dcisive

I have YET to get an answer from Klipsch support on what gives with the inability of the Fives to retain the settings without the assistance from the app once EQ settings have been loaded. That's how it SHOULD be bur they must have missed the code or programing for some reason. It just makes it such a hassle to simply fire up my Sony Bravia and have the HDMI/ARC open up the program and audio correctly properly equalized. Otherwise it's muffled in the midrange. I guess I'm even more surprised they found it too difficult to make it at least a 5 band EQ instead of a mere 3 bands. It works find however, just a pain to have to start my phone's bluetooth, then open the app and activate all the settings over and over again. Surely that is NOT what was intended.

After applying the new Fives updated Firmware, and loading the Updater, then uninstalling it per the directions, and then having uploaded the new "Klipsch Connect" app, I've noted that when I set the Equalizer and Subwoofer settings, then disconnect the bluetooth and end the Connect program, it is supposed to retain the EQ settings after you close down the programs. It does BUT if you turn the TV off, and then turn it on again the settings are GONE! You have to once again start the Bluetooth, Connect the "Klipsch Connect" program and while the EQ settings have remained they are not active, so I tap one of the 3 settings and it is restored once again. It simply doesn't activate unless you do this opening up of the app once again. I was under the impression that once it was set, inside of the Fives speakers the circuit would be set to your EQ settings and would NOT require you to consistently open up the Bluetooth, then the Connect app and go through these motions each and every time. That's a huge pain in the behind and doesn't make sense. It shold be retained by the circuitry in the speakers......no? Is mine having issues or does everyones work this way? Pretty sad if it is. Not convenient to say the least. At least once the EQ is set it does sound wonderful. In order however to remove the annoying muffled midrange and add air to the high end my Bass is literally all the way OFF. The Mids are set to -7 and the Highs are ALL the way up. It seems extreme but I've confirmed it's superb at this setting. Sadly it needed to be set so extremely to remedy the sound quality, but that's it. I've been an audiophile for over 50 years so I know it's right this way, just seems extreme. The "Flat" setting sounds like mud.

I decided to NOT give up. Of course, I did the factory reset and reloaded everything multiple times to no avail. It turns out the way in was to go and get a new USB Thumb Drive that was a 2.0 standard (slower like was recommended in the instructions) as well as only 16gb instead of the 128gb type 3.0 I tried it with before. it went flawlessly with NO drama. The sound is amazing with the tweaking I did. I have the bass slider all the way down. The mid's are -5 and the highs all the way up. The rest of the tonal adjustment was with my SW100 sub adjustments to taste. Now finally the mids are not cloudy but clear and natural. The highs now have air and are not overdone believe it or not, and the bottom is solid and defined as could be. I'm thrilled.

I'm a computer guy and have thrown in the towel trying to get the wonderful new Fives update for the EQ installed. The firmware upon inserting the USB Thumb drive lights up 2 lights blinking and NOT all of them as the instructions say will happen. But when use the "Updater" app after it did it's install download and installation process states that the speakers are updated. So moving onto the Klipsch Connect app it won't connect with the speakers to allow for the new EQ program to open up. I happen to KNOW that the Bluetooth of the speakers does in fact work because I can easily connect a app for music from my phone to the speakers without drama. I tried to re load the firmware, reset the bluetooth, reload the apps you name it. NO luck. The company is sending me a new pair under warranty but I can't believe it's not something strange and more simple to cure. Any ideas? Believe me I've re installed and uninstalled all I can to keep re trying to no avail.

Any adjustments regarding the bass end of things I make with my remote hitting the reduction for the sub a notch or worst case 2. That seems to tame things very nicely without effecting any other aspect of the sound character. As for the Exciter I did try it. At first I felt it offered a significant improvement. Until I evaluated it with a lot of music I knew to be exquisitely well mixed (I've been a recording engineer so have a clue about the sonic character a speaker should have). I then felt the Exciter added some harshness which I felt really grated on me. An exciter adds odd order harmonics to fool the ear into better definition. But it is at the price of a natural richness. When I hooked up the Belari EQ and made my quick adjustments and evaluated it with those well mixed musical pieces I'd been familiar with for years, it was like "ahhhhhhhhh" the purity and honesty was there but better definition and "air" was obviously apparent without any distortion or annoying artifacts the Exciter produced. So no doubt about it that DAC coupled with that EQ is making it happen. But indeed if the day comes this year (as so called promised by Klipsch) that they put out the software update giving us our EQ (it had better be 5 or more bands to work with) then the Five's will reach their pinnacle. Until then at least I get to hear them as they SHOULD sound, just not through the HDMI port as was originally intended. It makes my wife crazy as she can't seem to figure out that the audio isn't any longer available on the Sony remote and needs to hit the Phono input on the small Klipsch remote to get it happening. Perhaps the day is fast approaching I can get it back to normal for her.

