marine4life75

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $250.00 from acoustic sound desig

Summary:
This speaker has HIGH highs and LOW lows. The midrange hits you right in the chest too. Essentially, this speaker has great range for its relatively small size and price. My biggest reservation is that they've been out for so long. Was I making a mistake purchasing something that originally came out in 1999? Once I remembered that my buddy's dad and other lifelong Klipsch owners still love their 70's and 80's era klipsch speakers, I felt much better about my decision. Between friends and family I've owned and listened to similar products at both higher and lower price/size ranges. I've actually regressed to these speakers from larger and more expensive Klipsch, Definitives, and Paradigms. Unless you have a dedicated listening room with all the bells, whistles, and positioning, these old SF-1's will fit the bill in a medium size room. Great for parties and social events.

Strengths:
Good range, Gets lound if you need it, Any receiver can make them sing.

Weaknesses:
Not as accurate as some, rear port needs room, magnifies poor quality audio inputs and setups.

Similar Products Used:
Older and Bigger model Klipsch, Paradigm, Definitives, NAD, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, and inferior bargain brands

robertanderson@insightbb.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $450.00

Summary:
i bought these after having to sell a pair of advent 6003 speakers that i loved. i was without any speakers to talk of for a while. then i bought these. at first i thought these were too brilliant and the sound was harsh. i bought good quality speaker wire, i got rid of the 16 bit cd player and got one with a 24 bit dac. i also got some high quality interconnects for this item. all of a sudden all the harshness was gone. nice, smooth, detailed, clear. yes, these are lively and bright. these make jazz recordings sound great- the way these handle horns and woods are fine. i love the vocals reproduced too. i would suggest vintage pioneer amp(good), vintage marantz(very good) new rotel (really nice) tube amp(excellent).
I have a Jolida tube amp as I am a dealer for those- we sell those from our store quality home audio in new albany, in and on the internet. the sound is so clear and smooth i want to listen well into the night. i am often getting to bed to late. for the money these cannot be beat and with a tube amp you would be very happy for a long, long time. i would bet a person putting a jolida and some klipsch together would be happy from now on. you cannot expect good results with mediocre av receivers like denon, onkyo, sherwood, etc. you have to have a good receiver/amp and good wires. these are nice with the amp i have. if you want a wonderful sounding system that costs less than $2000 or so get a Jolida amp and a pair of Klipsch speakers and a decent CD/DVD player. And good cabling.

Strengths:
price is reasonable, sensitive, detailed, clear, nicely built, attractive. these do a great job with jazz, new age, and folk music. i love listening to butterfield blues band - the harmonica sounds like it is live in the living room. yes, it comes through without apologies.

Weaknesses:
none noted

Similar Products Used:
paradigm, vintage models, polk, def tech, b&w 600 series. Lots of listening to old and new stuff. these are great for the price- wonderful value!

Price Paid:  $375.00 from ovation

Summary:
purchased at a closing location got a heck of a deal. i can say i did not expect something to perform so well in this price range. some reviewers comment these are a bit bright. all klipsch speakers are-even way back when, but these are never harsh. smooth, clean, clear, and beautiful on female vocals and jazz. if you listen to some jazz and vibes you can feel like you are there in the nightclub. if you listen to Sade or Nora Jone you will hear their voice for all it is worth. You want to have some good quality speaker cable (acoustic research high quality oxygen free copper- no monster. 0 oxygen free copper is key). you want to have very high quality cables for your components. then listen! Most all american speakers are bright. paradigms are also on the bright side; read other comments on infinity, mission, boston acoustics, acoustic research, etc. klipsch over all generate the most positive comments. mine sound really smooth with an old vintage marantz receiver. those sharp edges to the highs are gone. $160 for the receiver. $375 for the Klipsch and a medium priced CD player- sounds like LIVE in the Club!

Strengths:
great sound for the money. a good value for certain. good bass, good midrange, good highs. works perfect with a mellow amp/receiver. try an old marantz. try a small tube amp. use good cables, use good cables, use good cables!

Weaknesses:
best with a mellow amp- even a low watt tube amp. need to have some really good speaker wire. don't like black. wife hates black anything.

