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Klipsch serves up 'affordable' Atmos speakers

Klipsch has added two new Dolby Atmos speakers to its lineup designed to make the atmospheric standard more attractive to new buyers.

Ty Pendlebury Editor
Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials
  • Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.
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Ty Pendlebury
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The $1,200 a pair Klipsch R-26FA

 Klipsch

Klipsch has introduced two, more affordable Dolby Atmos speakers to its lineup, the floor-standing Klipsch R-26FA and the add-on Klipsch R-14SA elevation speaker.

The Klipsch R-26FA ($1,200 a pair) is the Reference series version of the flagship RP-280FA ($2,400 a pair) and features a simpler design. It still includes a ceiling-firing woofer and tweeter in the top, and comes with two, front-firing 6.5 inch Copper Spun IMG woofers. It's matched to a 90x90 Square Tractrix Horn for treble reproduction. It's also front-ported so you can place it closer to the wall, and is 39 inches tall. Like most of the range, the speaker comes in a brushed black vinyl wrap that we think is not as attractive or hard-wearing as wood veneer or even wood-finish vinyl.

Shop for Klipsch R-26FA

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The other speaker is the Klipsch R-14SA ($399 for two), with a 4-inch Spun Copper IMG Cone woofer, which shaves a hundred bucks off the existing elevation speakers.The R-14SA is designed to sit on top of your existing Klipsch speakers to bounce effects off your ceiling, but it can also be mounted on the wall.

If you're looking to add Dolby Atmos to your system, the Klipsch R-26FA offers an interesting alternative to our go-to integrated speaker, the Pioneer Elite SP-EFS73. Based on our experiences with both brands, the Pioneer should sound more refined overall while the Klipsch will be less fussy about amplification. The Klipsch should be louder with a budget receiver without any issues, while we wouldn't spend any less than $900 on a matching receiver for the Pioneer.

The Klipsch R-26FA and R-14SA speakers are available now.