RP-500SA Dolby Atmos Surround Sound Speakers (Ebony) (1066507)

So far I have these on top of my mains (RP8000Fs). Definitely a much better separation of sound coming from above when these are mounted higher on the wall. That's going to be a project for me mainly due to wire management, I don't want the wires dangling on the wall & would need to hire an electrician to drill holes & snake the wires through. Too lazy to do all that now but sound is sound, and the extra sound coming from these is more immersive than not having them. My ceilings are 8', supposedly the upfiring design makes sound bounce off the ceiling if 8', very subtle though & still not the same as mounting them on the wall. If you have taller ceiling or cathedral ceilings, there is likely zero "upfiring" benefit you could hear. But hey, they look cool sitting on the towers lol. In my setup it's easier having these then two extra rears for 7.1, so I am going with 5.1.2 Another advantage is the option of a Dialogue lift with my AVR, meaning the center dialogue can get added & spread out to the Atmos speakers in addition to the center channel. For that purpose it's better having these on top of the tower speakers so the sound is coming from the TV. Mounted up high, that feature may sound odd. I cross these over to the sub at 100 hz, I hear most people use that or 120. Atmos speakers are not designed to handle any significant bass, not even effectively down to 80 hz. My overall system these are playing with: AVR - Yamaha Aventage A2A. Two Outlaw Monoblock Amps 2220 powering the fronts (RP8000Fs). This frees up the AVR power more for the other surround speakers including these, making them all come to life a bit more. Center is RP500C & rears are RP500M. Sub is SVS SB3000. Very happy with these as part of a very enjoyable upgrade I have made to my sound system over the past month. Also, especially with Atmos, a total waste of money going with the Gen 2 substantially more $. Gen 2 is the same speaker big picture, just with tweaks to very subtly change the midrange. The subtle difference is for critical music listening, totally not worth it & at times depending on the song I actually preferred how the Gen 1 sounded. But when going to surrounds, especially Atmos, not going to hear any difference so my recommendation is don't spend about twice as much for the Gen 2. If I was willing to spend twice as much, I'd save up a bit to add a bit more and make a real upgrade - to the next tier of speakers. Like the RF7iii or Heritage Forte iv. Maybe down the road I do. Until then I'll keep thoroughly enjoying the current upgrades I made to an entry level Polk set up I had the last 11 years.

With these speakers you get the traditional Klipsch "detailed" sound out of a very small package. The piano finish is beautiful and the overall craftsmanship is very good at this price point. My only issue is that these are very overpriced for what they are. There are many traditional bookshelf speakers that are much better performers for less money. The only reason they're getting away with the current pricing is very few manufacturers are making high quality Atmos add-ons or elevation type speakers. I guarantee if JBL was to ever get around to doing a similar speaker with their Stage series it would be equal in performance for half the price. The JBL Stage A190 towers already give the RP 8000F's a run for their money at only $600 a pair. Ultimately, I do like these for side or rear surrounds, or even front high speakers. For just a little more money, the Klipsch RP 250s are going to be a much better value especially for surround speaker locations. I just think at this price point they should do more than just produce sound effects (which is all any surround speaker is really doing, especially when the switch on the back of these is set to Atmos which fixes the crossover at 150hz ). I would never even think of considering playing music out of these even at the Surround crossover setting (80 hz). The fact they are sealed (not ported) drastically limits bass output. With that said, that's why I'm knocking the value rating on this speaker because they are ultimately way overpriced for what their actual purpose is designed for. Design rating: 5 Value rating: 3 Sound quality for surrounds/front highs: 5 Sound quality for music: 3 If you can make it work in your room, I'd go for a good bookshelf speaker over these as long as you don't have mounting issues (if the bookshelf speaker is ported on the rear.) The Klipsch R15M or the R51M can do more for less money, especially having the option to use them for music down the road. Only issue is, bookshelf speakers are not aesthetically conducive as "tower top" Atmos add on's.

