Overall, the sound is good at lower levels.

Harsh sound when using higher sound levels, like for movies.

I bought three sets of speakers: Bose 701 ($849.00, Best Buy), Klipsch KLF 30 Towers ($1575.00 local), and the Boston VR 975 ($1550.00 local). For the rear, I bought a pair of Bose Double Cube Speakers (red line, new, off e-bay, $215.00) and the Klipsch KSP-S6 surrounds ($500.00 local dealer). I decided to try each with my system: Pioneer Elite VSX-26TX, Pioneer DV626D (DVD-CD), Boston VR-12 center channel, and the Pioneer SW-200 subwoofer. I tried each with every possible pairing of the speakers both with and without the separate subwoofer. Without question, the best sounds for DVD’s and CD's were from the Bose 701 speakers and the Bose Double Cube speakers in the rear.

Since I had all of these products I ask some of my friends to listen. Many of my friends are audiophiles. They, like many people who write on this forum, hate Bose. I wanted their option, but I didn’t want it biased by product lines. So, we did blind tests (i.e., each could not see what speakers were playing and rated the combinations for me). I had five of my friends do this and we had so much fun that each brought five additional people to do the sound test. The movies used were U-571 and Matrix. CD’s were Creed, Cher, and Classical Hits, 2000, Varity Bach. The receiver was set on large speakers for front, large for center, and small for rear-Bose, small and large for Klipsch, and cutoff at 80 Hz for the subwoofer.

The winning combination, using my receiver, DVD/CD player, subwoofer, and center speaker, was the Bose 701 with the Bose cube speakers. 23 out of 25 people picked the Bose combination. 25 out of 25 picked the Bose double cubes for the rear. Isn’t that something? When people couldn’t see what speakers were playing, mostly all picked Bose. People swore they were picking either the Boston’s or the Klipsch’s, depending on what they thought was the best product, and in most cases, the Bose 701 with the Bose Double Cubes were picked. The other surprising result was that the Pioneer SW-200 was picked easy over the Boston’s with the built in subwoofers given every possible combination. The pioneer was picked as cleaner and deeper bass.

This was a fun weekend for all of us. However, in the end, I took the Boston’s and Klipsch’s back. I got in writing that each were returnable before I did this (the Bose Double Cubes were going in the den if I didn’t like them as the rear speakers). It appears that a better manner to determine what speakers you actually like and do not like is to make sure you can’t see what speakers are being used. Your ears and not your eyes judge.

I do love the sound I get from the 701’s. The Double Cube’s in the rear are awesome. With the subwoofer, the bass is super clear (but it is good without too), the highs are clean and not annoying (the Klipsch were harsh), and the middle was pleasant.

You can’t go wrong with these speakers and they don’t cost an arm and a leg to own them (they sell for around $535.00 average on E-Bay or $850.00 new). The sound is so good you’ll turn them on just to listen to them. This was a fun experiment and my buddies, and their friends, still can’t believe they picked Bose. I had fun and am very happy with my system. Get the Bose 701’s, they hold up to speakers costing twice as much.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 701, Klipsch KSP-S6, Boston VR 975.

The Klipsch's main strength is its "bumpy" midbass.

It lacks the sort of fit and finish that a speaker in its price range should have.

Although I'm not a Klipsch fan per se I can't believe anyone would chose a "Bose Cube" over a KLF-30. I've heard both units and speaking personnel experience I know that the Bose Cube's sound very much like chainsaws when given more than 40 watts of power. The certainly Klipsh isn't the end all and be all of high fidelity however it certainly merrits a higher rating than 1 and certainly sounds better than "el cube". On the other hand however the Klipsch KLF30 requires a far more powerful receiver to achieve it's full potential and only comes to life at a power level that would probably overwhelm the cubes,perhaps its all matter of amplification. A five star review nonetheless to offset the 1 given in the last review.

Power, Power and MORE POWER! CRYSTAL CLEAN SOUND IMAGE

NONE!

AWESOME! BEST BUY FOR THE BUCK! The "aargh, aaARgH AAARRRGH!" of speakers!

