Thoroughly Impressed with The Fives - REVIEW

[Helder]

On 1/10/2021 at 4:53 PM, Kalam said:

Good to hear that you got the bass sorted out. I'm reasonably happy with the bass cut mode, need to do some experimenting with placement/room furnishing to get rid of the slight boom in the listening place. I'm the same, I'm still a bit disappointed by the voice and highs presentation.

 

I've tried some small stands and toeing the speakers as well a bit, but can't tell any difference. Anyways the bass is not a big thing. It's a bit boomy on the sofa, but if I move around in the room having the Fives play background music, it's actually quite good. 

 

While the HDMI arc is connected I cannot change any of the roughly 20 sound adjustments I Have in the TV. except the volume of course. Hence my suspicion that TVs enhancement does not influence the sound for the Fives but the input to the speakers is the unadjusted broadcast. I'm not sure if the speech clarity is the right word here, it's more the volume level of speech compared to other sound in the TV broadcast. 

Again, completely the same issue here, bass is not really the issue, kind of like it, and was one of the reasons I went for these speakers.

HDMI ARC definitely ignores any TV sound adjustments, and cutting the bass on the speakers settings does not improve the voices.

Having a "voice" mode on the speakers settings as suggested would probably be a good thing, I just thought that as announced they would be good for TV (broadcast, movies, news, etc) by default.

[SET12]

On 1/12/2021 at 4:24 AM, Helder said:

Again, completely the same issue here, bass is not really the issue, kind of like it, and was one of the reasons I went for these speakers.

HDMI ARC definitely ignores any TV sound adjustments, and cutting the bass on the speakers settings does not improve the voices.

Having a "voice" mode on the speakers settings as suggested would probably be a good thing, I just thought that as announced they would be good for TV (broadcast, movies, news, etc) by default.

 

Hi all,

Its been many years since I have posted anything on the Klipsch Forum I mostly reside over on the AudioKarma forum.

 

fmalloy was recently over on AK and asked if I had any issues regarding the Fives. And I said no BUT! I to wasn't real happy about the midrange I found it a bit dark just as the reviewer pointed out in Sound & Vision Magazine and once more I was not allowed to hear a pair before buying as the dealer said they are back ordered due to a parts shortage. So I bought them.

 

First thing I thought was if they only had a little more treble energy that might bring the mids more into focus. I looked around for EQ's that used HDMI and I wasn't having any real luck.

Then I stumbled into the miniDSP and that looked promising but it was expensive. I looked a little more and for $55 I found this guy! Called the Fosi Q-4 Its no bigger than the palm of your hand it has bass and treble with an optical or coax in with RCA out along with its volume control. I use my own 40 watt wall wart that has a 2 amp 5 volt out. It needs just 1 amp if I recall correctly. I mostly listen to music with occasionally with my wife gone I use the Fives for movies as she doesn't like anything much over a low volume. But every chance I get with her gone I am listening to music and how!

 

 

 

I didn't expect much from this little guy since it was so cheap but I wanted to see what influence just adding a bit of treble would do for the Fives as I could really hear some of the potential that I felt the Fives have.

 

Well I got the Fosi and hooked up via analog in, I cranked the Fosi volume up so I could just use the Fives remote I added the treble and I was astonished!

I thought this is a match made in heaven in other words it was really a synergistic combination. And Wow it was nice, it had some real nice body wasn't lean sounding. It had a very, very nice presentation of the sound-stage with really great layering and to top it off it was really wide as it easily filled my 16 foot wide wall from floor to ceiling. I have recently gotten Sirius Radio and installed the App on my Roku Ultra. Listening to SPA (New Age Music) I was shocked at what I could hear. Of course I am a Jazz Man at heart and got similar results from Sirius.

 

Next I ordered some Schiit products namely their nicely constructed EQ $150 and I ordered their $100 AC that many people raved about on U-Tube. The EQ sounded the most interesting to try as it had 5 zones of adjustment.

 

I got the Schiit products and gave them a listen!

 

I unfortunately didn't like what I heard. Namely their presentation was very forward or up front and my biggest complaint was the combination was just to lean for my tastes so a few days later I sent the pair back for a refund as they have a 15 day satisfaction guarantee. I really like the company and their attitude towards customers, I did receive my refund so I can whole heartily recommend the company.

 

I will say the Schiit EQ was very transparent more so than the Fosi but the Fosi is just so much more musical and that's a big part of the game for me.

 

So in the end get yourself a Fosi Q-4 and I don't think you'll regret it. I read some where that the Fosi Q-4 was using the famed NE5532 Dual OP Amp. This is the one that my Sony X77ES player used that I had for 20yrs and that player was 40lbs and $2000 new. It played a lot of very nice music for me.

