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R-51M bookshelfs


Brock63

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Well, I have my vintage setup in living room that I have shown a couple times recently..... Cornwall I (1978) that have had capacitors and wiring replaced and new grills. I also put the risers on bottom to raise up slightly.  Pushed by my old Pioneer Elite Series C-90 and M-90 setup with a Carver tuner and my old Denon DP-59L turntable.      I thought about going vintage for my office as well with something but after going through what I would want in an old Sansui or Pioneer receiver with bookshelf speakers I decided to just get what I could for fair price.

 

I got a set of Klipsch R-51M bookshelves and am driving with a NAD 316bee integrated amp.

 

I heard all the negative comments about the little Klipsch...but most of the complaints were from the HT crowd not 2 channel crowd.  I was playing some MASTER selections off Tidal and Spotify yesterday with volume turned up to loud but not LIVE settings...and gotta say, they have plenty of bass. I am pretty sure if you have a low end receiver or amp setup...or using 90% of the Home Theater setups anything is going to sound poorly unless HT specific applications are in mind for speakers.  My old Onkyo Home Theater receiver sounded like crap driving my Polks and also my Cornwalls...so dusted off my 34 year old Pioneer setup I bought in mid-80s with turntable and tuner...and was like night and day.

 

These little bookshelfs will vibrate my big desk with bass ...still with clear mids/highs from the horn. Now it isnt deep bass of my Cornwalls or foundation thumping of a subwoofer but it does pretty damn good I think for what they are....   Also, could be my NAD 316bee that is helping with how it produces clean usable power without having to be driven hard.  Just thought I would share that is not all doom and gloom using little Klipsch R-51M on 2-channel setup. I am pleased for what they are on my secondary system in my little 12x14 office at home.  For record they are sitting on side table on the little rubber pads/feet that came with them.....    Now to get me a CD Player for when I dont want to stream from my phone through the AudioEngine B1 bluetooth adapter.

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I have a pair of R-51M in my office. I found them to be too bright, so I modified the crossover to reduce the treble level by about 3 dB. Much better.

 

I also recommend placing them at least a foot away from the wall behind them, else the bass gets a little boomy.

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I use R-51PM's as computer speakers and love them!  They are 20 feet away from the back wall because my computer desk faces away from the wall so I can use the wall as a green screen for Zoom. I have a small sub (Polk 10") and it is barely noticeable. I do not play earth-shaking movie special effects, just rock, country and folk music. I can tell if the sub is on or off but it is not a huge deal either way. They are probably overkill but I also listen to online concerts at that computer.

 

I bought my daughter a pair of R-51M's that she uses with a vintage 40 watt per channel receiver, probably 10 years older than yours. She had been convinced that she needed a subwoofer but after a few weeks she says she doesn't need a sub. Her speakers are probably a foot from the back wall.

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How do you like the 316BEE so far?  That seems to be one of the best values in it's price range for a good integrated amp right now.  I'm surprised they didn't put a sub out on it.  If you want to add a sub it just requires going with a sub that has high level inputs, which I think is a great way to go anyway. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I love it...it gives the R-51Ms some bass actually. I have them on a table in front of windows in my office and I can feel the bass at my desk 6 feet away easily.  I think the NAD 316bee and the Klipsch R-51M are a good match actually.  I was told they would likely produce more bottom end from speakers than the Cambridge integrated amp I was also looking to purchase...  Now to get a CD Player...maybe NAD 538...so I can also listen to all the CDs I bought in the 80s and early 90s. LOL

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