10 reviews for Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System in Walnut

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mr. W. HaqueMr. W. Haque – April 10, 2024

   As soon as I unpacked The Five’s I was struck by their excellent build quality. The true walnut veneer is beautifully crafted and the whole design is retro cool with a modern twist. The general fit and finish, from the speaker cones to the metal controls are all first rate. The speaker units have that reassuringly dense feel given their modest size and tank like build.However don’t be fooled by their size, they sound absolutely fantastic. A real wide sound stage with great imaging, layered midrange and a solid low end. Vocals are sonorous and palpable, they’re a joy to listen to. The speakers are tuned for enjoyment over absolute accuracy, and I’m thankful Klipsch went this route. With 80 watts per channel they really sing when turned up loud. They like to go loud!I have them around 2.5m apart and 0.2m from the front wall. To get the best out of the bass you need to give them at least 0.5m gap from the wall otherwise the sound is far too boomy. To counter this I have bunged the rear ports at the expense of some low end but there’s still enough presence left for a good sound. When I’m in the mood I bring them forward and un-bung them to unleash the deeper bass.Primarily purchased for enhancing my movie nights, they deliver in spades. Full bodied sounds from action scenes and they provide a vast sound scape thanks to the distance between the 2 channels. Dialogue is loud and clear and they emulate a good centre channel. I usually say if the speakers are good at music they’ll be great for movies, so no surprises here. I went with the optical connection as I didn’t want these to be on with the TV all the time. HDMI with CEC is available if you do.When listening to music I use my phone to connect via Bluetooth 5 and the AptX HD codec which my phone and the speakers fully support. The connection is stable and the quality is great. The included remote is a good size, very light, tactile buttons and easy to operate. Long press the ‘SUB RESET’ button to turn on and off the DYNAMIC bass EQ. My only complaints are I wish the remote had bass adjustment levels +/- and my other gripe is the LED light on the Primary speaker is too bright for dark rooms when watching a movie. I cover the light to remedy this.All in all I was a little hesitant in purchasing The Five’s given the cost. They had to perform not just in sound quality, but they had to look and feel the part if I were to keep them. They did not disappoint, in fact they went above and beyond my expectations. A great purchase with no regrets with a seal of approval even from the Wife!

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Trevor Sway – April 10, 2024

   A great alternative to a Theatre system where you want to also have the added benefit of great connectivity to other devices, blue tooth, phono etc. Lovely looking (if purchased in the Walnut option) and sounding speakers that have the added benefit of being able to drive a subwoofer. The bass they provide is more than enough so I would suggest that an additional subwoofer for a small to medium sized room is not required (I purchased a Klipsch SW120 which had to be turned down to absolute minimum) to stop the wife getting dizzy because of the deep bass. She still hates the size of the thing, by the way. A lovely set of hifi equipment, that looks the part and sounds even better.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Jake – April 10, 2024

