In this review: buying tips, specifications, installation, sound quality.

This is part 1 of a 3-part review covering the Klipsch “Cinema 8” speaker set, which consists of:
1) Klipsch RSX-4 satellite speaker (this review)
2) Klipsch RCX-4 center speaker
3) Klipsch RW-8 sub-woofer with 2-channel stereo amplifier
Please click on the above links to read the other parts of this review.

[Buying tips]

The “Cinema 8” is the first and oldest set of compact 5.1 channel home-theater speakers in Klipsch’s “Reference” product line. Although Klipsch lists the “Cinema 8” as a product consisting of the above speakers as components, the manufacturer seems to make no major effort in forcing people to buy the exact set as specified. The satellite, center and sub-woofer speakers are readily available individually through every authorized retailer I visited or contacted, and the purchaser has complete freedom to buy for example a larger subwoofer, or 6 satellites (for a 7.1 channel set-up). At the same time, not every retailer will offer you a discount for buying this all-Klipsch speaker set, so it pays to shop around and find a good discount. You need to show that you are knowledgeable about the product line and are not willing to pay MSRP for each and every speaker.

One unfortunate matter affecting pricing is that Klipsch is very stringent about its selection of “authorized dealers”. Only retail stores with equipment to properly connect and demonstrate speakers will be authorized by Klipsch to carry its mid to high-end products. (The “Reference” product line falls in the mid range.) This means that suppliers will be limited, and tend to be “audio specialist” stores. While I was searching for authorized dealers, I did not find a single InterNet-only store carrying the “Cinema 8” speakers. Even some authorized dealers willing to ship the speakers to my location stated that they could do so only to 1-3 neighboring states, ostensibly due to contractual agreements with the manufacturer limiting the geographical areas these stores could sell to.

Of course, there will always be listings from private sellers on various audio equipment forums or auction web sites. Be forewarned though: purchasing Klipsch products from those non-authorized sources will leave the buyer with no warranty coverage (nor money-back guarantee in most cases) should any problems arise after the purchase.

[Packaging and specifications]

My speakers arrived in 10*10*14 inch boxes, with good Styrofoam protecting the product against shocks. The box contained:

1) RSX-4 satellite speaker with detachable face-plate
2) Tilt-swivel base (detachable if desired) with nut-driver bar on its foot-plate
3) Owner’s manual inside a stylish black portfolio

The RSX-4 is available in both black and silver finish. I opted for the black ones to match the color of the RW-8 sub-woofer. The RSX-4 comes in a small enclosure with soft rounded curves; it looks very contemporary but not excessively modern or aggressive.
The face-plate attaches to the enclosure via a mere 6 magnetized contacts, and is easily removable; perhaps too easily, because if you try to lift the speaker by the face plate, the main body will easily fall to a costly demise.
No speaker wires are included.

Brochures, specifications and even the user’s manual can be downloaded from:
http://klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=709
Standard warranty for the speaker is 5 years, from the manufacturer.

[Installation]

Those of us purchasing a home-theater speaker set containing small satellite speakers, probably have to deal with space constraints and decorative concerns in our family rooms. Klipsch addresses those concerns with a very flexible tilt-swivel base, akin to those found on the bottom of CRT computer monitors. This base attaches to the speaker body via a metal bar that ends in a round ball. This ball is secured by a clamp on the bottom of the speaker’s body, which can be tightened or loosened by actuating 4 screws, using the supplied L-shaped nut-driver. Once you have chosen a fixed position for the base, you can secure it to a flat surface of your choice using your own metal screws. If you wish to wall-mount the speaker, you simply remove a detachable “foot-plate” (as opposed to face-plate) from the base, to reveal holes through which you can pass screws or nails.

The design of the speaker’s enclosure is such that it will mount easily on walls or atop speaker stands, but is not that great for ceiling mount. The reason is that the tilt-swivel base attaches to the speaker in the bottom far end of the speaker’s main body. This base can be tilted so that it becomes parallel to a vertical wall, but the only way to mount it to the ceiling is to do so with the speaker upside-down (i.e. tweeter below the woofer). It does not necessarily look ugly, but definitely “different”.

Once the placement of the speakers has been completed, the only remaining task it to connect a pair of standard speaker wires, each bared approximately ½ inch, to the banana terminals on the back of the enclosure. The terminals accept wire gauges 14 and thinner comfortably.

[Sound quality and performance]

While I was running around among all the various speaker dealers, I made a point of carrying a music CD containing material that my ears were already familiar with,
as well as various heard movie DVDs available at the dealers.

Based on my evaluation of multiple speaker sets, with prices ranging from $150 to $1600, I chose the “Cinema 8” because of:
1) The unbeatable clarity in the sound they produced. Vocals reproduced to perfection, and in some recordings could even reveal the audio engineer’s efforts to mask the sound of the vocalist inhaling air between verses. The sounds of piano notes were life-like and faithfull to the recording environment, with no artifact sounds (noises) to make the music any warmer or crisper than it was meant to be.
2) Crash cymbals, collisions of high-speed vehicles, clanking of swords and other metal objects, they all attested to the unparalleled ability of Klipsch tweeters to reproduce high frequencies without a flinch.
3) The clean yet powerful bass from the sub-woofer that fills your room, without drowning out other sounds. As expected, no undesirable noises or vibrations came out of the speaker (a matter of my taste) or its enclosure (a matter of fact).

For more information about how the “Cinema 8” compares to other speaker sets, please see part 2 of this review.

The only downside of the RSX-4 is a common shortcoming of small satellite speakers: they cannot operate well if playing a 2-channel audio source by themselves, without a sub-woofer to add that extra oomph of bass. Because of this limitation, the 2-channel “analog direct” mode of my Sony STR-DE997 receiver is virtually useless. Purists who want to play music without any sound effects or post-processing would be better served by a pair of larger bookshelf or floor-standing speakers that can reproduce the full frequency range of their music.

Proceed to part 2 of this review: Klipsch RCX-4 center channel speaker.
Proceed to part 3 of this review: Klipsch RW-8 subwoofer.

[Revision history]

2005 02 05 Written by and copyright Tow Wang.
2005 02 12 Review published and linked.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 125