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Klipsch reference speakers make home theaters look as good as they sound

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Somewhere between the convenience and simplicity of soundbars, and the all-encompassing sound of a full-fledged Dolby Atmos system, there is a perfect middle ground — Klipsch thinks it has found it. The company’s solution: Package up its famous Klipsch reference speakers sound quality in a 5.1 package, and make the subwoofer wireless so that it can be placed (and replaced) almost anywhere. It’s called the Klipsch Reference Theater Pack and you can pre-order it online for $999.

The brushed-black finish of the speakers is guaranteed to make them disappear into any home theater environment, that is unless you choose to remove the fabric grilles. Doing so exposes their spun copper 3.5-inch woofers — creating an eye-catching hit of metallic color — and their horn-loaded tweeters, a feature which Klipsch claims is unique in the pre-packaged home theater category.

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“This is the easiest way to get award-winning, powerful Klipsch reference home theater sound,” Kerry Geist, product manager at Klipsch Group, said in a statement. “It’s the complete system in one compact package ­– just add an AV receiver.”

Klipsch put some effort into giving consumers placement options with the Reference Theater Pack: The satellite speakers can sit on a surface, be mounted to wall or stand, using either the rear keyholes or the threaded insert. That placement versatility gets even better with the subwoofer, which gets it signal wirelessly via the included 2.4 GHz transmitter. Of course, it still needs its own power outlet; rated at 150 watts with an 8-inch down-firing driver and port, it ought to fill a living room with sofa-rumbling low end easily. Interestingly, Klipsch either assumes you have a free USB port on your home theater receiver, or that you have a place to plug in a USB power adapter, as it’s powered by a micro USB cable. On the other hand, if you know exactly where the sub will go, and running a standard coax cable isn’t a deal-breaker, the sub still has the usual line-in ports on its backside, along with manual gain and low pass dials.

There are still going to be folks who can’t resist the mind-bending sonic performance of 480 pounds of Klipsch gear, but it’s nice to know you can get the same level of quality, for $4,500 less, should you choose to put your money elsewhere.

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Simon Cohen
Contributing Editor, A/V
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
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