Everything

Bass responce could be better!!!!

I appreciate the better rating, I still think they deserve higher but thats OK. These KLH speakers I think are probably the best speaker in Best Buy for the money. And no efense but they had JBL's model #S-312BCH ($450 each, far to much for the speaker), and the KLH's sounded just as good. But I agree with you about Cerwin Vega, they have no almost no high. You should really think about changing your speaker wire it would make a great improvement to your stereo. Also to anyone out there give the KLH's a chance I think you'll be impressed.

Chris

Similar Products Used:

NS-A2835

Everything

nada

I have heard some Klhs from around the late 70's to early 80's they sounded good but didn't have much for the low end that i like i could have gotten them for 100 bucks for the pair but oh well. they were the other model not 9915 but 915...

In less than a month i will have a set of brand new 9915's for my room my stereo puts out 200 watts per channel that should be great plenty to drive these speakrs. I lov verry loud and big bass music and speakers these fit the bill and the price at about 200-240 for a pair thats a hell of a deal.

bang for the buck, can play loud, functionality meets bottom dollar value, in-house design of crossover networks

inherent lacking of deep bass, cheap build quality, usage of non-proprietary drivers, *possibly* improper enclosure dimensions

First of all, notice that I included some of the mainstream typical audiophile brands in the similar products category. This is because I treat all speakers the same initially. I believe that if you want a cute, artsy, creampuff tower that's only 6 inches wide, then fine, go ahead and pay your multi-thousand dollars for it and be happy. In audio much like most everything else, "ignorance is bliss." This means that you don't know you're listening to less than adequate speakers until you hear better ones. "Ignorance is bliss" can really save you a lot of money so it's not a bad thing. Having said that, I also believe that if what you want is a big 3-way tower with a 12" or 15" front firing woofer that makes everyone at the frat party wanna get down, then so be it. Don't we all really want a combination of both? Speaker towers are designed for a specific purpose -- that is important to know.

First off let me say that I am an engineer so I can offer not only my personal opinion but also a physical explanation of why the KLH 9915 and 9912 speakers both "suck" and "rule." The KLH speakers are aimed at the low end consumer market so that EVERYONE can experience at least a large part of the technological advanements that bespeak home entertainment today. If you've already experienced a Runco projector with Monitor Audio Studio towers around you with a Rotel amplifier beating out the tunes -- zip it. Be constructive. If you're still in college like me and trying to put together a modest home theatre system to experience what Dolby Digital has to offer, then read on. Last, if you have no idea what crossovers, inductors, capacitors, voice coils etc... are then zip it. Don't talk trash about other people's gear. Now... for the review of all reviews:

I give the KLH 9915 a lower rating than the KLH 9912. I own the model 9912 and have used them often for one year now. I rate the 99xx series highly overall. I have found that the 99xx series speakers offer moderate to high sound quality from soft listening levels all the way up to high volume levels. At very high volume levels the 9912s and 9915s exhibit some significant degree of cone non-linearity and distortion. The shallow tweeter cones break up and distort, and the shallow midrange cones have very limited linear travel ability and produce "cone cry" at the highest volumes. Before I address the reasons that this speaker distorts, I want to address the issue of no bass in the model 9915. I auditioned both the 9912 and 9915 extensively before purchasing using mostly rap type music as a test. This is NOT because that is the type of music I listen to most, but it is because the heavy bass in it will put the passive crossover networks inside the cabinets through the worst torture test. That determines the non-time linear response patterns that all three drivers will exhibit in a real dynamic listening environment.

First, I believe that perhaps one reason the 9912 offers much deeper bass response than does the 9915 is because of the enclosure dimensions and port placement. Whether for manufacturing convenience or for space saving reasons, the KLH folks made the 9915 enclosure hardly any deeper than the 9912 enclosure. Depending upon the QES and QMS characteristics of the woofer involved, the enclosure may be too shallow -- effecting the propagation of the back waves inside the enclosure. I haven't checked close enough to see, but I think the port placement (and dimensions) may be tuning the enclosure below the desired resonant frequency that the driver is capable of achieving in such an environment. Last, the build quality of the enclosure is fairly cheap. The wood used in construction is way too thin. As a rule of thumb, a minimum of .75 inch MDF must be used in construction. These KLH speakers are darn light in weight for a tower that contains the size drivers that it has. Forget what those people say about weight -- they are weak. A sign of a good enclosure is HEAVY WEIGHT. It reduces secondary vibrations that rob the speaker system of its true sound quality AND SPL abilities. One more thing that I think may be limiting the 9915's bass abilities (as opposed to the 9912) is that the crossover network inside may be improper. Since the midrange and tweeter drivers are of fairly low quality and offer low power handling, I think that a general idea that "whatever protected the 9912 towers should protect the 9915s" was going through the KLH's designer's heads before production began. I think that either a tiny inductor coil is used that limits the power that should go to the 15 inch driver -- or -- an overkill design approach was taken and an oversized inductor coil was placed inside the cabinet which robs the 15 inch driver of current sent to its low impedance components during musical transients. During off-peak musical notes, the (fairly cheap) crossover network allows the large inductors to bleed off their stored charge and effectively keep the crossover in a "try to stay caught up" mode.

