Home
AudioAsylum Trader
High Efficiency Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Klipsch CF 4 EPIC SERIES Speakers by ka7niq

Need speakers that can rock with just one watt? You found da place.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Klipsch CF 4 EPIC SERIES Speakers

4.46.217.252


[ Follow Ups ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ High Efficiency Speaker Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: CF 4 EPIC SERIES
Category: Speakers
Suggested Retail Price: $2500.00
Description: 2 Way , dual 12 inch cone, horn hybrid w/ all neo magnet drivers
Manufacturer URL: Klipsch
Manufacturer URL: Klipsch

Review by ka7niq ( A ) on May 23, 2003 at 22:41:30
IP Address: 4.46.217.252
Add Your Review
for the CF 4 EPIC SERIES


I came across these by accident.
My friend and I were going to order VMPS RM 40's, and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket and saw a pair of smaller Cf 3's in the local Tampa paper.
The price was right, and to my suprise the guy was an audiophile who just ordered Avant Guards!
We sat down and listened, and the first thing I noticed was the imaging, and the excellent rendering of piano.
I was totally shocked, and he just smiled.
I took em home and was totally blown away with their musicality , imaging, and of course dynamics.
Curious about these, I placed a call to Klipsch customer service, and I was told that a guy named Roy Delgado designed these, and had them at home.
Roy is Klipsch's head engineer, and was Pauls right hand man.
After about 10 calls, I finally got through to Roy, told him how much I liked the CF 3's and he asked me what version they were.
Acccording to Roy, there were 3 versions made of the Cf series speakers.
Turned out, my CF 3's were version 2.
In version 2 they raised the box tuning to get more efficiency, and changed the Tractrix Horns level.
Roy suggested I find a pair of CF 4's, version 1, as they are truly 3 db more efficient, have a smoother crossever region, and better voicing.
I asked Roy what else Klipsch made that sounded like these, and he said nothing !
BTW, he owns CF 4's at home !
Now, I aint the sharpest tool in the shed, but when Klipsch's head engineer owns CF 4's, perhaps that might be telling me something ?
So, I set off on a mission to find the original Cf 4's, before the powers that be at Klipsch ruined Roy;s brilliant design.
I found a set, and had them shipped in.
The CF 4 uses 2 long throw heavy polypropylene cones with a p[owerful neodydidum magnet motor and a large voice coil.
It is a very expensive driver, and the Cf 4 uses 2 of them in a D'Appolito alignment tuned to 34 hz.
These drivers use a large stiff poly dustcap that acts like a dome driver to extend response way up in frequency.
This pair of Neo motored 12's crossover to a true neo motor driven compression driver with an aluminum dome and a phase plug.]
This is a true compression driver from Klipsch's pro division.
One must remember, Many Electro Voice and Altec and JBL engineers once worked for Klipsch, and Klipsch does know how to build a compression driver.
The crossover occurs at 1500 hz, and they can be bi amped, or bi wired.
The cabinets are large, and they dominate the room.
Now for the sound.
These dont sound anything like any Klipsch I have ever heard.
They are smooth, a bit foreward, and image like no tomorrow.
Perhaps its the narrow directivety of the 12's combined with the narrow vertical dispersion inherent in the D'Appolito array, but these things give almost single driver type holographic imaging.
Images clear outside the speaker are so common, I have gotten used to it.
I am only reminded of it every time some audiophile comes over and leaves with his tail between his legs.
It is eerie to look at a huge box and hear imaging like this.
3 feet out from the back wall, they have depth that would put some dipoles to shame.
If you like it loud, and you love imaging, this is your speaker!
The voicing of these is pro sound voicing, as a matter of fact, there is an AES white paper on this type of design.
This means they do nothave the built in loudness control designed into most so called high end speakers.
They will blow your mind on well recorded material, but they will not hide a bad recording.
If you sometime listen to classic rock like the Scorpions, Tom Petty, Scandal, etc, better have some tone controls mate !
However, with tone correction, anything played is awesome.
I have yet to hear the recording I couldnt make sound good with just simple bass and treble controls'
But listening to well recorded material, no corection is necessary, and none is used.
These do not sound like audiophile speakers, they sound like live music.
They were rated at 101 db efficient, but I think they are more like 99db.
They need a high current solid state amp, my stereo 70 wimped out, even with new tubes.
If your amp is harsh, you are going to hear it on these, and you need large guage wire, and they sound beter bi amped, or at least bi wired.
