Klipsch the Fives II speakers review for music, movies, and more (2026)

But the five speakers aren’t perfect: Compared to other high-end speakers I tried last year – some of which made me fear my sheetrock would split – the five speakers don’t generate powerful sound. The high notes at the end of Rosalía’s “Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti” sounded a bit weak, too; When I played the same song on the Focal Mu-so Hekla speaker, the sound seemed to split the air molecules.

I wasn’t disappointed with the sound quality of the music, but the comparisons were useful nonetheless. For the price and size, I still like The Fives II for music.

It won’t rock your home theater, but it’s solid for the price

For movies and shows, the new HDMI 2.1 eARC port justifies the higher price. (The original Fives did not support Atmos and cost $800 a pair.)

In the movie War machine On Netflix, I noticed that the explosions didn’t quite shake the room, but they seemed clear enough. Even with two-channel audio, Dolby Atmos support made the movie’s battle scenes stand out unbroken On Netflix, it looks convincing, especially when a plane zooms from left to right. I streamed the original Alien Using the HBO Max app on my phone, and since this movie originally used two-channel audio and not surround sound, I noticed that dialogue was clear and perfectly centered between the two speakers.

During the movie Greenland 2: Migration On YouTube TV, a dinner scene in France had background music that sounded like it was coming from another room, which improved immersion. There was a minor glitch during the movie We bury the dead In the Fandango at Home app, it was difficult to hear background dialog that would likely be playing on the side or rear speakers in a surround sound setting.

To test video games, I connected to a TCL NXTVISION Art TV. The game Pragmata It has some early scenes where you’re shooting robots, and the lasers looked convincing enough. During the early part of the game Resident Evil RequiemHowever, eerie atmospheric sounds didn’t sound as convincing as a full surround sound setup. My main takeaway is that gaming places different sounds throughout the room, and the Fives II wasn’t as convincing at raising the level of those sounds with multiple audio drivers like the Focal Mu-so Hekla speakers.

Ultimately, comparing these speakers to cinema sound speakers, I’d say Klipsch’s the Fives II has a ways to go. But for music playback, you can’t go wrong at this price. The speakers fit well on the bookshelf, didn’t overpower the room, and music playback was organic, crisp, and loud. I ended up liking The Fives II more for music than modern bookshelf speakers from companies like Sony, KEF, and Edifier.

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