Second, you only get what you pay for. The drivers in the KLH towers are fairly cheap. This is not to say they are very low quality, but cheap, yes. From stamped steel baskets to paper surrounds to undersized voice coils -- these speakers can't take much heat. A decent receiver (Sony, Pioneer, Technics, Kenwood, JVC, Yamaha, etc..) does great with these towers but can also bring out its weak points at high listening levels. However, the large transformers in a true, high current, dicrete amplifier such as those made by ATI, bring out the worst in these speakers. This is because they offer a higher current power which can heat us these speakers in no time. They are poorly designed at dissipating heat and don't have much movement capabilities to help aid the heat removal. The high volume distortion is because the voice coils and pole pieces were not designed to keep linear during high excursions. Since magnetic field strength decreases exponentially with distance in a radial pattern, the weak permanent magnet motor structures and undersized voice coils cause a horizontal moving force when the receiver/amplifier drives the speaker to its volume limits. This causes a non-linear movement with the cone and "muddles" the bass and breaks up the treble. The 9912 and 9915 speakers give out an almost scary "cone cry" at high volume levels, especially when the music contains heavy bass notes. This happens because the midrange driver gets its tiny voice coil driven outside the magnetic gap of the motor structure and upon the speaker's suspension system trying to pull the coil back, the back edge of the coil keeps butting with the magnetic field out of phase. When this happens the speaker is at and beyond its excursion limits which means that further attempts to drive it further cause it to operate in the very short distance between its excursion limits and its failure point. At this point I really wish I could draw a graph and post it here. So, for all of you KLH 9912 and 9915 owners, if you've ever heard your towers "yelp", "cry," or "shreak" at high volume levels... now you know why it happened. Also, with the shallow cone design of the midrange and tweeter, "cone cry" can errupt because the cones aren't stiff enough to handle the transient movement of the musical signals. Think of the cones movement like a flag blowing in the wind. Unlike the flag, it's not pretty when this happens. This produces a similar shreaking noise. So, that's that.

Overall, I am proud to say that I own KLH 9912 speakers. I will eventually upgrade to some Monitor Audio, Polk Audio, or Paradigm towers when finances permit, but until then the timbre, sonic clarity, bass extension, and overall listening enjoyment I get from the KLH speakers make them a highly recommended investment. Afterall, they offer 12 inch or 15 inch front firing woofers, which for left and right front speakers in a Dolby Digital home theatre setup offer MUCH better musical warmth than a slim line mini tower full of Brittish hi-fi can ever achieve. You really have to pair those skinny things with a powered subwoofer to get real bass extension below 100 Hz. So, are KLH speakers that bad now? No, they're actually great if you intend to use them with a DD/DTS home theatre system. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disrespecting these fine hi-fi brands -- afterall I intend to own some later on. But, I've gotta be honest with you, not all the 5.25 or 6.5 inch speakers in the world can possibly compete with well amplified 12 inch or 15 inch woofers when it comes to rounding out the lower octaves in music/home theatre. For the money, and 9 year, YES 9 year fault-proof warranty I got with these... you can't go wrong buying them. You can experience 125 dB home theatre with marginally comparable performance to the mass-fi brands at a great barain of only $125! Go buy them. If you actually read all of this, thanks!

Similar Products Used:

tower speakers by Polk Audio, Infinity, Cerwin Vega, Monitor Audio, B & W, Paradigm, Yamaha, JBL, Technics, and Pioneer

strength is there very cheap, descent sound at low volume

cheap crossover and wires, needs better 15" woofer, mid pops everyonce in a while at real high volume, tweeters blow constantly, poor cabinet construction

