Klipsch Reference Cinema System at Costco 5.1.4 for $799

[EdTice]

This is available at Costco for $799 and the in-store demo sounds great to me when listening in near field. It wasn't all that impressive when I stood back about ten feet though. My living room is 20' wide by 17' deep. I'm sure the demo track is setup to maximize the sound of the speakers and the satellites only seem to go down to 90Hz! I assume it sounds good in the store because the tracks are picked based on the speakers, the subwoofer is carrying most of the sound, and they are probably using better amps than us normal people have. But still at $799 it's interesting.

If anybody else finds these intriguing, I'm willing to buy a set and have them shipped to Amir. If they test well, I'll pay for him to ship them on to me (probably a couple hundred bucks but worth it). If they suck, Costco has a great return policy and he can ship them back. But I only want to do this if it would be valuable to people other than me!

Reference Cinema System 5.1.4 with Dolby Atmos | Klipsch

The all-in-one Klipsch Reference Cinema System 5.1.4 with Dolby Atmos and 10-inch sub delivers movie-theater quality, immersive home theater sound to your home. Shop Now.

www.klipsch.com

https://cdn.cnetcontent.com/syndication/mediaserverredirect/918586b87478ebd651cca25600b2ac2b/original.pdf

 

[SaltyCDogg]

It's a nice idea. However as someone who bought a full set of Reference Premier speakers from Klipsch before discovering ASR I'd be reasonably confident in telling you that their speakers demo well as they have the 'showroom' bright sound, but they don't measure well and are not beloved of the community here. I think it's unlikely Costco are using fancy amplification (or that such amps could make them sound better than they are).

The impression I get is that Amir's pipeline for testing these type of products is fairly lengthy, so you'd be buying them for them to sit at his house for a long time (likely in a giant box and he wouldn't want to test all the speakers and the sub), then they'd get a not recommended and you'd have wasted a lot of time and money.

 

[EdTice]

It's a nice idea. However as someone who bought a full set of Reference Premier speakers from Klipsch before discovering ASR I'd be reasonably confident in telling you that their speakers demo well as they have the 'showroom' bright sound, but they don't measure well and are not beloved of the community here. I think it's unlikely Costco are using fancy amplification (or that such amps could make them sound better than they are).

The impression I get is that Amir's pipeline for testing these type of products is fairly lengthy, so you'd be buying them for them to sit at his house for a long time (likely in a giant box and he wouldn't want to test all the speakers and the sub), then they'd get a not recommended and you'd have wasted a lot of time and money.

Well the good news is that the left/right and rears are all the same so you only have to test three speakers (one satellite, one sub, and the center). I have similar expectations to yours which is why I didn't buy them even though they do sound great at the one arm's length distance you have to stand to hold the "demo" button. I doubt that Costco is providing the amplification. I'm sure the whole demo setup came directly from Klipsch. They seem to have put a lot of effort into it. I'll take a picture next time I'm there. You can press the "music" or "movie" or some other button to hear the different sounds. Costco didn't create such a thing and they don't have it for the other speaker brands. Forcing you to hold the button and listen nearfield is somewhat ingenious. My wife commented that they sound better than our house (much to my chagrin). I had her stand back ten feet and I held the button and she walked away shaking her head!

 

[sword]

This is available at Costco for $799 and the in-store demo sounds great to me when listening in near field. It wasn't all that impressive when I stood back about ten feet though. My living room is 20' wide by 17' deep. I'm sure the demo track is setup to maximize the sound of the speakers and the satellites only seem to go down to 90Hz! I assume it sounds good in the store because the tracks are picked based on the speakers, the subwoofer is carrying most of the sound, and they are probably using better amps than us normal people have. But still at $799 it's interesting.

If anybody else finds these intriguing, I'm willing to buy a set and have them shipped to Amir. If they test well, I'll pay for him to ship them on to me (probably a couple hundred bucks but worth it). If they suck, Costco has a great return policy and he can ship them back. But I only want to do this if it would be valuable to people other than me!

Reference Cinema System 5.1.4 with Dolby Atmos | Klipsch

The all-in-one Klipsch Reference Cinema System 5.1.4 with Dolby Atmos and 10-inch sub delivers movie-theater quality, immersive home theater sound to your home. Shop Now.

www.klipsch.com

https://cdn.cnetcontent.com/syndication/mediaserverredirect/918586b87478ebd651cca25600b2ac2b/original.pdf

None of that is worth testing.