davelarz
Well-Known Member
Thought I would post this as a general public service to anyone out there who, like me, reads all the latest audio reviews despite his (or her? so rarely her) better instincts, and who therefore is curious about the recent rave reviews for the Klipsch RP-600M. Herb Reichert went bananas in Stereophile (https://www.stereophile.com/content/klipsch-reference-premiere-rp-600m-loudspeaker) and Steve Guttenberg named it his speaker of the year (https://www.cnet.com/news/the-klips...600m-is-the-audiophiliac-speaker-of-the-year/). There are other positive reviews too, but those two are the main ones that caught my eye.
This is a $500 pair of speakers, and so raves on this order are a little more interesting to me than the usual hubbub. Reichert writes that these $500 Klipsches held their own with his Devore O93's, which sell for $8k I believe. Guttenberg posted a video where he says they did not sound out of place in a system with some $40k worth of gear.
So I says to myself, I says... shut the front door. I bought an open box pair on the bay for $413 shipped and had them sent to my office.
In that my main home rig is largely sorted now with pieces that... spark joy... and which I suspect I'd have to spend well beyond my means to improve upon, my office system has become my only forum for an audiophile version of high infidelity. Bloody swingers party in there innit.
Currently (eternally subject to change) this office system is comprised of an AR EB101 with SME M2-9 arm and Soundsmith Otello, a Tavish Vintage phono pre, an Arcam DiVA A85 integrated and a pair of Totem Arro speakers. The Totems are relatively recent acquisitions (after moving along a venerable and much loved pair of KLH 17's) and I admit I have been perplexed by them. Sometimes they blow my mind, sometimes they sound a little thin and small. I am of three minds on this issue - 1. they are much more source revealing than the KLH's, which blanketed everything in an admittedly pleasurable warm haze, 2. they need a little more power (4 ohm load), which can (and will) be addressed, 3. they are pretty small speakers so what do you expect dingbat.
But I have come to like them a lot, almost love them. They are gorgeous, they fit perfectly in my office, exude quiet class and yet don't call much attention to themselves, aren't placement sensitive at all, and they image like crazy (CRAZY). A recent switch to the Soundsmith high-output MI Otello from a Denon MC was a big nudge in the right direction for the Arros - a little meatier sound from the Soundsmith a worthwhile trade-off for some loss of detail and speed from the Denon.
Anyway, into this environment waltzed the anointed Klipsch bookshelfers, carrying the burden of the highest hosannas. Even before unboxing the things I was spinning fantasies of soon buying a SET amp. 300b's IN MY OFFICE!!! I was jazzed up. Never had a pair of Klispch speakers before either. My main association with them is the system at A-one records on 6th street, where they have obscure vintage disco playing round the clock at top volume through what I believe to be a pair of KG4's and the shit sounds right as rain.
I'll start this amateur review with the caveats:
1. My office is a strange room, small rectangle with high ceilings, sound tends to get swallowed up in here.
2. I have to sit a good two feet to the left of the sweet spot which is not ideal for any reviewer, amateur or otherwise.
3. I didn't have the right size stands on hand. I had 16-inch stands, needed 24-inch at least. At the end I put the 16-inch stands on top of these wooden drawer-things to lift them up. Again, not ideal.
4. Everyone says the Klipsches are very sensitive to positioning. I don't have a lot of options in here. They went where they went, about two feet from rear wall, about five and half apart, about nine feet from where I listen.
5. I don't think anyone would say an 85wpc solid state integrated is the perfect match for these speakers, despite the fact that I think the Arcam A85 is ridiculously good with a clean, spacious, tonally balanced sound that is quintessentially British and that I love.
6. I don't have a lot of experience with current speakers in this price class, so if these ones are better than all the other ones I wouldn't know that. Reviews have commented on the impressive fit and finish of the Klispches. Maybe that is in comparison to other $500 speakers? I was not similarly impressed, found them about what I'd expect. Vinyl trim was a little ugly in fact.
And on that note, I'll cut to the chase. In my admittedly challenged office circumstances, the Klipsch RP-600M bookshelf speakers did not prove interesting or good in any way whatsoever. My KLH 17's ($25 used, recapped and rehabbed by AK's own GD70) were much more engaging in here and the Totems are just another class altogether (and fair enough they retailed for $1600 I think but I bought them used, in immaculate condition, for $500).
For me the Klispches commit the ultimate sin - they're boring. They didn't command my attention at all or suck me into the music as a visceral, holographic experience in the way that I consider to be the primary dividing line between "audiophile" gear and consumer crap. Reviewers have said that these Klipsches can be a little harsh in the high end (the general knock against horns I guess) but I didn't have any issue with that. The high end sounded a little dead to me, no sparkle or sizzle. Slightly recessed midrange, a bloat in the upper bass that made everything sound muddy to me, no low bass to speak of (no surprise there). The imaging was negligible, the soundstage wide enough but flat, the tonal colors... bland.