   **UPDATE Aug 2021Just wanted to add that I had ordered three pairs of these and amazingly TWO pairs had a bad tweeter. It doesn’t change any of the review (one pair was an accurate tester to arrive at all my audio observations). It’s not an Amazon issue since one affected pair was purchased elsewhere. As unlikely as this problem might be, I do recommend L/R channel testing your pair, preferably with a mono sound source or album (beach boys, Pet sounds, duh). One of those pair also had a bad Aux input, so check all of your inputs as well. If you were to be unlucky enough to have any flaws, simply test it thoroughly before the return window, then return and keep the faith with getting a new pair. Don’t bother with contacting Klipsch, they’re a bit of a nightmare.—Original Review—I’ve purchased a couple sets of these. I’ve even gone the refurbished route, which is fine and worth the savings. Though that might be unnecessary due to somewhat frequent sales on these of late. ($700 new).However, If refurbished (or new), you might look for tightly stretched screens with the linen and square (non warped) speaker box construction. Even then, it might be acceptable with minor imperfections.A fair amount of info on these speaker already, so I’ll try to keep it abbreviated and specific:- You buy the FIVES and spend maybe a little more $$ vs its competitors for: Legit great sound (Klipsch tuning), Powered speakers and relatively SMALL footprint, Good looks- Great sound overall. Insane bass capabilities but not the tightest bass for speakers of this type. Still sounds good though.- I like the sound signature. It’s unique, and in fact, I don’t think you’ll easily find a speaker with the same characteristics.. Some tone controls can further help dial in personal preferences, however. Top line observation is that the sound is “forward” in the mids, this being noticed on vocals the most. Although I think this tuning does indeed help with TV watching and dialogue, it compliments most music for sure. I use the Fives for 90% music and don’t feel like it compromises anything there despite it competing with sound bars.- With the firmware update, you now get three bass cut options. Easily toggled via the remote.- Definitely update the firmware. You’ll need formatted usb flash drive.- The newly installed bass cut option is the “flattest” option the Fives deliver. And is completely needed in certain conditions and/or for certain tastes.- The remote is an underrated feature of these. Ergonomic, simple, and USEFUL. Operates the bass cut options as mentioned and bass level/volume for a subwoofer (extremely useful with a sub)- Do you need a sub? No. If space, adding cost, and bass hunger are all a factor, then these already have you covered.- BUT a sub can do two things: boost the overall sound quality by freeing up the drivers, and allow for increased volume. This is a bonus and a luxury but still is a noticeable audiophile-centric improvement.- I’ve been testing these with TWO subs (8″ jamo) and its even better. You’ll just need a coaxial Y splitter. Works great. (This pairing outperforms a single 10″ jamo sub IMO, for example). These are not high super quality subs but still provide improvement.- If you’re using a desktop/computer setup for listening, you’re able to use the USB connection. It’s easy and great. And frees up your headphone jack.- BUT you have two other options to affect sound quality that aren’t so obvious to most. This relates to the DAC in your system. The first option is to bypass the FIVES’ DAC with your desktop’s DAC. You do this by skipping the USB input and instead use the phono/line in RCA to 3.5mm jack into your computer’s headphone jack. Depending on your system, you’re likely to get a subtle to very noticeable sound upgrade. Zero reviews speak about this, but effect is real. The DAC bypass scenario is just a theory, but something changes. The idea being that your computer has a slightly better DAC than the FIVES (which is part of the FIVES’ package that your paying for…) The second option is to go even further and skip your computer’s DAC with some sort of outboard DAC. I’m using a Focusrite Clarett for example (the Clarett connected to the Mac via USB, the FIVES connected to the Clarett via headphone out into the FIVES RCA line in).- I’m also running a Fosi Q4 from my MacBook. This also adds TONE controls which is very welcome.- I’m also running a Helm Auto Bolt DAC from my Android phone- All of the above DAC options are different (and only being used one at a time) and I won’t go into it, but they all add a VERY noticeable sound upgrade ($55, $100, $450)- If this sounds interesting to you, and you want a rec, then I STRONGLY recommend the Fosi Q4 (the Aiyima A-2 is identical and cheaper). All in all, it’s by far the best option: the tone controls are what makes it S tier to any other affordable DAC- The Fives’ DSP is killer and also part of what you’re paying for with these versus say other powered speakers with lesser DSP or passive speakers and amp with no DSP. (DSP in this case mostly modulates the bass at low volumes making the music sound more full at lower volumes. A “Joe and Tell” review on YouTube mentions the high frequencies aren’t modified by DSP which he suggests it might benefit from, but I have no problem with highs at lower volumes)- I don’t believe the DSP works with the sub plugged in?- The Fives look good with and without the grills. I think the grills should come taught to maximize their good looks. They click on and off easily via magnets which is perfect bc they deserve to alternate. Slight, slight boost in clarity with the grills off.- All listening as described has been via some version of hard wired, line-in listening. Bluetooth, isn’t being used but I’m still happy to have it built in.- If using as desktop/near field speakers, prop them up (the tweeter) to or slightly above ear level. The difference is huge. Shoot for the same in a room situation.- Using HDMI Arc for TV listening works well and is nice to control volume via TV remote. The speed at which the volume goes up or down via my TV remote is pretty slow vs the TV’s default volume. Slightly annoying actually, but is fine. Plus you can still use the Fives’ remote which toggles volume faster.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Shades – April 10, 2024

