Klipsch Cinema 400 Sound Bar Review
Klipsch Cinema 400 Sound Bar Review
To put it simply, a quality soundbar can be a great alternative to a traditional speaker setup for great sound; especially for those with limited space and/or patience.
Rather than placing speakers all over the room, a soundbar like the name suggests, houses a group of smaller speakers in a horizontal array that projects the sound towards the listener.
Long story short, a good soundbar basically makes the difference between a terrible experience and an amazing one.
So in this Klipsch Cinema 400 sound bar review, we’re going to see whether this is the soundbar that’s right for you.
Without further ado, let’s get right to it!
Appearance
Features
Specs
How To Set It Up
The Sound Quality
Likes
Dislikes
Final Thoughts
Appearance
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For some individuals, the appearance of a speaker is nearly as important as how it sounds.
Luckily the Klipsch 400 soundbar is a beautiful piece.
What’s interesting here though is the fact that unlike many soundbars that may be made of metal or plastic, this one in particular is made of wood.
More specifically, it’s made of the same exact MDF (medium density fibreboard) wood that comprises their speakers.
More on what that means later, but as far as aesthetics are concerned, the dark wood grain gives the the soundbar a much more premium look.
On both ends of the enclosure, there’s a linear travel suspension tweeter for the higher end sounds, accented by a brushed metal panel up top that houses the controls for the soundbar.
The included subwoofer is also made of the same wood grain, and has its driver situated on the bottom making it a down firing variant.
There’s also a small gold and silver insignia toward the bottom left of both the sub and the soundbar that says Klipsch Reference and is really just a nice little touch.
The middle of the soundbar is wrapped in a soft tweed fabric grille that covers the 2 woofers underneath, giving it a more subdued look.
As a whole, it really is a beautiful soundbar honestly, and would look great in most rooms.
The one thing to keep in mind though is that it’s a little on the longer side at 40 inches and slightly tall at 2.8 inches so this is something you should be aware of beforehand since you don’t want it to block the IR sensor on your TV if it’s placed right in front of it.
Besides that, nothing really to complain about from an appearance standpoint, and it’s even better looking in person than what the pictures show.
Features
Simplistic Setup
Setup is simple with a single HDMI plugged into the TV, allowing you to get into the action faster.
This simplicity enabled by HDMI ARC, also gives you control of the subwoofer & soundbar with just a single remote.
Bluetooth Support
Bluetooth support means you can play any of your favorite content straight from that bluetooth enabled device to the sound bar
Dialogue Enhancement Mode
An included dialogue enhancement mode allows you to boost hard to hear dialogue, allowing you to more closely follow what’s happening in your content
Virtual Surround Mode
The virtual surround mode mimicks a full blown surround speaker setup giving you a virtual surround sound field at the press of a button
Night Mode
A dedicated night mode compresses the frequency range to give you an uncompromised sound quality at a lower volume; helpful for night time viewing
Vertical Light Bar
A small vertical led light bar on the right side provides important information like volume level and source
Minimized Distortion For Cleaner Sound
Klipsch’s signature Linear Travel Suspension Tweeters provide an amazing amount of clarity by minimizing distortion through their utilization of a lightweight rigid material called Kapton
Unique Tractrix Horn Technology
Klipsch’s proprietary 90×90 Tractrix Horn Technology helps aim the sound at the listener while also reducing extraneous reverb further improving sound quality
High Quality Wood Cabinet
By utilizing the same MDF wood used in their speakers, the Klipsch cinema 400 not only looks premium, but reduces unwanted vibration for a cleaner quality sound.
Class Leading 8 inch Wireless Subwoofer
An included 8 inch down firing wireless subwoofer gives you that deep bass you want for a truly engaging experience
Special Woofers For Better Bass
Special cone woofers are made of fibre-composite and are built to provide quality sound with minimal distortion
Energy Saver
An included auto on/off function saves power by turning the soundbar off after 15 minutes of no signal and turning back on when audio is detected
Wall Mounting Capable
With wall mounting holes on the back and the included screws and brackets to do so, you’re alloted an additional way to setup your soundbar by way of wall mounting
How To Set It Up
Being that one of the features the Cinema 400 prides itself in is its ease of setup, setting up the soundbar is really easy.
In fact, all you have to do is connect the included HDMI cable from the back of your soundbar to your TV, plug in the power cable and you’re good to go.
Should you wish to use an optical cable instead, you’re also free to do so.
You can even use a game console or blu ray player this way by plugging the optical cable into that device and plugging the HDMI cable into your TV.
Luckily there’s not much complication when it comes to setup which is always a nice thing.
It would have been nice if there was an optical cable included though, so that would be something you’d need separately if you wanted to use one with it.
The Sound Quality
When taking a deeper look at this soundbar + subwoofer combo, my main takeaway was that the sound quality is good.
Like really good.
While the included subwoofer does get deep (more on that in a little bit) it’s the soundbar that stands out in my opinion.
The clarity on offer here is incredible, no 2 ways about it.
Whether it’s the Tractrix horn or the material used that makes the difference I’m not sure, but the main thing you’ll immediately notice is just how clear it sounds.
