Klipsch Cinema 700 Soundbar Review

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a similar design to the Klipsch Cinema 800. It's mostly made of plastic, and the top and front sides of the bar are covered in fabric. The control buttons are on the top right side of the bar. However, unlike the Cinema 800, the horns on the ends of the bar are hidden behind the fabric.

The sub is mostly made of wood. It sits on four wooden pegs that keep the base off the ground, and the port is located underneath.

You can purchase compatible satellites from Klipsch separately.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 is the same size as the Klipsch Cinema 800. Since it's fairly wide, it probably won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV. That said, it's not very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on your table.

The sub also has the same dimensions as the sub for the Klipsch Cinema 800. It connects to the bar wirelessly, so you only need to plug it into a power outlet to get it to work.

The back of the bar has some openings for the power cable and other inputs. There are also some proprietary holes so you can mount the bar to the wall. The mounting brackets and screws are included, which is handy.

The back of the sub is very plain. You can find the input for the power cable and the button to pair it to the bar. The port is located underneath.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a fair build quality. The bar is mostly plastic, but it doesn't feel very premium. Also, the fabric covering the front and the top of the bar seems like it could rip or get dirty easily. The sub feels a bit more premium, as it's mostly solid wood.

Note: The results in this review represent the second model that we purchased from the manufacturer. For the first bar we tested, the tweeter blew during our sound testing, though this shouldn't affect most users since these tests are designed to stress the bar.

• Manual
• Remote with batteries (2x AA)
• Wall mount brackets with screws and 3M tape
• 2x soundbar side panel replacements
• 2x power cord
• Mounting template
• HDMI cable

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a great stereo frequency response. It has a pretty neutral sound profile suitable for listening to many different types of audio content. Its dedicated subwoofer helps reproduce a deep, extended low-bass, so you feel the rumble and thump in action-packed movie scenes. In our subjective listening tests, we noticed that the bar sounded slightly bright. If you prefer a different sound, there are lots of customization features available, including a graphic EQ.

With calibration, the Klipsch Cinema 700 has an impressive stereo frequency response. You can set its bass to '-1' and its treble to '3' to get a more neutral, balanced sound profile. There's a little less emphasis in the bass range. As a result, it's suitable for listening to many different types of content.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a good stereo soundstage. Its soundstage is perceived to be about the size of the bar, but it doesn't have any tricks to make it seem wider than that. The focus is good, so sound objects like voices seem to come from an accurate location in the soundstage.

The first model of this soundbar that we purchased had its tweeter blow out during our sound testing. For the second model that we purchased, we tested this soundbar at 95% of its volume instead of at 100%. While the Klipsch Cinema 700 can get loud enough for most users, it's not really suitable for cranking up the volume to fill large rooms or crowded parties.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a good stereo THD performance. Distortion falls within good limits when listening to audio at a normal volume, so audio reproduction is clean and pure. There's a slight jump when you push the bar closer to max volume, but this likely isn't noticeable when listening to real-life content.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a great center channel performance. This 3.1 setup has a discrete center, which helps anchor voices to a pinpoint location in the soundstage. Also, its frequency response is quite neutral, so vocals are reproduced quite accurately. There's some unevenness in the treble, though, which can make voices and dialogue sound alternately a bit bright or dull.

Note: Since the first model's tweeter blew out during our sound testing, we decided not to push the bar to max volume when we purchased a second model. Instead, we tested the bar at 95% of its max volume.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a poor surrounds performance. Due to its 3.1 setup, it has to downmix surround content into stereo to play it. Unfortunately, sound objects like voices don't seem as clear or real as they would with a discrete setup. Sound seems like it's coming from speakers placed in front of you, rather than sounding like it's coming from all around you. You can purchase separate satellites from Klipsch if you want to improve the bar's surround performance.

Note: Since the first model's tweeter blew out during our sound testing, we decided not to push the bar to max volume when we purchased a second model. Instead, we tested the bar at 95% of its max volume.

While the Klipsch Cinema 700 can decode Dolby Atmos content, its performance isn't the most impressive. It has to downmix Atmos content into stereo to play it, but this isn't very immersive-sounding. Its soundstage is wide, but there isn't a lot of height. Audio extends a little bit over the bar; however, there's no feeling of sound coming from overhead. That said, the Klipsch 700's subwoofer offers an impressive performance, and the bass is present and controlled, especially with action-heavy scenes.

Note: Since the first model's tweeter blew out during our sound testing, we decided not to push the bar to max volume when we purchased a second model. Instead, we tested the bar at 95% of its max volume.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has a solid selection of sound enhancement features. There are lots of sound customization features available, including a 3-band graphic EQ and several presets: 'Direct', 'Standard', 'Movie', 'Music', 'Party', and 'Game'. Its dialogue enhancement feature lets you cycle through three different levels so you can control how loud the dialogue sounds in your audio. Also, the night mode feature comes with two different levels to help you control the volume when listening at night. However, there's no room correction, so it can sound a bit different depending on the room you're in.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has lots of physical inputs. You can connect it to your TV with its HDMI ARC and Optical In ports, and there are also two Full HDMI In ports that let you use it as a hub between different devices. The Sub Out port lets you wire the sub to the bar if you want, though you can also use it wirelessly.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has great audio format support via ARC. There's Dolby Digital support, and this is the most common surround sound format, which you can often find on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. There's also support for some lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos, though it has to downmix it to stereo to play it. However, there's no support for DTS or DTS:X.

There's also excellent audio format support via Full HDMI In. The Klipsch Cinema 700 supports Dolby Digital. Also, it supports some lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos, though it has to downmix it to play it.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 supports Dolby Digital via Optical, which you can find on many Blu-rays and streaming platforms. Unfortunately, this bar doesn't support DTS content.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has an amazing latency performance. It has fairly low latency, so there isn't a noticeable delay between the audio you hear and the video you see. This makes it suitable for watching videos and movies. However, some apps and TVs can compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 lets you wirelessly stream audio to your devices over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and it's also advertised to support Spotify Connect. You can also use it with Chromecast built-in. However, you have to update the bar and connect it to the Google Home app to use it.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 can passthrough some of the highest bandwidth signals when connected between your TV and your PC. There's Dolby Vision Passthrough support, and the manufacturer also advertises that it features 8K video passthrough.

The Klipsch Cinema 700's sub connects to the bar wirelessly, so you only need to plug it into a power outlet to use it. You can also use the Sub In port to wire it to the bar if you prefer.

There's a simple interface on the bar that shows you the input you're using and the volume level you're at. Also, you can hold down the LED button on the remote to check which audio format is playing.

On top of the bar, there are some physical controls. You can use them to turn the bar on/off, change the input, and adjust the volume.

There's a simple remote that lets you adjust most of its features. You can change the volume and the input and access some of the different sound customization features.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 doesn't have built-in voice assistant capabilities. You can get a third-party voice assistant device separately and connect it to the bar to use Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

The Klipsch Connect app acts as a remote and lets you control some of the bar's features. Once you update the bar's firmware, you can access features like its 3-band graphic EQ, preset modes, and night mode. You can also switch inputs and use a virtual remote to control the bar. We noticed that the app can be buggy, though. For example, when we tried to change the input or mode, it wouldn't work unless we reset the bar a few times.

The Klipsch Cinema 700 has HDMI CEC support that lets you use your TV remote to control the bar's volume. There's no power-saving function, though, so you need to remember to turn the bar off manually if you want to save power.