Klipsch Flexus Sound System Unboxing & First Look | I Didn’t Expect This!

Guys have we just reached peak soundbar at  this point maybe like do we need another   product another brand jumping in the race or is  there maybe still some room for Innovation and   growth I think we might find out today hey guys  it's Caleb I'm back and yeah I've been thinking   about this whole sound bar thing uh for a while  now especially since Samsung right they came out   with the Q900 series soundbars and they've been  amazing for like three years but they've also just   kind of stayed the same they got a new model  number but they've more or less been the same   great amazing soundbar all of those years uh but  then I thought well sometimes it's just exciting   when there's a new model of something right maybe  that's what it's all about new product comes   out and uh it's just exciting to see it um and I  admit there's an element to that going on here if   you haven't already figured it out we're going  to be unboxing setting up and getting our first   listen at the new clip Flexus system I've had some  doubts about this whole Klipsch Flexus situation   and I'm totally going to explain that uh in a  minute but first I always judge a product based   on how heavy it is the soundbar actually has some  decent weight to it so that gives me some optimism   and then the surrounds definitely wish those  were heavier and I can also tell you that the   subwoofer especially for a Klipsch subwoofer feels  a little on the light side so I mentioned before   that I really had my doubts about the merits of  this particular system for mostly one big reason   most of the pr that's come out from the Klipsch  group around this new system has been around the   integration of Onkyo electronics right so Klipsch  uh legendary speaker brand now partnered with an   legendary audio brand known for their amplifiers  and their AV receivers for decades now come   together in one product I mean that should be  exciting you know what I mean uh but I just   got this whole like corporate acquisition vibe  off the whole thing let me explain what I mean   back in 2011 the Klipsch group was acquired by  Vox International um and actually Klipsch since   then has produced some amazing products maybe  some of its best products in in years have come   out recently and so that's gone well that whole  corporate acquisition thing didn't get too much in   the way of the brand continuing its its Heritage  and its Legacy literally and figuratively and   then it was two 3 years ago I think it was in uh  2021 one it was announced that the Premium Audio   Corporation sort of this umbrella corporation now  for um all these audio brands which also includes   Pioneer uh now had acquired Onkyo and that Onkyo  Electronics would continue to be made but in   Sharps Factory so there's like uh 75% Premium  Audio Corporation and 25% sharp stake in Onkyo   and uh Sharp would be the manufacturer so far that  has not resulted in anything uh negative in fact I   think uh one of the Integra receivers that I  uh got Integra like the the Lexus to Onkyo's Toyota if you will right so I got uh this Integra  receiver it was great so no worries there but then   Klipsch came out and they they did this whole  Flexus featuring Onkyo electronics and I don't   know why I'm not sure I can even reason this but  something about it something about the language   in the press release the way it was being talked  about just had these like we're doing it because   we can vibes and we really want to sell this and  you know as if Klipsch's name wasn't strong enough   adding Onkyo would somehow add some street cred to  this whole deal anyway just completely unwarranted   personal biases coming from me on this whole thing  but of course when they offered me a review sample   I was like well yes the last time we reviewed  a clip soundbar product it was the Cinema 1200   and though that thing had a few issues um it  was pretty stinking outstanding in fact it's   still available you can get a great deal on it  but as of the introduction of the Flexus line   here that product has been sunset there will be  no more Klipsch Cinema series Soundbar products   in the way that they were before its major issue  was Electronics related actually it was the user   interface wasn't great and also the input output  reliability of the electronic section was also   not awesome so if it really is true that the  electronics the amplifiers and the interface   that's built into the clip Flexus system has been  tested over a thousand times using Onkyo's very   rigorous testing methodology then hey maybe it  will actually benefit this system so I felt a   little bit of optimism creeping in but also my  friend Simon Cohen uh got a set for and uh he's   going to be doing that for the the website and he  started texting me over the weekend and he's like   uh I'm kind of like what I'm seeing here by the  end of the weekend he was like dude this system   is legit and uh you got to check it out sounds  like I was probably wrong but we're going to   find out because while I usually agree with Simon  I don't always you know that doesn't look half bad   right so this is the Core to 200 Soundbar and as  suspected from picking up the box it's Hefty the   build quality seems really good here uh the faux  wood veneer which is on the top of this Soundbar   and also on the sub we'll take a closer look at  that in a moment looks really nice uh the build   quality in general seems great we'll get into  the specs here in a moment but uh pretty simple   in terms of inputs we've got uh HDMI ARC optical  Port uh subwoofer output uh if you want a hardwire   subwoofer there's also a USBC port on here uh and  then space for a power cable of course uh we've   got two top firing drivers in here uh it looks  like we've got some mid-base drivers and some   tweeters up-firing for some Atmos effects and then  an array of drivers uh more obscured behind this   piece of cloth fabric which has kind of a rugged  feel to it but also I really like that um we'll   get into the specs of the sound are including the  actual driver size and uh the power delivery of   the Class D uh digital amps that are in this we'll  get into that as we're actually setting things up   moving on to the