Klipsch is one of the first U.S. loudspeaker companies, has been building premium speakers since 1946. This company once small and humble, has built itself into a highly regarded and often sought global brand and technology powerhouse. They are the premium sound solution for products as small as tiny headphones to massive cinema systems. The bottom line is that they know sound, have high standards and if the product has the Klipsch name emboldened on the front, you can be confident it will sound great, and so it goes with the Klipsch Music Center KMC 3 Portable Wireless Speaker System.
Portable or Bookshelf
Table of Contents
This speaker was manufactured with portable in mind, take this KMC 3 anywhere, the beach, the park, or the backyard. You can certainly keep it on the bookshelf as well. This is kind of like a modern boom box only much better.
Power Source/battery life
To be able to take this to the beach you need eight size “D” batteries and the music will last a whopping 26 hours. Or you can simply plug in to a regular 110 power source and listen. You can also use the USB port to plugin and recharge your smartphone, Ipod, Ipad, or Notebook, a huge benefit as these will likely be your music source. On battery power if the unit doesn’t detect streaming or connected audio for 5 minutes the KMC 3 will shut down automatically. You can use a quarter or flat head screwdriver to add the batteries.
You would pay around $17-$18 for good quality 8 size D batteries, or you could purchase rechargeable D batteries and a battery charger for around $80
Wireless Standard: Bluetooth
This unit allows for easy Bluetooth streaming from smartphones, portable music players and computers. This speaker also supports AptX which is a huge plus for purer, less distorted, higher quality tonal sound that
most resembles CD like quality. You could say that AptX is the next generation of new and improved bluetooth sound, and more devices are offering it. The AptX logo is relatively new, since 2012. AptX is being offered on new Samsung, HTC, and Blackberry smartphones, and from other wireless speaker manufacturers like Sony, more products are being added as the AptX is a higher quality, more efficient way to stream music. What this means is that the speaker has the ability to sound even better than the normal Bluetooth streaming, but yes the source has to be streamed in AptX for it to work. This also means that if you use Sirius XM, Pandora or another of the many internet music sources with your device (smartphone) or computer, the music can be streamed to your KMS 3 using the controls on your device/phone easily.
Controls
This unit has easy to use controls, right on top of the speaker, power button, solid red when on, flashes when batteries get weak, a Bluetooth
indicator, to connect and to let you know if connected, volume up and volume down buttons with a volume indicator bar in between. If you press the volume + and – together the speaker will toggle between Bluetooth mode and the Aux input. A light touch of your finger will prompt the button touched to work. This is an easy to use simple design. This unit also comes with a remote, also easy to control, power, volume, mute, source/Bluetooth and for Bluetooth mode only play/pause, track forward, and track reverse.
Ease of Set-up
Extremely easy, it takes a few seconds, Power on the KMC 3, then press the Bluetooth button down, while it flashes blue, activate the Bluetooth feature on your music device or smartphone to pair up with the Klipsch KMC 3. This unit can store up to 8 paired Bluetooth devices and will try to connect to the last paired device when turned on. Or using the Aux in, simple connect your device (3.5mm input) to the KMS 3. No need to download a special app, just select music source from your device, pair it to the speaker and play….that easy!
Stereo Separation
Stereo separation is merely the separation of sounds through a right and left speaker. When listening to a performance you may hear the drums through the right speaker and the guitar from the right, this separation mimics the spatial separation within the studio where the music was recorded. You can pick this up and hear it pleasantly with this speaker, although it is not wide as it would be with two separate speakers.
This speaker is a stand alone speaker and not made to pair up with other speakers.
Wireless Range
Any paired Bluetooth device within 30 foot or 9.1 meter range can wirelessly stream music.
Klipsch Music Center KMC 3 Design
A built in handle make the KMC3 portable, and as this is designed to be mobile and fun, you can get this unit in some fun colors such as red, blue, and purple You can also get the standard white or black. The finish is a soft-feel paint with high gloss metallic accents. It is what is inside that makes this speaker so special though. Inside are 2×2′ mid and high frequency drivers, for crystal clear sound, and an impressive 5.25″ Woofer for a deep full bass sound. The woofer is twice the size of the other two speakers and given the dimensions of the speaker box, the size of the woofer is impressive, matched by impressive bass sound! The built in subwoofer should be an indication that this unit is serious about big bass sound. This unit has an advanced DSP equalization, a highly specialized computer processing chip that makes the music lifelike and dynamic at all volume levels. The speaker is powered by 130-watt digital amp which means this unit is backed by big power to deliver big sound. This speaker also has a dual-flare port system that along with the woofer gets the bass sound down to 40Hz. Getting down to this frequency you start to feel rather than hear the deep bass sounds, most humans cannot hear 20Hz
or below. You can see the ports in the rear of the KMS 3.This design is what enables such strong bass sound from the woofer below the range you might get in a similarly sealed speaker box, it also limits the cone movement, (movement of the speaker as it is vibrating) so it reduces distortion in those low frequencies. The design is great for huge bass sound.
