Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)
Review by Ron : Great mini speaker system

I got this speaker system to complement a 46 inch LED LCD TV in my smallish front living room. I have a DirecTV HD DVR satellite receiver and a Samsung Blue Ray player that I have connected to the Denon AVR-791 receiver - all HMDI 1.4 connections, and use the single HMDI output to connect to the TV set. I am using a Denon AVR-791 receiver to connect it all together and to drive the Klipsch HD 500 compact 5.1 home theater speaker system for the audio portion of my set-up. All of the HMDI handshakes work with no problems, and the whole set up was very easy to install/set up. Got the whole thing going within an hour, and that includes stringing the speaker wire, cutting and trimming the wire and installing the speakers. The sounds the Denon set produce through the Klipsch HD 500 speakers are outstanding. Good separation for the individual channels. The Klipsch HD 500 speaker set is a mini set and the subwoofer is not large - an 8 inch powered subwoofer - so the sounds the system produces are not house rattling. But... in the room that I have them set up in, this system fits the bill in an excellent manner. Dialog is crisp and clear, there is quite sufficient bass to support movie sound tracks, and the surround sound stage is quite good. (The room is about 20 by 14 feet...). I have a setup in my basement that uses an older Denon AVR-3300 and a much larger Klipsch speaker system, which I liked well enough to invest in another Denon receiver and Klipsch speaker pairing. The Klipsch HD 500 speakers are incredibly small to produce the sound stage that they do - they work especially well on dialog; rendering crisp and clear dialog even when over quite distinct sound effects that many movies utilize. The bass produced by the speaker set is adequate, but not overly strong; I sometimes long for the more substantial bass that is produced with a larger subwoofer (my basement system uses a 12 inch subwoofer, and rattles the walls!). But for the size room that I am using this system for, I am quite pleased with the results. The one thing that I found less thrilling however, is the connectors on the speakers... they are less substantial than I would expect from a company as well regarded as Klipsch - spring loaded clips are substandard when compared with the quality the rest of the speaker system provides. Hence my reduction of a star. Still... the sound stage this speaker set produces, combined with the very small size of the speakers themselves and the nice overall look of the speakers all result in a speaker system that I can recommend without reservations for small to mid-sized rooms intended for home theater setups.

Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)
Review by T. Back "BucksMan" : Great value for the money

I've had these for about 6 months. My set up is in a 14x24 room and they fill it quite nicely. I upgraded from a Sony HTIB, and the difference is unmistakable. I consider my self a better than average judge, but I'm no audiophile. If you're looking for a full range speaker system for a decent price, this is it.

Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)
Review by H. Mamoola "Huz" : Good Sound, compact, quite loud for the size, awesome subwoofer

Pros - Bought these speakers from TigerDirect in Jan 2010 bundled with Onkyo TX-SR507 7.2 Channel surround. I was initially disappointed looking at the size of the 4 speakers, but when I tuned the reciever and increased base loudness, it was awesome. These speakers give out quite a clear definition for their size. The center speaker is extremely crisp and clear. The Onkyo works well with it....I can hear across frequencies and all musical instruments pop out real clear (Using the Plz Logix II on the Onkyo). Movies are just awesome and my PS3 games sound just amazing!! I believe that it is a good system for a medium sized room (Mine is about 20 X 20). I am not an audiophile, but I think that I can compare the setup to a decent BOSE system. The sub is just awesome. I had accidently put it too loud the first day, and a ceiling lamp from the kitchen crashed to the floor (I am sure that the glass fixture was on the edge, but it hadnt moved for 2 years!) I have hardwood floors, so the subwoofer effect is even better than on carpet.

Cons - The speaker fixtures were cheap and would not allow the speakers to turn beyond a specific angle. I had to angle the speakers for the setup in my room, but the base allows only about 45 degrees swivel. The plastic connectors at the back are cheap looking and dont fit 12 gage wires too well.

Overall - Great speakers for a good mid-budget HT system. Its essential to pair them up to a good reciever and use good gage wires for the best performance.

Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)
Review by Joeham Joeham "joeham1999" : Crisp, Clear, and Big Sound!

