Klipsch and Yamaha are two renowned and well-respected brands in the audio industry that produce high-quality speakers, headphones, soundbars, subwoofers, and amplifiers.
In this article, we will cover a general overview of both brands, looking specifically at sound quality, durability, price, and so on. Of course, each brand has different devices at different price points, however, we will compare them as closely as we can.
Klipsch products are known for their powerful sound (bright-sounding speakers) and high-quality construction, while Yamaha products are known for their excellent sound quality and wide range of products.
Klipsch and Yamaha Comparison Table
| Criteria | Klipsch | Yamaha |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Reputation | Respected for high-performance audio speakers and home theater systems. | Well-established brand known for a wide range of audio and musical instruments. |
| Sound Quality | Known for powerful and dynamic sound, often with an emphasis on the cinematic experience. | Emphasizes clear and dynamic sound reproduction, especially in home audio systems. |
| Build Quality/Design | Builds robust speakers with a classic and distinctive design, often featuring wood veneer finishes. | Offers a variety of designs, from modern to classic, with a focus on durability. |
| Product Range | Specializes in a variety of audio products, including speakers, headphones, and home theater systems. | Provides a wide range of audio products, musical instruments, and AV equipment. |
| Pricing | Offers products across different price points, catering to both budget-conscious and high-end consumers. | Varied pricing, with options available for different budgets, covering a broad spectrum of audio products. |
| Features | Emphasizes powerful audio performance with features like horn-loaded tweeters and immersive surround sound. | Known for incorporating innovative technologies and features in audio and home theater products. |
Pros and Cons of Klipsch:
- Pros: Known for producing high-quality speakers and headphones with excellent sound quality and strong bass response. Many of their products are designed to be aesthetically pleasing and can be a good fit for a home theater setup.
- Cons: Some of their products can be expensive, and some users have reported issues with durability.
Pros and Cons of Yamaha:
- Pros: Known for producing a wide range of audio and video products, including speakers, headphones, and home theater systems. Many of their products are well-regarded for their sound quality and value for money.
- Cons: Some users have reported issues with durability and reliability of some of their products.
Quick History
Klipsch Quick History
Klipsch Audio Technologies (also known as Klipsch Speakers or Klipsch Group, Inc.) is an American loudspeaker manufacturing company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company was founded in Hope, Arkansas, in 1946 by Paul W. Klipsch. Klipsch Audio also makes loudspeaker drivers and enclosures, as well as complete loudspeakers for high-end, high-fidelity sound systems, public address systems, and personal computers.
It has expanded a lot and has undergone a lot of changes since its establishment. Klipsch Audio still manufactures some legacy speakers that have been around since the days when the genius of P.W. Klipsch made his first speakers.
Yamaha Quick History
Yamaha is a Japanese brand that was established by Torakusu Yamaha in the year 1887. It produced the first Yamaha piano in the 1900s, which eventually laid a solid foundation for the many products that followed.
Yamaha is one of the largest audio product manufacturers with a reputation that sees their products used in international competitions and by renowned musical maestros. The Yamaha brand has a wide range of products that cut across professional audio equipment, digital and acoustic musical instruments, home audio products, and many others.
Sound Quality
Klipsch Sound Quality
Klipsch speakers are well-known for the high quality, stunningly precise sound they produce, which can be matched by only a few select brands. The speakers produce crisp highs, powerful bass, and full, encompassing sound with low distortion. However, many people don’t like the Klipsch sound because it tends to sound ‘bright’ or harsh.
Klipsch speakers use a horn tweeter (Klipschorn), which is what makes horns and brass instruments sound more realistic. They are ideal for higher frequencies, which is why Klipsch speakers are often recommended when dealing with high-frequency sounds (like movies and certain music genres). This is also why high-efficiency design is a core Klipsch design principle.
Klipschorn design, patented by the founder, Paul W. Klipsch himself, is a fully horn-loaded three-way speaker, which means that it houses three separate speaker units, each with its own diaphragm and horn in three frequency ranges: high, mid, and low. Separating the frequencies in this way ensures less frequency modulation distortion. The Klipschorn design is still used in many Klipsch speakers, which explains their quality audio and energy efficiency.
Yamaha Sound Quality
Yamaha audio equipment is known for producing clear and rich bass delivery and overall exceptional quality sound.
Yamaha speakers have multiple sound modes with an incredible ability to deliver soft but loud sound delivery. This is because of their high dynamic range, which includes a great deep bass and an extended high.
Features
Klipsch Features
Klipsch devices are best known for the premium sound they produce, but they also have a host of features to ensure a wholesome experience for users.
Below are some common features that Klipsch speakers are known for:
- HDMI-eARC connectivity: Single Cable, Single Remote
- Dolby Atmos Decoding for immersive surround sound, stereo multiple channel systems
- 8K Video Pass-Through
- Dialogue enhancement mode for crystal clear voices
- Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, HDMI, USB Audio, and Analog/AUX and optical audio input connectivity
- Built-in universal wifi for existing Smart Home ecosystems- featuring Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Spotify Connect
- Klipsch Connect and Klipsch Stream are two apps that can be used with your speakers. There are a lot of features included in the apps apart from controlling your Klipsch sound system. They are available for both iOS and Android.
- Efficiency and low power consumption: Due to the company’s use of horn-loaded speakers, they are able to manufacture speakers with high sensitivity (efficiency). It also makes the speakers consume less power compared to similarly performing speakers.
Yamaha Features
Yamaha has one of the most diverse selections of audio products with diverse features, which might make the feature hard to generalize. However, here are some across their audio devices.
- Wireless connectivity including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Music Cast (for multi-room connection).
