Pretty good build quality.Imaging, soundstage can be fantastic with most playback.
I had 3d effect with them 20 feet apart at 45degrees and sitting 15 feet back.multi-layer sound,seem to really like to play horns(think big band) on the tractrix horn tweeter. refined if somewhat subtle bass extension.mine are a light oak color and match a variety of rooms well.

bright with treble,leave mine on defeat and bass +2, LARGE boxy size.midrange depth,mids could be better,use with eq ,or using tube amps could help. bass extension is 34 hrz,good for most music,but need sub bass for full effect.

Large towers with a pleasant simple look,understated sound capacity from 2 10in
woofers and large horn. These speakers are sensitive as most klipsch are known to be.Handleing 100 clean watts per spkr they are average in taking the heat, though
I rarely beat them to hard. Have them playing with an onkyo integra p-304,integra
eq-35 an onkyo m-501 amp.They were around 8-900 when new and i got mine for 225 in excellent condition.work great by themselves or as mains in ht.
One could easily add a sub lfe to round off the nearly piercing treble.Highly recommended speaker.

Similar Products Used:

A/D/S, NHT,Yamaha,infinity

My house shakes enough without being too boomy and without the need for a separate sub, despite the specs dipping "only" to 34hz. As a plus, the oak finish looks great, too.

Some brightness as mentioned. I also needed to have the cabinets reglued after 4 years (under the 5 year warranty), but I attributed this to torque applied to each of the 69-pounders in moving twice.

Purchased pair for my apartment for $750 new in 1997. I had to wait until I got a house in 2001 to make full use of them. I think the sound is wonderful, although the horns tend to be a bit bright at times, especially with varying audio feeds, like thru cable or satellite. I solved that by adding a KV3 center channel and have been very happy since.

Similar Products Used:

Sony SSTL3 (hardly similar!), Polk

Very clean, accurate, capable performance

Slightly large

I purchased the Klipsch kg 5.5's as my dream speakers. They haven't let me down. Unfortunately concurrent with my purchase, my family began to grow. I've never had the time to fully appreciate these speakers and am forced to sell them to a good home. They're in top condition. Contact kevin.gard@sun.com if interested.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Paradigm

Crisp and clear! Can easily make a Bose fan change his mind.

None so far

I never looked beyond Bose until I was introduced to a friend's Klipsch Classic Tangent 5000. The astounding clarity and deep bass made me want to own a pair of similar speakers. Given the choice between Bose 901 and the KG 5.5, I did not hesitate for minute before picking up the latter. Since then I've had no regrets. With a frequency response as low as 34Hz, I may need to change my KSW-10 subwoofer for something more powerful to match these monster mains. These are currently powered by a Yamaha DSP A-3090 amplifier and ideal for audio listening as well as for movies.

super clean, great bass, very efficient

???

When I was in high school a friend had a pair of fortes, I was blown away by the sound quality. When it came time for me to be able to afford a pair of Klipsch for my own, the forte was no longer available, huge bummer!! The 5.5s were the comparable model at that time. In the last five plus years I have really grown to apreciate that blind purchase. There is absolutely no comparison to any of my friends systems, even ones with thousands more invested. My modest 80 watts/channel is more than sufficient to crank out the loudest, CLEANEST sound around. Thaks Klipsch

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JBL and Sony comparables

Incredible sound, awesome bass response. Play louder than I have ever needed.

Heavy as hell

I got these main speakers in 93 or 94 and have hauled them all around the country. Best advice I ever got from a stereo store. Guy told me to try out the 5.5's with an Academy as my center channel with an Onkyo receiver. Dont know what was better advice (he talked me out of the Sony ES lightweight crap I was looking at as well as the Bose lightweight crap I was looking at). Picking up the Academy and the Onkyo receiver told the story. The sound of the 5.5's is awesome with a good receiver and though the highs sometime are too bright or almost harsh I have gotten used to it and other speakers just don't sound like they reproduce. I have since upgraded my receiver to another Onkyo but don't plan to ever upgrade the front have of my surround system. Have even brought home a couple of subs and returned em cause with these placed correctly in your room you don't need a sub. My only complaint was the Academy was being discontinued and they only had the oak finish while I got the black 5.5's. It was a sale thing. I wish I had gotten the oak color all around.

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Lucky first time buyer.

Price Sound Blowing bose out the water

None yet

I lucked up into my pair of speakers.I was considering the Advent laurette or heritage but by the time I had the money the Advents where no longer avaible.When I walked into the store I asked the salesperson about bose he laughed and told me bose was junk.We''ll anyway he took me to their listening room to listen to some speakers. There where other brands and models of klipsch ,but the kg 5.5 had that sound that stood out.The model above these had a whole lot more bass and wher pricier but I wanted nice sounding speaker that wasn''t overpowering.At the time I had a sony receiver it did push them with ease and clarity but I wanted better so I got a pioneer elite receiver.I will admit I had never heard of Klipsch until that day but now all I consider is Klipsch.Anyone I have let hear speakers love them from the first sound.I tried jazz,rock,hard rock and rap and theres no sacrifice for quality.

