Sound quality: Klipsch's The Fives had Good overall sound quality - this model reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. Bass has good impact and goes deep, but is thuddy and prominent and dominates the overall sound of the speaker. Midrange is even but is a bit muffled, dark, and grainy. Treble is fairly extended, but is somewhat subdued and a bit smeared and sizzly. Does a decent job of recovering room ambience, but sounds a bit congested. This two speaker model comes as a stereo pair, and its sound stage width and focus depends on how well it is placed. Can provide a high volume level in a medium sized room. No significant difference between Bluetooth, HDMI ARC, USB, and aux sound quality.
The above description and sound quality score are for this model as purchased and used for the rating of The Fives. A firmware update that adds bass, midrange and treble tone adjustments and bass cut settings based on room position for The Fives to the Klipsch Connect app for Apple and Android mobile devices is available. When the update was conducted and the various tonal adjustment features of the Klipsch connect app were used to adjust The Fives for its most even tonal balance the overall sound quality improves to the low end of the Very Good range - although it still has some noticeable sonic quirks, this model can reproduce music and dialog very well. Bass has good impact and goes deep; while it is somewhat prominent and boomy it does not dominate the overall sound of the speaker as before. Midrange is still even and a bit hazy, dark, and grainy, but it is not muffled. Treble is still fairly extended and a bit smeared and sizzly, but it is a bit rather than somewhat subdued. It still does a decent job of recovering room ambience, but sounds a bit congested. As before the update there was no significant difference between Bluetooth, HDMI ARC, USB, and aux sound quality, and it can provide a high volume level in a medium sized room. This description of how the speakers sound after the adjustments made possible by the update are made is for information only and is not used in the scoring of this model. This is because the update is not mentioned in the instructions that come with The Fives; it is only noted on the Klipsch website and possibly to users who have registered this model with the mfr, and it requires downloading another app to a mobile device and the use of a USB flash drive to transfer the update files to The Fives. Although the step by step instructions on the Klipsch website were easy to follow, the number of steps involved may make the process prone to error, and performing the update may be intimidating for anyone who is not familiar with working with compressed files or copying files to a USB drive, or disabling the "Auto-Lock" or "Auto-Sleep" and setting the "Do Not Disturb" feature on the mobile device that will be used for the update.
Ease of use: We found the Klipsch The Fives ease of use to be excellent overall. Speaker connection wires are setup ready with keyed proprietary connectors that ensure proper connection with clear instructions on installation. Bluetooth pairing requires a press of a button with a low contrast label on unit or a marked multi-function (Bluetooth source selection/pairing) button on the remote and then the selection of unit from Bluetooth selection list on source device; unit provides an obvious indication that the unit is in pairing mode as well as when pairing has actually occurred. Volume control is a wheel control identified with a high contrast label, and has non-persistent graphical position markings with index markings that are too coarse to be specific; controls volume for all inputs. Source selector is a wheel control with labeled LED indicators that persistently indicate which source has been selected.
