Underrated, AFFORDABLE Audiophile Speakers! Klipsch R50M Review

Fun, affordable little bookshelf speakers!

Review Sample Provided by: Premium Audio Group
This review is free of sponsorships, affiliate links, and financial compensation. Product offered as a long term loan.

Review Index:

0:00 Intro
1:09 Why Horns?
4:58 Are they right for YOU? A Short Summary
7:33 The Sound! A Detailed Summary
12:08 Some Problems...
13:56 Versus the KEF Q150!
18:44 Equipment Pairing Advice
21:06 Room Setup Advice
22:30 My Final Thoughts
24:31 More Important Than HiFi!

Note: All the opinions expressed in this video are my own and are without influence.

[ZeroFidelity]

Welcome to my first detailed review in nearly a year! It's good to be back!

[syanhc]

This guy is a really good audio reviewer. His videos remain objective, relative and he is a genuinely good guy. No audiophile snobbery here! Kudos!

[pongyang]

I just bought a pair for $200- thanks to Black Friday sales.

Paired it with my Skunkie modded Reisong A10. Songs with nice vocals sound so rich and satisfying. Believe it or not, the midrange on the Reisong sounds much better (more rich and lush) than my Hegel Rost/H120 with these speakers.

Great speakers! Thanks for the accurate review!

[rambe]

You are my favorite reviewer. Objective, a great sense and extremely detailed in analysis.
I look at all posts even if I do not care about the gears.
Zero fidelity, Thomas and Steve Guttenberg, this is the first ligue!
Congratulations!

[bradknight]

You haven’t lost your touch!
Very good review. Hope you do a few more as time goes on.
I feel your one of the best! Stay well!

[yippie]

That's exactly what I was thinking.... Not another Klipsch review. haha. I'm just happy you're back with a new video. It's been awhile.

[randylneisen]

Thanks Sean! Glad you are feeling better! You are one of the top reviewers for audio on YouTube and a whole lot of us appreciate you! Peace and prayers!

[soedal]

Yes, good to have you back. In my opinion you are the best reviewer out there. Thank you for doing this!

[yzfrjosh]

I picked these up a week ago and picked up the RP 500M ii to compare. Kept the R50M! For $279 these sound great.

[ronzack]

Good to see you back, and it's REALLY good to see you with a pair of Klipsch speakers! When I started to "upgrade" my little home theater system, I purchased a pair of the Klipsch R-51M's, and a Klipsch R-52C center channel. I really enjoyed the sound of those speakers, and was VERY impressed at how well they dealt with brass instruments and piano. I was amazed at the realism of trumpets and saxophones especially. Yet they were fantastic with piano as well.

The R-52C center channel is amazingly good for it's price and size, giving outstanding clarity to movies and TV shows.

After a year with them, I upgraded to the Klipsch Reference Premier RP-400M's, the smallest speakers in the Reference Premier line, and I upgraded the center channel to the Reference Premier R-500C. Even though the RP-400M's only have a 4" woofer, they easily outperformed the R-51M's in terms of bass extension and mid-bass punch, but they don't have quite the sparkle with brass instruments like the R-51M did. The R-500C is just a little smaller than the R-52C, but the bass and mid-bass were, once again, far more in abundance. The R-500C may be one of the most neutral speakers I've ever heard. I can easily use my 5.1 setup for music listening, and the center channel does a great job. No matter what kind or type of music I throw at the Klipsch, they handle it with ease. Same with movies, TV shows, and even YouTube. They may be the best budget home theater bookshelf speakers on the market.

My surround speakers are a pair of Klipsch RP-402S, with twin horns and twin 4" woofers in each speaker....and they do an amazing job in a very tiny package. Mine are placed right next to a wall, and they sound amazing despite a placement that would harm most other speakers on the market. Can't say enough good things about these little dedicated surround speakers.

And the subwoofer? A Klipsch R-100SW 10". It's more than good enough for my needs.

Lately, I've been playing around with 5.1 channel SACD's, thanks to a Sony UBP-X700/M DVD player purchase, and they sound AMAZING through my little Klipsch system! The 5.1 SACD to get is Pink Floyd's classic "Dark Side of the Moon", which makes excellent use of all six speakers. That album has never sounded so good, and is great fun to listen to! The Door's "LA Woman" 5.1 SACD is also incredibly good, and a lot of fun.

Budget Klipsch and JBL bookshelf speakers are perfect for someone who wants a great sounding home theater system without spending a fortune. Those horn tweeters are incredibly versatile, and there's a reason why almost all real movie theaters use them....they make films come alive. But even if you just want to listen to two-channel stereo, they really punch way above their weight.

So, for your next review, how about Klipsch RP-400M"s? For some odd reason, it doesn't seem that Klipsch is going to make a Mk. 2 version of these, and yet they would be fun to compare to the R50M's....I have no doubt the RP-400M"s little 4" woofer will still blow away the R50M's bigger 5.25" woofer, even though they can't play quite as loud. Both the RP-400M's and R50M's are priced exactly the same.

Another speaker to take a closer look at would be the new Klipsch RP-500M Mk. 2's that came out this year. They are nearly twice the price of the R50M's, but are the exact same size. Once again, the woofer will make a big difference. Many reviewers think the RP-500M's are better speakers than their more famous RP-600M big brothers.

Thanks again for your amazing reviews!

[tee-jaythestereo-bargainph]

My dude is back on the
Iron Throne !! Hell Yeah ! !!!
Lets Go ! I love horns !! Dynamic/Detailed
Centered sound stage 😃
Great Job Sean thanks for the video

[bentackson]

It's nice and refreshing to hear from Sean once again.
You have really done pretty well with this review.

[josexavierjr.]

Good to see you back in the game, Sean! Great review, as stay healthy!

[papagfamily]

@Zero Fidelity I really enjoy watching your reviews. You do it so casually like you're talking and connecting to the viewers. It's good to see you back.

[williamlee]

Yeah ...you are back ... Cheers !!! 🙌🙌✨✨ Welcome back. You are my top 5 most needed to watch reviews✨✨ Looking forward to your great review.

[raphaelmeillat]

So nice to see a new review from you Sean! Was not expecting you to make a comeback with a cheap-ish Klipsch speaker, yet I watched all the way and enjoyed your detailed take on it as usual! Looking forward to the next one! Take care,
PS: pleazzze leave your live stream sessions on YouTube for a few days next time! You give the best live sessions and they just disappear as quickly as you decide to put one on! Cheers!

[edcolston]

Just got a pair of Klipsch R-50Ms your review was spot on, thanks

[johnnyelizondo]

I'm glad to hear you about the Aiyima t9 because it's what I just got paired to the smaller Klipsch R40M. Sound is great.

[davidkalil]

I am only commenting because I'm happy to see you back! I'm sure the speakers are fine for their price. That's what they say about me: "he looks great for his age"

[garychauvin]

Sean
I respect your ears for sure . It is amazing how the naysayers are always talking about horns negatively. But especially since Klipsh put out the new 4 heritage series that reviewers and lots of audiophile folks are voicing positive reviews. I realize speaker sound is a personal preference but I have been to over100 live concerts in my life some acoustic and some amplified and for my 5k budget I have not heard better live music reproduction than my Forte 4s and a Deckware 20 watt tube amp and I have been thru a lot of speakers since 1985 .
I wish all a Merry Christmas!!!