Klipsch The Fives Powered Bookshelf Speakers (Matte Black)

This is the best bookshelf speaker I have heard under $1K. Sound is big and it rival my B&W floor standing speaker. The Bass can fill pretty large room and have spare. No need for Sub, I was fooled into thiking my Sub woofer was on, and then I realize, I did not even hook the sub at all. I thought there is no way, the fives sound as "big" as my floor standing speaker with Sub.The bass is thuderous, not in a bloated way, but its a quality type bass, like a well tune sub. Now the fives will sound very boomy if your room is small and you place it next to the wall. And since I bought it for my small room, I have to block the back port. I have tried several type of material for blocking and find that the soft foam (egg crate foam) works really well. I have tried roll up towel, Socks, Paper towel, Soft tissue etc. Here the tip. You can actually set the bass level according to your preference.Cut foam into a wedge so it fits exactly. I cut several sizes to set different bass level.1) Fully block with foam - the bass is pretty tight, all boom gone, even if I stick my head to the corner of my room, the boom is gone. The bass is now on par with my my B&W speaker and also a little more bass than Audio Monitor 5. The bass quality on the fives is still better even with the foam. Now there is a bass cancel switch on the remote but it kills too much bass IMO. The foam block still allows some air to pass and it does not affect the low end.- just remove the "double bass" reflecting from the wall.2) Foam with 1 pinky finger hole, the bass is slightly stronger, there is a slight boom. It still sound like a sub is running but very well control.3) Foam with 2 finger hole - the boom is back. Still reduce but way better.Now I am only refering to small room and the fives is next to the wall. If I "free" my fives to a bigger space, high ceiling etc. There is no need for the foam. I think this is where the fives should really be. The sound is grand..For the top end, the clarity and smoothness is superb. I would describe this as a very romantic sound with slightly forward vocal focus. Its like playing a trumpet in a underground subway rather than a control treated studio (well I am using anology, the difference of course is not that great but u get the idea). Since I love Jazz to death, the vocal, bass, clarity, soundstage combo is just grand. yes, it sound grand. It will not sound like a computer speaker, it sound like a floor standing speaker with a well tune subs. As the top end is sibilance free, I tend to turn up the volume more.The Dyanamic EQ work very well, this tech has been around and some will call it night mode. The bass will increase as the volume goes softer. I do appreciate the increase in bass WITHOUT the increase in treble (most night mode speakers do that) and then it sounded very V shape and even at low volume, all I hear is tizzy and bass, the vocal get recessed, I am glad the fives does not do that. Some had pointed it out the treble should also increase when bass increase to balance things out. Well.. I hope they will provide e an app for EQ in the future. But then, I can always adjust the EQ on my phone. For now, the treble is just right. Its warm, smooth and has superb clarity. Pls dun confuse clarity means brighter treble. the fives is not bright at all, yet the clarity is as good as a brighter monitor like the AE5+.the 3 sec hold button on the sub button cancel a big chunk of bass. Once the bass is cancel, it will sound like a Audio Engine 5. Not a bad thing but I luv bass. Some people say this is a more accurate sound. Well, even if you cancel the bass, this monitor is still not accurate enough for studio mixes. Its a high quality "fun" speaker. It may not be accurate, but its very musical... I have alot of fun with it.Connection is great, one of the main reason I bought the fives is the HDMI input for TV (remenber to set your TV output to PCM. Also note that connecting with a Chrome cast direct to HDMI will not work = no sound. I also connect the Echo dot with the line in and it can now play Amazon HD music and stream radio station. For a higher quality, the echo link can connect digital to the fives (well u will need $199 for the echo link).Due to its small size and pretty light weight - I tend to take the fives all over the place. I can take it to my friend place or office and its like bringing my floor standing speaker with the sub on my back pack. That is real fun...Alright - for those who does not want the big bass and not play with foam, the 2nd best will be