A speaker driver is an individual transducer that converts electrical energy to sound waves, typically as part of a loudspeaker. In a multi-way loudspeaker like the KMC, specialized drivers are provided to produce specific frequency ranges, and the incoming signal is split by a crossover. Most loudspeakers are incapable of covering the entire audio spectrum from low to high frequencies with acceptable relative volume and absence of distortion so most hi-fi speakers use a combination of multiple speaker drivers each catering to a different frequency band. The crossovers split the audio signal into separate frequency bands that can be separately routed to the speaker (tweeter, mid range, subwoofer) optimized for those bands. Some crossovers can be optimized digitally using a DSC chip or microprocessor
Sound Quality
One word comes to mind….Impressive. This speaker will rock your insides, you can feel the fullness and beauty of your music. Remember it does say Klipsch on the from of this speaker, OK some more one word descriptions,
clear, concise, confident, clarity, powerful, all blended into one beautifully engineered wireless speaker.
Dimensions
5.5x17x7.2 inches 7.8 pounds
Features of KMC 3
Audiophile quality streaming: Bluetooth as you know it is the current standard, but it is imperfect! does this speaker sound great with normal Bluetooth? YES
This speaker has the ability to sound even better though with AptX? YES! This means that with an AptX streamed music source, the music is extremely close
to CD quality sound. (The music is cleaned up, less distorted) The benefit is that in the future, most music sources will be streaming in AptX, so you will be ahead of the curve.
Simple Controls: Allows you to pair your KMC 3 in seconds
Remembers the last connected bluetooth device: quicker setup
Can charge all smartphones and most portable music devises: keeps the
music playing, as your device stays charged. USB port is for charging only
Remote Control:credit card sized, merely an option, you can certainly use the controls on the unit if you wish
3.5mm input: plays music from nearly any non Bluetooth music source, (this is the same size wire as standard smartphone/computer headphones)
so for most modern devices simply use the headphones port. If you have an older device, say an older stereo, or even a TV, it will likely have an RCA port, you would need to purchase an adapter cable with the female 3.5 mm port on one end and the two standard male plugs on the other end. So you might need an adapter, but really this device should hook up to any modern device easily with the cable that comes with the unit. This speaker could also be hooked up to a TV easily as well.
2.1 Sound: This simply means you have a right and left stereo sound and a subwoofer, fairly unique in a mobile, yet wireless speaker.
Rubber Device Area: The area by the built in handle is made of a rubber finish that you can place your smartphone on, the surface is slip resistance to keep your device
from falling off.
Accessories
AC power adapter with 5’cord
AC power cord 6′
40″ stereo minijack cable
Remote
CR2025 3V battery for remote
Manual
Pros
Sound Quality, Portability is what gives this a big advantage over other brands as you can take this anywhere and not have to be connected to a wall power outlet, Big Bass Sound, Fun Design, several colors to choose from
Cons
D cell batteries, some folks wished it had a rechargeable battery, I wonder if that would even be feasible given the powerful sound this speaker delivers, would a rechargeable battery that might say only last 2-3 hours vs 26 hours be a better option?
I did see one user comment that they wished they could control the bass, so they could back it off a bit….for me, just another affirmation of the powerful bass sound this unit delivers……however on most smartphones if you go to your settings, then music, and you will see EQ and you can control bass and treble for your music, so not a con…but good info to know!
This speaker does not have the heist mode that is appearing in other offerings, the concept being music is made to be shared and it allows up to
5 different devices to pair and users can share controlling the music, given it only takes seconds to connect, this is a con barely worth mentioning.
There is not a carrying bag or case, but it does have a handle built in to make for easy travel.
Klipsch Music Center KMC 3 Consumer Reviews
What is most impressive about the reviews is given the performance, absolute clarity, richness of the music, ease of use, and portability. This can easily be the best wireless speaker for beach goers, best wireless speaker for tailgaters, for a job site, for outdoors, etc. It is very easy to recognize the true value of this speaker and you would be hard pressed to find anyone complaining about the price. I see many happy customers who believe hands down this is one of the best if not THE best portable bluetooth powered speaker system. We totally agree!
KMC 3 Price
Sure this may be more than some would want to pay for a typical boom box music source, but then again this unit is not typical. You just simply cannot do any better for this price in quality or sound.
For current Pricing Information Click below
