Klipsch The Fives Powered Bookshelf Speaker Review

[hardisj]

Based on your in room response and the short fall <400hz (compared to estimated response, albeit at 3.5m), shouldn't you have 'preferred' the flat mode? Or is the driver behaving/distorting badly enough that you actually find it sounds bad with the default 'added' bass?

I listened nearfield as well. The bass was just that bad.

 

[Matias]

Thanks for the review. "Flat" mode, yeah right. "Bass cut" is a lot better, a little bright, I would use them with no toe in facing forward to reduce that somewhat.

 

[hardisj]

"Flat" mode, yeah right.

Right?

So weird to call it "flat" but have a v-curve shape. It is things like this that really mess with consumers. A person goes out and buys this speaker, sets it to "flat" and gets that sound... they don't know better and from then on they think truly flat on-axis speakers are just "dull" and "incorrect".

Maybe I need to add this little mini-rant to my review...

 

[hardisj]

Preference Rating
SCORE: 5.4
SCORE w/ sub: 7.7

I don't have a memory of your results but this seems pretty good to me.

Especially when you consider the EQ changes @pierre and @Maiky76 have provided.

 

[Matias]

With EQ it is outstanding!

Score EQ Score: 6.7
with sub: 8.8

 

[Sonny1]

Wow! Great review Erin. These performed MUCH better than I expected. With a little EQ, for the right application, these appear to be very well designed. I was expecting the usual V curve and lots of issues. Too bad Klipsch doesn’t give people the ability to use the DSP to EQ these. I’d buy a pair immediately for my office. Might do it anyway. Thanks!

 

[Ilkless]

Nice that they have updated the horn a tad. Now if the large-format speakers had similar engineering, they'd fill a niche almost impossible to find in their price range (eg. Heresy).

 

[warpdrive]

It seems like these are a firmware upgrade away from unqualified "good" recommendation. They just need a "treble cut" mode or even a simple treble knob to flatten the rising treble.

 

[hardisj]

It seems like these are a firmware upgrade away from unqualified "good" recommendation. They just need a "treble cut" mode or even a simple treble knob to flatten the rising treble.

Yep. In fact, I stated the same thing in my video about 3 or 4 times. I even pointed the request directly to Klipsch... if they were watching... to provide a 4th DSP option for "truly flat".

Who knows... maybe they will pay attention to the request. If they do, I think they open their consumer base a lot and it would be a speaker I have no problem recommending for the average consumer thanks to the lot of input options.

 

[warpdrive]

Yep. In fact, I stated the same thing in my video about 3 or 4 times. I even pointed the request directly to Klipsch... if they were watching... to provide a 4th DSP option for "truly flat".

Who knows... maybe they will pay attention to the request. If they do, I think they open their consumer base a lot and it would be a speaker I have no problem recommending for the average consumer thanks to the lot of input options.

Great that you pointed the request to Klipsch. I hope they do it. While we love our Genelecs and Neumanns, a good objectively measuring "lifestyle" speaker is relatively hard to come by. Most people outside of this forum just want all in one solutions that just work. This is it, it has all these connectivity options and even HDMI ARC which is unheard of. People always ask "what's better than a soundbar" if you tell them they should buy passive speakers with an external amp or large AVR for bass management, or studio monitors with an external DAC wired to their optical output, they'll run away. Top it off with furniture grade styling and retro styling (with that grey grill). Now they have an option for a speaker that sounds correct.

This would be something I'd even consider personally. Heck I'm looking at my own 2.0 speakers with my AVR and all the wires and clutter and thinking this could be a good solution.

 

[q3cpma]

Not very related: what's the name of that specific coating on the black part of the baffle (I've seen it a lot in PA or pro stuff like Genelec's MDF stuff)? I'm very fond of it.

 

[Ilkless]

Not very related: what's the name of that specific coating on the black part of the baffle (I've seen it a lot in PA or pro stuff like Genelec's MDF stuff)? I'm very fond of it.

Duratex

 

[Colonel7]

Kind of on topic. Does anyone know of a grill fabric that matches or is close to the grey for the walnut? I really like that combination.

 

[Kachda]

Not as bad as I was expecting. Given the sub-out and the size, could these be used as desktop speakers (post EQ) ?

