Youthman

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Craigslist.com

Summary:
I picked up a pair of Klipsch CF-2's, KV-3 center channel and a 15" Velodyne F1500 subwoofer for $250.00 from a lady who posted a listing on www.craigslist.com. This is my first Klipsch purchase but I have been looking at Klipsch for the past few months.

I have to say that these are extremely clear, bright and extremely beautiful sounding speakers. This is by far the best set of speakers that I have owned so far. They are being driven by a Harman Kardon AVR55 which is only 55 watts/channel. I figured I was getting a great deal, but now I think I got a phenomenal deal. If you want a great pair of speakers, the CF-2's are definitely worth checking out.

Strengths:
Very clean, beautiful sound quality, tight bass response, get very loud yet do not break up.

Weaknesses:
Heavy and are large speakers (although this does not bother me at all).

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from stereo lab

Summary:
I purchased the cf-2 in 1997. I listened to the cf-3 and 4's also ,I have a klipsch sw-15 so I didn't need or want too much base from the main speakers them selves,I drive them with carver silver 9-t 's even though they don't need that much power. I find that they do put a little color into the music , klipsch's own style of in your face sound reproduction. they are loud and hold up well to the power and volume I force through them.they are well constructed .I find they reproduce female vocals better than any other speaker in the price range as well as speakers costing 3-4 times as much just try yaz's upstairs at eric's. I will keep them around for a while.

Strengths:
well constructed ,loud punchy music reproduction,nice looking in a compact package

Weaknesses:
dust covers rattle loose on woofers(crazy glue fixed that)

Similar Products Used:
too numerous to list

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from FS Appliance

Summary:
It would be hard to rate these speakers justly, if the rest of your equipment weren't up to snuff. I use an Electrocompaniet EC4.5 Pre-amp, and the highest end Nordost patch cables going to a reworked 1961 Harmon Kardon Citation 2 tube amp. I also use $110 per foot Nordost speaker cable (I know THAT sounds absurd, but....). I sometimes switch the amp to a home made 5 watt 300B (which sounds INCREDIBLE). I have a Gyro table with a MicroAcoustics 2002E cartridge and a handmade tube phono pre-amp (CD's just don't cut it, although I have an Onkyo Integra DX5700 hooked to it as well).
My friends wanted to bring their speakers over to my house to compare. Everything from large 3 panel planer speakers, electrostatics with subwoofer compliment, yada, yada..... Everyone took their speakers home, somewhat dejected. Three of my friends went out and bought these as well.
It takes a while to get used to the 'in your face' presence a horn speaker provides, but once you adjust your perception of depth and soundstage, these speakers will amaze you.
They do very well in my large (25x60) living room, even the 300B fills the room. Tests were done with the speakers placed at varying distances from the wall and corners with a pink noise generator and spectrum analyser, and found they sound best (in my room) 3 ft. from the corners and .5 ft. from the rear wall. The spectrum analyser gave the flatest response 2.5 ft. from the rear wall.
The bass response is deep and clean, although you can hear a slight bit of port turbulence when they are pushed hard. The mids and highs are quite seamless, with a slight rise in response at 2.5k hz.
As another reviewer had stated earlier, female voices are quite impressive, and I will add that all voices are crisp and clear, without a sense of compression that dome tweeters often give you. The music is livelier and it seems to encompass you. On good recordings, you can tell where an instrument is in comparison to others, even front to rear.
I tried a pair of CF3's or 4's, I can't remember (they had 2 10's), but didn't like the boomy bass, and the male voices were bottom heavy.....I took them back, and was glad I did.
DO NOT buy these speakers if the rest of your system is not up to par. I tried these speakers out with a reciever I now use in my garage, a Sansui 8000, a good, high power receiver in it's time. The voices were schrill, the midrange muddy, and the bass overpowering. If I didn't have the components I use with them now, I would have kicked myself for spending the money.
Overall, these are the best I've heard, with my system, compared to speakers costing 5 times as much. Many hours of comparitive listening were done, with the same results. Each of my friends, and myself agreed that these deliver a presence and soundstage hands down better than any of the other speakers we listened to.
I'm not quite sure why Klipsch discontinued making these marvels. I'm just glad I found them when I did. If you could find a pair of these used (I saw one guy got his for $400), jump on 'em.

Weaknesses:
Will make cheap components, well.......sound like cheap components. They aren't very forgiving.

Price Paid:  $400.00 from SHOWCASE AUDIO

Summary:
While looking through the used section of Showcase Audio, I came upon a pair of Epic CF-2's "Cherry Wood". I asked the salesman what the story behind them was, strengths, weaknesses, etc, and why they were there. He was in his twenties, had not a clue, and went to get another sales person. This time an older gentlemen came back, and explained that they had been traded in by a well to do gentleman that was upgrading to a $25,000 system for his new N. Scottsdale home. That this was probably one of the best, and almost one of a kind speakers Klipsch ever produced for listeners favoring Classical, Acoustic, and Jazz Music. They were only made for a short period, 1 year, because the typical Klipsch fanciers, Rocker's etc., hated them. Dave said it was like giving File Minon to someone used to eating Big Macs, and expexting them to like it.
I bargined him dowm from $500/pr to $400/pr out the door, and he was happy to see someone that would not trash them walk away with them. Klipsch is so good about their product, the salesman replaced the damaged screen on one of the speakers, when he found out they had been purchased, for nothing!

If you find them, buy them! Most people don't know what they have in front of them when they see them.

Strengths:
Crisp clear highs, and Mid-range, Bass holds its own. Detail and imagery is superb! Pioneer Elite VSX-O5 drives them well, with a Musical Fidelity X10-D, and an AEQ-26. Don't need a lot of power to run these bad boys. One of the unique qualities about Klipsch. You will pay $3,000 or more to keep up with these.

Weaknesses:
Not a speaker for rock'n roll head bangers. Buy the other Klipsch speakers for this.

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from alteir audio

Summary:
When i started biulding my home theater system i bought a sony GX800ES , sony CA8ES cd player , kv-1 center and a pair of kb-2.5 rears . I had a old pair of realistic mach 1's , thay have seen tooo many partys thay were beat up , so it was time for a new pair of mains..I looked for new speakers for 2 mounths , I was at altier autio one night and thay were marking down the price on the CF-2's thay had left in stock from 1,500 to 1,000 so i had the salesman play my PANTERA CD and i fell in love with them . that night i had a pair of CF-2's in my livingroom. So like i said if you like it heavy these are the speakers to have ..

Strengths:
if you like it heavy and chunky these are the speakers to have ...

Weaknesses:
ummm .... just have a amp with some grunt ...

Similar Products Used:
none that i can think of