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KSP S6, KLF-C7, KSW-15

efficient

cheaply made, poor dispersion & imaging, weak low bass reprodution

The reason I haven't owned these longer is I returned them. They were to be used in a second system & I made the mistake of purchasing before trying them in home. I didn't really ear their faults at the store. They did have them bi-wired. I don't know if that makes much difference. Maybe it does on inferior products. And I have always heard Klipsch had a good reputation. The 2nd system I was putting together the efficiency would have been a plus. When I got them home & hooked them up to my Krell integraed & started playing different tracks I realized I had made a big mistake. The soundstage was always in the center & dead. I know some of you may think well isn't it suppose to be in the center. Not always. On my Dynaudio instrument & even vocals are located in different places in the soundstage & you can even get a since of movement. For the price of these speakers you can do so much better. The ring around the port was loose & when you look inside the cabinet from the port there is little insulation, poor wring & soldering. I didn't see any internal bracing. I noticed that they had crisp mid bass, but weak in the sub bass region. When you turn them up the horn got harsh & distorted. One would think with two woofers & of this size bass would thunder. I found it thin & crisp. I wouldn't recommend this speaker for any music lover. You are paying the price of a higher end speaker & lucky to get the quality of a discount speaker. These speakers are for peole who think bigger is better & don't have enough listening experience to discern the difference. You can ge the same kind of sound from Infinity Studio Monitr series for a fraction of the price of Klipsch & for the price of Klipsch you can get a host of better quality & sounding speakers. I ego was very bruised after I brought these home. I kicked myself over & over for not hearing some of the flaws at the store. I broke my rule of not buying til I try it out at home. I will never do that again. Those of you who are shopping for mid to high end gear, if a dealer is any good they will let you take gear hom to try out. If you can't try it in your own sysem scratch it fromyor list & move on. There is a lot of brands out there. Jut look at the lists on this site. For value I wouldn't give any stars.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio, Martin Logan,B&W, Thiele & many others

I have a question about the KLF-30. For surround do I need the S6 or can I get by with the SS-1? I also need help with finding some outstanding cables. My living room is not that big. I guess I will say,"about average". You can e-mail me or just write it in here so other can put there opinion in it.

Thanks, A guy that needs help

strength, and clarity

Pretty heavy if it a problem for you. Not for me!

Remarkable! I love these speakers! I have owned my KLF-20s for about 8 months and love them as well, but when they clearanced the KLF-30's out at $397.00 a pair it was time to shop again!(I bought two pairs just in case-smile) I wasn't impressed at first, because frankly they just didn't sound as good as the KLF-20s I been using for months. Well I let them "break-in". I'd leave them playing for hours while I was away. After a few days they sounded really good, but still not quite there with my KLF-20's. The bass seemed to be "muddied" into the mids. Well in my hast I used some lesser grade speaker wires to hook them up. I've always been somewhat of a skeptic about so called "premium" wires. Well hooked the KLF-30s up to the 10 gauge "premium" wires I was using on my KLF-20's. I had bought the wires on a clearance deal as well. WOW!! The results were astounishing. I am very happy with these speakers.
Believing more is better. I have the KLF-30's and KLF-20s hooked up side-by-side. The are both slightly toed in with the KLF-30s set a little deeper than the KLF-20s. The KLF-30s are set to full range and the KLF-20s have the jumper bar removed so only the mids and highs are being used.(the neighbors couldn't handle them both). This set-up is simply incredible.
All of us are searching for that perfect set-up, but this as close as I've been able to get. The complete package consist of:
Mains: KLF-30s nad KLF-20s
Center: KLF-C7
Front surrounds: KSB 1.1s
Rear surrounds: SS-1s (need some S-6s)
Sub: KSW-12

My Yamaha DSP-A1 runs the show. The set-up allows me the ideal balance for Home theater and just audio playback. DD-5.1 and DTS movies are spectacular. I have a Klispch C-5 that I replaced with the C-7, so as soon as I find a external decoder I like...DD 6.1 and DTS TRUE ES 6.1 here I come!
The speakers have that rare ability to distinctly seperate the lows, mids, and highs and yet blend them together seamlessly with such clarity. You will not regret these speakers at all!

Similar Products Used:

Infinity SM-255s and SM-150s

Ability to play loudly and keep the same clean sound as low volumes. Very sensitive but can take as much as you can give it. Realism.

Many hate the horns, but I believe they don't give them a chance.

These speakers are highly sensitive and have the Klipsch Horns for mids and highs that dominate the philosophy behind the design. They are clean sounding, but are different from, say an electrostatic speaker such as Martin Logans. These are what I would call Loudspeakers! The sounstage suffers somewhat, but the experience of listening to any type of music is very pleasurable.
These speakers like clean wattage. I have an Aragon amp and preamp, with a Rega "Planet" CD player. My house is more soundproof than most. My neighbor says that his walls vibrate when this system is played at CLOSE TO full volume. And, at this volume, the sound is just as clean as at lower volumes. Need I say more?
There are a vast variety of speakers being produced in today's market. But, if you like the sound produced from these speakers (which I do), nothing else will suffice.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing but Klipsch can compare to Klipsch. Klipsch Chorus.