 

[beaRA]

These results with EQ are excellent! Unfortunately, the target customer for this product is exactly the kind of person that doesn't have access to (or doesn't want to deal with) external EQ. I hope Klipsch takes your advice on a 4th DSP mode, but I kind of doubt they will make any admission that their characteristic rising treble is not beneficial.

 

[richard12511]

Hi,


Here is my take on the EQ.

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:


Score no EQ: 5.4
With Sub: 7.7

Spinorama with no EQ:

• Fairly smooth
• Decent directivity, beaming towards HF as opposed to constant directivity
• Horn probably a bit small for a smooth transition
• Port...
• too much HF but you gotta hear these horns ;-)

View attachment 126799

Directivity:
Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/20deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.
View attachment 126801

View attachment 126804
EQ design:
I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
• The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.

Score EQ LW: 6.5
with sub: 8.6

Score EQ Score: 6.7
with sub: 8.8

Klipsch the Fives APO EQ LW 96000Hz
April282021-172040

Preamp: -2.4 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 39 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 1.25
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 93.3 Hz Gain -1.07 dB Q 1.29
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 487 Hz Gain -1.45 dB Q 3.3
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1039 Hz Gain -0.56 dB Q 6.17
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3693 Hz Gain -1.35 dB Q 2.03
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 10278 Hz Gain -1.27 dB Q 0.46
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 10486 Hz Gain -0.91 dB Q 7.25
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 14433 Hz Gain -2.3 dB Q 3.52

Klipsch the Fives APO EQ Score 96000Hz
April282021-171414

Preamp: -2.3 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.75 Hz Gain 0 dB Q 1.25
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 97.3 Hz Gain -1.00 dB Q 0.89
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 490.5 Hz Gain -1.78 dB Q 2.8
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1067 Hz Gain -1.12 dB Q 4.5
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3695 Hz Gain -1.53 dB Q 1.8
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 10292 Hz Gain -2.15 dB Q 0.38
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 10157 Hz Gain -0.91 dB Q 6.63
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 14411 Hz Gain -3.18 dB Q 4.38

View attachment 126794

Spinorama EQ LW
View attachment 126798

Spinorama EQ Score
View attachment 126797

Zoom PIR-LW-ON
View attachment 126795

Regression - Tonal
View attachment 126796

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
some small improvements
View attachment 126793

The rest of the plots is attached.

As predicted, these things are value superstars with EQ.

 

[richard12511]

With EQ it is outstanding!

Score EQ Score: 6.7
with sub: 8.8

Yep, that's because the directivity is pretty excellent. The fact that the directivity is so good means that the waveguide and woofer/tweeter crossover is super well engineered. Also really makes me think that the on axis treble tilt up is intentional. Designing a flat on axis speaker is much easier than designing excellent directivity. I'll bet that treble tilt is intentional to have that "Klipsch sound".

 

[Ron Texas]

Actually it looks reasonably flat without EQ. The dispersion graphics look odd to me. Is there a problem with dispersion?

 

[richard12511]

Based on your in room response and the short fall <400hz (compared to estimated response, albeit at 3.5m), shouldn't you have 'preferred' the flat mode? Or is the driver behaving/distorting badly enough that you actually find it sounds bad with the default 'added' bass?

I can see why you say that. In the "Flat" mode, the bass is more closely aligned with the high treble.

I have to agree with @hardisj , though. I think the reduced bass mode will actually sound more flat, as the treble really doesn't start taking off until 2kHz. Almost all primary musical instrument notes are below 2kHz, and 2kHz+ is mostly harmonics. With the reduced bass mode, the speaker is essentially flat all the way up to 2kHz. Almost all the fundamental notes will be well balanced, with only the higher harmonics being accentuated. With the "Flat" mode, bass fundamental notes will be unnaturally loud relative to mid fundamental notes.

 

[beaRA]

Actually it looks reasonably flat without EQ. The dispersion graphics look odd to me. Is there a problem with dispersion?

Yeah, to be fair these are the best Klipsch speakers I've seen measured without EQ. I've been holding off recommending these as a soundbar alternative as I assumed they would have the same crossover dip as the RP-600M. Really these would work pretty well for the soundbar crowd with bass cut and not toed-in.