Personally would love to see some soundbar reviews, but feel free to review anything here, or ask all the questions you need to optimize your setup!

inkycatz wrote:Personally would love to see some soundbar reviews, but feel free to review anything here, or ask all the questions you need to optimize your setup!

Yeah, I would also be very interested in reviews of the soundbar. That jumped out at me immediately.

Sorry, no soundbar but my M40 headphones were shipped quickly and arrived a couple of days ago. I've played with them a bit, and I'll give you my initial thoughts:

Some reviewers really didn't like the look of them. I kind of do, but YMMV.

The earcups are made of the same kind of hard memory foam that are in some mattresses. It felt good to me, and provided some significant isolation. However, if you have a big head or large ears this may not be the way to go. I also expect that these pads will last longer than standard open cell foam.

The cords have a braided cover, so I expect they will also be more durable. I have some Klipsh earbuds with the same cord, and I've found them very resistant to wear.

The noise cancelling function isn't as strong as many others. That would be the downside to these cans. My old (and now nearly dead) Bose QC2 were much better.

As a deal: this is a good one. They are going (new) for 350 on Amazon.

They are $399 on Amazon from what I can see. All the reviews says its a good setup for under $600 with a sub. At $300 they are pretty much the best you will find. The HD1000 is $449 on Amazon so..

The Energy Take 5 are one of the best sets for the price. Bought my first set (with subwoofer)years ago and anyone who hears them is impressed. Bought a second set from Woot of the current system subwoofer-less a while back. Paired it with the Velodyne VX-11. Wow, sounds better than the Energy sub. Last time this was up, there were many subwoofer recommendations, but for the money, the Velodyne is hard to beat. Anyone paying $120 for a 5.0 system isn't going to want to spend so much on a sub that the system costs more than the $299 you can get the 5.1 system online from that eggy place. The Velodyne direct from the manufacturer is on special for $229 for 2 with free shipping. So Wooters, find a friend and each of you can have a great system for under $240. http://velodyne.com/special-offers/specials/vx-11.html

Can the 5 piece speaker set be plugged directly into a big flat screen tv? If it can, what would I have to look for on the back of my tv to see if it can plug in.

Were the headphones refurbished by Klipsch or someone else?

I ask because I bought a "refurbished" bluray player off another site, and it was clearly not restored by the vendor, but by "professionals" which could mean almost anything. For me, it meant they left an old scratched-up movie in the player.

gregslaten wrote:Can the 5 piece speaker set be plugged directly into a big flat screen tv? If it can, what would I have to look for on the back of my tv to see if it can plug in.

Nope. Those speakers are un-powered and need an amplifier to drive them - a home theater receiver or something similar.
The soundbar+sub package is the only thing in this batch that would work straight off of your TV.

I have the Energy speakers at my apartment. They're excellent for the price. Sound quality is great and the mid-range to low-range doesn't sound like a bear fart.

I'm currently listening to those Image S3 earbuds. They're not bad, picked them at blackfriday for like 15 bucks I think.

Better than mostly all $15 earbuds you'll get at Wally-world, so it's not a bad gifting option for that scrooge in your family still using the stock iphone/mp3 player earbuds.

electricblue404 wrote:Were the headphones refurbished by Klipsch or someone else?

I ask because I bought a "refurbished" bluray player off another site, and it was clearly not restored by the vendor, but by "professionals" which could mean almost anything. For me, it meant they left an old scratched-up movie in the player.

I am AJ from Klipsch. We do all our referbs in house. Buy with confidence!

What size room is the HDT 500 optimal for? It says "medium" but that doesn't give me ANY idea what "medium" is. 120 SF? 200 SF? 400 SF?

Has anyone listened to these to know how they really sound?

I wish woot! would get a deal on those Energy *center* speakers that complement the C-Series they sold a few years ago. i.e.: www.amazon.com/Energy-C-C100-Center-Channel-Speaker/dp/B0011ZY0SQ/

zxinfinity wrote:What size room is the HDT 500 optimal for? It says "medium" but that doesn't give me ANY idea what "medium" is. 120 SF? 200 SF? 400 SF?

Has anyone listened to these to know how they really sound?

I do Home Theater installs for mainstream consumers (read: those with realistic budgets!) and have used both the Energy Take series and the Klipsch HD500. Both sounded good for pre-packaged speaker sets, but of the two, I preferred the sound of the HD500. Overall it produced nicely balanced sound without having to do much beyond setting levels and the appropriate crossover frequency for the receiver. For the money (I have seen the HD500 for as low as $250), it is a great set for any medium size room, which is usually characterized as between 200 - 400 square feet.

You can get these headphones with free shipping for a total cost of only a couple bucks more but in different colors on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-Image-Noise-Isolating-Rebel-Red/dp/B0044TXDSE/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355499894&sr=1-4&keywords=klipsch+image+s3

I have had the image S4 version and they were the best in ear headphones I've owned until I lost them

$245 now?!?!

Jumping on this for the bar - tested it out at Best Buy after Thanksgiving and it is a fantastic upgrade from my stock system. Plus, it was on sale for $350 that weekend, here for just $200!

EDIT: The sale at Best Buy was for the Elite version of this. This is just 30" with an 8" sub instead of 40" with a 10" sub.

soundbyte24 wrote:Jumping on this for the bar - tested it out at Best Buy after Thanksgiving and it is a fantastic upgrade from my stock system. Plus, it was on sale for $350 that weekend, here for just $200!

So tempted...

ghostofdavid wrote:So tempted...

Go for it - it's part of the Klipsch group, just not branded as Klipsch. It's just as nice but without the social status of having a Klipsch. :D

The fact that it's refurbished with just 90 days to test it out has me a bit on edge. However, SquareTrade has up to $400 in protection for 3 years for just $55. That's not bad considering you'll replace a broken refurbished with a new device.

This thing is 30" wide ... did you know there's a 40" version?!