Klipsch RB81 Review

Overall Rating

Realistic sound staging.
Incredibly dynamic!
Voices especially well articulated.
Great bass for the size.

Not many at this price point.
Need to be placed properly for best results.

I love this speaker. It sounds completely different from anything I have previously heard, and I have owned quite a few loudspeakers. This is the speaker that has come the closest to providing the same level of detail as my Grado SR-80 headphones.

The sound produced is immersive. Rather than pushing you back into the back of the jazz club you are sitting front and center. This can be a little disconcerting if you are used to a more laid back loudspeaker. It is certainly not an aggressive sound and forward is not the term I would use to describe the sensation either. Just a little more "front and center". I am currently using two power amps configured for horizontal stereo biamplification of each loudspeaker. I have had these speakers up to ridiculous volumes with no distortion and no clipping and with the sensitivity of this speaker they never will clip, ever. They like to be played louder, though they sound good at the lower levels where I usually do my listening (predicated by having a 1 month old son). The bass is striking for a loudspeaker of this size. It is not floorstander deep but what you get is very musical as opposed to the shapeless thumping produced by lesser loudspeakers. Voices are real treat... I no longer have those moments where I am straining to understand the lyrics in many songs. Both male and female voices are realistically articulated. Higher frequencies are also convincingly realistic. High hats and cymbals sound life like with a nice airy sense around them.

The speakers are remarkably sensitive. They will bring out the best on your well recorded music and make your 128 Kbps mp3's sound like the sonic diarrhea they are. These loud speakers sugar coat nothing.

My one gripe is that the speakers were a little temperamental setting up properly. The horns necessitate a little more toe-in than most any other speaker I have listened to. Once set up though, they produce a sound stage where (with well engineered source material) the instruments seem fixed in a point in space. The better the recording the more 3D this space can seem.

Negatives? Well, none really for this price. It is not the sexiest loudspeaker out there (low WAF) but then Pavarotti was never much of a looker either. But boy, could he sing... and with this loudspeaker to prove it.