- Voice command features such as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
- HDR10+, HDMI, 8K/60Hz, and 4K120Hz
- Online streaming support for Spotify, Apple AirPlay, etc
- Virtual surround
Build Quality
Klipsch Build Quality
High-efficiency design is a core Klipsch design principle, and this is evident in all their products. Klipsch devices are very popular for the quality and sturdy materials that are used in their construction. This gives their products excellent performance and remarkable durability.
The materials used in construction, such as wood, cerametallic material or plastic, are carefully selected for their acoustic, aesthetic, and durability properties.
Yamaha Build Quality
Yamaha products use modern groundbreaking technology to deliver high-end audio products. Their products are known for delivering premium performance and last a pretty long time.
Yamaha products come with impressive aesthetic delivery and long-lasting function. This is because they pay attention to the use of high-quality materials in the production of their devices.
Ease of Use
Klipsch Ease Of Use
Klipsch devices are very easy to set up and use. With a wide range of ports for easy connectivity, such as the HDMI Arc port, setting up is as easy as plugging in and playing. Remote control support and iOS and Android apps also make it much easier to use your Klipsch devices.
Yamaha Ease Of Use
Yamaha offers an array of easy-to-use audio equipment. This includes wireless-enabled streaming speakers such as the Yamaha MusicCast WX-030. Yamaha products include devices with buttons that are easy to operate and remote control for use across the room
Cost
Klipsch Cost
Because of the materials used in Klipsch speakers, they tend to have premium prices, such as the RP-8000F floorstanding speaker, which costs from $800 to $1000 apiece. But they deliver much more than what you pay for. If you really care about the quality of the sound and the durability of your speaker, it is easy to overlook the cost.
There are also a few Klipsch product lines that do not cost as much (the Klipsch Reference RSB-3 home cinema speaker costs from $150 to $300, while a Klipsch Reference On-Ear headphone costs from $99 to $200), but sometimes this results in lesser than premium sound quality.
Yamaha Cost
Yamaha has an array of products that are more affordable than most other brands. For example, the Yamaha R-S202BL Stereo receiver is a high-quality receiver that costs around $200 to $300 but offers more features than other products in the price range.
The price tag you will get for most Yamaha products is listed below.
- High-quality receivers from $200 to $1500
Speakers:
- Centre channel speakers – $70 and upwards
- Indoor/outdoor speaker – $100 and upwards
- Ceiling speakers start at $130, and
- Bookshelf speakers from $120
Space Requirements
Klipsch Space Requirements
Klipsch speakers have a wide range of sizes and therefore require different amounts of space for effective operation. For example, there are portable PC speakers that can be easily placed on a desk while there are large cinematic models that require much more space.
Yamaha Space Requirements
Most Yamaha products, particularly the soundbars and Bluetooth speakers, are a great fit for any room. The portable size and sleek design of most of these devices make them fit easily into small spaces without demanding too much space.
Remote Controls
Klipsch Remote Controls
Klipsch supports some universal remote controllers as well as custom-made Klipsch remotes. This brings additional functionality to your devices.
Klipsch also has apps for both iOS and Android that can be used to control your Klipsch sound system remotely. The apps also allow for the use of voice assistants like Google Assistant, Spotify Connect, and Amazon Alexa, which respond to simple voice commands. Klips Stream allows you to stream directly from music platforms such as Spotify and Amazon Music.
Yamaha Remote Controls
Most Yamaha audio devices come with a handheld remote control for simple control of the device. But, beyond the physical remotes, Yamaha designed a virtual remote for almost all the audio products from the brand. This includes headphone control, multimedia music control, MusicCast Controller, and AV Controller.
This virtual remote can be downloaded from the app store for Android, iPhone/iPad, and PC use.
Connectivity Options
Klipsch Connectivity Options
Klipsch devices have several connectivity options including both wired and wireless choices. These include Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, HDMI, USB Audio Analog/AUX, and so on.
This allows you to connect your Klipsch speaker to a lot of different devices such as phones, personal computers, TV or those used as part of a system of other speakers. The support for voice assistants also allows quick WiFi connection for several different speakers.
Yamaha Connectivity Options
Here are the main connectivity options compatible with most Yamaha speakers:
- Bluetooth
- Wi-Fi
- RCA
- HDMI
Power Range
Klipsch Power Range
Klipsch speakers consume much less power compared to other speakers of the same performance range. This is largely due to the horn tweeter that is used in their speakers, which reduces the need for a high-powered amplifier to boost the sound produced. 1 Watt RMS produces a 105 decibel at 1 meter sound pressure level (SPL), which is about 14–20 decibels higher than ordinary speakers.
The power range is different for each of the various Klipsch devices, so it is advisable to check the information included in the user manual.
Yamaha Power Range
The power range for an average floor-standing Yamaha speaker is around 100 watts to 200 watts. However, a Yamaha bookshelf speaker has a power range of 200-600 watts.
Frequency Response
Klipsch Frequency Response
Klipsch speakers have very pleasing and natural frequency responses. The speakers all have frequency ranges that all lie within the recommended frequencies to produce full and natural sound.
Due to the diversity of devices produced by Klipsch, there is a wide range of frequencies ranging from about 30Hz to 15KHz. The information about the frequency response of a particular device can be obtained from the user manual.
Yamaha Frequency Response
Yamaha audio equipment has a general frequency range of about 28 Hz-25kHz.
Conclusion
Klipsch has been in the speaker component manufacturing business for over seventy years and they have the experience to make great-sounding speakers as shown in their array of quality devices. If premium quality sound is what you want, Klipsch speakers are great options to try out. Yamaha is one of the oldest audio companies in the world today, but they have only grown better over the years. They have a range of diversified products, including musical instruments, and professional and personal audio products.