I have owned this 5.1 speaker system for 2 weeks. I have them connected to a Denon AVR-790 receiver. I am thrilled with the results - even though I have an unconventional setup. The living room and kitchen are conected as one 10 x 20 foot room - with a cathedral ceiling. Yikes!

This is my first surround sound system, and suffice to say, I was overwhelmed with the many 5.1 choices between the HTIB (Home theater in a box) and all the individual receivers with separate speaker systems. However, I'm not a newbie to great sound. I could join the AARP if I wanted to!
Anyways, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased the Klipsch 500 after many months of research online and hearing them at my local electronics warehouse store. The store gave me an offer I couldn't refuse.

My requirements were that I needed smaller speakers for the decor and the lack of space. The Klipsch 500 fit the bill. Moreover, the 8 inch powered subwoofer is more than enough ooomph for TV, music, and movies. A nice thunder!

My center speaker rests on the TV stand in front of the LCD TV on the Klipsch supplied rubber mat to hold it in place. It's inconspicuous and does the job of keeping the center speaker stationary. I purchased a couple of inexpensive speaker stands for the 2 front speakers.
I mounted the 2 rear speakers "in the "kitchen" on the opposite wall that the TV is on. I appreciate that the satellite speakers all come with plastic adjustable wall mounts that you can position toward your ears. I needed the mounts to position the rears horizontally at 8 feet above the floor pointing toward the chairs. I ran my rear speaker wires under the floor in the crawl space to hide them. That helps!

The only negative comment I have on the Klipsch 500 is the plastic spring-clip connectors on the back of the speakers. It does seem cheap - and not in a good way. I took off a star on my rating for the features because of that. But they do hold my 18 guage wire just fine. Conversely, I bought and used banana plugs to connect the other end of the speakers to my Denon receiver. That is a more secure connection. Nevertheless it's the sound I was after and the connections just needed to connect. All of them do.

I used the easy-to-use Audyssey auto-setup that came with my Denon receiver to balance the sound and voila! Instant home theater! Okay, so it took a little longer than an instant, but the results are just amazing.

Consequently, after 2 weeks of listening to the sweet sounds of 5.1 I would not hesitate to recommend the Klipsch 500 to anyone who wants crisp, clear, and big sound! I love em! I really love them!

Klipsch HD 500 Compact 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black)
Review by Riley L. Reynolds "Riley" : sweet sound with slick style

bought these with a yamaha 465 reciever from worst buy. the first set had 1 speaker that was messed up, it would send my reciever into protection mode when the volume was kranked up. i took that set bake to worst buy and exchanged it. no problems now. it was totally worth it as the sound for movies is perfect.

the room i put them is is 15x18 mounted all of the speakers on the wall with the adjustable mounts that come with it. the black matches my lg tv perfect and will probably match most tvs out there. you will need to buy speaker wire and a sub woofer cable (please don't buy monster cable it's to expensive and lower quality than what you can find for the same if not cheaper do some research on wire and cables) also some sort of screws to mount the sattelite speakers (if thats what you want to do) i went and got drywall anchors from lowes.
The satelite speakers are small enough to blend in but not so small that you don't notice them. the sub woofer is mate black and quite a bit larger you will ned to leave some space somwhere fo it but it doesnt look bad sitting next to a tv stand. the sub has rubber feet in it that are about an inch and a half tall and the woofer cone is exposed on the under side so it would probably be bad to locate it on long or deep carpet.

the sound is very balanced, not to bright or to warm. it is also very clear just as good or better than the bose systems they sell at worst buy for twice as much. with the blue ray hd sound you hear everything in the movie(one of our friends came over and in a rainy scene she asked if it had started raining outside). this stuff handle as loud of sound as i can handle; my girlfriend actually came home while i was watching transformers and told me it was loud in the driveway. it also plays music very well but the sub woofer has a little trouble keeping up with some of the metal i listen to when its kranked ( you can still hear all the guitar parts clearer than most other sound systems though.

i would recomend spending a little extra time and money buying this over most htib sistems as you can usually get these speakers and an excelent reciever in a package for under 800 bucks. there are higher quality speakers out there but these are as good as it gets for the price.