Good soundbars with subwoofers are rarely cheap—many of the inexpensive models we test often have subwoofers that are actually just woofers incapable of delivering the type of movie theater thunder most shoppers are after. Thus, $499 is a relatively modest price for a 3.1 system that can really bring the rumble, and the Klipsch Cinema 600 delivers crisp dialogue and excellent music performance, as well. For $250 more, it can be expanded to a true 5.1 surround system with wireless rear satellites. And it’s worth noting that we often see the Cinema 600 available for far less than the list price—as of this writing, it can be had for more like $300. Even at $499, this system would win our Editors’ Choice award, but if you can find it for less, it’s really a no-brainer.
Klipsch Cinema 600 Design
Measuring 2.8 by 45.0 by 3.4 inches (HWD), the soundbar features a wooden enclosure and a cloth-lined grille covering much of the visible surface area. Under the hood, there are seven total drivers: three 1-inch soft-dome tweeters are mated to Tractrix horns on either end, and there are four three-inch cone woofers, as well.
The soundbar can be mounted on the wall—a guide and two wall mount screws and brackets are included. Along the back panel, there are inputs for HDMI ARC (cable included), optical (cable included), and 3.5mm aux. The back panel also houses the connection for the included power cable, as well as a physical subwoofer output for a wired connection (unnecessary with the included wireless subwoofer). A Pair button is located near these connections, for manually pairing the subwoofer if it doesn’t automatically connect.
When available, the Cinema 600 will play audio encoded with Dolby Digital, allowing for discrete dialogue channels and a more theater-like experience (especially if you opt to add rear surround channels). You can also connect audio devices to it via Bluetooth.
The subwoofer, large at 18.5 by 14.3 by 14.5 inches, automatically pairs with the soundbar when you power the system up. The wooden enclosure is ported, with a down-firing 10-inch driver. Its back panel has a connection for the included power cable (which is long enough to make placement around the room easy), and a Reconnect button should the sub lose its wireless connection with the soundbar. In total, the system delivers a frequency range of 28Hz to 20kHz, and 600 watts of combined power.
The remote control has buttons for Power, LED (which dims or disables the LEDs on the soundbar), Bluetooth (for switching to paired devices and also for pairing), Analog (for the 3.5mm aux input), Digital (for the optical input), TV (for the HDMI ARC connection), and Sub Reset (resets the sub to factory volume). It also has dedicated volume up/down buttons, dedicated subwoofer volume up/down buttons, a play/pause control, and buttons for Night mode (which dials back the bass and limits the dynamics for late night, quieter watching), Dialogue mode (which enhances the dialogue frequency range), and Surround mode (this is a Klipsch listening mode for movies and TV that we’ll discuss in the next section). The remote requires two AA batteries (not included), and superhuman patience to remove the user-unfriendly battery compartment—it’s a smooth surface with no real indentation or grip to move it, but eventually, the entire back of the remote slides off, and once you achieve this, it’s easier to open and close going forward.
The Klipsch Connect App for Android and iOS is useful in that it provides firmware updates and an easy-access manual, but there is no adjustable EQ or any other reason to the use the app on a regular basis. It’s advisable to download it and register your product, but it’s not essential for regular operation.
Cinema 600 Audio Performance
In Blade Runner 2049’s crash scene, in which Ryan Gosling falls from the sky in something that looks like a military-grade Lamborghini that flies, the system delivers powerful thuds, thumps, and thunder, even with the subwoofer set to the mid level. Dialing it up a bit brings some serious movie theater-like rumble to the mix. What’s more, the Surround mode here sounds good, not gimmicky. It actually seems to aid in clarity with dialogue, and it certainly does expand the stereo field significantly. Switching between Surround and Stereo modes, the audio retains excellent clarity in both, but the soundstage feels widened with the effect on.
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When the Death Star explodes in Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the Cinema 600 delivers powerful depth via the subwoofer and excellent clarity for the sound effects. Dialogue is relatively crisp and easy to understand, but there’s also a Dialogue mode that can be applied to films at three different levels, or turned off.
We don’t recommend using Surround mode for music, as it tends to make studio-recorded tracks sound a bit odd (some orchestral recordings might sound interesting with it on, but it’s not for purists). For this reason, we tested music performance with Surround mode off and the subwoofer dialed exactly to the middle.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Cinema 600 delivers the kind of low-frequency depth you can feel in your stomach. At top volumes it doesn’t distort, even with the subwoofer maxed out. And wow, this thing can get loud. This is easily one of the more powerful systems we’ve tested in recent memory—it can get louder than most home theaters will ever need to. At moderate volumes, the bass is full and impressively deep, but the mix is still nicely balanced.
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Cinema 600’s general sound signature. The drums on this track sound deep, full, and natural. If you dial the sub volume up, they get truly thunderous, but we recommend keeping things at roughly mid level. Callahan’s vocals get an excellent low-mid richness and high-mid treble edge to them, and the acoustic guitar strums and higher-register percussion are bright and detailed. Simply put, this is a beautiful-sounding system for music.
On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the drum loop gets enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, while the sub graces the loop with some added thump. The vinyl crackle and hiss normally relegated to background status takes a step forward in the mix here, while the sub-bass synth hits are slightly less powerful than we expected given the thunder the system is capable of. Dialing the sub levels up adds more depth to the drum loop, but it doesn’t really bring out the deepest lows of the sub-bass hits. The vocals on this track are delivered cleanly and clearly, with perhaps just a touch of added sibilance. This is where some EQ for the highs would have been nice, instead of just a subwoofer volume level.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound excellent through the Cinema 600. The lower-register instrumentation has a full, lovely richness to it, but the spotlight remains on the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals in the mix. This is a bright, detailed sound with a wonderful bass response anchoring it.
This is a good time to remind you that the Cinema 600 can be expanded with two Klipsch Surround 3 speakers that act as rear left and right channels. They’re relatively small and pair with the system wirelessly, but require a powered connection. If you want a true 5.1 experience, the combination of the soundbar’s length and the Surround listening mode definitely gives you 3.1, and adding in the surrounds will get you to 5.1.
An Affordable Way to Bring the Sound of the Theater Home
The Klipsch Cinema 600 offers impressive overall performance, from the thunder of the subwoofer to the clarity of the soundbar. Whether you buy if for $499 or find it for less, this system sounds more like a $700+ soundbar-and-sub combo. To put things in perspective, we’re also fans of the $200 Sony HT-S350 and the $500 JBL Bar 5.1 Surround, which are 320 watts and 550 watts respectively, compared with the 600 watts delivered by the Cinema 600. It’s not all about power, but Klipsch gets the other important things right as well, earning the Cinema 600 our Editors’ Choice award.
