Pros: Tight, clean bass, nearly unbelievable mid-high range clarity
Cons: May be too shrill for people used to a more "relaxed" speaker kit
The Bottom Line: Pound for pound, inch for inch, dollar for dollar, the best speakers you can buy... Until space aliens supply us with better technology.
drdiaboloco's Full Review: Klipsch B-2 Synergy Main / Stereo Speaker
I found that my beloved old Infinitys had gone bad... My '85 model RS-3000's suddenly ruptured the foam woofer surrounds on both speakers, necessitating a repair or replacement of the drivers. I figured, why spend nearly $200 on new woofers when I can just go buy something new?
I hadn't been speaker-shopping in about five years, and even then the point was simply to get some more speakers for ctr channel and surround when I finally made the plunge to home theater. I had always been VERY happy with my Infinitys and figured there would never really be a reason to replace them...
Boy oh BOY am I glad I did! Shopped around all the "real" speaker brands in the price range... AR's, Bostons, Infinitys, CV's, and so on and so forth, and the SB-2's are the ones I finally brought home. It was a bit of a shock at first, as these speakers are MUCH more efficient and MUCH brighter than the Infinitys that they replaced... I refer to it as an "in your face" listening experience. After a little bit of listening I found myself getting more and more excited by them. It'd been a good while since I'd just SAT and listened to music, but I couldn't get enough of them. Is it possible to have a pair of speakers be just plain FUN to listen to??
As the "main" speakers, I had these puppies hooked up to a 60wpc Denon A/V receiver, backed up by a powered Yamaha sub, and unless I was watching a movie, I just kept the sub turned off. I didn't feel like the speakers needed the backup, and when they did, I turned down the sub's crossover to nearly its' lower limit... The bass really is that pleasing. I have since relegated them to the surround channels as I upgraded to the SB-2's bigger brothers, the SF-2's (see associated review on epinions). It seems to me that you can't possibly expect any better bass than the SB-2's have, at least not in a box their size and with woofers of their size.
My only beef is that the imaging is more directional than I am used to. The old Infinitys had dome tweeters that gave good imaging over a broader area, but if you find the right spot with the Klips you get much better imaging than the old speakers could hope to attain... So with that in mind, they still get five stars for imaging.
They do get four stars for durability, however, because of the suspect quality of the speaker grilles' mounting pins. Mine are still intact, but just look at some of these in the stores, you'll find that many of them are broken off (on the entire Klipsch Synergy series, not just these in specific). Treat them with care and you'll find they are strong enough for your uses, but don't abuse them.
As you can probably guess, I recommend these speakers without reservation... Especially for under $300, and I understand you can pay under TWO hundred if you do the online thing (I couldn't wait for a delivery once I had heard them "live", I just HAD to take them home at that moment!!).
The Synergy Series B-2 bookshelf loudspeaker proves that great style and performance can come in a small affordable package. This exceptional speaker...More at Newegg.com
The Klipsch Synergy Monitors prove that great sound can come in small packages. The new SB-2 and SB-3 bookshelf models, the sonically matched SC-1 cen...More at eBay
Power, detail, and emotion define the sound that pumps out of a Synergy Series B-2 bookshelf loudspeaker. This masterpiece of design and performance p...More at Vanns.com
The Klipsch B-2 Bookshelf Speakers are a third generation Synergy bookshelf model benefits from more than 55 years of Klipsch engineering experience.More at TigerDirect.com
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