Klipsch Cinema 1200 Soundbar Review

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 is a stylish bar with a similar design to other bars in the Cinema lineup, including the Klipsch Cinema 800 and the Klipsch Cinema 600. It's mostly plastic, and most of the bar is covered in fabric. You can also see the horns on each edge of the bar. Unlike the other bars in the lineup, there are two up-firing drivers on top of the bar. They're covered in fabric, with a ring of aluminum around the edges.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200's sub has a similar design to other subwoofers in the Cinema lineup. It's mostly made of wood, and it sits on four wooden pegs that keep the base off the floor. The driver and the port are located underneath.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200's satellites have a similar feel to the bar. They're mostly made of plastic, with fabric covering the sides. Also, their base is made of wood.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar is wider than the Klipsch Cinema 800. It likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. It's not very tall, though, so it shouldn't block your TV screen.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200's sub is one of the biggest that we've tested to date. It's pretty tall and wide, and it packs a punch. It connects to the bar wirelessly, though, so you have some flexibility when placing it in your setup.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200's satellites have a similar footprint to some of the other bars we've tested. They connect to the bar wirelessly, which gives you some flexibility when setting up your room.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar has a decent build quality. The bar and the satellites have a similar build: they're mostly plastic, though it doesn't feel very premium. The fabric covering the sides seems like it could rip or get dirty easily. On the upside, the bar feels a bit more solid compared to the Klipsch Cinema 600 or the Klipsch Cinema 800. The sub is also mostly made of wood, which feels quite solid.

• Manual
• Remote with batteries (2xAA)
• 2x Wall mount brackets with screws and 3M tape
• 2x soundbar side panel replacements
• 4x power cord (6.5 ft / 2m)
• Mounting Template
• HDMI cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has a great stereo frequency response. Out-of-the-box, it has a slightly bass-heavy sound profile that helps you feel the thump in your audio. You can feel the rumble in action-packed scenes. Dialogue and lead instruments are still reproduced pretty clearly, thanks to the balanced mid-range. That said, the extra bass could be a bit overwhelming for some listeners. We also noticed a gap in some frequencies during our tests. You can lower to subwoofer level or use the night mode setting, which reduces the sub's dynamic range, to help with these issues.

With calibration, the Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar has an excellent stereo frequency response. Listeners who prefer a more neutral sound can set the bass to '-4' and the treble to '4'. Neutral sound profiles are suitable for listening to many different types of audio content. There's still a little extra rumble in the bass range, and you may also notice harsh-sounding sibilants like S and T sounds, thanks to the extra emphasis in the treble.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has a good stereo soundstage. You perceive the soundstage to be as wide as the bar itself, and the bar is pretty wide. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. That said, it has good focus, so sound objects like cars seem to race past you from an accurate, pinpoint location.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has an excellent stereo dynamics performance. It gets loud enough to fill larger, more open rooms with sound, and there isn't much compression, even when you push it to max volume.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has a great center channel performance. Its discrete center can anchor voices to a pinpoint location in the soundstage, resulting in a more immersive sound. Its frequency response is neutral in the mid-range, where most voices are reproduced. Dialogue is clear and detailed but also a bit sibilant or dull at times due to the uneven treble.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has a decent surrounds performance. Audio seems like it's coming from all around you, rather than from speakers placed in front of you. Also, its two discrete satellites result in a more clear and real representation of sound objects in the soundstage. For example, helicopters in an action movie seem to come from an accurate, pinpoint location as they fly past. However, some listeners may be overwhelmed by the extra rumble in the bass range.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 uses up-firing drivers built into the bar and the satellites to ricochet sound off the ceiling, creating the illusion of height. Discrete down-firing speakers would sound more natural and life-like, but compared to other bars with a phantom localization, the bar performs pretty well. Its subwoofer can easily reproduce the deep thump and rumble in action-heavy scenes. The satellites make it seem like actions are taking place behind you, resulting in a more immersive sound. The height of the soundstage reaches about halfway up the TV screen. That said, it's not quite as impressive as some of the other bars we've tested, like the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar has a decent selection of sound enhancement features. There are some EQ presets available, including 'Standard', 'Direct', 'Movie', 'Music', 'Party', and 'Game'. The remote lets you cycle between three different dialogue modes so you can control how loud voices are in your audio. Also, you can adjust the night mode level using the app or the remote. After updating the bar, you can access a 3-band graphic EQ on the Klipsch Connect app, meaning you can customize the bar's sound more to your liking. Without a room correction feature, however, the bar can sound a bit different depending on the room you're listening in.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has quite a few physical inputs. You can connect the bar to your TV with its HDMI and Optical inputs. There's also an AUX port so you can wire devices to the bar, as well as an Ethernet connection and an IR port. You can also use its Sub Out port to connect an additional subwoofer.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has excellent audio format support via ARC. It supports the most common surround sound format, Dolby Digital. Also, there's support for lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos. That said, Klipsch doesn't offer support for DTS or DTS:X content, which can be disappointing for some users.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 also lacks DTS support with its Full HDMI In port. That said, you can still get support for common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital, as well as lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 supports Dolby Digital via Optical. You can find this format on a lot of Blu-rays and streaming platforms. That said, there's no DTS support.

Latency falls within good limits with lots of different audio formats over HDMI ARC. You can enjoy movies and videos without any noticeable delays on screen. Your real-world experience may vary a bit depending on the app or TV you use. Note that we couldn't record a latency measurement for Dolby MAT (PCM) Atmos at this time due to an issue with our Murideo SEVEN Generator.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 has an excellent latency performance over HDMI In. You don't notice a delay between the audio you hear and the visuals on screen with common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, though. Note that our Murideo SEVEN Generator refuses to play the test tone for PCM 2.0 or 5.1 when connected to the soundbar, so we couldn't obtain latency results for this content.

Over an Optical connection, the bar's latency is impressive. Latency falls within good limits when you watch PCM 2.0 content. It's higher with Dolby Digital content, though, so you notice some lip-synching issues. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, though.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar can passthrough some of the highest bandwidth signals, and it supports Dolby Vision Passthrough. The manufacturer also advertises that it supports 8k video passthrough. When connected between devices, like your PC and your TV, text on the screen appears clear and crisp.

You can wirelessly playback audio from your mobile devices on the Klipsch Cinema 1200 using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. There's also support for Chromecast built-in, but it isn't available out-of-the-box. Instead, you need to update the bar by downloading the firmware update from the Klipsch website then connecting a USB drive to the bar. Then, you need to set up the Google Home app. Once those steps are complete, you have access to Chromecast built-in.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 soundbar has a simple text display. It constantly shows you the input you're on and your volume level. If you want to see what audio format is playing, you can hold down the LED button on the remote.

There are four buttons on the top-right of the bar. They let you power the bar on/off, change the input, and adjust the volume.

The remote is the same as the remote for the Klipsch Cinema 800. It's fairly simple and lets you change the inputs and the preset modes. You can even adjust the volume or mute the bar. To control the bar from your mobile devices, download the Klipsch Connect app.

The Klipsch Cinema 1200 doesn't have a built-in microphone. If you want to use voice assistants, you need to connect the bar to a third-party device that supports Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.