Klipsch RP-8000F II

Sources split. The larger share — Audioholics, Secrets, hi-fi+, Andrew Robinson, AVS, Hunter Gray and most retail owners — hears a balanced speaker without the old Klipsch brightness. The other — Erin, stereoplay, ASR members and several Reddit owners — hears a forward balance, lean below the midrange and lifted above it, that wants toe-out, tone controls or EQ. The split tracks aim. Audioholics listened with the speakers crossed in front of the seat, so off axis, and heard balance. Erin listened on axis and didn't. Secrets is the exception: it aimed them straight at the seat and still called the response smooth.

Sources split, though unevenly. Most hear full, punchy bass with real weight for the money: hi-fi+ 15 inches from the wall on a 10 W valve amp, Audioholics a few feet out in a 24 × 13 ft room, stereoplay, AVS, and owners with the speakers in corners or a small room. Erin and Hunter Gray heard it thin. Erin reached only about 50–60 Hz in his room wherever he put them, and Gray found it lean beside a Zu Dirty Weekend 6 with the Klipsch 9 inches from the wall. Nearly everyone, on both sides, adds a subwoofer for the bottom octave or for films.

Sources split. Audioholics, hi-fi+, stereoplay, AVS and Hunter Gray hear natural, present voices with none of the 'cupped hands' horn colour, and Andrew Robinson a lively, live-sounding midrange he likes but doesn't call neutral. Against that, Erin hears a slightly boxy 300 Hz–1 kHz band and less detail from 1 to 2 kHz, GR-Research measures a dip where woofers and tweeter meet, and a few owners find the mids recessed or want them warmer. Secrets sits between: clean and musical, with one trumpet solo a little recessed.

Sources split. Reviewers mostly hear extended, detailed treble that stops short of harsh. Secrets ranks its air among the best it has heard, hi-fi+ heard delicate cymbals from a 10 W valve amp, and Andrew Robinson never found it fatiguing at normal levels, though poor recordings can be. Erin hears an edgy 2–6 kHz band on axis. A group of owners on AV receivers go further and call it harsh: they cut the treble, EQ it down, or sit off axis. One owner of both generations finds the II harsher than the original but better overall.

Mostly praised as large and room-filling. Secrets heard the music fill the whole room from two channels, hi-fi+ a large, open stage, Hunter Gray a more holographic stage than his Zu, and AVS a bigger one than the first RP-8000F. Erin is the dissent: he hears a stage on the narrow side, which he ties to the horn's controlled dispersion. Audioholics notes the trade directly, since toeing the speakers in sharpened the image and shrank the stage a little.

“They are dynamic, detailed, tuneful and present a large, open soundstage with a weight and quality of bass you’d struggle to better at the price.”

Chris Frankland, hi-fi+

“With this setup, the music filled the whole room.”

Jim Clements, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity (Pass Labs INT-25, two channels)

“the sound stage on all these models is more on the narrow side of things”

Erin's Audio Corner (YouTube)

A point of agreement. Audioholics got pinpoint vocal images, sharpest with the speakers crossed in front of the seat. Secrets heard instruments hold their positions without drifting, and Hunter Gray a sharp phantom centre. Erin, who finds the stage narrow, credits the same narrow dispersion with more precise placement. Andrew Robinson adds two limits: separation between instruments isn't razor-sharp, and the centre image drifts a little as you move off axis.

“The imaging from the RP-8000F IIs can be superb”

James Larson, Audioholics

“the individual instruments held their positions on the stage and did not drift”

Jim Clements, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

“Center Imaging is good though as you move off axis it is going to drift a little”

Andrew Robinson (YouTube)

Most sources call it detailed and clear, at low volume too. Secrets says it unpacks complex passages well, stereoplay's test (read in summary) praises its clarity without calling it analytical, and Amplified Fidelity and Andrew Robinson's co-host both single out quiet late-night listening. The reservations are narrower. Erin hears less detail between 1 and 2 kHz, an ASR member found the upper midrange less transparent than an Emotiva bookshelf's, and Secrets heard less separation between bass notes than from its $26,000 reference.

“Adept at unpacking complex passages.”

Jim Clements, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

“These are really cool speakers for quiet evening listening, retaining detail and imaging complexity at low SPLs.”

Amplified Fidelity (YouTube, Parasound HINT 6)

“Not the most transparent in the upper midrange, but overall, very nice total package”

norman bates, ASR (after a demo)

Its strongest trait, and the one nobody disputes. Audioholics pushed it louder than was comfortable in a 24 × 13 ft room without hearing compression, and Erin's compression test was the best of the three Reference Premiere towers he measured. Andrew Robinson ranks its snap and punch above the Polk R700 and MartinLogan Motion XT F100, on a budget receiver as much as on an expensive one. Several sources add that it keeps that liveliness at low volume.

“I never heard anything resembling distortion or compression from these Klipsch speakers.”