   So I spent an exorbitant amount of time reading through the reviews on these (I always do)… and every single time I read more extensively, I realize that most if not all reviewers have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what they’re talking about.WHO AM I TO SAY THIS?Well, nobody really… but one badge that I do wear is that I worked for BOTH of the two premiere surround sound companies on the planet. That means I was surrounded (pun intended) all day long by not only the most expensive gear from literally every single sound company on the planet, but also the very few people who were lucky enough to be born with the ability to hear the complete sound spectrum.SCIENTIFIC FACT: There are only about 14 people on the planet who have this ability.SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US regarding these Klipsch speakers?I’m glad you asked, even if you didn’t ask, I’m glad you’re now wondering.THESE SPEAKERS ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!I’ve been using them for one day now and I have pushed movies, TV shows, and a HUGE and VARIED array of musical genres through them, and they handle ALL of them effortlessly and reproduce them damn near perfectly across the board.From Classic Rock to Grunge to Metal… from Drum & Bass to Dance to Downtempo to Deep Thumping Progressive House… from Jazz to Blues, from Ska to Reggae… I even jammed some Gyuto Monk Chanting and Polka through them and THEY PERFORMED and THEY PERFORMED STELLARLY! I was SHOCKED!Remember, these are classified as bookshelf speakers, however they certainly perform way beyond any other “bookshelf” speaker that I’ve heard.They’re LOUD, too, and they maintain clarity all the way through the entire range of sounds in all of the musical genres that I pushed through them in the 15′ deep x 25′ wide room that I have them in.As I sat listening to them, eyes closed, relaxed back, mind cleared, I thought to myself just how tragic it is that online reviews aren’t mandated by a reviewer first having some kind of advanced degree and some SERIOUS critical thinking skills. Because these speakers ABSOLUTELY DO point out who does and does not know WTF they are talking about.It’s obvious that most, if not all, of the negative “know-it-all” reviewers are just angry people who spent $10k on their systems only to have a $799.00 pair of bookshelf speakers come so dang close to the performance they have with those systems.Imagine how mad and embarrassed someone who spent $5M on a Bugatti basting full-force down the road would be if a Nissan GTR came barreling up to it with ease—THAT IS THESE KLIPSCH SPEAKERS.They are a bit bass-heavy at times, but that’s OK because here’s the FACT (again this comes from having worked for both those companies)…ALL SOUND IS DIGITALLY SPLIT ANYHOW. THERE IS ALMOST NOBODY SETTING UP 5 OR 7 MICS TO RECORD EACH INSTRUMENT AND/OR SOUND STAGE.This FACT right here is what separates the very few TRUE audiophiles which exist from those who are clearly just interwebs haters who are sitting around angry in puddles of their own filth, pissed off that the proverbial girl they make fun of turns out to be the most beautiful model on the planet… we’ve all heard those stories. THIS IS THE PRIME ANALOGY REPRESENTING THAT!1: If your audio source is quality, you’re spot-on and need nothing else to parse the sound. This became apparent as I ran a myriad of movies from the 80s up to now, through them.2: I would recommend getting a subwoofer REGARDLESS to separate the bass from mids & highs. It’s just common sense, but you most certainly do NOT need it.3: I found the best thing for me was to turn my OLED sound settings on my TV to use not only the internal speaker to catch more highs, but also OBVIOUSLY the Klipsch speakers, at the same time. It was a minimal change, however it ABSOLUTELY DID set off those super-highs from the back bouncing off the wall and thus it did dynamically change the entire sound spectrum.It’s even better that it’s just so simple to connect any audio source to them so dang easily & effortlessly without tons of other equipment.I hooked up my old Klipsch subwoofer to it and YES< do buy an alternate sub... I will report when the new one I ordered arrives and I can run the same tests again.Look, bottom-line, THESE ARE UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING! SUPER-EASY to set up, they offer so many different options for sound sources,, they look AMAZING, they are built SOLID...I love these things, and all things considered & comparatively speaking, they're easily the BEST audio purchase I've made, EVER.I haven'ty even received my stands for them yet, they're sitting on the boxes (protective box & product box) they were delivered in on the sides of my TV set-up and they still sound THAT FRIGGING AMAZING.If you don't have tons of cash but want to have sound which makes you feel like you did spend a ton... BUY THESE!Then laugh at all the fools who are crapping all over these in the reviews.Seriously, they need to get outside & let go of their OCD anger.NOTE: I'll update this when my new subwoofer comes in this weekend. I'll attack photos too.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   rajeev sami – April 10, 2024

   Simple, works as advertised

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   WaterEarthSky – April 10, 2024