surround speakers they're more  or less um what I expected they're not comically   light they don't feel like toys but this obviously  is not a wood cabinet tree it's a plastic I've   learned to reserve judgment on things like this  until I've actually heard them I will point out   though no top firing drivers right so this will  be a 5.1.2 system looks like it comes with a   couple of power cables I bet those are about 6ot  uh that's pretty par for the course here's the   part this reminds me why I felt kind of down on  this system just at the get-go and bear in mind   I'm a Klipsch fan right so I feel like it's kind  of saying something that I really had my doubts   about this system but this is a reminder a USB  dongle okay the way you get wireless connection   between the Soundbar and either the surrounds or  the subwoofer because this is a modular system   right it's a USB dongle what and why um there  could be some legit engineering reasons here look   there's a ton of other Soundbars out there that  have no problem with wireless connectivity uh with   the antennas built into the Soundbar the speakers  and the subwoofer for themselves why Klipsch had   to be different and go with the USB dongle I don't  know they'll probably email me and say Caleb we'd   be happy to tell you uh we'll get to that you  know what I'll just pull the subwoofer up onto   the table because it's light enough to do so hey  guys I'm a subwoofer generally I would not want to   be able to do that with subwoofer um but again  this is a vinyl wood wrap and it looks really   nice when you touch it it's like yeah that's vinyl  but it looks really nice and interestingly enough   if we put this around these are support feet we  could make this sort of an up-firing subwoofer if   we wanted to built-in amplifier we'll get into the  power specs on that later we do have a subwoofer   uh line input here for an RCA subwoofer cable if  we wanted to hardwire this sub uh you could also   use some other subwoofer if you really wanted to  and not necessarily go with the whole Wireless   thing uh but again if you're going to integrate  a wireless piece with this system you're going   to need a USB dongle to do so in this case it  came with the surrounds but if if you were to   buy the Soundbar and the subwoofer you would get  the USB dongle with the subwoofer comes with the   wireless product oh yeah hey so before I start  setting this up and talk specs with you uh let's   go ahead and talk about the price the Soundbar  this one anyway is 500 there is a smaller uh   less equipped model that is less money if you  want to go with that uh $300 for this subwoofer   and then $250 for the two surround speakers so  total system cost is a little over $1,000 $150   uh to be precise that's definitely getting up  there so I need this to perform extremely well   maybe not $16 $1700 well like the Samsung Q990C  but it does need to be pretty stellar all right   let's get this put together let's grab the  power cord and I know it's a little thing but   I love that they included this uh rubberized uh  security strap for wrapping up the cable so much   better than those stupid twist ties this does come  with brackets looks like really simple uh bracket   installation for wall mount if you want to we're  obviously going to be placing this on our BDI   cabinet and uh already got something wrong about  the driver compliment so here's the drill we've   got uh two two and a/4 in aluminum drivers on the  left and two more on the right in the center we   have another 2 and 1/4 in aluminum driver as well  as a 3/4 in Horn loaded Tweeter only the center   channel on this gets uh dedicated Tweeter which  kind of makes sense uh I don't think that we're   going to miss out on a ton of high-end uh treble  from the 2 and 1/4 in uh all-purpose drivers that   we're seeing uh over on the far left and the right  on the top we have uh more 2 and a/4 in uh drivers   these I suppose are the Atmos drivers and then  we have two 4in speakers uh these are build as   subwoofers within this particular Soundbar I'm  going to test the Soundbar alone without the   addition of the separate subwoofer just to get a  feel for what kind of Base it produces um without   the aid of a subwoofer and then of course we'll  we'll pile on after that now as for amplifier   power ratings I actually haven't been able to  find any power ratings for the amps built into   this on clip's website and it looked pretty hard  maybe they're buried somewhere I don't know I also   didn't receive them in a press release so I don't  know what kind of rated power is in this soundbar   and honestly I don't care because everybody plays  fast and loose with wattage ratings in sound bars   any anyway uh especially when it comes to digital  amplification I am somewhat hopeful however since   I know these are actual Onkyo amplifiers uh  manufactured by Onkyo that we are looking at   some pretty decent power going on inside of this  now for the sub which is a 10in subwoofer or at   least the driver it's 10 in on this guy no power  rating for this either oddly enough not sure what   that's all about but if I do get power ratings  from Klipsch soon I'll make sure that I uh put   it in the descript description no the other  thing I wanted to mention here is that you   can integrate two of these subwoofers in this  system if you want to which I think is a great   idea uh obviously that's going to even out some  null or dead spaces in your Listening Room as   far as base is concerned so yeah that's that's  another nice little Advantage for Klipsch which   describes its wireless connection technology  by the way as uh transport technology uh but   it does promise lightning quick connection and  there should be some uh real reliability there   at least according to what their claims are the  surround speaker is pretty surround speaker e   it's going to go in the surround speaker space  uh gets one 6ot power cord that goes down in the   bottom uh there is a quarter 20 insert on the back  of this so that you can wall mount it with popular   uh speaker wall mounts uh it's light enough to do  that without probably just you could probably use   just drywall anchors no problem with something  like this and I wasn't sure about the size of   the driver but I measured