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Klipsch rp-600M II reviews

tjtremor

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ROOSKIE

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I like Andrew's(&Kristi's) reviews for entertainment.
Measurements are not really their thing.
I would not republish them. If they get more into measurements and and also clearly demostrate some genuine understanding of what they mean and how to take really meaningful ones, then maybe at that point they can be given more credence.
I do think as far as 100% subjective reviews go they are a fun duo and tend to be worth watching if you enjoy audioporn.(YouTube style)
 

theyellowspecial

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From the in-room measurement it looks like the severe BBC dip is no longer present. Andrew and his wife put the 600M II on equal footing with the M16, so that's high praise (and they really praised the M16).

I had the RP-150M briefly and it measured very neutral, and I know the 500m has measured neutral elsewhere. Maybe Klipsch has decided to neutralize their 6 inch version. The only thing I didn't like about the 150m was the obvious distortion in the 400-600Hz region. The distortion was actually "pleasing" in that it warmed the sound a bit, but at the expense of robbing detail. Klipsch said they updated their drivers with lower distortion, so that's good to hear.

Hopefully someone sends these to Amir. I'm surprised Amir doesn't measure more new speakers, but maybe new speaker reviews don't result in the web traffic I'm assuming.
 

PatentLawyer

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ROOSKIE

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The only thing I didn't like about the 150m was the obvious distortion in the 400-600Hz region. The distortion was actually "pleasing" in that it warmed the sound a bit, but at the expense of robbing detail. Klipsch said they updated their drivers with lower distortion, so that's good to hear.
So out if curiosity what level is the harmonic distortion from 400-600hrz in the rp150m?
I have never used that speaker just wondering what you found.
I tested the rp160m and that driver (same one as the 600m version 1) is really robust with really low distortion for the class. If it is even lower in the 600m v2 then wonderful but the 160m was already doing very well.

The other thing is high levels of HD at 500hrz are more likely to affect the sound of the upper mids. Not sure if that is typically warming. (1000hrz-1500hrz)
What might make them sound warm is HD from say 40-150hrz which you then hear as a potential thickening and additive (warming?)at 80-450hrz if the HD is 2nd & 3rd order.
 

theyellowspecial

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So out if curiosity what level is the harmonic distortion from 400-600hrz in the rp150m?
I have never used that speaker just wondering what you found.
I tested the rp160m and that driver (same one as the 600m version 1) is really robust with really low distortion for the class. If it is even lower in the 600m v2 then wonderful but the 160m was already doing very well.

The other thing is high levels of HD at 500hrz are more likely to affect the sound of the upper mids. Not sure if that is typically warming. (1000hrz-1500hrz)
What might make them sound warm is HD from say 40-150hrz which you then hear as a potential thickening and additive (warming?)at 80-450hrz if the HD is 2nd & 3rd order.
I can't remember the levels and didn't save my measurements, but they were notably higher than the rest of the range.

Maybe it was something else I was hearing. Going by the Fives review on EAC the tweeter from 2k+ is very directional. The RP-150m has the same rising on-axis treble to compensate, but maybe not enough to compensate for lack of energy off-axis, despite the in-room response having a shallow slope. I also have medium pile carpet, some paintings and tapestries in my room.
 

AwesomeSauce2015

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From the in-room measurement it looks like the severe BBC dip is no longer present. Andrew and his wife put the 600M II on equal footing with the M16, so that's high praise (and they really praised the M16).

I had the RP-150M briefly and it measured very neutral, and I know the 500m has measured neutral elsewhere. Maybe Klipsch has decided to neutralize their 6 inch version. The only thing I didn't like about the 150m was the obvious distortion in the 400-600Hz region. The distortion was actually "pleasing" in that it warmed the sound a bit, but at the expense of robbing detail. Klipsch said they updated their drivers with lower distortion, so that's good to hear.

Hopefully someone sends these to Amir. I'm surprised Amir doesn't measure more new speakers, but maybe new speaker reviews don't result in the web traffic I'm assuming.
I think Amir wants to avoid having to buy a bunch of new speakers... If someone sends it over, I wouldn't be surprised if he prioritized a newer speaker over an older one.
Also, ASR doesn't have ads, so I don't think tons of web traffic is really needed or desired, apart from the sharing of knowledge and educating consumers - which in turn leads to better products as companies are held accountable.

But in response to the BBC dip, while I hope it's gone, the measurement above is an in-room measurement (bad), with an insane amount of smoothing (not great), and no scale. I mean, you can't even see any room modes, and you know there have to be room modes.

Another thing: The graph is labeled "M16 in room response", not "RP-600M 2 in room response". Is that graph even for the Klipsch?

So in conclusion, I would really like to see these on a klippel, but I'm not super hopeful given Klipsch's past works in this segment.
 

theyellowspecial

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You're right the graph is quite smoothed. Also, no indication how far from the speaker the measurement was taken. It is the RP-600M II, though. At least, the measurement is from the video review posted.
 

DSJR

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Good grief, even I might like it.

