AUGUST 2021 MACWORLD 129Continues” from her debut
album Source is a basic
jazz combo of bass,
drums, electric piano, and
tenor sax. The bass is
quite prominent in the mix,
and as before, it was a bit
overblown on The Fives.
The sax and piano
sounded excellent, while
the highs in the cymbals
were a tad recessed.
Turning to some classic
country, I cued up “Devil in
a Sleepin’ Bag” by Willie
Nelson from his
remastered album Shotgun Willie. The
Fives sounded smooth if a bit restrained,
and as I had come to expect, the bass was
a bit overblown. Willie’s voice sounded—
well, just like Willie.
For some solo piano, I was surprised to
find Chick Corea playing classical literature
live in Paris on Chick Corea Plays. I
listened to Scriabin’s Prelude #4 from Op.
11, in which Corea injects a jazz
interpretation in a few spots. The piano
sounded smooth and cohesive, and I
didn’t notice any bloat in the bass on this
track. The speakers still sounded a bit
restrained, though.
Moving on to a larger symphonic
sound, I played the finale from Berlioz’
Symphonie Fantastique as performed by
the Muncher Philharmoniker under
Sergiu Celebidache. As before, The
Fives sounded smooth and a bit
restrained, especially in the upper
frequencies, with no appreciable bass
bloat as I had heard on other tracks. In
my notes, I wrote that the speakers had
a “sophisticated, polite sound.”COMPARING KLIPSCH THE
FIVES TO FLUANCE AI60
During my listening sessions, I played
each track on the Fluance Ai60 wireless
bookshelf speakers, reviewed at fave.
co/36dFkNv, in addition to The Fives for
comparative purposes. The Ai60s have a
1-inch silk-dome tweeter in a shallow
waveguide and a 6.5-inch woofer in aKlipsch deserves credit for including a dedicated remote control
so you don’t need to pull out your phone for everything.