I'm not going to go through my listening notes because I didn't take any because I'm not a real reviewer and I always hate that part of a review anyway ("in Gieseking's wonderful live 1936 recording of A Wombat's Anus, there's a mysterious cough just after he launches into the cantabile - through the Klipsches I not only heard that the cough clearly came from the second row balcony left but I also, for the first time, became aware that it was not a person who coughed but a pregnant lioness"). I listened to a wide range of genres through these speakers (all vinyl) - Sinatra's Nice and Easy, Tippett string quartets, Chet Atkins, Indestructible Beat of Soweto, George Brassens, Duke Ellington's The Feeling of Jazz, Gil Scott Heron, Rostropovich playing Elgar, on and on and on. I honestly can say throughout all of that I can't remember a single moment where the Klipsches captivated me, took me to that special otherworldly place that for me is the point of the whole endeavor. And it wasn't for want of trying. I really wanted to like them.
And get this! I would say "well at least at 96 db sensitivity you can try out a 2wpc SET amp with them" but then if you read the fine print of the Stereophile review you learn that Atkinson measured them at 89db sensitivity. Big effin difference there! 89db still relatively sensitive but not fleawatt SET territory (where do they get off misrepresenting them THAT MUCH?).
In the end, I was surprised, and mildly offended, that they seemed so... average. I didn't expect them to change my life (although given that they are supposedly competitive with O93's I could have been forgiven for expecting that). I did however expect that, to borrow a Fremer phrase, they would give me "a taste of the high priced spread," hint at the delicacy and depth and magic that much more expensive speakers deliver much more of. In my room, to my ears, they did no such thing. They also arrived slightly damaged, one corner decidedly marred, not the speakers' fault by any means but a pisser nevertheless. I was very happy to return them. While I had them here, I was googling and reading other users' impressions and came across a comment that amounted to, "I thought they were really boring, made me wonder what kind of crack Reichert is smoking these days." Hear hear.
In conclusion, just to prove that I am not a snob who only finds favor with four-figure audio regalia, I want to say that this past winter I bought some new speakers for my living room TV system from Walmart - Q 3020 bookshelfs. They were... $229 shipped I think. I bought them because they are well reviewed (by Guttenberg no less) but more importantly because they are the only even moderately decent speakers I could find that would fit in my bizarrely proportioned but otherwise beautiful custom-built solid oak wall unit that houses my television and a bunch of other crap.
These Q 3020's have proven far, far beyond "moderately decent." Powered by a Naim streaming amp that I got for a song on the 'Gon and bolstered by a cheap Polk subwoofer, they deliver a sound that routinely startles me with its clarity and power and finesse. This system possibly pleases me more than my big rig in the same way that $2 gems that I pull out of the bargain bin often please me more than my big-dollar OG RVG's or audiophile 2x45's etc. Sometimes an unexpected taste of the high-priced spread is better than the whole enchilada.
This is a $500 pair of speakers, and so raves on this order are a little more interesting to me than the usual hubbub. Reichert writes that these $500 Klipsches held their own with his Devore O93's, which sell for $8k I believe. Guttenberg posted a video where he says they did not sound out of place in a system with some $40k worth of gear.
So I says to myself, I says... shut the front door. I bought an open box pair on the bay for $413 shipped and had them sent to my office.
In that my main home rig is largely sorted now with pieces that... spark joy... and which I suspect I'd have to spend well beyond my means to improve upon, my office system has become my only forum for an audiophile version of high infidelity. Bloody swingers party in there innit.
Currently (eternally subject to change) this office system is comprised of an AR EB101 with SME M2-9 arm and Soundsmith Otello, a Tavish Vintage phono pre, an Arcam DiVA A85 integrated and a pair of Totem Arro speakers. The Totems are relatively recent acquisitions (after moving along a venerable and much loved pair of KLH 17's) and I admit I have been perplexed by them. Sometimes they blow my mind, sometimes they sound a little thin and small. I am of three minds on this issue - 1. they are much more source revealing than the KLH's, which blanketed everything in an admittedly pleasurable warm haze, 2. they need a little more power (4 ohm load), which can (and will) be addressed, 3. they are pretty small speakers so what do you expect dingbat.
But I have come to like them a lot, almost love them. They are gorgeous, they fit perfectly in my office, exude quiet class and yet don't call much attention to themselves, aren't placement sensitive at all, and they image like crazy (CRAZY). A recent switch to the Soundsmith high-output MI Otello from a Denon MC was a big nudge in the right direction for the Arros - a little meatier sound from the Soundsmith a worthwhile trade-off for some loss of detail and speed from the Denon.
Anyway, into this environment waltzed the anointed Klipsch bookshelfers, carrying the burden of the highest hosannas. Even before unboxing the things I was spinning fantasies of soon buying a SET amp. 300b's IN MY OFFICE!!! I was jazzed up. Never had a pair of Klispch speakers before either. My main association with them is the system at A-one records on 6th street, where they have obscure vintage disco playing round the clock at top volume through what I believe to be a pair of KG4's and the shit sounds right as rain.