Around six hundred quid the pair in the UK and, well, Klipsch have always had an 'attitude' and if it's still lively but in a sensitively 'tamed' way, then good bloody luck to them frankly.

P.S. Looks as if they're in the midst of updating some of these models and the website isn't exactly helpful right now... For oldies like me though and if they follow through with better performing speakers than before, got to be better than a techie looking KEF (where the music's soul is in danger of being surgically removed along with the 'wrinkles' :D ) and being an oldie, the name 'Klipsch' may carry more kudos as well :D (all total bollix, but I don't care any more :cool:)
 
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Vacceo

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What music does Kef remove? Carcass blasts on them perfectly fine.

Probably they blast perfectly fine on those Klipsch too.
 

LTig

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Erins video review is online, seems like a good improvement:


View attachment 208836
...and 10 dB less efficiency as stated in the spec sheet in the OPs initial posting. Far from a surprise though as physics limit what you can expect in SPL from a 6.5" driver with specified bass extension down to 44 Hz @ -3 dB.
 

ROOSKIE

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What music does Kef remove? Carcass blasts on them perfectly fine.

Probably they blast perfectly fine on those Klipsch too.
I suppose I have had the same experience as @DSJR
KEF makes great stuff that I appreciate in a lot of ways. I have just never felt like keeping a pair.
Rarely start "toe tapping+" when using the KEF stuff I have tried.
My GF described them as "reverse osmisis water". If you don't know RO water, it is very clean but stripped of all the mineral content that clean "mountain spring water", would contain. Kind of soulless I guess.
I found them(q150,q350, especially R3) to sound like great sounding speakers, rather than presenting great sound if that makes sense. Who knows. Subjective part of the hifi territory for sure.
 

Vacceo

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I suppose I have had the same experience as @DSJR
KEF makes great stuff that I appreciate in a lot of ways. I have just never felt like keeping a pair.
Rarely start "toe tapping+" when using the KEF stuff I have tried.
My GF described them as "reverse osmisis water". If you don't know RO water, it is very clean but stripped of all the mineral content that clean "mountain spring water", would contain. Kind of soulless I guess.
I found them(q150,q350, especially R3) to sound like great sounding speakers, rather than presenting great sound if that makes sense. Who knows. Subjective part of the hifi territory for sure.
It sounds like you like a classic V shape equalization. And there´s nothing wrong about it, of course. To me, that sounds fatiguing, and I reckon it´s a weird thing on someone who consideres that subwoofers are never big enough.

On the other hand, I can confirm that the mentioned Carcass never sounded better than in a pair of Blades.
 
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ROOSKIE

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It sounds like you like a classic V shape equalization. And there´s nothing wrong about it, of course. To me, that sounds fatiguing, and I reckon it´s a weird thing on someone who consideres that subwoofers are never big enough.

On the other hand, I can confirm that the mentioned Carcass never sounded better than in a pair of Blades.
No, no classic V shape.
Not sure how you jumped to that.
There are many things at play.
 

thewas

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Also what sounds great or not unfortunately still depends a lot on audio's circle of confusion. In this case I also recommend especially people who don't use or want to use EQ to just buy the loudspeakers which work best with their preferences, most listened recordings and rooms/placements. For the others Toole's recommendation to get neutral speakers and then use EQ/tone controls to adapt them if needed to different recordings.
 

ROOSKIE

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Also what sounds great or not unfortunately still depends a lot on audio's circle of confusion. In this case I also recommend especially people who don't use or want to use EQ to just buy the loudspeakers which work best with their preferences, most listened recordings and rooms/placements. For the others Toole's recommendation to get neutral speakers and then use EQ/tone controls to adapt them if needed to different recordings.
Sure.
I deff play with EQ/DSP and agree that as Toole suggests tone controls are a good thing.
Doesn't work for dispersion, which I have discovered is huge for me.
Doesn't work for Dynamics which I have discovered is another big one.
Also doesn't work for that X% that even Olive and Toole admit makes subjective testing a requirement even if the measurements alone are good.

Some speakers are just toe tap inducing for me and others are not. Some of the tap inducers vary significantly from 1 to another in actual presentation.
Who knows what that is. After so many speakers I'd find it hard that bias is at play and interestingly my GF tends to have the same experince with the same speakers.(thankfully)

Still a lot of other factors for me but I must admit that while I still treasure objective measurements and use them a lot, the more equipment(speakers and DSP wise) I have tested and played with the more I find subjective experince taking the drivers seat - once a basic baseline is met in objective data.

Of course my goal is maximum enjoyment even if at the expense of coloration so if I preferred something not true to the source I would be okay with that.

Anyway. Good to see Klipsch working RP600. I liked the 160m, though the very narrow dispersion lost me. At 1st it was cool and then I ended up voting it out. One thing I found is that is sound, despite uneven measurements sounded very natural and balanced. They were very low distortion in the power handling sense. I'd like to try these RP600 II's. Love to see what the wider dispersion does for the baseline sound.
 
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