Upgrading from The Klipsch Fives?

[Joeyd33]

I'm trying to possibly find 2 sets of speakers. Right now I have The Fives that I use on my desktop and then bring over for movie night with my nephews. Easy to carry and setup within a couple of minutes which is great, they sound nice but theres nothing that really wow's me.

I'm always trying to find that holographic sound & absolutely hate bright speakers, especially when it comes to highs.

For my desk I'd love to find a holographic 3d sound. I'm not interested in a super flat respsonse. I had the JBL 305's that I loved but I absolutely hated the amp noise & the soundstage could get really weird but they had a really fun and unique sound to them that I haven't heard from other speakers. I'd really love to find something like the 305s but without any amp noise if possible. I'd also really love to stick with powered speakers since I'm trying to keep everything looking as clean as possible and hate having large receivers, wires, etc everywhere. Budget is around 1k, new or used. However, I'm open to passive speakers as well if it gets me the sound I'm looking for.

Their movie room sucks and theres nothing I can do about it. The layout is horrible so things like surround sound is brutal to try to pull off. So I'm looking for a simple system there. I feel like a soundbar might be best seeing as how bad the room layout is but I've never really been wowed by any soundbars.We currently use The Fives but it really needs a center channel since its extremely easy to always have the left or right overpower each other, but when I bring over my receiver to hook up a center channel it helps out so much.They sound just fine but once again theres nothing amazing to the sound. I'd love to have a simple setup here too if possible. I'd love to have everything powered here too but I can also go with passive speakers too. A left/center/right speaker system would be really nice here too unless a soundbar may be the way to go??
I can spend 1k or so, new or used, passive/active. Not looking for large floorstanding speakers. (I also have a 12 inch sub for the movie setup).

I would hate all the wires but I'm wondering if JBL 308s with a JBL 305 (or maybe Kali Audio?) for center would be nice for the movie setup. Once again, I'm not looking for super flat surround, I want something fun and exciting for the family to watch movies with.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!!

 

[ppataki]

I'd really love to find something like the 305s but without any amp noise if possible. I'd also really love to stick with powered speakers

I would recommend the Kali LP6 Gen2
It has zero amp noise and has great sound
One of my friends replaced his 305p with the Kalis last week and he is telling me that the Kalis sound way superior

 

[Joeyd33]

I would recommend the Kali LP6 Gen2
It has zero amp noise and has great sound
One of my friends replaced his 305p with the Kalis last week and he is telling me that the Kalis sound way superior

Yeah I was leaning towards them too. I know we can't go off audio on a video, but every video I've listened to they remind me more of that home boxy sound of Sony systems of the 90s that I didn't like. I think I was looking at the in-8 v2's last year for a home theater usage but I think a few people I talked to weren't impressed for home theater usage.

I was also thinking of the Kali LP-UNF too for my desktop usage, wonder if the smaller speakers might make for a nicer sound, but I still have to read up on some reviews.

Even on my desktop, listening to movies with The Fives, they never give you those scares you get from movies sometimes, it all sounds good but theres never any excitement from them.Not sure if thats how it is with monitors/book shelf speakers or what.

 

[Brian Hall]

Yeah I was leaning towards them too. I know we can't go off audio on a video, but every video I've listened to they remind me more of that home boxy sound of Sony systems of the 90s that I didn't like. I think I was looking at the in-8 v2's last year for a home theater usage but I think a few people I talked to weren't impressed for home theater usage.

I was also thinking of the Kali LP-UNF too for my desktop usage, wonder if the smaller speakers might make for a nicer sound, but I still have to read up on some reviews.

Even on my desktop, listening to movies with The Fives, they never give you those scares you get from movies sometimes, it all sounds good but theres never any excitement from them.Not sure if thats how it is with monitors/book shelf speakers or what.

Try adding a subwoofer before you replace the speakers to add "excitement".

 

[Joeyd33]

Try adding a subwoofer before you replace the speakers to add "excitement".

Already did that.