I have em rigged Bi amped so I can remotely control the Horns amp.
This way, I can raise and lower the level of the Horn and its Neo Compression Driver so I keep tone control use to an after everything else has failed deal.
Since the crossover is at 1500 hz, I can adjust the Big CF 4's to mimic some of the tonal balance of the original monitors used to master the recording I am listening to at the time.
This is a great advantage, no audiophile should be without this!
For Instance, Rick Springfield singing 'Jessies Girl" , Scandal's "Warrior " can be heard as never before by simply turning the horns level down.
Conversly, Boz Skaggs, Linda Pondstadt w/Nelson Riddle, Amanda Mc Broom can take on a super detailed electrostatic like quality by running the horn a db or two hot !
I regularly send Triangle, Vandersteen, and Pro Ac owners out of here whining.
And then theres Rap, yes I said Rap.
Hey, I got Kids, and you aint heard Tupac or Snoop Dogg until you hear it on a well set up CF 4's.
They " hit' like no tomorrow, and reproduce voice at loud levels with very little coloration.
Believe it or not, some of that shit is well recorded, and even though I am a 48 year old recovering hippie, I have come to like some of it.
They sound their absolute best firing right at you, looking down the Tractrix Horns throat.
However, I fire em straight ahead because they image better that way in my room.
Toeing them in compromises image width, and I cant have that.
Besides, you should see the audiophiles look of shock when the big boxes throw images 10 feet outside the speakers.
I would like to tell you of their character, but they have little character of their own.
Yes, at times I can hear Martina Mc Bride and Mary Chapin Carpenter sound a wee bit harsh, but a simple reduction of the horn amps level, and it is history.
I hear very little horn sound, simply because its only contributing from 1500 up.
If you have gathered that I am having fun with these, you are right.
Why did Klipsch stop making these.
Well...
This was Klipsch;s attempt to make an audiophile speaker, and they didnt go over too good with Klipsch dealers.
They sounded so different !
THANK GOD !
The neo drivers are very expensive, and so is the aluminium diapraghm true compression driver and its neo motor.
Being D'Appolito aligned, they sound like shit unless you are sitting down due to controlled vertical dispersion.
They are not as efficient as LaScalas, KHORNS, BELLES, etc.
Roy choose smoothness over efficience.
I asked him how he could get such a good midrange sound out of a 12 inch woofer, and he said it uses a heavy, very well damped cone for smoothness, and than a big voice coil and a powerful neo motor.
The dealers pressured Klipsch's sales team to redisgn the speaker, and so the box tuning was raised and the horns level increased in version 2 to give it more boom and sizzle.
Version 3 was totally ruined, it uses a lighter cone and a smaller magnet for cost savings, and there went the magic !
In 30 some years of audio, I have owned just about everything, from Acoustat 8's, 801's, Celestion SL 600, Strathern Ribbons, Belle Klipsch, Heresys, Vandersteens, Spica's, Infinity Preludes, KEF 107, 104.2, etc.
I was fooling with Western Electric field coil woofers and horns and sending them to Japan before most people even knew what that stuff was.
I have had Altec coaxials with and without outboard crossovers.
I owned EV Interface D's, JBL L7's, Quad 63's, Fulton Premiers, Maggies Tympany 4;s, MG 3's, etc.
No speaker is perfect, and the CF 4 certainly isnt.
But if you seek a speaker that kicks unadulterated ass, images like no tomorrow, and flat ass sounds like music, I think you would enjoy the CF 4's.
Thank you Mr. Roy Delgado for many an enjoyable evening in front of your contribution to the Audio World.
No, they arent perfect, but everyone that has heard them wants to get a pair.
Mine aint for sale.


Product Weakness: Weak on extreme top, size, revealing of bad recordings, will not mask over eq, poor recordings, amps, etc
Product Strengths: Imaging, smoothness, dynamics, detail, easy to re voice, bass slam, sound like live music, low distortion due to dual drivers


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Audire Parlando, Krell ksa200b, others
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Klyne, Audire, remote tone adjustments
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Oracle, Koetsu, Itok, Krell
Speakers: Klipsch CF 4 version 1 and CF 3, version 2
Cables/Interconnects: Audioquest, Nordost
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Classical, Chamber, Jazz, Celine RAP
Room Size (LxWxH): 18 x 12 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments: Live end Dead end
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1n year
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Homebrew, Ham Radio Style
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Parts Connexion  



Topic - REVIEW: Klipsch CF 4 EPIC SERIES Speakers - ka7niq 22:41:30 05/23/03 ( 2)