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The Klipsch Quintet system is the baby of the company’s range of home theater systems. These compact miniature speakers look positively tiny compared to the mighty Reference range that wouldn’t look out of place behind the bassist at an AC/DC concert.
However, small doesn’t mean quiet or lacking in audio quality, as the latest redesign to the Quintet range tweaks and refines the decade-old system to new heights. Klipsch speakers are well known for their superior quality. For around $549, owners are getting legendary audio quality from a brand at the top of its game.
It features XT MicroTractrix Horn technology—an all-new design that allows these small speakers to deliver amazing detail, full-bodied sound and a wider soundstage than ever before.
Key Features of the Klipsch Quintet System
- Four Powerful Speakers: Now in its fifth generation, the Klipsch Quintet with four compact speakers and a center channel will fit into any home entertainment system. Inside, the engineers at Klipsch have managed to cram in Tractrix horns and lightweight aluminum drivers.
- High Sensitivity: The four miniature speakers and a low-profile center channel the Klipsch Quintet home theater system pack in highly sensitive technology, with the satellites offering a 91dB rating and a frequency response in the 110Hz to 23kHz range. That does mean if you want to enjoy funky bass notes, then a sub-woofer is an extra requirement.
- Built for Home Theaters: The satellites offer 50 watts of power, while the double speaker in the center channel unit bumps that up to 75 watts, with crossover frequencies of 3,700Hz and 3,100Hz respectively. The lack of a bass unit has seen the company try and improve overall bass performance with the new horns, but regardless of your home setup, the Quintet provides an unobtrusive yet dynamic way of adding a punch to your home movies or TV watching.
Pros of the Klipsch Quintet System
The Quintet speakers are tiny, yet deliver a mighty punch. The satellites are just 7.5-inches high by 4.3-inches wide and 5.3”-inches deep. The center unit is a little taller at 4.9-inches high, 11.5-inches wide, and 4.9-inches deep. They sit on their own with no need for stands or can be wall mounted if required.
They are dwarfed by most modern TV sets, certainly getting lost among anything around 42-inches or larger. They can be wall-mounted, and there’s an improved design around the wiring input to make that less unsightly.
In use, they produce loud and crystal clear sound, with fantastic range and great purity. Even without the bass unit, there is a suitably deep level to the audio, although nothing to reproduce the big fat kick off a nice chunky sub-woofer.
You can choose almost anything to listen to, and if you’re upgrading from TV speakers or a cheaper audio system, should instantly notice the extra clarity and pick up details you might have missed.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of the Klipsch Quintet is that if you have a family home, and your other half doesn’t like big boxes littering the room or bolted to the walls, these can fit anywhere. With a little creative wiring, they still provide a great cinema experience, even if tucked away in corners or hidden on shelves.
Cons of the Klipsch Quintet System
The missing piece here is obviously a bass unit, which will add to the overall cost unless you have an existing one that you like and can wire in. Or, if you are happy without waking up the neighbors for your 24-hour Vietnam War movie marathon, then you can live without it. A Klipsch sub-woofer will cost around $299 if you want to stick with the brand, like the 8-inch SW350.
Since the speakers lack stands, some users might have an issue with the direction of sound coming from the center unit, as you can’t angle or tilt it for certain setups, but this should only be an issue in a minority of cases.
Otherwise, the only quibble may be the price, it doesn’t look like you are getting a lot for your money. Yet, if you get to test these in a store, then you’ll realize just how good they are, and why people pay such a premium for the Klipsch name. There’s currently a steep discount on Amazon at this product listing. It’s generally discounted for a very attractive price relative to what you will see in stores.
Related to the price, they don’t look all that brilliantly designed, considering the money you are spending on them. That almost boring conformity, with simple black color, hides a lot of high technology in the special, acoustically neutral, materials used for the housing and the very clever build, so don’t be fooled. If you want to take the grilles off, then they do look pretty postmodern and solid-looking, and in reality, the build quality is very high indeed.
Final Recommendation – Get Them Now?
There are a huge number of 5.1 systems out there on the market, some are tall, some are wide and a few are tiny. The 5.0 Klipsch Quintet could beat most of the cheaper ones into submission in a straight fight without the need for that extra “.1” of a sub-woofer.
For the rest, add your own bass unit and even though the speakers are tiny, they have plenty of power to spare to compete with better-rated systems, The Klipsch Quintet really wins on pure quality here, with phenomenal audio design and lots of magic to produce a well-spaced beautiful sound.
Fantastically designed, however, they might look, the Klipsch Quintet is a brilliant and compact solution for anyone with space issues or whose family (or pets) have an aversion to large boxes.
It features XT MicroTractrix Horn technology—an all-new design that allows these small speakers to deliver amazing detail, full-bodied sound and a wider soundstage than ever before.