These speakers are great speakers for a beginner or someone on a budget but definetly not for a serious listener. Anyone who tells you they are power efficient are tellin you a lot of b.s. I had a pair of JBL's they were power efficient my receiver never got hot with the KLH's i blew one receiver and it gets all receivers pretty hot. They will not shake youre house like others have said unless there really distorting i believe all the other people who thinks these are so great are used to little aiwa boombox's. Another problem with them is at high volumes the music doesnt blend and no my receiver isnt clipping the woofers just stop pumpin bass and the tweeters dont stop pumpin highs so it hurts youre ears a bit it is uncoorectubal to cant be fixed by fideling with a eq you just have to turn em down plus you blow tweeters all the time ive blown 3 now and i dont even crank em that loud. I pitty all the poeple who think there as good as JBL or Cerwin Vega cause JBL and Cerwin Vega are in such a higher league than KLH its not even funny the only thing i can figure is that when they listened to all the speakers in Best Buys profesional listening room hahaha very acoustically f*cked up all i can figure is that the KLH's were in a better spot than the other speakers cause theres no way KLH is even close. Anyway the only reason im giving them better than the lowest score is because KLH is so cheap it sort of makes up for there crappiness good for beginnrs but thats all

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jbl, advent, soundesighn, pioneer, university

NONE

The sound falls apart when it is turned up high

If you are NOT into loud music, clear highs and tight bass, go for these speakers. I thought I was getting a nice set of speakers when I purchased these, but when I took them home and turned them up to my normal listening field, they went to hell. They can not handle a lot of bass at high volumes, like a 15" woofer should be able to, the highs sound as good as a dieing cat, and the mids are about as clear as bad reception on a tv. They are the cheapest made speakers I have ever owned also. The crossovers remind me of when I used to make mudpie in my back yard. It looks like someone globbed glue onto a piece of plasic and tossed the components into the glue, hoping they would land in the correct spot. The woofer's magnet structure has to be under 10ozs and the ferro fluid in the tweeters must have landed in a trash can instead of where they are supposed to be. I've already mealted the voice coils in the tweeters. Please, for the sake of mankind, and for the children..think the children!!!.....do not even think about buying these speakers.

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AR,Bose,Jensen

I have had a pair of these speakers for almost 2 years and am very pleased with them. I think that they are worth more than what they are selling for. I compared them to a pair of CV's that my friend ownes and they had more bass. The CV's were also 15's but they were 400 watts. For some reaso I dont think that the CV's were that powerful besause the 9915's out performed them. I would reccomend these for anyone

Price

Midrange

I have had these about a year and frankly was disappointed with them. They spent time in the basement until this week when I got some Dacron fiber that I used to line the cabinets. They come with one thin piece that is just thrown in the cabinet loose.
Anyway I took out the woofer and stapled more of it to cover both sides and the back. I also pulled the midrange speakers out of another set I had that had good mids. These screw right in the existing holes and are made by KLH also.
What a difference. I had tried these monsters on the floor, on stands, and with rags plugging up the ports (this tightened up the bass. Try it).
I would not call them great but they are much improved and a lot more listenable. When I put the mids from the 9915's into the other speakers the sound like crap. KLH could allow a few more bucks for a better midrange driver and have a much better speaker.
I know KLH is trying to meet that sub $100.00 apiece price point but for $125.00 each they could damp the cabinets properly and add a better midrange driver and have a decent set of speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Technics

$99

little for $99

you know i was checking out the cheap speakers just to see what people had to say about them and i was curious how a KLH product could have over a hundred reviews. bottom line is that they are cheap cheap speakers. are they worth $99. probably. great college dorm speakers. just in case someone pukes on them.

but come on guys use your e-mails to battle your egos. it has been quite some time since that chris dude started this crap with that 50 / 100 watt/ch false statement.

i know chris morbid (i couldn't help it) will comment. so say anything you what. you have all the time in the world to think about it. this apparently is all you have to live for. i mean to keep posting for this amount of time. i will never come back to this KLH review thingy. what a nightmare!

this is what i get for checking out cheap speakers.

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i have never used a product this cheap

Great overall speaker. I would recommend this to anyone.

I dont want to go there yet because i haven't hooked them up to a quality receiver. But I can see they lack some of flare and projection of copmpared to B&W

I would really recommend this speaker for someone looking for anyone looking to buy a lower price speaker. They really have alot of bass. They sound extremely great for the price.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 611 series,B&W

good highs, and good bass

Wish the tweeters were better built, and a stronger woofer

Pretty good speaker for the money. I mean for $99 each how can you go wrong? The bass is very good, comming from a 15" woofer, but if the woofer was stiffer that might be better. When I turn up the music I would like the cone too move less, but its not a big issue. The tweeters are pretty good, but they look cheap, I dont know why but thats KLH for you. One thing I did notice is that these speakers make the music sound kinda flat compared to my other speakers. But if you turn up the treble a bit everything will be fixed. The box itself is kinda thin, it would be better if they made it a little thicker but its OK. Not a bad speaker at all, although many people dont reccomend KLH.