Edifier s3000 pro and Swan M300 in terms of power speaker with big bass. They all have similar bass power but IMO I think the fives is still way ahead (just love that big warm romatic sound of the fives). Now the S3000 pro does have DSP built in with several mode including the dynamic mode (which now has increase bass with increase treble) and the Swan M300 is an old school style with knobs control to turn the bass/treble up and down. Do bear in mind, reducing the bass to solve the boom is not solving it, its getting rid of the bass. U will still need the foam to maintain the bass on the front but reduce the bass reflect from the wall. Either that or get a front port. Problem solved.Summary - For those who wants a small package with big sound. THIS is it. It fits on your desk, sound like a floor standing speaker and does it without amplifer. It also has the option to stream hi res lossless ($30 for chromcast) and connect usb to your laptop as it has a DAC on board. If you looking for "flat" sound, this is not an accurate monitor for your mixes. Closest you can get is to turn off the sub (3sec hold button on remote) and even that its not close to neutral (whatever neutral means to u when recording/mixing). But heck its of alot of fun. I can have it on my kitchen in the morning and bedroom at night. It super portable, its only 1 plug - that the power plug.update: 3/26/21.I am so impress with the fives that I bought the REL T5i Subwoofer. I bought the T5i for to control the bass boom in a small room. I am surprise that the fives goes up another level.1）When connecting to the subs, the bass from 75hz and below is cutoff. This cutoff broght alot of clarity to the treble.2) With the REL Subsoofer, the bass now has alot more texture and its really fast. The REL blended so well with the fives that I cant really tell that the bass is coming from the sub. Bass is dead center.3) All the bass boom is gone - Even in the back of the wall or corner of the room, the bass is very even and well control.4) Bass punch hard and fast. very well define and bass notes can be heard with great clarity.Overall, the addition of the subs makes the fives sound 3x more expensive than it really was. I dare say, it will rival a B&W 705 S2 and in fact the bass punch above the B&W as the REL added more depth, and bass more define. Some reviewer say that adding any subs will still be better than no subs. This is wrong. Adding a cheap subs will make the fives sound worse. The bass is loose, muddy and not define. I would rather not have it at all. If you are looking for a sub to pair with the fives, the REL T5i is the best. Do not get the REL Tzero mk 3, I have that too and its not strong enough to pair with the fives. Also get a subs that is seal for music. A ported subs will not be as tight and fast as a seal subs.

**UPDATE Aug 2021Just wanted to add that I had ordered three pairs of these and amazingly TWO pairs had a bad tweeter. It doesn't change any of the review (one pair was an accurate tester to arrive at all my audio observations). It's not an Amazon issue since one affected pair was purchased elsewhere. As unlikely as this problem might be, I do recommend L/R channel testing your pair, preferably with a mono sound source or album (beach boys, Pet sounds, duh). One of those pair also had a bad Aux input, so check all of your inputs as well. If you were to be unlucky enough to have any flaws, simply test it thoroughly before the return window, then return and keep the faith with getting a new pair. Don't bother with contacting Klipsch, they're a bit of a nightmare.---Original Review---I've purchased a couple sets of these. I've even gone the refurbished route, which is fine and worth the savings. Though that might be unnecessary due to somewhat frequent sales on these of late. ($700 new).However, If refurbished (or new), you might look for tightly stretched screens with the linen and square (non warped) speaker box construction. Even then, it might be acceptable with minor imperfections.A fair amount of info on these speaker already, so I'll try to keep it abbreviated and specific:- You buy the FIVES and spend maybe a little more $$ vs its competitors for: Legit great sound (Klipsch tuning), Powered speakers and relatively SMALL footprint, Good looks- Great sound overall. Insane bass capabilities but not the tightest bass for speakers of this type. Still sounds good though when dialed in (Flat bass setting for music is preferred)- I like the sound signature. It's somewhat unique with an excellent phantom center channel. Some tone controls can further help dial in personal preferences, however. Top line observation is that the sound is a little "forward" in the mids, this being noticed on vocals the most. Although I think this tuning does indeed help with TV watching and dialogue, it compliments most music for sure. I use the Fives for 90% music and don't feel like it compromises anything there despite it competing with sound bars.