Sure. They are good to around 50hz before a significant rolloff begins. One reason however I prefer to add the SW100 sub to the mix it I have it taking over before the Five's rolloff and it extends as low as ever needed.

If you look at Klipsch's tech explanation of how it works it is a sliding scale of volume that activates it much like a "loudness" control on older receivers and such. It is at decreasing volume levels it was intended to raise the lower end to allow for the decrease in our ears sensitivities to the lower frequencies. I would assume you've also downloaded and executed the latest firmware update for the Fives which is a fix for that control as well. If not do so. Firmware | Klipsch

I'd only hope he'd had a chance to hear the "Fives" as they are indeed the most remarkable small bookshelf speakers I've ever heard. Been an audiophile since the late 60's and worked for a number of high end audio dealers along the way. They continue to amaze me with their definition and imaging. Coupled with a SW100 sub and you're THERE!

I've now had several months with the Fives on my Sony Bravia 75" screen. In the end there is NO question that the mids need to be dropped to clear of the vocal range instead of that mushy muffled character they tend to have. Then at the higher end to recapture the "air" and best imaging the highs above 6k need the ability to boost to overcome the lack of clarity and openness of the higher frequencies. This was accomplished on my part by using the Shitt Modi DAC out of the Optical output of my Sony then RCA's from the Modi into the Bellari 5 band EQ, then RCA's into the Phono inputs with the switch over to LINE. When I turn on my TV it does power up the speakers but not to the Phono input. So I simply hit the Phono button on my remote and away I go. I have my 400hz dropped several DB no doubt. Then upped the 8k dial all the way. NOW I finally have a opened up high end and air without any exaggeration and that annoying muffled midrange is banished. I like so many now await that Software update promised for THIS year for the Fives which we all hope will provide enough bands and DB of adjustment to get the job done without these games we've needed to play. At this time without the DAC and EQ it's simply NOT tolerable to me. With the setup I currently have (which includes a SW-100) it is indeed a superb system both for full on explosive movies as well as Classic and Jazz music. After 50+ years as an audiophile it's either done right or sent packing.

Sure I'd love to. The 7500hz dial I have pretty much ALL the way up, the 2000hz dial is just a literal pinch to the right/positive hardly at all otherwise it can make a cone like character to the voice and you want to avoid that, so like I said just a pinch. Now the 400hz one is VERY critical and may well be THE most influential one to get rid of that annoying muffled chesty sound in the midrange that nearly every speaker on the planet is guilty of, especially in most rooms. I have my 400hz set to negative what would look a bit like say 10 o'clock if you will on the dial. I've found this is just about perfect. I leave the 60hz alone and straight up as I have the SW-100 sub and it's all handled there just fine. I'm confident you WILL see a significant cleaning up of your sound with these settings and the hardware like mine you've gotten. I remind all to make sure to use the Optical out of your TV and make sure your TV is set to PCM output. If you are using a subwoofer there is NO need to adjust the various software settings on the Fives bass it is handled once you plug the sub into the sub output of the speaker. On the RCA outputs of the Bellari go to the RCA Phono inputs and make sure the switch is selected to "LINE" of course. You're then good to go. I leave my DAC and Bellari EQ on all the time as it's so much easier. What do find is that when I switch on my TV while it does trigger the speakers power on, I have to select the Phono input as it still thinks it's the HDMI. Other than that's is so very worth the sound quality improvements I don't even mind the turning on process of the TV. Who knows, maybe we'll all luck out and when/if Klipsch finally released their software/eq update that it is good enough (at least 5 and better yet 7 bands) and we can go back to using the HDMI input once again as it was originally intended. I'm still hoping.

I got a response from a rep on my request for more information on when to expect the coming Equalizer Software Update that is planned for the Fives. He responded that he'd spoken to their engineering department and they said it should be included in the next Software update. While he used the term "Soon" he concluded that it will without question be within THIS year but can't specify the month and date of it's coming release. Guess we'll have to be patient. If it's not at the very lease 5 bands (I sure hope at least 7 or more) I'll be stuck sticking with my current DAC-EQ-RCA input arrangement I'm using now off the Optical output of my Sony Bravia. Also it's pretty important they cover that all too critical 400-500hz region which is the bug bear of the midrange stuffiness you get rid of by backing off a tad on. Also it would be ideal to be able to up the 2k, 6k and 10-12k range to finally open up up the upper ranges for more clarity and air. We shall see. Can't wait and sure hope the engineering department has read my pleas stated before to them.