I'll start this amateur review with the caveats:
1. My office is a strange room, small rectangle with high ceilings, sound tends to get swallowed up in here.
2. I have to sit a good two feet to the left of the sweet spot which is not ideal for any reviewer, amateur or otherwise.
3. I didn't have the right size stands on hand. I had 16-inch stands, needed 24-inch at least. At the end I put the 16-inch stands on top of these wooden drawer-things to lift them up. Again, not ideal.
4. Everyone says the Klipsches are very sensitive to positioning. I don't have a lot of options in here. They went where they went, about two feet from rear wall, about five and half apart, about nine feet from where I listen.
5. I don't think anyone would say an 85wpc solid state integrated is the perfect match for these speakers, despite the fact that I think the Arcam A85 is ridiculously good with a clean, spacious, tonally balanced sound that is quintessentially British and that I love.
6. I don't have a lot of experience with current speakers in this price class, so if these ones are better than all the other ones I wouldn't know that. Reviews have commented on the impressive fit and finish of the Klispches. Maybe that is in comparison to other $500 speakers? I was not similarly impressed, found them about what I'd expect. Vinyl trim was a little ugly in fact.
And on that note, I'll cut to the chase. In my admittedly challenged office circumstances, the Klipsch RP-600M bookshelf speakers did not prove interesting or good in any way whatsoever. My KLH 17's ($25 used, recapped and rehabbed by AK's own GD70) were much more engaging in here and the Totems are just another class altogether (and fair enough they retailed for $1600 I think but I bought them used, in immaculate condition, for $500).
For me the Klispches commit the ultimate sin - they're boring. They didn't command my attention at all or suck me into the music as a visceral, holographic experience in the way that I consider to be the primary dividing line between "audiophile" gear and consumer crap. Reviewers have said that these Klipsches can be a little harsh in the high end (the general knock against horns I guess) but I didn't have any issue with that. The high end sounded a little dead to me, no sparkle or sizzle. Slightly recessed midrange, a bloat in the upper bass that made everything sound muddy to me, no low bass to speak of (no surprise there). The imaging was negligible, the soundstage wide enough but flat, the tonal colors... bland.
I'm not going to go through my listening notes because I didn't take any because I'm not a real reviewer and I always hate that part of a review anyway ("in Gieseking's wonderful live 1936 recording of A Wombat's Anus, there's a mysterious cough just after he launches into the cantabile - through the Klipsches I not only heard that the cough clearly came from the second row balcony left but I also, for the first time, became aware that it was not a person who coughed but a pregnant lioness"). I listened to a wide range of genres through these speakers (all vinyl) - Sinatra's Nice and Easy, Tippett string quartets, Chet Atkins, Indestructible Beat of Soweto, George Brassens, Duke Ellington's The Feeling of Jazz, Gil Scott Heron, Rostropovich playing Elgar, on and on and on. I honestly can say throughout all of that I can't remember a single moment where the Klipsches captivated me, took me to that special otherworldly place that for me is the point of the whole endeavor. And it wasn't for want of trying. I really wanted to like them.
And get this! I would say "well at least at 96 db sensitivity you can try out a 2wpc SET amp with them" but then if you read the fine print of the Stereophile review you learn that Atkinson measured them at 89db sensitivity. Big effin difference there! 89db still relatively sensitive but not fleawatt SET territory (where do they get off misrepresenting them THAT MUCH?).
In the end, I was surprised, and mildly offended, that they seemed so... average. I didn't expect them to change my life (although given that they are supposedly competitive with O93's I could have been forgiven for expecting that). I did however expect that, to borrow a Fremer phrase, they would give me "a taste of the high priced spread," hint at the delicacy and depth and magic that much more expensive speakers deliver much more of. In my room, to my ears, they did no such thing. They also arrived slightly damaged, one corner decidedly marred, not the speakers' fault by any means but a pisser nevertheless. I was very happy to return them. While I had them here, I was googling and reading other users' impressions and came across a comment that amounted to, "I thought they were really boring, made me wonder what kind of crack Reichert is smoking these days." Hear hear.
In conclusion, just to prove that I am not a snob who only finds favor with four-figure audio regalia, I want to say that this past winter I bought some new speakers for my living room TV system from Walmart - Q 3020 bookshelfs. They were... $229 shipped I think. I bought them because they are well reviewed (by Guttenberg no less) but more importantly because they are the only even moderately decent speakers I could find that would fit in my bizarrely proportioned but otherwise beautiful custom-built solid oak wall unit that houses my television and a bunch of other crap.
These Q 3020's have proven far, far beyond "moderately decent." Powered by a Naim streaming amp that I got for a song on the 'Gon and bolstered by a cheap Polk subwoofer, they deliver a sound that routinely startles me with its clarity and power and finesse. This system possibly pleases me more than my big rig in the same way that $2 gems that I pull out of the bargain bin often please me more than my big-dollar OG RVG's or audiophile 2x45's etc. Sometimes an unexpected taste of the high-priced spread is better than the whole enchilada.
