I was fortunate enough to listen to a pair of Klipsch RB-51s (the smallest bookshelf offered in the Klipsch Reference series). These speakers retail for $300 per pair. I first heard of them because I read about the predecessor to the RB-51's, the RB-15's, as reviewed by audioholics.
This is the first critique I've ever posted of any audio equipment so bear with me.
Using an NAD amp as well as an NAD dvd player to listen to cd's, I sampled two cd's in particular:
Audioslave - Out of Exile
Ana Caram - blue bossa
I chose the Audioslave cd to listen to the type of music that I normally listen to, and the French jazz/female voice of Ana Caram to sample detail.
I listened to only the pair of speakers with no subwoofer or other speakers in a professionaly created room in a home theatre installation store which is an official authorized Klipsch dealer. The room was approximately 20x10, maybe slightly smaller. The speakers were on stands, but I'm quite sure they were not the official Klipsch stands for these speakers. The speakers were slightly higher than ear level as I sat in a chair and pointed directly to the back wall (not toed in at all). I sat approximately 12-15 feet from the speakers, directly in the middle.
As a point of reference, I listened to several other speakers before listening to the Klipsch. Unfortunately, I do not know exactly what models they were, but one was a Monitor audio bookshelf set including center channel that retailed for $900 all in all, and nother was an imported English bookshelf speaker pair named something like Slipstream? Something like that. Those retailed for $600 per pair, and I heard it playing with a $750 sub (forget what brand, looked like a silver-gray cube).
The Klipsch RB-15 speakers themself look classy. The ones I auditioned were black/black and looked good with a small Klipsch logo on the bottom center. Moreover, these babies were tiny! I've seen "booksehlf" speakers before, but most of the favored ones mentioned are not truly small enough to be called bookshelves, some being two feet tall! The Klipsch RB-15's are truly bookshelf speakers. These speakers could fit almost anywhere.
Okay, now to the actual sound...
I first played a few select tracks from the out of exile album.Chris Cornell's voice sounded more lively than ever before, and Tom Morello's guitar solos soared to new heights. The high pitched guitar squeels were smooth and awe-inspiring. The percussion did not sound as clear as higher-end models, but I later realized that this was because the recording itself was not high quality, and the accuracy of the speakers revealed this, while the clutter of the other pairs hid this lack of studio quality. (I conferred this by listening to an old blues recording done in an improvised studio, with severly substandard recording equipment. The percussion on the Klipsch's sounded muddled but live, while the other speakers seemed to just quiet the percussion's detail so you couldn't tell it was muddled).
The main negative with this cd was when I played the songs to ungodly high volumes, the horn tweeter seemed too harsh, and slightly peircing. However, the dealer noted that ehse speakers were newer and had not been auditioned too frequently, so I will attribute that to lack of break-in time.
Listening to the Ana Caram cd basically convinced me that I had to buy these speakers. I could close my eyes and relax, and it felt as though she was singing in her beautiful french voice live, inches away from me. The percussion sounded enlightening, but the instrument that truly boggled my mind was the sax. When the saxaphone came in, I was stunned at its clarity. I used to play the sax myself, and I could practically feel my own fingers striking the keys as the lucious woodwind sound envoloped the entire room.
The bass was equally astounding. I literally looked around the room three separate times looking for a subwoofer because the bass went more than low enough for musical purposes, and it was suprisingly balanced and clear. If used for musical purposes only, a sub would simply not be necessary at all.
The best part about the speakers was when I left the room and asked what the price was, I was expecting to hear at least $600/pair. When I heard it was half that, my jaw dropped.
I am by no means a professional speaker reviewer. I do not want this review to be the sole reason someone buys these speakers. But, in all of the bookshelf threads I've read, I never read about the Klipsch reference bookshelf line. Perhaps it's because it hasn't yet earned a following because they came out just months ago). If you go to Klipsch.com and search for a dealer near you (that's exactly what I did), you should audition the RB line of speakers. I think they should be considered right up there with Paradigm and Ascend bookshelves as a quality bookshelf speaker. The price is astounding. For approximately $1,000 you can get a quality setup. I haven't heard anything significantly better for less than $1,000 more than these speakers.
I think if you have the time and are near a Klipsch dealer you should give them a whirl. Ask if they've been auditioned much, however, to keep in mind the need for a break-in period.
Hope some people find this post useful.