Similar Products Used:
old advents, sansuis, infinity, b&w(too much for me), definitive technology, paradigm, jbl. blows all of these away. paradigm are ok.

music fan San Fran

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $250.00 from goodguys.com

Summary:
The Klipsch SF-1 were discontinued in late 2004 (along with the SC-1 center channel and the SS-1 surround speakers), so these speakers can now be had at bargain basement prices while supplies last. List price on the SF-1 was $500 per pair (a bit steep, IMHO), but I got them at half price ($250 for the pair) factory sealed in original boxes. If you are looking for really nice entry level hi-fi sound from a top shelf manufacturer, these speakers will fit the bill. I got the SC-1 ($149) and a pair of SS-1 ($250) from Vanns.com to round out the set. That's 5 sweet sounding Klipsch speakers for $650. Like all Klipsch speakers they feature a tweeter behind a horn which spreads the sound and does most of the work. The tweeter-horns require very little energy to do their work, so the speakers, like all Klipsch, are highly efficient. This means you can run them off a modest amplifier and they still sound great. They are rated at 100 watts RMS but 50 watts would be more than enough to make them sing. They sound great at low volumes, they sound great loud, and they are especially nice with vocals and mid register instruments like guitars and saxophones. Where they lack is in the bass, so you will need a decent subwoofer. I got the Yamaha SWT-215, a $99 powered sub and it made a big improvement in the overall sound. Without a sub, the Klipsch Synergies have too much treble, and they really push it out so the overall experience is overly bright and sometimes a bit harsh unless you have a sub to balance it. With a sub, the whole setup sounds brilliant, sharp, rich, and full. Thrilling, in fact. The SF-1 have a port in the back for midrange and bass, which means you can't put them up against the wall; the rear port needs at least a foot to breathe and reflect that sound back into the room. You'll want to put the SF-1 towers at least 6 feet apart. The SC-1 will go in the middle somewhere. The SS-1, due to their pair of horns at 90 degrees which really casts a wide sound field, can go almost anywhere in the back and still sound good. What to compare them to? I have never owned real hi-fi equipment before. The Klipsch speakers are so much more efficient and clear than the cheap Yamaha bookshelf speakers I used to use, that I couldn't bear to have them both in the same room. I listened to some Klipsch Reference series, including the center channel RC-25 which I took home and listened to for a month. The Reference series speakers sound better than the Synergies, with more bass and more range, but the Reference series is not marked down anywhere, and a comparable set of those would cost twice as much as the Synergies. I couldn't afford a full set of Reference speakers, so I returned the RC-25. I was sorry to see it go. I notice that Klipsch sells a surround sound set of Synergy speakers, matched with a Klipsch subwoofer, for $699 (the 'Klipsch Synergy System 6'). I think that deal deserves a close look and a listen, if you can find someone (perhaps Best Buy?) that still has the old Synergy line set up in their listening rooms. The package deal includes smaller Synergy speakers than I have all around (SB-1 bookshelfs instead of SF-1; SC.5 instead of SC-1; SS.5 instead of SS-1) but a larger and more powerful subwoofer (the Klipsch KSW-10 instead of my Yamaha SWT-215). Overall, these Klipsch Synergy speakers have made me fall in love with music.

Strengths:
Brilliant sound reproduction, efficient and bright.

Weaknesses:
Needs a subwoofer (as all speakers in this price range do). Klipsch has a minimalist sense of styling- all black, no frills. I was worried about the WAF (wife acceptance factor) but once she heard the sound, she fell in love with them.

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha bookshelf speakers, Klipsch Reference series.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Roelandschap Amersfo

Summary:
I've got these SF-1s with a friend. He'd told me about a Sale of his favorite store. A Harman Kardon minded store. I have a AVR85 HarmanKardon and this HT receiver has 5 times 85Watt output. So feed 'm. My room is small about 4.5 x 5 and it was not my intension to buy any speaker at all unless they show me Klipsch and JBL en another thing. I buyed the FS-1. Just simply sounds much better than JBL's. Allthough they were 400 euro each I get two of them for 500! I have the Cherry version. Connected them on the Harman Kardon and even still busy with calibrating the HK I must say the FS-1 sound good. It's bass is smooth. The high's are OK and the mid's can be better but that's something I had to find out with the HK receiver. In some reviews I read they use a subwoofer. I will try this later. For a stereo set the FS-1 is for it's price (americans pay really less) a very good choice. Tonight I will try to blow the neighbours from their seats.

Strengths:
Smooth and to strong bass

Weaknesses:
middle tone could be better

Similar Products Used:
Sony reference speakers (about 1990)