Klipsch Reference Series RB-81 II Bookshelf Speaker (Black)

I have wanted these speakers since getting my first pair of KB-15's, an earlier model made for Best Buy (5.25" LF/1" Al dome driven horn HF) and bargain priced at $130/pr shipped. I was amazed at their sound and sensitivity (efficiency). I A-B-ed them with mythen previous favorites - a pair of NHT SuperOne 2.1's bought new 12/14. Their great sensitivity over the NHT's almost sealed their fate - the small Klipsch speakers were moved to my hobby room, where they have been seriously enjoyed. My NHT's remained in my office, an 11' x 12' room where they are driven by an Onkyo 50 Wpc stereo receiver (TX-8020) and CDP (C-7030). I was pleased with the controlled bass and decent treble of the NHT's - but the midrange appeared lacking - I thought that the RB-81ii, with it's 8" LF driver and 1" Ti horn HF driver might be the answer. They seemed to have evaporated last winter.I checked Amazon for Prime stock of the speakers aperiodically - including a few weeks back, when I found them for $249/ea - a great price for the top of the line bookshelf speaker in their 'Reference' line - so I ordered a pair. I felt guilty - and cancelled the order the next day. Last Saturday, I checked - they were still available - I ordered another pair. I was determined to get them this time and they arrived Tuesday - in a word wow! They are large and heavy, which I was prepared for, having moved the bookcase's next shelf up allowing 22" vertical clearance. They are fed by #14 stranded zip cord, with the HF/LF jumpers in place. The front firing port allows placement of the 12.5" deep speaker in a 12" deep shelf, canted inward.. The coverage is wide - my ears are centered two feet in front of the plane the speakers are in and equidistant from the speakers (~5 ft). The stereo effect is consistent almost to the back wall (8 ft) and covers a cone three feet wide at my seated central position to six ft wide in front of the back wall. The LF is there, while the HF are great - and the MF is now present! It also takes a lot less to drive these speakers - my half-power HD < .03% can be appreciated (<.08% @ 50 WPC). I may have found my ideal speakers! If you think you might like them - don't wait too long - order your's. Oh, if they get any better after break-in... I'll be shocked. Besides being bi-wire capable, they have a nice grill cover that is held in place by magnets. The instruction manual is multilingual and pretty sparse. They come individually well-packed, too. My s/n's were ~100 apart... they looked identical - perfect - and 'factory fresh' - quite decent quality.

Great speakers for home theatre use but for music I would look elsewhere. They look great, are huge and can easily fill a large room with sound. The have a broad range but for real bass you’ll need a sub. Overall the functionality for these is great!

These speakers are a little old but I found them to be actually superb value and produce excellent sound. If you can find them, buy them.

Possibly biased because I like Klipsch speakers. All I can say is that the quality of the enclosure is matched by unexpected performance rivaling far larger speaker systems. Clarity of highs, authoritative bass, and very competitive price to performance. These are currently being used as studio monitors instead of powered speakers, but have the power to fill a large room (24x30) with full, rich sound.

As far as making the original mistake of buying these speakers and only getting one.. lol. They sound clear can handle power and deliver. Being and audiophile is crazy to hear the old records i received from my farher and hearing them all again all i can say is wow!! These will soon be paired up with the same reference subwoofer and i can not wait. All these are hooked up to a Onkyo tx nr555 with a Denon dp-7f TT with a grado red cartridge and needle .. wow is all i can say.

I just received these speakers yesterday and have had them playing ever since. I read a lot of reviews on this site and I realize that every one has their own taste, so I try and under stand why they either like a certain product or don't like the product. I have other Klipsch speakers that I like very much that are burned in and are at what I would call there peak, one pair costing four times these. But none of them did I like as much straight out the box as I do these.I bought these because one review I read said that they would rather listen to these than speakers he had listened to coasting $5,000. I really like Klipsch speakers but I also like many other brands and also own other brands of speakers. I know these will be on most of the time because these are some of the best speakers I have ever heard straight out the box. I would recommend these to any one even at the msrp. The good thing is most retailers have a return policy of 14 to 30 days. So if you have the cash I would buy and try them in your home, Don't go buy what you here in a set up room for sound because I am sure they will sound different in your home. I don't think you will return them. The other brands of speakers I own are B&W, Polk and JBL.

Let’s talk about these speakers. These are my ‘get me over’ speakers. First- my son has taken possession of my old hifi system, so I’m redoing my system to an endgame system. My tube amp is taking a long time to get here so I bought reisong a10 tube amp to use in the interim. So I picked these bad boys while I decide what endgame speakers I’m going to get. First impressions were not favorable. The bass is excellent but the top end was shrill. Not bright, but completely unlistenable with female singers and mr lee from Rush. I’ve given these a few weeks to break in and they are coming along nicely. If you’re a bass head you need to check these out. 8” woofers are nice. They are still colored on the top end, but this is what I expected from klipsch. I am enjoying these greatly now. Why only four stars? I believe the klipsch rp600m is a better speaker and cost the same or less. If only Klipsch would make an rp 800m. How tasty would that be?

These are such powerful and highly efficient speakers. You won't have to raise the volume past 2 or 3 before it fills a large room with powerful lows lows and highly articulate highs. Just keep in mind that these aren't really "bookshelf speakers"! They are large and heavy and will require pedestals (which they are already set up for) or a very strong shelf! However, they are worth every penny!