The Fives, audio speakers that bend over backwards

The Fives: audio speakers that can do it all -

The American brand Klipsch Audio happily maintains a

image

, even

,

around its speakers

, which

them well.

The Fives, a nice pair of compact speakers launched by the manufacturer, is no exception to the rule.

In their wooded box (they also exist in black), you would think they were teleported from the

.

But this old-

, almost obsolete

aspect

hides perfect compatibility with contemporary uses.

The Fives speakers cultivate a vintage feel.

- KLIPSCH AUDIO

Plug and play speakers

Let it be said first of all: The Fives do not require the contribution of an amplifier.

Hence an undeniable ease of installation and integration.

Or a pair of bookshelf speakers (30.5 x 16.5 x 24 cm) which only require a simple mains power supply.

An annex cable of a generous length of 4 meters connects the "slave" enclosure to the "master" enclosure, the one on which the controls are positioned in particular.

The Fives are plug & play and install in minutes.

- KLIPSCH AUDIO

The originality here consists of two metal knobs.

They are reminiscent of those that we found in the world before, in front of the tuners.

There is a dial to adjust the volume, and a second to choose the player source.

And there, surprise: there is everything.

Complete connectivity

TV, Bluetooth 5.0, Optical, USB, Analog and Phono.

Klipsch has therefore not made a dead end.

At the back, there is even an Ethernet connector (to connect a computer, for example), as well as an HDMI CEC socket (to connect a television).

Mom and Dad's old vinyl turntable can therefore come out of the closet: an RCA input will bring it back to life.

A rear connection which multiplies the possibilities of reading.

- KLIPSCH AUDIO

And since the house of Klispch knows how to be generous, it is also possible to add a

to the set

.

A remote control also allows you to control The Fives without having to move.

160 chattering watts

Listening, it is the generosity that dominates: The Fives have it under the hood.

Their power of 160 watts is built around two channels dedicated to high frequencies (2 x 20 W) and two others to low frequencies (2 x 60 W).

The

installed by Klipsch measure 115 mm in diameter and benefit from a large excursion.

Undoubtedly, the bass dominates.

Placed for our tests on either side of a 49 '' TV, The Fives instantly turned into a small home cinema set that does not necessarily require a

.

Which does not alter their musicality.

The Fives adapted for TV and gaming use.

- KLIPSCH AUDIO

If we exclude from the outset the classical repertoires, sometimes very demanding in the treble and for which these speakers seem unsuitable, the warm listening lavished is perfectly suited to most musical registers.

Rock, pop, hip-hop and jazz punctuated our tests during a weekend.

Helping nostalgia, an old Pioneer PL-990 turntable also made some vinyls scratch.

Queen, Peter Gabriel, but also - more recently - Bertrand Belin and his album

, or Grand Corps Malade and his new

bought for the occasion were successively summoned.

To annoy the neighbors and turn the A side of the explosion without greed on the decibels,

de Cerone has temporarily placed our disco years on a drip.

The sound clicks.

And advice to purists: the speakers decode 192 KhZ / 24 bits, ie

files

.

Complete but not too much

Sold for 899 euros (but they can currently be found at 799 euros at Boulanger or Cobra), The Fives offer a lot and their exceptional versatility is their first argument.

On this ground, they do more and better than most competing preamplified speakers, as at Triangle or Jamo.

Something to be satisfied with to fill a full range of entertainment and attract customers who do not want to multiply the equipment.

The HDMI CEC connection opens up the field of possibilities for combining image and sound with a television.

A gap could however darken the picture.

Notwithstanding the absence of a personal assistant on board (which we can easily do without), these speakers do not have WiFi.

They thus deprive themselves of various possibilities, foremost among which is broadcasting in AirPlay 2 (the Apple standard), but above all multi-room sound and the possibility of interweaving its interior with a network of compatible speakers.

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