   This is the best bookshelf speaker I have heard under $1K. Sound is big and it rival my B&W floor standing speaker. The Bass can fill pretty large room and have spare. No need for Sub, I was fooled into thiking my Sub woofer was on, and then I realize, I did not even hook the sub at all. I thought there is no way, the fives sound as “big” as my floor standing speaker with Sub.The bass is thuderous, not in a bloated way, but its a quality type bass, like a well tune sub. Now the fives will sound very boomy if your room is small and you place it next to the wall. And since I bought it for my small room, I have to block the back port. I have tried several type of material for blocking and find that the soft foam (egg crate foam) works really well. I have tried roll up towel, Socks, Paper towel, Soft tissue etc. Here the tip. You can actually set the bass level according to your preference.Cut foam into a wedge so it fits exactly. I cut several sizes to set different bass level.1) Fully block with foam – the bass is pretty tight, all boom gone, even if I stick my head to the corner of my room, the boom is gone. The bass is now on par with my my B&W speaker and also a little more bass than Audio Monitor 5. The bass quality on the fives is still better even with the foam. Now there is a bass cancel switch on the remote but it kills too much bass IMO. The foam block still allows some air to pass and it does not affect the low end.- just remove the “double bass” reflecting from the wall.2) Foam with 1 pinky finger hole, the bass is slightly stronger, there is a slight boom. It still sound like a sub is running but very well control.3) Foam with 2 finger hole – the boom is back. Still reduce but way better.Now I am only refering to small room and the fives is next to the wall. If I “free” my fives to a bigger space, high ceiling etc. There is no need for the foam. I think this is where the fives should really be. The sound is grand..For the top end, the clarity and smoothness is superb. I would describe this as a very romantic sound with slightly forward vocal focus. Its like playing a trumpet in a underground subway rather than a control treated studio (well I am using anology, the difference of course is not that great but u get the idea). Since I love Jazz to death, the vocal, bass, clarity, soundstage combo is just grand. yes, it sound grand. It will not sound like a computer speaker, it sound like a floor standing speaker with a well tune subs. As the top end is sibilance free, I tend to turn up the volume more.The Dyanamic EQ work very well, this tech has been around and some will call it night mode. The bass will increase as the volume goes softer. I do appreciate the increase in bass WITHOUT the increase in treble (most night mode speakers do that) and then it sounded very V shape and even at low volume, all I hear is tizzy and bass, the vocal get recessed, I am glad the fives does not do that. Some had pointed it out the treble should also increase when bass increase to balance things out. Well.. I hope they will provide e an app for EQ in the future. But then, I can always adjust the EQ on my phone. For now, the treble is just right. Its warm, smooth and has superb clarity. Pls dun confuse clarity means brighter treble. the fives is not bright at all, yet the clarity is as good as a brighter monitor like the AE5+.the 3 sec hold button on the sub button cancel a big chunk of bass. Once the bass is cancel, it will sound like a Audio Engine 5. Not a bad thing but I luv bass. Some people say this is a more accurate sound. Well, even if you cancel the bass, this monitor is still not accurate enough for studio mixes. Its a high quality “fun” speaker. It may not be accurate, but its very musical… I have alot of fun with it.Connection is great, one of the main reason I bought the fives is the HDMI input for TV (remenber to set your TV output to PCM. Also note that connecting with a Chrome cast direct to HDMI will not work = no sound. I also connect the Echo dot with the line in and it can now play Amazon HD music and stream radio station. For a higher quality, the echo link can connect digital to the fives (well u will need $199 for the echo link).Due to its small size and pretty light weight – I tend to take the fives all over the place. I can take it to my friend place or office and its like bringing my floor standing speaker with the sub on my back pack. That is real fun…Alright – for those who does not want the big bass and not play with foam, the 2nd best will be Edifier s3000 pro and Swan M300 in terms of power speaker with big bass. They all have similar bass power but IMO I think the fives is still way ahead (just love that big warm romatic sound of the fives). Now the S3000 pro does have DSP built in with several mode including the dynamic mode (which now has increase bass with increase treble) and the Swan M300 is an old school style with knobs control to turn the bass/treble up and down. Do bear in mind, reducing the bass to solve the boom is not solving it, its getting rid of the bass. U will still need the foam to maintain the bass on the front but reduce the bass reflect from the wall. Either that or get a front port. Problem solved.Summary – For those who wants a small package with big sound. THIS is it. It fits on your desk, sound like a floor standing speaker and does it without amplifer. It also has the option to stream hi res lossless ($30 for chromcast) and connect usb to your laptop as it has a DAC on board. If you looking for “flat” sound, this is not an accurate monitor for your mixes. Closest you can get is to turn off the sub (3sec hold button on remote) and even that its not close to neutral (whatever neutral means to u when recording/mixing). But heck its of alot of fun. I can have it on my kitchen in the morning and bedroom at night. It super portable, its only 1 plug – that the power plug.update: 3/26/21.I am so impress with the fives that I bought the REL T5i Subwoofer. I bought the T5i for to control the bass boom in a small room. I am surprise that the fives goes up another level.1）When connecting to the subs, the bass from 75hz and below is cutoff. This cutoff broght alot of clarity to the treble.2) With the REL Subsoofer, the bass now has alot more texture and its really fast. The REL blended so well with the fives that I cant really tell that the bass is coming from the sub. Bass is dead center.3) All the bass boom is gone – Even in the back of the wall or corner of the room, the bass is very even and well control.4) Bass punch hard and fast. very well define and bass notes can be heard with great clarity.Overall, the addition of the subs makes the fives sound 3x more expensive than it really was. I dare say, it will rival a B&W 705 S2 and in fact the bass punch above the B&W as the REL added more depth, and bass more define. Some reviewer say that adding any subs will still be better than no subs. This is wrong. Adding a cheap subs will make the fives sound worse. The bass is loose, muddy and not define. I would rather not have it at all. If you are looking for a sub to pair with the fives, the REL T5i is the best. Do not get the REL Tzero mk 3, I have that too and its not strong enough to pair with the fives. Also get a subs that is seal for music. A ported subs will not be as tight and fast as a seal subs.

7. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Frankie – April 10, 2024

   This is an uncompensated review, I paid full retail for these speakers. I’ve had them for two days. First, I don’t consider myself an audiophile, but I do enjoy occasionally turning up the volume on old rock-n-roll from vinyl, CDs, and my phone. I also was looking for better sound from my TV’s factory speakers. Right out of the box these speakers amazed me (some have spoken of a break-in period, maybe they’ll get even better with time). Loud (and clear) enough to easily fill my 30×40 family room, and annoy family members elsewhere in the house. Because you can connect a record player directly, I tried that first thing. (It’s surprisingly amazing not to have a big receiver connecting the two.) Honestly I’m hearing distinct layers of voice and instrument I had not noticed before from 1980s vinyl. I just sat there in my chair and listened, it was that compelling (usually I work while listening). These also work great with my TV (a TCL 50-inch, 2020 model). When connected via HDMI-ARC (as if I know what that is) the speakers power up automatically when the TV is turned on, and the factory TV remote controls their sound level. I also played some tunes via Bluetooth from my phone and to my unsophisticated ear again I thought they sounded awesome. I have no idea about bit rates, etc. but there you go…awesome sound. A few other notes: I am not seeing the issue where people say you have to re-set the sound in your TV streaming app (Netflix, etc.) between episodes, in order to have sound work correctly. So far at least, mine works as expected whenever I turn it on and stream TV, even if I move from show to show. I had previously set the TCL’s sound control to stereo not to “auto select” or Dolby, as I recall. I will update if I see this issue.Fit and finish of these speakers is top-notch, I got the wood-look design and they look great. I had no issues downloading the Klipsch Connect app to my Android phone or getting Bluetooth connected and into use. I was not prompted to update firmware, so maybe it’s not necessary with latest units (Nov. 2020).Here are the only negatives I’ve encountered: $799. for two 12-inch-tall speakers seems like a lot of money (but of course there is a lot of tech and great design packed into these little boxes). The sound control when using the TV remote is a little sluggish, it lags a bit behind the button press, but it’s OK, you get used to it. The bass on some tunes seems a little heavy. I have no intention of buying the separate woofer. Maybe there’s a way to adjust the bass, I haven’t looked into that yet as it hasn’t really been a big problem. I have hardly played with speaker placement (I have them a foot from the wall behind them) which may help. Finally I will say it took Klipsch a week to send an auto-reply to my pre-purchase question at their web site (I finally went ahead after finding the info in a review elsewhere) and I still haven’t heard from an actual person there so I hope their tech support is adequate if actually needed.If you can afford them, these speakers are awesome. I will update this review if I have any future problems with them.

8. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Cemmy – April 10, 2024

   After an extensive search for replacing my Samsung soundbar with a pair powered speakers, I have decided to purchase the Fives. I bought the version with the walnut finish and it has this great modern yet retro style. They are very compact in size and setting up is incredibly easy. Connecting to TV via HDMI ARC was smooth as well as connecting to various bluetooth devices. When connected to TV, if you connect to a Bluetooth device, it swtiches automatically, you then need to switch to TV manually or via the remote.Sound quality is superb at this price point. These are NOT neutral speakes but they have good enery with mid to treble being very nuanced. It has the same sound signature of larger Klipsch products. I am particularly impressed with the bass. I am not sure one needs and extra subwoofer, I feel it is already very very good both in amount and quality. The remote control allows you to tune subwoofer sound separately from the mid and treble, which is a great feature. I have listened to a number of hi-res audio tracks and very pleased with the sound stage, separation and clarity. When watching TV and movies, dialogue was very clear and audible . Overall, I am very pleased witn this purchase, it is a simple plug and play device… I also connected chromecast audio for wifi connection via LINE/PHONO jack (do not forget to turn on the HD sound quality on Chromecast audio settings, it makes a HUGE difference) and listened to high res audio, similar to bluetooth connection but with a slightly better sound quality. I do not believe one can go wrong with this device at its price point. And another nifty feauture is the ability to assign primary speaker to either left or right based on your needs and desire via a switch in the back of the primary speaker.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   H. DaoH. Dao – April 10, 2024

   I was on a fence on the Fives speaker set but decided to invest in my first active speaker set.Build Quality:First out of the box, the speakers are beautiful. The woodgrain veneer has a natural like finish and hence no fingerprints or markings get collected on them. As others have reported, the fabric grills are terrible, just don’t install them, they are flimsy and don’t add to the speakers. For comparison the Jamo S 803 have much better fabric magnet grills compared to these Fives.App Tuning:The default EQ I think was flat and natural. I had to download the Klipsch app to update the firmware, a bit of a pain but as long you have a thumb drive and some technical understanding of how to extract files and upload them via the usb input, you should be fine. After the update, you’ll need to install the Klipsh connect app to fine tune EQ levels which made the speakers improve immensely.Are they Bass heavy?When researching these speakers, I kept hearing they were “bassy” but I don’t really don’t think they were and they do have low end soundstage. Before EQ’ing the high/mids are a bit muddle, which other reviews have mentioned. I feel like if you are open to change the levels for different genres of music you can get around that. I also added a subwoofer to the unit, a Jamo S808 and for hip hop/bass heavy music. For a reference another bookshelf speaker, the Jamo S803 have a soundstage that suits better for high/mid levels.Some minor cons:One thing that is a nitpick but the remote is kinda cheap feeling compared to the speaker’s metal rotator dial. For inputs I’m mostly connecting to a Technics 1200 turntable and the pre-amp is decent, compared to a Yamaha S501- its not as good, but its good enough. Also design wise, I’m not a huge fan that the ground post is on the opposite side of the speaker rca/inputs. But besides these smaller issues, the speakers and the app’s ability EQ on the fly makes these bookshelves a perfect match for my tehnics 1200s. Also lack of an amplifier saves a ton of space and the speakers have the ability to use them as a soundbar for my TV via HDMI is a nice feature to have.

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    DaveDave – April 10, 2024

    I feel The Fives are a performance speaker that dominate their price range, however these are not booming, floor-standing speakers that will rattle your fillings- they are “bookshelf” speakers that simply cannot move the air necessary to allow you to feel the boom. The first album I played was Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours ” – one of my favorites. I was disappointed that they had a bit of an AM Radio sound – mostly mid, with little bass. That was a bummer. I have a 10in Sony subwoofer from an audio system I was no longer using, so I hooked it up. Wow! What a difference! The Fives definitely have the punch to fill a room, but with even an average subwoofer, they can punch way above their weight limit. A later album was Pink Floyd’s “Animals” and it was the first one I played LOUD. It was fantastic, but the sub – I feel – is necessey to get the full sound I think we all want. I am still within the 100-hour break-in, but I would say The Fives – with sub- are everything I want. Build quality is excellent and they look awesome. For anybody who cares about such stereo gear, they will catch your eye, for sure. Two nits, however. First is the LED indicator light. The light is located on top of the speaker box – if the speakers are at eye level, the light is invisible. Only if looking straight down on the speaker can you tell what the light is indicating (on/off, Phono, TV, Bluetooth, etc). You can figure it out with the remote, but it’s kind of a pain when you first power them on and they take 10-seconds (or so) to boot up. The other nit is the remote control. It’s IR not RF, so it’s line-of-sight only. It’s located on the lower right of the front, and somewhat behind part of the cover’s structure, so the remote seems to have a very narrow beam. The user seems to need to be directly in front – not above or far on either side – to use the remote. Overall, I’m very happy. Just don’t think these will work the same as speakers 2, 3 or 4 times the size – they won’t (they can’t).