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Cheap towers to ashamed to name

Wide sound field, Strong bass response,

Tends to bright on female vocals, Heavy speaker

I got hooked on the kg5.5 when a local liquidator had a single KG5.5 speaker for $50 dollars. I was looking for a true center speaker for my home theater and decided to try the tower speaker. Boy did that make a difference. I had been using an optimus speaker or using my rf3's in phantom mode. I have a large rear projection tv and found that placing the kg5.5 on top of the tv(on its side) but pointing down slightly changed my opinion of home theater. Since a lot of the sound comes out of the center speaker, having a center with the quality of this speaker was awesome. Now the rf3 speaker for the money is a very good speaker but there is a difference between the rf3 and KG5.5(primarely bass response and spacious sound field). I went online and was able to locate a pair that i now use as my mains and moved the rf3's to the rear. Before i did that i set up the rf3 and kg5.5 as A&B's and did a lot of side by side testing before making my decision. The kg5.5's are tremendous on home theater and excellent on music. I tend to listen to music from the 70's and 80's and find since i got my 5.5's i am listening to a lot of my old albums. The bass response on marshall tucker albums is awesome. My pink floyd and alan parsons albums seems like new music(dynamic range and instrument separation is awesome). Listen to fogelbergs voice on these babes are a real treat. But to be fair, i find certain female vocals( christine perfect in particular) can sound a little harsh or bright. I have heard that the type of reciever(electronics) will impact this. I am using a yamaha RX793 as a reciever so i do not get to enjoy the true sound surround of my rears on music. I am saving for an upgrade there to see if that makes a difference. As i indicated i am an enthusiast vs a true audiophile. I love music and find that klipsch has made me look at music much different. I used to own a pair of bose 601's(2 eight inch drives and 4 tweeters) and was very pleased with the sound until the foam failed. I purchased a pair of the klipsch(rf3's) and for the first time heard music the way it was meant to be. I know that because after 20 years with my 601's i could not part with them and got them refoamed. I was so excited when i got my 601's back and put them side by side with my newly acquired kg5.5's. I will not embarrass myself any more than say that for 20 years i did not know what music could sound like. I hear that some of the other speakers out there like paradigm and B&W will blow klipsch away but I am not sure I see it. But I used to think of bose as the best so I will not state that other speakers can not put klipsch down. I rated the value of the kg 5.5 as a 5 because its a discontinued model and for 500 dollars, you would be hard pressed to find a comparable pair of speakers. Overall rating is 4 because 5 is the tops and i know that based on my bose experience, i do i have not heard all of the speakers out there. What i will close on though, is I love my Klipsch KG5.5 and in the end thats what's important.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch rf3

all around great speaker for theater and music(especially loud levels)

none

purchased these monsters 3 years ago or so on blow out
$ @ the good guys (morons). 100% happy with the spkr.
and the $!!! added klipsch surrrounds and the klf-c7
center (my pride and joy, if divorced, she can take the house and car, leave my center spkr.). i'm sure there's
a better spkr. out there but for the money, i have to
recommend klipsch. only draw back, boy clinton is from
hope. send his ass back there one way, & take his boy toy
al gore with him (clinton clone)

Sensitivity,Frequency Response,Efficiency,Sound Quality,Clarity,

Off-axis sound,Discontinued!!

My wife & I spent a long time auditioning speakers. We listened to them all; Polk,Definitive,AR,NHT,etc. Then we heard the Klipsch KG5.5's and there was no turning back. I listen to mostly "classic" rock (Stones,Who,Floyd,Dylan,Petty,Zevon) with a little Pearl Jam,StoneTemplePilots,etc thrown in, while my wife is now a bonafide country fan, and the only thing that sounds crappy was a late David Bowie CD, that probably would have sounded bad on anything! I listen to everything "flat", with the loudness contour turned off, and I can't say enough good things about this speaker. My wife's step-father has some Martin Logans paired with a big whomping Velodyne subwoofer, and he was very impressed with both the bass and high-end on these speakers. My house was broken into, and these babies were stolen, and I went crazy trying to replace them, as they are discontinued! The replacement KLF20's did not match the sound quality of the 5.5's. In the end, I found a dealer in Texas on the web who had some, but they were the crappy black veneer cabinets, not the lovely medium oak ones I originally had. I was deperate, though, so I bought them. Same excellent sound but I miss those cabinets!