Price Paid:  $500.00 from store closing

Summary:
I have these cf-3 speakers and I have yet to find a pair of speakers that better these significantly at any sane/resonable price. I endure the Klipsch haters comments that these aren't audiophile enough. Well, I will tell you that are extremely musical, pleasing speakers to listen to day in and day out. They are efficient, smooth, clear, and have a very involving mid-range. The bass is not low, but it is adequate for most music. They are not as "present" as Heresy speakers but they are still very realistic.Hard to find anywhere-only made for about 3 years and didn't sell all that well I guess. They should be brought back as part of the Heritage series IMHO.

Strengths:
Musical, mid range, presence, detail.

Weaknesses:
Huge "monkey coffins". Need big room. Will not impress friends unless they are open minded.

Similar Products Used:
Alon Lotus, Heresy, Sansui SP-3000, Vienna Acoutics, Spendor, Soliloquy

Price Paid:  $400.00 from ebay

Summary:
BACKGROUND:

I bought these on ebay for $400 and paid good money for shipping due to the size. I listen to a multitude of different music giving me a broad base for evaluation.

The first thing I can say is the set I have is a generation 1 set. They have the 6 inch ports on the bottom not the 2 inch ports. The difference is that the generation 1 speakers are geared towards a HiFi sound where the gen2/3 are geared towards classic klipsch sound. I think that they truely do sound like a hifi set of speakers as apposed to klipsch rock focused speakers like you find at best buy.

These speakers are also very large. I was not expecting them to be this size, they are like small fridges. They have 2 10-inch woofers with rubber surrounds and a large horn tweeter with the tweeter being between the two subs.

SETUP:

I have these bi-wired and bi-amped using marantz mono blocks with a 8-inch velodyne sub and a Marantz SR-7000 as a preamp. I have typically used larger subs with my speakers but have found that with these speakers setup in a stereo mode that I only have the small sub turned up to 2 out of 10.

SOUND:

These speakers have a very warm and somewhat un-klipsch-like sound. They are not strong on the top end and have the mids that the modern ones are missing. The sound stage is very expansive and they will make your room feel larger. Having them in a bi setup makes a difference in the sound and really adds to the clarity. They do fall just a little short in the low end dispite their size but they only need a small helping hand, I mean an 8 inch velo on 2 is not putting much bass out. Also, make sure your bi-wire setup go into the right terminals with thicker gauge to the top set. They also have a very tight reproduction of sound. They are not boomy or over powering and display great balance. The sound sound very much like top end Thiel speakers or Martins. I don's think I will find something close to these for the price I paid, they sound like thousand plus speakers easily.

Strengths:
Great, expansive sound stage with well defined balance.

Weaknesses:
Lacking a small amount of bass on the very low end.

Similar Products Used:
Mostly hifi speakers and amps. Thiel, Martin...etc.

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Craigs List

Summary:
I have a chance to trade for different K's but have no idea if it is a good one.
Someone has offered me a pair of KG 5.2's for the Epic's and they both sound aobut the same. He wants the trade badly and is a pretty good friend. Would you do it?

Strengths:
Deep, heady, thick music.

Weaknesses:
they are pretty darned big

Similar Products Used:
Klipshc K-2, Warfdale Opal 90's

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Price Paid:  $1600.00 from friend

Summary:
IV'E EXPERIENCED A LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH KLIPSCH, I CURRENTLY HAVE LA SCALA'S. A VERY DIFFERENT SPEAKER. BUT THE CF-3 ARE THE WAY TO GO. IF YOU CAN FIND THEM. THEY SEEM TO BE ACROSS BETWEEN KLIPSH
AND HIGH END INFINITY. THEY HAVE ALL THE PUNCH OFA KLIPSCH BUT THE SWEETNESS OF A INFINITY. KLIPSCH MADE A BIG JUMP WHEN THEY ADDED THE
EPIC CF SERIES. I NOW HAVE EPIC CF-2 FOR REAR CHANNELL I WISH I COULD
BUY MY CF-3 BACK FOR THE FRONT. KLIPSCH SEEM TO BE BACK ON TRACK WITH THE RF-7. I DID NOT NO WHAT I HAD UNTIL I SPENT A BUNCH OF DOLLARS
TRYING TO UPGRADE. THESE SPEAKERS WILL BREAK YOU TRYING TO UPGRADE THEM. I TRULY HAVE NOT BEEN SATISFIED SINCE I SOLD MY CF-3.
I KNOW I'M RAMBLING A BIT. BUT HERE'S THE LIST OF STUFF THAT IV'E PURCHASED TRYING TO DUPLICATE THIS SOUND. ACURAS ACT 3 PRE/PRO
200WPC ACURAS AMPS X3 AND X2.. WITH KLIPSCH HERESY 2. AND KLIPSCH LA SCALA FINDLY HAD TO BUY BACK MY DENON P208 200WX2 TO HELP SOME
BUT ISTILL CAN'T GET STIRED.... LIKE THE CF-3 WITH MY DENON AMP.

Strengths:
DYNAMIC. SWEET (HEAR THOSE GUITAIR STRINGS BEND) NEVER FELT
LIKE TURN IT UP A LITTLE.. SWEET SPOTS EVERYWHERE......
BIG SOUNDSTAGE.

Weaknesses:
LOOKS JUST OK.

Similar Products Used:
DEF TECH, KLIPSCH HERESE, INFINITY, KLIPSCH LA SCALA