- With the firmware update, you now get three bass cut options. Easily toggled via the remote. (edit: app with EQ settings is now available; I don't use this..)- Definitely update the firmware. You'll need formatted usb flash drive.- The newly installed bass cut option is the "flattest" option the Fives deliver. And is completely needed in certain conditions and/or for certain tastes.- The remote is an underrated feature of these. Ergonomic, simple, and USEFUL. Operates the bass cut options as mentioned and bass level/volume for a subwoofer (extremely useful with a sub)- Do you need a sub? No. If space, adding cost, and bass hunger are all a factor, then these already have you covered.- BUT a sub can do two things: boost the overall sound quality by freeing up the drivers, and allow for increased volume. This is a bonus and a luxury but still is a noticeable audiophile-centric improvement.- I've been testing these with TWO subs (8" jamo) and its even better. You'll just need a coaxial Y splitter. Works great. (This pairing outperforms a single 10" jamo sub IMO, for example). These are not high super quality subs but still provide improvement.- If you're using a desktop/computer setup for listening, you're able to use the USB connection. It's easy and great. And frees up your headphone jack.- BUT you have two other options to affect sound quality that aren't so obvious to most. This relates to the DAC in your system. The first option is to bypass the FIVES' DAC with your desktop's DAC. You do this by skipping the USB input and instead use the phono/line in RCA to 3.5mm jack into your computer's headphone jack. Depending on your system, you're likely to get a subtle to very noticeable sound upgrade. Zero reviews speak about this, but effect is real. The DAC bypass scenario is just a theory, but something changes. The idea being that your computer has a slightly better DAC than the FIVES (which is part of the FIVES' package that your paying for...) The second option is to go even further and skip your computer's DAC with some sort of outboard DAC. I'm using a Focusrite Clarett for example (the Clarett connected to the Mac via USB, the FIVES connected to the Clarett via headphone out into the FIVES RCA line in).- I'm also running a Fosi Q4 from my MacBook. This also adds TONE controls which is very welcome.- I'm also running a Helm Auto Bolt DAC from my Android phone- All of the above DAC options are different (and only being used one at a time) and I won't go into it, but they all add a VERY noticeable sound upgrade ($55, $100, $450)- If this sounds interesting to you, and you want a rec, then I STRONGLY recommend the Fosi Q4 (the Aiyima A-2 is identical and cheaper). All in all, it's by far the best option: the tone controls are what makes it S tier to any other affordable DAC- The Fives' DSP is killer and also part of what you're paying for with these versus say other powered speakers with lesser DSP or passive speakers and amp with no DSP. (DSP in this case mostly modulates the bass at low volumes making the music sound more full at lower volumes. A "Joe and Tell" review on YouTube mentions the high frequencies aren't modified by DSP which he suggests it might benefit from, but I have no problem with highs at lower volumes)- I don't believe the DSP works with the sub plugged in?- The Fives look good with and without the grills. I think the grills should come taught to maximize their good looks. They click on and off easily via magnets which is perfect bc they deserve to alternate. Slight, slight boost in clarity with the grills off.- All listening as described has been via some version of hard wired, line-in listening. Bluetooth, isn't being used but I'm still happy to have it built in.- If using as desktop/near field speakers, prop them up (the tweeter) to or slightly above ear level. The difference is huge. Shoot for the same in a room situation.- Using HDMI Arc for TV listening works well and is nice to control volume via TV remote. The speed at which the volume goes up or down via my TV remote is pretty slow vs the TV's default volume. Slightly annoying actually, but is fine. Plus you can still use the Fives' remote which toggles volume faster.