Very dynamic, good clarity, sensitive and effortless, tight mid-bass with speaker spiked, beautifully crafted with real oak wood veneer.

Little low bass, timbre slightly inaccurate,

I got a defective mid-range driver with an abnormally low output and much effort was spent to convince the local agent to replace it.
My setup:
1) Marantz CD player SE63 with Audio Alchemy DA converter DDEv2.0,
2) Marantz 7 preamplifier with Mullard CV4004 and tube rectifier,
3)Single-ended triode (GE 211) mono block power amplifier MP-211A (modified),
4)Speaker cables: Biwired with Monster M1.5 and M1
5)Others: M&K 125 subwoofer, Sony DVD player model S3000, Pioneer LD player CLD 99, Onkyo AV receiver TS-SV919THX.

I have used it for about a week and compared it with my transmission-line load bass TDL monitor (British make). After some serious listening I found that:
a) With a big box and 2 bass 12" drivers I was surprised that it has little low bass output. It has tight, tuneful, mid-bass but low bass is lacking. I guess it is not easy to produce a speaker with extended bass that is tuneful at the price of Klipsch KLF30. I guess the problem is with the bass driver, it couldn't go low. I suggest that Klipsch manufacturer look into ways to improve it, and if they can find or develop a better bass driver offer existing customer to replace the bass drivers at reasonable cost.
b) Soundstage narrow but this does not border me much.
c) Timbre not accurate compared with TDL monitor which is a very accurate in this respect.
d) Treble is clear and strong. It has good clarity.
e) Mid-bass is tight and tuneful, has strong impact, drum sounded alive.
f) Very dynamic, sensitive and easy to drive, can play loud with little distortion. Vocal sounded alive with tube amplification although it is not as good as that from TDL monitor. Mid-bass is effortless.
I purchased the set without audition as the local agent does not have a set to demonstrate. I auditioned KLF 20 in the showroom with only Onkyo AV receiver connected.I read some reviews such as those in this internet site. I bought it with the intention to replace my 11 years old TDL monitor but I have to keep the TDL monitor as its has 2 advantages over KLP 30, low extended tuneful bass and accurate timbre. Anyway I am not too unhappy with the speaker as it is very dynamic, transparent, easy to drive and has effortless mid-bass. I gave it 4 stars taking into account of its performance and cost.

Similar Products Used:

TDL monitor, Yamaha NS1000

Expensive, sounds good in stores.

Highs sound like lunch time horn, lows are muddy, mids are _?

I bought these speakers a few weeks ago and when I got them set up in my living room, the sound was terrible. I was to embarrassed to admit this fact to anyone because I read all the reviews here and told everyone that these were the best; I did my research. Then, I read the “Blind Test” and felt totally taken. Unless you are on crake, speed or “uppers” of some kind, stay away from theses speakers. The highs make you feel uncomfortable all the time. You just want to turn the music off. The lows are not natural. Is there mids?

Most of us buy speakers and have to love them once we get them in our house. We are to embarrassed to say, I hate these speakers. We research and research and research. In the back of everyone’s mind is “expensive is better.” Then I read reviews where people actually say that the salesperson told them that this or that product is bad or good. The last time I ask a salesperson a question it was about Hi-Fi videotapes. He told me a tape marked “Hi-Fi” was better because it had wider band on the side for the sound. We all know that the “Hi-Fi” sound is laid down over the entire length of the tape. Salespeople are selling products and nothing more. Mostly, they want to sell the products with the highest profit margins, which may or may not be the most expensive products.

Anyway, after reading the “Blind Test” review I got the idea that I can sell these speakers on one of the auction sites and that is exactly what I am going to do. Then, I am going to do my own Blind Tests and buy speakers that sound good to me with my ears only.

great sounding

none

im not sure what the other reveiwers were taklking about these speakers sound great with the right euqipmeant i have two pairs of them both bi-amped and they sound great the top half of the speakers are amped with b&k ref 4420s and the bottom for right now are amped with onkeyo integra m504s.the cd player is an arcam fmj 23 if your componets are crap then the sound out of these speakers will be ther not very forgiving of cheaper componets but with the right ones the sound is trully a plesure to listen too.your speakers will only sound as good as the source going into them. all speakers sound diferent with other components its your job to find the right ones thats the fun of it and going to do a blind test at the store is crap ther playing them a system you dont have if there a good dealer they will let you take them home and play them on your system then you can make a choice anyone looking to buy these speakers give them a listen you make the choice dont go by the last two reviews!