 

Next topic I want to tackle Speaker Stands

 

Because that was another area of great improvement to be had for me. BTW my stands are Monoliths by Monoprice 28in tall which puts the tweeters ear level for me. BTW Pangea sells the same stand under their name for $400/pair when I got mine from Monoprice for just $59/each! They are sand filled as well. I have the Fives front 2ft from my back wall 77in apart in front of my 65in LG OLED I have it on a 16ft wall centered. The Fives throw out such a large sound field that I find its necessary to have no open corners and equal distance to the side walls otherwise one side can sound louder than the other. The fives sound field can envelope my entire 14ft x 16ft listening space if the acoustic ambiance is in the recording. This is clearly astonishing from the Fives IMO for their price the internal amplifiers express space like a great Transmitting Tube amp would example like a Cary Audio 211 Transmitting Tube Amplifier and those my friends last I saw are $10,000/pair.

 

IMO though not perfect, but close enough Klipsch Engineering hit a Home run with the Fives!

 

SET12

 

 

 

 

[billybob]

Think I remember you. Am sure others here will like your review and suggestions.

Cool!

[SET12]

1 minute ago, billybob said:

Think I remember you. Am sure others here will like your review and suggestions.

Cool!

Thank You, Yeah its been awhile, "but I'm Back"

BTW can you tell me how to edit my equipment profile at the bottom of my page?

 

[OO1]

Just now, SET12 said:

Thank You, Yeah its been awhile, "but I'm Back"

BTW can you tell me how to edit my equipment profile at the bottom of my page?

 

I like your Avatar -

[billybob]

1 minute ago, SET12 said:

Thank You, Yeah its been awhile, "but I'm Back"

BTW can you tell me how to edit my equipment profile at the bottom of my page?

 

No sorry. But know someone who can. His name is Ran... coming now.

[billybob]

1 minute ago, RandyH000 said:

I like your Avatar -

Help him edit his profile please.

[OO1]

11 minutes ago, SET12 said:

Thank You, Yeah its been awhile, "but I'm Back"

BTW can you tell me how to edit my equipment profile at the bottom of my page?

 

OK @SET12---------------what exactly do you want to do ?    I have your Profile page Open  -

 

[SET12]

Just now, RandyH000 said:

OK @SETH---------------what exactly do you want to do ?  

 

from what I see , your profile has pretty much everything -

 

Ok all that old equipment is gone, I'd like to put the new stuff that I'm using in its place

[billybob]

1 minute ago, RandyH000 said:

OK @SETH---------------what exactly do you want to do ?  

 

from what I see , your profile has pretty much everything -

 

Think it is SET12  Randy.

[OO1]

2 hours ago, SET12 said:

Ok all that old equipment is gone, I'd like to put the new stuff that I'm using in its place

ok-----

 

[MeloManiac]

40 minutes ago, SET12 said:

I didn't expect much from this little guy since it was so cheap but I wanted to see what influence just adding a bit of treble would do for the Fives as I could really hear some of the potential that I felt the Fives have.

 

I had a similar positive experience with this little hybrid tube amp, which was my introduction to the tube sound, since then I've bought the TubeCube 7 and I'm now the proud owner of the fabulous Leben CS300.

But that little cheap made-in-China amp with tubes blew away my  budget Marantz and Denon amps easily...

LINK to amazon

 

 

[SET12]

I just 

1 minute ago, RandyH000 said:

so you mean ---------all this -----

A Minimalist System,

Sony X77ES CD Direct

SET 811-10 10 Watt Mono Blocks, 2 Gain Stages, Tube Rectified 200 Joules of Energy/ Mono Block,

Forte Speakers, Outboard Crossovers with North Creek Music 8ga Inductors, Duelund Resistors and Midrange Capacitors ,Mundorf Silver/Oil Tweeters, Bob Crites Titanium Tweeters, Midranges and Autotransformers.

Appleton,WI

Yeah that's it!

[OO1]

ok

2 hours ago, SET12 said:

Ok all that old equipment is gone, I'd like to put the new stuff that I'm using in its place

got it ---------

[OO1]

18 minutes ago, SET12 said:

I just 

Yeah that's it!

-CLICK ON ---------- AVATAR -------SET12             TOP RIGHT   ------ACCOUNT SETTINGS   -  ----------  THEN GO DOWN TO  --------------middle of the page to the right , in RED  -----ON EDIT PROFILE ---------OR TO THE LEFT -------SCROLL TO SIGNATURE

[SET12]

I am not seeing it, I clicked the upper right of the Avatar and I see no account settings?

[OO1]

Just now, SET12 said:

I am not seeing it, I clicked the upper right of the Avatar and I see no account settings?

PLACE YOUR MOUSE   OVER SET12      -------CLICK THE MOUSE

[SET12]

OK I think I found it! its at the very top of the page on the right?

[MeloManiac]

1 minute ago, SET12 said:

I am not seeing it, I clicked the upper right of the Avatar and I see no account settings?

 

[OO1]

1 minute ago, SET12 said:

OK I think I found it! its at the very top of the page on the right?

YEP