it's a 3-in driver in  this guy again not something I could find on the   the Klipsch website about this which I think is  odd all right Soundbar is plugged in and I used   the HDMI cable that came with it to go into the EC  Port of this high sense u8n I realized that this   is probably going to be used more for movies and  uh television shows than music but I want to get   a feel for how it's going to pull off music and I  can tell a lot about the base response from whoa what I'm not joking that that is my first  initial reaction legit the bass response is   ridiculous hey uh it's got some bass those dual  4inch subwoofers are no joke um and uh yeah I'd   be the first to tell you if they were just  weak sauce but they're not Zeke am I right   yeah Zeke's nodding his head trust you have to  trust me that guys I I am not joking it sounds   huge and I haven't done a detailed breakdown in my  head of the Fidelity of the system yet but what I   can tell you right now is it's not doing anything  bad it's not honky it's not shouty it sounds clean   Punchy and powerful and way bigger than it looks  way bigger like the Bose 600 has nothing on this   thing and for music it definitely sounds better  than any of the Samsung uh sound bars that I've   used for music [Music] listening it's stupid it's  stupid how good it is like it can get really loud   without like treading anywhere close to anything  resembling Distortion um guys my excitement is   legit I I need you to know that this thing is I  wish you could be in here so here's the deal I was   going to ask you if you wanted me to do a full  review I was not going to do one unless I knew   there was a lot of interest in this particular  thing but now I I'm doing a review regardless   because you need to know about this Soundbar I  guess you kind of do now but I definitely want to   give it the full breakdown I will tell you right  now that I probably wouldn't feel an urgent need   to add a subwoofer with this it sounds great as  is but I know that subwoofer is going to add a lot   and we got to see what the wireless situation is  like so I'm not going to read any instructions I'm   just going to go plugging in some USB dongles and  some subwoofers and see what happens so here's the deal I've already spent too much time trying to  get all of this paired I'm sure this is covered   in the instructions and I'm sure the instructions  are going to be very clear but I would argue that   so many other surround Soundbar systems out there  just have instantaneous pairing like you plug them   in it's paired that's it you don't do Jack um I  would like it to be like this now I understand   because it's modular that maybe it's a little  bit different but I think there's a way to do   wireless technology where it just you plug it in  and it just works right all right I checked the   manual and I did exactly what I was supposed to  do press and hold on the wireless devices first   and then press and hold the pair button on the  Klipsch Soundbar the Flexus uh Core 200 and um   it's supposed to all just connect now what's weird  is without me doing anything and just standing   around and reading waiting to figure out how  to do this the sub magically connected all on   its own the surrounds however had not so I've  started the process over again press and hold   wait and given what happened last time I am  just I'm going to wait this out so all right   I was about to give up and then uh it just  kind of worked I couldn't tell you why or   how uh but it did eventually it has connected  and I suspect now it's going to be nice and   stable and solid anyway let's hear what it  sounds like with the the sub and surrounds involved Yeah we actually stand a chance of  pissing off the Neighbors which uh you know   it's a clip line look guys here's the deal this  thing sounds uh pretty outstanding right now um   the sub seems a little detached from the soundbar  but I haven't really played around with blending   things in yet uh the surround effects sound great  so far there's some virtual Atmos going on I won't   be able to actually gauge the uh reflected off  the ceiling at most until I put this up in the   Loft and use it there cuz the ceilings are too  high to do that on the main floor but initial   impressions are wildly positive honestly the most  impressive thing was the Soundbar on its own uh   I'm going to play around with uh listening to  that just on its own for quite a bit longer   and then you know obviously I'll I'll bring  in the subwoofer and the surrounds and give   this thing a full workout but I am uh feeling  a little bit embarrassed to be honest with you   about how I doubted uh that this system might be  all Bluster right it might be all you know brand   integration chest beating and and purely like  looks good on paper kind of deal um but it seems   legit uh obviously there's a big difference  between this and the cinema series that came   out before it uh I think this is a good direction  for Klipsch those are the initial Impressions   like I said I'm going to dive deep I'm going  to give this thing a thorough evaluation and   I'm really excited to do it now even if I  do feel a little bit silly for coming into   this with some pretty strong bias anyway that  has been the unboxing the pontification the   setup and the first impressions of the Klipsch  Flexus system I hope you are excited for the   full review I know I'm excited to make make it  let me know down in the comment section if you   would don't forget to like And subscribe  this video I hope you have enjoyed it so   much I'll see you on the next one and until then  here's two other videos I think you might like

Channel: Digital Trends

Views: 89,473

Keywords: klipsch flexus sound system, klipsch flexus core 200, klipsch flexus 200, klipsch flexus core 100, soundbar for tv, unboxing, klipsch soundbar, klipsch flexus unboxing, klipsch flexus sub, home theater, home audio, home cinema, klipsch flexus, home theater system, dolby atmos soundbar under 10000, dolby atmos soundbar 2024, dolby atmos soundbar test, klipsch new soundbar, klipsch atmos soundbar, klipsch atmos setup, klipsch atmos set, dolby atmos soundbar, flexus surr

Id: Dp4sFVGkUXE

Length: 19min 45sec (1185 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024