While most people would probably spend under a thousand bucks on a TV, some are lucky enough to be able to spend a bit more. The higher-end Klipsch R-10B ($600/AU$999) is a sound bar for those lucky souls.
Like the Klipsch SB 120 sound base that preceded it, the Klipsch R-10B is a high quality speaker system with few frills, but plenty of thrills. It's a stereo sound bar which corrects an "oversight" on the behalf of the SB 120: it adds a subwoofer, and a wireless one to boot.
While very few add-on systems can boast being as adept with music as with movies, the R-10B manages it, with the subwoofer both adding heft to action movies and slamming rock tracks. It outperformed our favorite bang-for-the-buck bar, the excellent Pioneer SP-SB23W , on most of our tests.
Aside from price, the Klipsch's only real downsides are poorer-than-normal Bluetooth playback (if you don't have an aptX phone) and a lack of inputs. All told though, this is a pretty top-notch system with an emphasis on sound quality.
Design
When it comes to looks you could say that the R-10B is the sound bar version of the cheaper Klipsch SB 120 sound base. Both speakers have a touch of the macho about them: a huge stylized 'X' emblazoned on a wire grille.
The bar measures 40 inches wide, so it looks best when paired with a 46-to-50-inch television. Like most soundbars it is made of plastic, not wood. However the accompanying subwoofer is made of wood (MDF), and it is reassuringly weighty (25.1 pounds) if not all that large at 16 inches by 8.3 inches and 13.2 inches high.
The controls in the center of the sound bar are also identical to the sound base -- source, mute and volume -- and it has a similar LED display that glows one of three colors depending on the input.
While the sound bar also comes with a credit card remote control, it's a teensy bit better looking than the SB 120's with a Klipsch orange color scheme. Use your TV remote instead, though.
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