Natural sounding, crisp highs, good bass, quality cabinet

The Klipsch name isn''t as well known as B&W. Aesthetics with the grill off aren''t as good (subject to opinion :))

I was looking a pair of bookshelf speakers for a music system that wouldn''t cost me over $300. When I got around to listening to the speakers on my list, the only serious contenders were the Klipsch SB-1 and the B&W 303 (Paradigm Titans were close, but I didn''t like the quality of their cabinet; JMLab Chorus 705s sounded terrible). I considered the SB-2 after I found God Guys! selling it as an open box special. The SB-2 has plenty of bass, the highs are very crisp (but not harsh). Vocals are outstanding. The imaging is a little more sensitive to speaker placement than the B&W 303s, but that wasn''t a serious issue for me. The Klipsch and the B&W both sounded very natural. I ended up going with the Klipsch for the slightly extended bass. I''m very happy with my Klipsch to this day.

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First Klipsch pair. Comparable to quality of Grado SR-60 headphones (which are held in high regard).

Too many to name them all

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I was considering purchasing the Polk R25i speakers, then I heard these speakers, what a difference, the highes are so clean and clear. The lowes sound great too. You can go wrong with these speakers.

Beautiful crystal-clear highs and mid-range. Fantastic sound reproduction for their size. Overall construction quality is immaculate. These should last a long, long time.

Could stand a little more bass, but eventually hope to add a sub-woofer as budget permits.

I was looking for a set of bookshelf speakers to replace an big, ugly, old pair of Fishers that were orignally part of a stereo package. I had hoped to spend a little less than this, but after auditioning several other models, brands, and price ranges, I had to bite the bullet and spend the money for the Klipsch speakers. The 10% new store discount coupon helped soften the blow. Of course, now I need to start upgrading the rest of my components to match up with the performance of these beauties.

Sound is clear and smooth and they blend well with my Klipsch sub. Efficiency is high.

Placement is critical for best highs.

The SB-2's were bought to replace the AR's as the front speakers in a HT system. The AR's now serve as rear surrounds. The sytem includes a Klipsch 10" subwoofer, Yamaha RV-X496 receiver (5x70wpc) and Toshiba DVD player.

The SB-2's are a large step upward from the AR's. The highs are clearer and the bass blends better with the sub.

The AR's were efficient, but no match for the SB-2's. WIth only 70wpc, they easily fill a 15X20 room without stressing the receiver.

Female vocals are clear and textured. Celine Dion sounds like she's in the room. Latin, jazz and classical all come through without "edginess" and even after several hours I've never suffered the dreaded "listener fatigue".

DVD's come through beautifully as well. U-571 is amazing. I live in an apartment and can't believe nobody's yet called the police to report an explosion.

There's also a scence from "Seven" with a subway train passing by Brad Pitt's apartment. As a lifetime New Yorker, I can vouch for the authencity of the reproduction.

I've listened to several other speakers in this price class and can't find anything that comes close.

I plan on picking up the SC-1 for the center channel very soon to complete the system.

These are the best speakers I've ever heard for anywhere near the price.

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AR Edge

Clarity and separation are the features which set these (and most Klipsch speakers in general) speakers apart from the rest of their class (i.e. Bose, Infinity, Boston, and JBL....yes I said JBL). In more general terms a full range of sound can be expected. Don't be worried by the fact that they only go down to around 50 HZ, the bass is plentiful, considering they're bookshelfs. Strings and horns sound unbelievable.

Honestly there are none. Maybe if you have a low grade amp.

I'm not going to say these speakers are great for the price. They're just great. I looked into these after my brother played his Klipsch towers for me...these sound very similar...that's a good thing! Almost wimped out and got the new JBL studio series because I was much more familiar with that company. I wasn't impressed with the JBL's when I heard them. Anyway I took a chance and it has paid off. These speakers far exceeded any and all expectations.

Final note: Some have said that these speakers have week bass, either they have a cheap amplifier, or they are just looking at the specs. They don't sound like Cerwins, but if you are looking at Klipsch you probably don't like Cerwins, Fischer, and other overly bassy speakers with zero clarity.

P.S. This review applies only to CD's and LP's, not home stereo.

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Bose, Infinity, JBL, and Boston (the worst)

Klipsch Quality, Great Sound, Price

Could use bananna jacks for connections

Excellent bookshelf speaker for the money. Crystal clear mids and highs. Bass is weak, but what should you expect from a small bookshelf speaker. I have these as mains with a Klipsch SC-1 Center Speaker, a Klipsch KSW-12 subwoofer and a pair of Bose 100's for surrounds. What a combination, I hear things from my CD's and DVD's now that I never heard with my Bose AM-5's (imagine that!!) The SB-2's sound great for music as well as home theatre. I heard this setup at the local good guys store and I could not believe their sound, they even sound better once you get them hooked up at home and tweeked for room acoustics etc.. Bought mine at a great price from www.unclestereo.com, yes they are an authorized dealer. A great speaker for an entry level system.