 

[Joeyd33]

Try adding a subwoofer before you replace the speakers to add "excitement".

I know the bass can add to the effects and improve on The Fives since I can switch the audio mode. But it's not really the bass, its more of hearing sounds pop out more than others, sounds being thrown beyond the speaker or even having a holographic/spatial effect. The Fives don't do that.The sound sits in between the speakers, they sound great no matter where you put them, but for movies they just don't do it for me.

I was also looking at some of the other JBL's too but I don't know.. Although I may get a pair of JBL's for my desk or for using outside when I do work in the summertime..

I'm waiting to see if any companies are having any Black Friday deals soon, especially JBL & Kali Audio..

I really wish there were some bookshelf speakers out there for that 1-1.5k price range that could get me some holographic sound.

 

[kemmler3D]

Holographic sound in the way you're describing depends a lot on the room, beyond that you may want to look for speakers with wide dispersion...

 

[Spkrdctr]

It seems to me that you are asking for the Holographic surround sound of a proper surround system. You will never get that with just left and right speaekrs. Currently your two speakers are doing fantastic as you say the sound is right in the middle of them. I agree you need to add a center channel. You need to have a system that allows you to control the center channel volume versu the L and R volume. Also I would not skimp on the center channel in size and efficiency as it handles fully 50 to 70% of the sound in surround sound. Good Luck with whatever you do.

 

[BfdTgE2rNX]

Depends on what you mean by holographic. If you mean great imaging, most speakers set up near-field will have this effect if you're in the sweet-spot. "3D" sound in a stereo setup will have to come from how the source audio is mixed. If by holographic you mean sound in front and behind you, most sources will not be mixed with virtual surround in mind, but you can add DSP into the mix to try and simulate the effect. The effectiveness will largely depend on your room and seat location.

They're not bookshelves, but my stereo recommendation is a set of Ohm Walsh speakers. In a small room, a pair in front can absolutely give a full, convincing 3D imaging experience. In a larger room, I would suggest looking into a surround sound setup.

Even on my desktop, listening to movies with The Fives, they never give you those scares you get from movies sometimes, it all sounds good but theres never any excitement from them.Not sure if thats how it is with monitors/book shelf speakers or what.

I think here you'd benefit from speakers that handle dynamics well. In addition, be sure you're disabling any dynamic compression effects on your source, and be sure to have the volume up loud enough that the dynamic range is noticeable.

 

[Joeyd33]

It seems to me that you are asking for the Holographic surround sound of a proper surround system. You will never get that with just left and right speaekrs. Currently your two speakers are doing fantastic as you say the sound is right in the middle of them. I agree you need to add a center channel. You need to have a system that allows you to control the center channel volume versu the L and R volume. Also I would not skimp on the center channel in size and efficiency as it handles fully 50 to 70% of the sound in surround sound. Good Luck with whatever you do.

Yeah I'm close to throwing in the towel and maybe just getting a Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar for the movie setup. I just realized that I'll have to buy a receiver if I go with active powered speakers cause I don't see how I'll be able to hook up 3 powered speakers for a left/center/right setup with the current setup and old receivers I have.

I could still however find some passive speakers to buy, so thats not out the question.

I know I can go on with all the things I want but for my desk setup I'd love to get some really nice warm sounding speakers that are active or passive. Looks like I'm leaning towards the Kali Audio IN-v2 series (but I may also get JBL anyways if a sale comes up this winter) , unless I find another set of great sounding speakers for my desk that will give me that warmth and similar sound that the JBL's had.

For the movie setup maybe I should look into passive speakers for the L/C/R setup now that I realized the stuff I would have to buy to use active speakers for that setup. They don't need to be warm, but def can't be bright sounding.I wonder what passive speakers around that 1k area new or used might be a great fit to give some fun sound for movies. Or if I just give up and go with a soundbar like I said since I already have a sub. Maybe the Sonos Arc Ultra will give me a bit of everything I want? Easy hookup, left/center/right, maybe even be able to throw the sound around a bit?