Quote Originally Posted by Matthew B
Thanks for all te useful info, I am now seriously reconsidering buying the kipsch or kef.

However, the rf-7's are supposed to be terrific speakers aren't they?
To give a little more info, I enjoy home theater but tend to appreciate my system more with music. I am not really into the 5 channel stereo thing for music, and prefer 2 channel. So that leaves me with just the st4's (at an 86db sensitivity) and a sub. It sounds good, but I think 2 channel stereo would probably be better with the rf-7's

furthermore, lately I think I am really more of a stereo guy period, even with home theater, and am considering just using 2 speakers...where again I think the klipsch would be better...

thoughts?
Quick question -- have you actually listened to the RF-7s for yourself? Until you have, you have absolutely no way of knowing whether they are better for stereo or multichannel or AM radio. And like I said before, you won't know how those speakers will work for you until you try them out in your room. Just because someone says that the RF-7s sound good, you have no idea what their preferences are nor what kind of room acoustics they have.

Indeed, the RF-7s have a very good reputation, but the Klipsch RF tower speakers I've heard are far from perfect speakers and their tonal characteristics are not well suited to small rooms IMO. Whether they are better than the NHTs depends on your particular preferences. Sealed box acoustic suspension speakers like the NHTs are inherently less efficient than ported speakers, but they also work better with the acoustics of small rooms. Plenty of two-channel adherents prefer acoustic suspension speakers, while others prefer even less efficient flat panel designs.

If you're itching to spend money, by all means do. But, remember that there's no one-size-fits all solution when it comes to speakers. Otherwise, we'd all buy the same ones.

And if you go with the RF-7s, do you intend to upgrade the center and surround speakers as well? If you mix those RF-7s with NHT center and surround speakers, you will screw up the timbre match between the different speakers in your multichannel playback, and likely degrade the coherency of your surround imaging.