James Larson, Audioholics (24 × 13 ft room, about 9 ft away)

“in terms of compression response linearity this is the best one of them all”

Erin's Audio Corner (YouTube, vs the RP-5000F II and RP-6000F II)

“the eight thousands however have greater Dynamic snap immediacy and punch in comparison to the other two”

Andrew Robinson (YouTube, vs the Polk R700 and MartinLogan Motion XT F100)

“Diese Box bietet Spielfreude, Dynamik und bewegte Luft bis zum Abwinken.”

Alexander Rose-Fehling, stereoplay 8/2022 (in German: 'joy in playing, dynamics and moving air to spare'; quoted by hifi-regler.de)

Wall distance matters less than aim. Andrew Robinson found the sound much the same from 6 inches to 2 feet out from the front wall, Hunter Gray ran them 9 inches out, hi-fi+ about 15 inches, and one owner has them in corners. A music-only owner, though, finds them very sensitive and keeps them 20 inches out. Aim is the bigger question, and the advice conflicts. Erin and Audioholics both say the treble levels out 20–30° off axis, so point them straight down the room or cross them in front of the seat. Secrets and hi-fi+ toed them at the seat and were happy. Seat height matters as well: the vertical window is only about ±5–10° around the tweeter, which sits about 37 inches up. The feet give no height adjustment.

“So my only real complaint about the RP-8000F IIs is how the amplitude response makes the speaker a bit fussy about placement and positioning to get a very good sound.”

James Larson, Audioholics

“for a large speaker the 8000f Mark II is pretty room friendly”

Andrew Robinson (YouTube, 6 in to 2 ft from the front wall)

“I found that the RP-8000F II’s benefited from more toe-in than usual and I wound up with them pointed pretty much directly at the prime listening position.”

Jim Clements, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

“I find these speakers to be SUPER sensitive to placement and being a good bit away from the back wall.”

CrushBandicat, r/Klipsch (owner, music only, about 20 in from the wall)

Easy to drive. It played well from a 10 W 300B valve amp at hi-fi+, a 25 W Pass Labs at Secrets, a 7.6 W single-ended amp for Hunter Gray, and entry-level AV receivers for Andrew Robinson, who heard no hiss from any of his amps. The caution is the rating. Klipsch's 98 dB is a half-space, in-room figure. Audioholics measured 92.2 dB anechoic and Erin's data gives about the same, which is still well above average. The impedance sits below the nominal 8 ohms through the bass, though Audioholics sees nothing there to trouble a mid-range receiver. ASR members add that EQ'ing the treble flat gives back 3–4 dB of that sensitivity.

“A monster amp is not needed to drive these to very loud levels.”

James Larson, Audioholics

“They’ve always lied about the sensitivities of their speakers, so who cares if you lose another 3 dB?”

voodooless, ASR

“These things can be made to sound very good with some EQ due to good directivity, although you'll lose 3-4 dB of sensitivity doing so.”

Absolute, ASR

Good for the money, with caveats. The cabinet is ¾-inch MDF with each woofer in its own braced chamber, and Audioholics expects it to be inert. Secrets found it adequate rather than the deadest it has tested, GR-Research calls it under-braced and the crossover parts cheap, and Andrew Robinson hears some cabinet liveliness in the midrange. The finish is ebony or walnut vinyl, convincing up close but a sticking point for Robinson and Hunter Gray, who sent his pair back over the looks. The cast aluminium feet are fitted but not adjustable, and no spikes are supplied. Two Reddit owners report a woofer rattle at high volume. Most replies blame amplifier clipping, and Klipsch sent a third owner a new driver. Amazon's one-star reviews are mostly shipping damage from third-party sellers.

“The wood grain is really a vinyl imitation, but it is not apparent unless given a very close inspection.”

James Larson, Audioholics

“These were not the most inert cabinets I have tested, but they were adequate for the task at hand”

Jim Clements, Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

“And the cabinet, while it's real pretty, it's not very well braced. There's a lot of resonance going on here.”

Danny Richie, GR-Research (YouTube; he sells an upgrade kit for it)

“However, they aren’t adjustable and if you have an uneven floor, you are likely to run into placement problems.”

Amplified Fidelity (YouTube, on the feet)

Strong, and stronger as the price has fallen. At launch ($1,800 a pair) Secrets and hi-fi+ called it an excellent buy, stereoplay rated its price-to-performance 'very good', and Audioholics judged the rise over the first RP-8000F justified. Andrew Robinson puts it beside the Polk R700 as the best value he knows in home audio, though he rates the Polk as the more versatile of the two. Hunter Gray paid $1,000 for his pair, called the sound far above the price and returned them for their looks. The critics are ASR and Reddit voices who say a speaker shouldn't need EQ to sound balanced. It now sells for about $1,160 a pair and has been as low as $730–800 on sale.

“They have got to be one of the best buys on the market at this price point.”

Chris Frankland, hi-fi+ (at £1,999 a pair)

“next to the r700 I'm still not convinced there is a greater value in all of home audio”

Andrew Robinson (YouTube)

“I love how they sound I don't love how they look”

Hunter-Gray-LUV-Music (YouTube; bought at $1,000 a pair, returned)

“Why should we buy Speakers that REQUIRE EQ to fix most of the problems that the company should have flushed out prior to putting into production / bringing to market?”

ryanosaur, ASR