Thanks for everyone that post reviews on this site. I have built my system from reviews and comments posted on this site. I get a big smile on my face every time I turn on my Yamaha HTR-5150. The only problem is I becoming a couch potato.

Darrell

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Bose AM-5

Price,great highs,exellent clarity,small size,and on and on.

Ummmmmm,I have to think about that one....Nope,can`t think of one.

We redid our living room and my wife didn`t want my stack tower JBL`s in her new room.I said ,ok,and went out to hear all the bookshelf speakers on the market.When I went to IEI they had just recieved thier first shippment of the Klips.He opened the box and set them up.I compared them to the SB-3`s amoungest other bookshelfs.I wanted a speaker that could handle my Akai amp AM 2800,which is 23 to 24 years old.I was very impressed with the SB 2`s as was the salesman.I crank these bad boys and push my amp, and all these speakers do is sound better and better.You can`t hurt these speakers.At times on certain songs I have to turn the bass down a notch.Thier new horn technology which replaces the midrange/tweeter is exellent.Clean,crisp and butt kicking is all I can say about these little bad boys.Go get`em and enjoy.

Tight, clean bass, nearly unbelievable mid-high range clarity

May be too shrill for people used to a more "relaxed" speaker kit... More directional than I am used to, but when you are in the sweet spot, they will blow you away.

I found that my beloved old Infinitys had gone bad... My '85 model RS-3000's suddenly ruptured the foam woofer surrounds on both speakers, necessitating a repair or replacement of the drivers. I figured, why spend nearly $200 on new woofers when I can just go buy something new?

I hadn't been speaker-shopping in about five years, and even then the point was simply to get some more speakers for ctr channel and surround when I finally made the plunge to home theater. I had always been VERY happy with my Infinitys and figured there would never really be a reason to replace them...

Boy oh BOY am I glad I did! Shopped around all the "real" speaker brands in the price range... AR's, Bostons, Infinitys, CV's, and so on and so forth, and the SB-2's are the ones I finally brought home. It was a bit of a shock at first, as these speakers are MUCH more efficient and MUCH brighter than the Infinitys that they replaced... I refer to it as an "in your face" listening experience. After a little bit of listening I found myself getting more and more excited by them. It'd been a good while since I'd just SAT and listened to music, but I couldn't get enough of them. Is it possible to have a pair of speakers be just plain FUN to listen to??

I have these puppies hooked up to a 60wpc Denon A/V receiver, backed up by a powered Yamaha sub, and unless I am watching a movie, I just keep the sub turned off. I don't feel like the speakers need the backup, and when they do, I turn down the sub's crossover to nearly its' lower limit... The bass really is that pleasing. I don't know what the other reviewers here think their weakness is in this area, perhaps they are used to much bigger speakers or something? It seems to me that you can't possibly expect any better bass than the SB-2's have, at least not in a box their size and with woofers of their size.

My only beef is that the imaging is more directional than I am used to. The old Infinitys had dome tweeters that gave good imaging over a broader area, but if you find the right spot with the Klips you get much better imaging than the old speakers could hope to attain.

As you can probably guess, I recommend these speakers without reservation... Five by five, baby! Especially for under $300, and I understand you can pay under TWO hundred if you do the online thing (I couldn't wait for a delivery once I had heard them "live", I just HAD to take them home at that moment!!).

Happy hunting!

Compact bookshelf speakers with excellent sound quality comparable to my Klipsch floor speakers. Attractive black speaker boxes and grills.

I could not find any weaknesses. I have them sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets and I am a little concerned I might break my dishes if I listen to my "Waynes World" soundtrack once too often.

I bought these great speakers at www.acousticsounddesign.com
after shopping the internet and local (Seattle) stores. I chose Klipsch bookshelf speakers because I really like the Klipsch floor speakers I bought a year or two ago. The sound quality of the bookshelf speaker is comparable to the floor speaker when the bookshelf speaker is mounted at ear level. These speakers sound so good. We are constantly hearing new music/sounds on our CDs that we never noticed before. We are often startled by the clarity of people's voices and look for them in the room!

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Klipsch floor speakers. I believe they are SF-1s.

Imaging. Great accurate sound.

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The best bookshelf speaker on the market. Best in it's class. I listen to everything from hard rock to classical and these little speakers exceed my expectations everytime I turn them on. I bought them to replace a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls. (Wife made me move them out of the family room, too big, :( ) If you're in the market for a bookshelf speaker, this is it.

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Bose, JBL, Klipsch, Boston Acoustics, etc etc