Punch Bass, low reproduction, incredible highs, wide, wide sound stage. Loud

Don't know of any yet

These are amazing little speakers. Wow is all I can say. If you find these for a good buy like I did, pick them up. These are perfect for any system. Sounds great on my Elite VSX-21.

Similar Products Used:

Boss Acoustimass, KLH bookshelfs

Neutral coloration, high efficiency, excellent bass for size

NONE

I love these speakers! I have always liked klipsches for their efficiency, and tight, crisp bass, but these little speakers are really a cut above, older klipsches are too bright for certain material or sound levels but the KSB 3.1's are not harsh and in fact have excellent voice reproduction with no holes in the midrange (rare for a two driver speaker)...A composer friend of mine came over to audition them with a broad range of material and they really play any type of music very well. He went away impressed.

Excellent transients-they don't smear the music at all.
effortless highs, lows, you name it...these are truly super nice speakers... I give them 10 stars! They are supposed to put out bass down to 45 Hz or so, and they sound like it, which is great for a speaker this small, but what is really neat is that they seem to have a low pass crossover or something for the lower stuff, because you can feed them low bass and crank them up and they never seem to muddy out like so many little speakers straining to produce the low stuff.

These speaker are a great deal right now, becasue the replacement models are out so they are getting closed out...Try Ebay

Similar Products Used:

infinity, klipsch

These speakers are AWESOME! I got them for $300 pr yesterday at Ken Kranes. Iv'e been wanting them for a while and they've been worth the wait. The $300 was a close out price. The reason I wanted them is because I live in a small apartment and I really cant use a subwoofer due to complaints. With these speakers I get decent base sound without a sub. I'm using them with KSB 1.1 for rears and a Yamaha R-V 1105 reciever.

Everything

Nothing

I feel I owe these speakers another review since getting a REAL reciever (a Yamaha RX-V495). Now I can honestly say the Klipsches dominate the Polks in every category. The Polks distort very quickly when you reach for that volume knob. The Klipsches havent' distorted yet and I've had them at deafening levels. The bass is devastating, they do put out near subwoofer levels of bass. They really shine with *good* live recordings. These are just excellent sounding speakers, very very detailed. If anyone complains these speakers don't have enough bass, they've been listening to too much KORN.

Similar Products Used:

Polk RT35, various mass market garbage

great sound for a two way system.
clean high and warm lows.
small size and yet very loud

I wish

great sound. can't say more.
well build and will keep me happy for a long time.

great for all types of music.

Clarity, NO distortion, great for HT and music

At $250 shipped, are you kidding?

I am using Klipsch 3.1's as main speakers, with Klipsch sc-1
center, and quintets for the rear. These speakers have the best bang for the buck of any of the speakers I was testing
(Energy, Monitor Audio, Boston). Clear highs and great bass considering this is a bookshelf speaker. You can drive these to very high high volumes with no distortion. As far as comments in previous reviews about the binding posts and speaker grills, the plugs pop out so you can use banana plugs, and the grills can be removed. Eventually, I would like to obtain Klipsch floorstanding speakers like the
KLF-20's to use as mains and move these to use as surrounds,
but until then, these will do quite nicely.

Klipsch 3.1 Mains
Klipsch sc-1 center
Klipsch quintets as surrounds
Acoustic Research Subwoofer(driver replaced with Adire Shiva-:) 1 word-Wow!)

Are there better speakers out there? Sure. Do you get the same quality for the price? I doubt it. If you are considering purchasing a system from a company I will not name(better profit margins through shortcuts), spend half that money and get twice the system. Klipsch has the best price/performance ratio around. Get these while you can-I don't see them on the auction sites as often as before. You will not be disappointed.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch, Cerwin-Vega

Value; crisp, detailed highs, quality, ultra efficient, live sound reproduction.

Dependent upon personal preferences, perhaps a bit bright for some listeners. Given the quality of build and sound, no complaints in this category.

Subjectively, these were noticeably brighter than the B&W 601, Acoustic Energy Aegis One, or Bostons examined - I personally found these to be better at producing a "live" type of sound. As a big fan of blues and classic rock, these speakers have been great for music, as well as for home theater. Initially, I was leaning a bit toward the B&Ws; however, given my sound preferences, speaker efficiency, and budget at the time, I went for the 3.1s. Needless to say, I'm now a Klipsch fan; they blew away my other Boston and Infinity bookshelf monitors with ease. No distortion experienced, crisp clarity, and very little power required. The KSB 3.1 exceeded my expectations upon initial hookup, and only got better after the requisite break-in time.

One comment regarding a previous review, these speakers do have 5 way binding posts; apparently, due to European consumer electronic regulation, they shipped from the factory with rubber plugs, which can be removed in order to utilize bannana plugs for connectivity.

Note, this model was replaced in early 2000 by the SB-3 which differs in that the port was moved to the rear, which allowed for the fitment of a larger Tractix horn driver, in addition to cosmetic updates. It seems one of the objectives in the revised models was to physically slim down the footprint or physical size of the Synergy line, see also the KSF vs SF towers.

Similar Products Used:

Replaced Infinity, Boston; compared to B&W 601, Acoustic Energy Aegis One, Boston, and Paradigm MM

Very clear sound, wide sound stage, tight efficient bass

Cabinet - Very easy to scratch and ding

I had planned on purchasing the Paradigm Monitor 3's and was looking for some 18" speaker stands when I happend upon these beauties ... the sound was astonishing ... very crisp, alot of bass for a bookshelf, and the acoustics are amazing ... the price is what got me ... closeout at "The Good Guys" for $250/pr ... I couldn't resist ... The Paradigm's are better looking, but I did save $150.00 and the sound quality is very equal ...

Similar Products Used:

Tested - Paridigm Monitor 3

sound is very crisp, good frequency response, VERY loud

no 5 way binding posts(only binding posts), a bit bright

The KSB 3.1 are excellent speakers for the price. I have been using them for about 9 months and they are still amazing me. The 8 in woofer gives a considerable amount of bass, yet is not as boomy as other speakers in this price range. I have yet to hear distortion from them, even when I have them past 80 watts. The sound is very crisp, and I think that it easily beats any other textile (silk) dome tweeter, and even some low end titanium tweeters. The speakers are also very efficient. When I first purchased them I only had an old Marantz to power them with, and they played extremely loud with only 55 watts going through them.

There are only a few drawbacks. Yes, the speakers are a bit bright, but that can easily be solved by GETTING UP and lowering the treble a little bit. The only other drawback that I have found is the fact that they only have binding posts (as opposed to 5 way binding posts). This may seem like a minor drawback, but it is really annoying when you buy banana plugs and brand new wire only to find out that you would have been better off spending less money and buyind angled connectors.

Overall the Klipsch are a great pair of speakers and are an excellent buy.

Similar Products Used:

PSB, JBL, Yahama, Boston Acoustics
JBL, PSB, Yahama,

Good for home theatre, not bad for music. Very efficient and clean sounding. Overall a good budget speaker.