Let me just say that while what you're saying about the Five's DAC process may well be true, all I can say for certain is the Shitt's DAC fed into the Bellari EQ then onto the Fives RCA input for the Phono with the switch set to Line makes a TON of difference making it true HiFi to me as the midrange is no longer stuffy but clear and distinct and the high end opens up a TONE giving air and imaging galore. I too heard from a rep a few months ago that the EQ Firmware update was expected in year 2021, so THIS year. But no date set such as say September or December who knows. Not only that but there was NO specifics given as to if it would allow for a Custom setting by the user, and also how many bands we would have to work with. It had better be a minimum of 5 but better yet 7 or 10. And it MUST (and I mean MUST) have control over the 400hz or 500hz region to clean up the midrange. Also be able to add that critical air at the 8k to 10k range if not even higher. We shall see. I'm totally prepared to be able to leave my system as it is with the mods mentioned as it's essentially perfect now so I'm not missing anything. Sure, if they do what I'm asking then I'll switch back to the HDMI method of actuation. But I'm not betting the farm they will do it that way.

I hear ya Fidelio. Patience never was my strong suit and I'm thinking they are in no hurry to release that EQ firmware update that was promised. Inexpensive DAC's however have some compromise issues in terms of the chips used for the processes and that's where I chose to not compromise. The Shitt brand is run by two former high end audiophile product engineers so they know their stuff. The cheap product out there will most certainly not deliver the higher levels of audio output of the Shitt and some others. As for the concept of a "bypass" understand that one is feeding the DAC from the Optical output of their flat screen which is quite high end pure. You are not feeding it the HDMI hence dealing with in speaker processing, which is a good thing. So the pure Optical output goes right into the DAC and is cleanly processed into a analog signal, then on to the Bellari EQ's RCA inputs. Then out the Bellari's RCA outputs into the back of the Fives "Phono" input but make sure you switch that flip switch at that input to the "Input" and not leave it on Phono. The only thing that's a bit of a hassle (but I'm over it) is when you fire up the TV, mine for example does sense the input and the power light on top by the volume lights up. But most often I find I need to hit the Phono button on the remote to get it to the right input. From there it's perfection. The SW-100 sub I have attached to the Sub output will sense the power within a minute and I'm off to the races. Not as perfect from the automation angle as when used from the HDMI, but it's not a big deal. Certainly WELL worth the sonic advantages. I could never go back to the HDMI un equalized sound quality that's for sure. Here's still to hopes and prayers Klipsch engineers are still hard at work developing that 5-7 band (or more) firmware update EQ. It will turn an excellent speaker system into a simply uncompromised outstanding sonic wonder! Which with my current add on setup it IS!

Yeah sorry bout that indeed it's the Modi. I almost bought the Loki EQ but opted instead for the Bellari as I'd read too much about the Bellari making a greater impact overall on the higher end and mids. I wouldn't go with a lessor DAC then the Modi for sure. It's only $100 and pays dividends in sonic quality without compromises. The Bellari, as I mentioned opened up the top end wonderfully well adding the clean air that was not present before. The imaging gains hugely from this alone. Backing off on if I recall the 400hz range on the Bellari gets rid of that annoying muddy midrange character and allows it to be nice and clear retaining it's true character. I'm still hoping (and praying) that the so called promised EQ that I was told by a Klipsch rep was in the works for their DSP Firmware update this year will actually happen. My perfect world would be at least 7 bands to be able to adjust (such as 60hz, 250hz, 500hz, 2000hz, 4000hz, 6000hz and 10,000hz. This way I could then just use the dedicated HDMI input (which I originally bought the Fives for) and no longer worry about the tonal adjustments, let alone it would be as pure as possible using the DSP. I can hope and pray I guess. We shall see. A 5 band would be the minimum in my opinion. Say 60hz 250hz, 500hz, 4000hz and 8000hz. Let's keep praying......

I'm using a Shitt Loki model DAC and it's wonderful. You actually do need to have a TV set to the PCM output for proper operation of the DAC. I also highly recommend either their EQ or the Bellari I'm using. It sure makes the vocal range clearer and the high end truly comes alive as well. The so called "Phantom Center Channel" I refer to is a pure result of the enhanced sound and imaging of the Fives I have through this setup mentioned. So much better then the previous 2 center channel systems I used. Netflix movies are freaking outstanding in their sonic qualities. Especially action movies.