I'm not sure what kind of random super luck I had last week but I got these for $499 each along with a RP504c at $499 and a pair of RP500sa for $399 all in piano black from vendors listed on Klipsch's website as authorized web vendors. It might be worth setting up a camelcamelcamel alert to watch for these on sale again. Anyway, a little story. I have had a pair of Polk RTi70s for years that I like so much I bought a second pair of for another room. I really liked them but thought I would see what else I could hear with my Christmas bonus. I have been a fan of SVS Subs for quite a while so I bought a pair of their Prime Pinnacles. After reading all the glowing reviews how could I go wrong? Well, they are better than the old Polks but still not the massive improvement I was hoping for. Reviews of the Pinnacle's say the high's are laid back, to me they just weren't as clear and crisp as I was hoping for. I started seeing YouTube videos with reviewers liking the RP8000Fs better. Then I came across the sale. I contacted SVS and even though I was past the 45 day trial period, they agreed to take back the Pinnacles and refund me. I can't say enough about their customer service. Top Notch! So I set up a return and ordered the RP8000Fs. Then I realized that with what I was getting back from SVS, I could also get the RP504c center and still be ahead so that got ordered as well. The next day, I decided this is probably my one chance to get the matching surrounds on sale so the RP500SAs were ordered as well. Several days later they all showed up within minutes of each other. I unboxed and set up all 5 speakers with my Denon X3300W 105w per channel. After running the calibration I was blown away! This is the sound I have been looking for. The highs are right there but not overpowering. The bass blends well with my 2 SVS SB12s. Sweeping around the room the sound from each speaker is matched perfectly whether coming from the 51/4" woofers in the center and surrounds or the 8" woofers in the RP8000Fs. Everything sounds so crisp and clean whether it's Easy E or the Eagles. The sound is sweet and perfectly matched in every frequency, no overpowering bass even though it is strong. No overpowering high end like Klipsch is known for. These are the Goldilocks of speakers. Everything sounds just right. I put few movies in as well and was just as impressed. Thunder booms powerfully, lightning cracks sharply, you hear every individual rain drop. It's like my ears got an upgrade. These things are fantastic! In the end, if you have the money, buy them! If you don't have the money, start saving and look for a sale, then buy them!

Prefect Atmos speakers! use them on top of main speakers (or rear) and put switch on ATMOS mode. If placed up hung on wall, put switch to SURROUND mode, and wire to the height speaker outputs. Sound is great, and since its an older model, the price is better. Very happy I added them as rear heights. My Fronts already had heights built into them.

Beautiful sound and looks, love it. Found that by lifting up the back end a few inches, it dounds even better when sitting more than ten feet away.

I bought 2 sets for my atmos channel, I intially had these and sold them, tried a different model, and the comparison is not even close. I paired these with the 8000 towers and put them on the wall for heights, I have gotten so many compliments from friends. Well worth the money, clarity sound quality is always phenomenal

I love these Atmos enabled speakers as they have the great Klipsch Reference Premiere sound, look, and can function as upfiring speakers or as a full range height speaker. My only problem is the value and here is why. Klipsch knows there is little competition in the Atmos enabled\height speaker realm and mounting bookshelf speakers as front height speakers looks a little weird. In store at NFM i was able to get RP-8000f's for $340 each an RP-504c for $400 and 2 sets of RP-500M's for $250 a pair for my rear surround and rear heights. These i paid $500 for a pair on Amazon and NFM in store had them for $275 each so in comparison these are MUCH more money in comparison for the size and output of the other speakers. The RP500M is a better full range speaker for $250 a pair (NFM) vs $500 a pair for these RP-500SA's. My ceiling is vaulted so upfiring atmos is not an option I have these RP-500SA's as my front heights and RP500M's as rear heights. The RP-500SA's have a few things on the RP-500M's that made me bite the bullet and get them. 1) the option for upfiring atmos is there if i ever move and have this option and they fit and look nice on my RP-8000f's. 2) they have a full range (surround) switch that allow them to be mounted as height speakers and they look much better as front angled height speakers than mounted RP-500M's. 3) I have compared these to the Sony SS-CSE atmos speakers and would recommend these over them but sony's cost $100 currently and these are $500... are these 5 times better.. no. Do these fit in my Klipsch setup and sound a bit better, Yes which is ultimately what made up my mind to purchase these. I run these at 4-5db's above my front speakers to keep height channels clearly audible and not drowned out by front speakers. I would think the smaller less powerful RP-140SA's (which i have not tested) would be quickly drowned out at high levels. Basically if you want atmos for a klipsh setup this is the way to go and you wont be let down but the value for money compared to my other Klipsch speakers i feel is lacking.

Klipsch RP-500SA Dolby Atmos Surround Sound Speakers (Piano Black) 8/8/2022: I was surprised how small the box was. When placing these up, because they are Piano Back, I was really worried of dropping them because they are so smooth. Also, I used 1" screws to place them, and took a second look at the book and it said to use 2" screws...oops. I didn't know, because they use the same book for all their speakers, and I only opened it to write the speaker information in it. Oh well, they don't seem to be in a situation where they will fall. The stud was very thick and the screw was in solid. At first I was going to put these in back as surrounds and reassign my RP-500Ms as rears (or try them while sitting atop the floorstanding ones); but I wanted to try out the Atmos feature using the Front Height position. I have only 2 blurays with true Atmos TrueHD 7.1 sound; and while Black Panther sounds great, it was Deadpool that really showed what these can do. I hate Audyssey; the first time I ran it (with 6 seated positions)- the left soundstage was so messed it caused the AVR to put too much brightness in the left floorstanding speakers that it caused the tweeters to flutter and distort at high frequencies (I thought they were failing). This happened right after I setup the RP-500SAs. Running the setup again with only 3 seated positions fixed it and now it sounds the way it should. I did have to make some adjustments to the levels, though. They look really nice and create a nice sound wall for the RP-8000F; the immersion with the rear surround RP-500Ms is just as nice. I am glad I got these. I just b'ot the RP-404C, and that will complete my 7.2 setup, unless I get another subwoofer. xD PaulJC