cost of mini DSP and Mic and there would be a steep learning curve to in essence become a speaker designer. I would highly recommend it as you would learn a lot and you could endlessly try out new ideas... depending on if you like DIY or not that is either an advantage or disadvantage.
 

wwenze

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Remember to put a high value capacitor as a HPF for the tweeter to block any possible DC.

Resistor may be useful to reduce noise but likely not needed.
 

ROOSKIE

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Several measurements have confirmed it, this speaker is not going for flat response.
Odd that is gets so many rave reviews, I understand that some folks will like and prefer this sound (I mean Klipsch knows how to make it sound however they want) I am still surprised that nearly all the reviews are so positive.
I almost purchased this several times to try, glad I did not - I don't think this sound signature is for me.
Obviously like many here I am wondering about the GR research mod. Prolly not worth the efforts but if anyone has one to send in I will chip in toward shipping.
That GR guy sure runs the gamut from using good measurements to touting some pretty likely "snake oil" as well. Who know though maybe those "tube connectors" really do sound that different???
 

Haint

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The crossover gulf is unfortunately a well known issue with the entire current AND preceding RP line (possibly predating even that). Not just in theory or lab tests, I've seen several people post Audyssey App screengrabs showing -10dB+ gulfs, so it does consistently present in real in-room response. It's good to see EQ'ing mostly alleviates at least the major audible issue, which is not bad as I suppose a vast majority of Klipsch speakers are powered by AVR's with some measure of Auto EQ.
 

Haint

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Most of the reviews that I have read/viewed mention that these speakers present a sound stage seemingly originating from up-close, as opposed to coming from the actual distance of the speakers, or even behind the speakers. Is this a thing (is this something that can be read from the measurements) or is this more about room and positioning or just subjective-review quackery?

I'm no expert, but that does actually sound like it could be describing the narrow horizontal directivity. No real sound power in the side wall reflections would presumably give a small and narrow sound stage compared to other speakers.
 

napilopez

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The floorstander version that I own, the RP-8000F, measures more or less the same with the same extreme dip. After having owned them for a while, I'm a bit unsure how Audioholics measured them to be 'neutral'. I honestly didn't really dislike the sound though, personal tastes I guess.

The 8000F don't look all that bad from MZKM's image above.

All that being said, it doesn't seem Klipsch always goes for this kind of tuning. The RP-820F measured by Soundstage Network looks quite flat -- if a little messy -- 15 -20 degrees off axis and has good directivity.

Screenshot_20200319-223805.png


So I'm not sure they even really go for a 'house sound.'
 

napilopez

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Most of the reviews that I have read/viewed mention that these speakers present a sound stage seemingly originating from up-close, as opposed to coming from the actual distance of the speakers, or even behind the speakers. Is this a thing (is this something that can be read from the measurements) or is this more about room and positioning or just subjective-review quackery?

Yeah this is a natural effect of narrow directivity speakers, although it of course depends largely on the recording. But for a typical stereo recording, narrower directivity means a more upfront soundstage. You can imagine that at the theoretical extreme, super narrow directivity speakers would basically be like headphones, where you here none of the room.
 
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