Sound & Vision (2019-04)

Dynamic and lively

sound

Good stereo and

surround sound imaging

Requires careful setup

for best performance

Basic black finish only

Price: $996 (as tested)

klipsch.com

800-554-7724

At a Glance

monitor like the R-41M can be
deployed in different ways: as a
stereo pair, but also in a home
theater rig, as I used it. To work
in the former role, it needs to be
able to hit low notes. But a center
speaker like the R-52C will be part of
a surround sound package, where
there inevitably will be a subwoofer
to pick up the boom end. In a
typical surround audio mix, the
center channel carries the bulk of
the dialogue and action, so tuning
the center speaker for maximum
efficiency allows the entire system
to play louder, with less distortion
and greater dynamics.
To deliver maximum bang for
the buck, Klipsch pared down the
features and connections of its
R-100SW subwoofer ($349) to a
bare minimum and put the focus on
performance. To that end, there’s no
wireless connection, speaker-level
inputs, remote control, or low-
voltage trigger. What it does have is
a line-level input, a simple low-pass
filter (that can be bypassed by
turning its control dial up to the
maximum seing), and a phase
switch. It also features a forward-
firing 10-inch version of Klipsch’s
distinctive spun-copper woofer
powered by a 300-wa (peak)
class-D amplifier, all housed in a
stout MDF cabinet.
As you might expect given
the R-41M system’s price point,
there aren’t any fancy wood finish
options. Each cabinet is a square-
edged box wrapped in black wood-
grain vinyl, with a medium gray
vinyl used for the front and back
surfaces. The speaker’s included
grille covers aach magnetically
and have an open-weave black
fabric and a copper-colored Klipsch
badge that provides a bit of a retro

look. Each speaker has a single pair

of decent-quality five-way binding

posts for a cable connection.

The R-100SW subwoofer visually

matches the other speakers, but its

grille cover aaches using a more

common peg-and-hole arrange-

ment. As mentioned above, the only

connection option is a pair of stereo

RCA jacks, with the le channel

designated for a single-channel

LFE connection from a receiver.

The three-way power switch has on,

auto on, and off positions.

SETUP

Seing up a 5.1 surround rig

using small speakers is actu-

ally a lot trickier than seing one

up with big speakers that have

extended bass. Finding a perfect

balance between what’s sent

to the speakers and subwoofer,

respectively, is critical if you want

to maintain well-integrated sound.

For most of my listening I used

a 100-wa-per-channel Onkyo

TX-NR787 receiver. I positioned the

subwoofer in the front-le corner

of my room as I normally do, with

the main le and right R-41Ms on

24-inch stands flanking my screen

about six feet apart. I found that

placing them about 12 inches out

from the front wall, somewhat closer

than my typical positioning, helped

to flesh out the lower midrange

while still delivering a well-focused

center image. The center speaker

was positioned directly under the

screen, while the surround R-41Ms

were located against the side walls

slightly behind the listening position

and about a foot above my ears.

I ran the Onkyo receiver’s

AccuEQ auto setup to see where

it got me but didn’t like the results

and discarded most of the adjust-

ments and corrections. AccuEQ

did provide a good starting point

for the system’s crossover and

level seings, however. Strangely,

it set the crossover for the front

R-41Ms at 100 Hz, while the physi-

cally identical surround channel

R-41Ms came in way down at 50

Hz. (I expect this may have been

Both Klipsch's R-41M

bookshelf and R-52C center

speaker gain efficiency

through the use of a 1-inch

Tractrix horn tweeter.

RATING

Speakers

PERFORMANCE

BUILD QUALITY

VALUE

RATING

Subwoofer

PERFORMANCE

FEATURES

BUILD QUALITY

VALUE

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