Напольная акустика — Klipsch RF-7 III

Klipsch's RF-7 III is a two-way tower in the Reference Premiere family, designed and assembled in Hope, Arkansas. It combines a large titanium compression driver on a Tractrix horn with two 10 inch Cerametallic woofers in a dual chamber cabinet finished in furniture grade wood veneer, offered in Black Ash, Cherry and Walnut.

Key specs that matter

A 1.75 inch titanium diaphragm compression driver loaded by an 8.5 inch square 90 x 90 degree Tractrix horn covers the treble and crosses over at 1,300 Hz to the two spun copper Cerametallic cone woofers. Klipsch rates the response at 32 Hz to 25 kHz within 3 dB and the sensitivity at 100 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m, measured in an average listening room. Power handling is 250 W continuous with 1000 W peak, and nominal impedance is 8 ohm compatible. Including the plinth, each speaker is 124.5 cm high, 35.2 cm wide and 45.4 cm deep and weighs 44.1 kg.

Engineering and use context

The compression driver has a new phase plug intended to improve phase coherency at the horn throat. Its Tractrix horn joins a circular throat to a square mouth and is made of compressed molded rubber, which adds damping at high frequencies. Each woofer sits in a heavy-duty cast aluminum frame and uses a dual shorting-ring magnet structure to prevent modulation of the magnetic flux and keep cone movement linear. The enclosure is bifurcated, so each woofer has its own chamber and its own rear-firing Tractrix port, which Klipsch says improves the linearity of both drive systems and reduces standing waves inside the cabinet that could cause anomalies in the midrange. Klipsch describes the Cerametallic cones as stiff and light, limiting cone breakup, and states that together with the horn-loaded compression driver they give the highest efficiency in the model class.

Pairing

Two pairs of binding posts accept bi-wiring, or bi-amping with one amplifier channel for the horn section and another for the woofers. Thanks to the efficient horn and woofers, even a modest amplifier drives the RF-7 III loud, while the continuous power rating leaves room for larger power amplifiers, and the nominal load suits both AV receivers and stereo amplifiers.

Alternatives

The Klipsch RP-8000F II is a smaller Reference Premiere floorstander with two 8 inch Cerametallic woofers, a 1 inch titanium LTS tweeter, 98 dB sensitivity and 150 W continuous handling.