But in saying that, it isn’t a “bright” soundbar by any means, I’d say it has a more neutral sound signature.
Sometimes a speaker can sound almost too clear to the point where it almost becomes sibilant and fatiguing to listen to over time, but this isn’t the case here at all thankfully.
With music, instruments are easily distinguishable and prominent, with guitar strums for example represented with an incredible level of detail.
It really is commendable honestly.
With movies, dialogue is very discernable and the included dialogue booster actually works pretty well.
A nitpick though is that because there’s no dedicated center driver for the midrange, the sound is down mixed from surround sound to stereo so sometimes music could take precedence over the voices in a scene, or vice versa — and at higher volumes I did notice it slightly more.
But it wasn’t often & to be honest this is coming from someone that has heard many systems with an ear for those sorts of things, so the average person probably wouldn’t even pick up on it.
Just figured it was worth mentioning.
But in general when it comes to movies, it does handle things surprisingly well as far as audio quality is concerned.
Be it explosions, tire screeches from a car chase,etc. everything just sounds visceral and real. You won’t be disappointed.
It’s actually a good step up from a good number of soundbars I’ve heard when it comes to its sonic capabilities.
The included surround sound mode does expand the sound field quite a bit too, imitating a dedicated surround speaker setup, but I wouldn’t say it’s quite the same.
However it still offers a more enveloping experience than the stock sound so I’d say it’s certainly worth trying.
Night mode is also handy, and when enabled, I could hear a lot of details at lower volumes so I could definitely see people finding this useful.
It would have been nice to have more virtual sound modes like one for sports or even Atmos, but the ones on offer here work well.
Something like Polk Audio Signa S3 might be more your thing if that is a big concern for you.
I’ve heard the Klipsch cinema 400 being compared to the Yamaha Yas-209, ATS 2090, or even YAS-109 in terms of the similarity of their sound, but I’d say this one slightly favors the upper midrange in frequency while those tend to favor the lower.
If anything the only thing I can liken it to at the moment would be its larger sibling the Klipsch Cinema 600 (a very powerful, albeit larger 3.1 system)
Another smaller gripe is that while there are small led indicators on the bottom right that denote things like the current volume or source, an actual dedicated led display to provide more information — along with a few more modes & support for more formats like the virtual object based sound format Dolby Atmos for example, would have been a nice additions.
Also if you remember earlier I mentioned that the sound bar being made of the same wood as its reference speaker counterparts was a good thing — and that’s because besides just looking good, this allows it to minimize potential reverb that could muddy the sound.
That means the soundbar has an easier time actually giving you a cleaner sound than it typically could juxtaposed a plastic or metal exterior comparatively.
The size of the soundbar is also something to note, as its 40 inch long and 3 inch high cabinet means you’ll need some space for it.
You can wall mount it, and the hardware to do so is even included, but just know it’s not a small device by any means.
The same actually applies as far as the subwoofer is concerned.
In fact, Klipsch even makes mention of this by stating that they have the largest wireless subwoofers in the market and this translates to quite simply, more bass.
Now taking a closer look, the subwoofer is also made of the same dark wood grain and houses an 8-inch downfiring driver which is massive for a pack in subwoofer.
The bass of this subwoofer is also noteworthy as there’s some serious power on offer here.
It’s punchy, deep, and authoritative, and not once did I notice any kind of distortion or sloppiness to the sound.
It’s a really fun subwoofer, and honestly when you hear it, you’ll see what I mean.
I can’t explain it but everything just seemed right when gauging its capabilities, and the fact that you can adjust the subs volume level means you can dial in your sound even further.
Keep in mind it’s an 8 inch subwoofer so for those bigger rooms you’ll obviously want something bigger, but for the average sized room, it works great.
Actually mentioned it already, but the Klipsch Cinema 600 or even the Cinema 800 would work in that case.
The offering of Bluetooth support is an added bonus, and there were no issues with connecting my phone to play music from it.
What I truly do like about this system as a whole and feel others will too is that the sound it produces doesn’t seem disjointed — like there’s just a dose of sound here, and a helping of booming bass separately over there.
Instead everything sort of melds together, and what you end up with is this beautiful fusion of sound that just .. for lack of better words, just sounds good!
Now if your priorities are in wanting a laundry list of features and/or modes, then yeah, this might not be the one for you honestly since it doesn’t have a lot of those.
But if all you do care about is just getting a good quality sound without all the hassle of having to set things up, then quite frankly I would go with this one.
It has the pristine signature Klipsch sound that they’re known for, coupled with a quality subwoofer that just powers through whatever you throw at it.
It seems like their focus was solely on the sound and it really shows.
Simply put, it’s an awesome system overall that I wholeheartedly recommend. 👍
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Likes
- Crystal clear sound
- Clean deep bass
- Extremely versatile in capability
- Bluetooth Support
- Beautiful appearance
- Can be wall mounted
- Dialogue enhancement feature works well
Dislikes
- Lacks the modes of its older siblings
- No Atmos/DTS:X support
- No eARC
- Optical cable is separate
Final Thoughts
Well that about does it for this one.
The best way to quickly sum up this Klipsch Cinema 400 sound bar review is that if you just strictly care about getting good sound and you don’t care about a bunch of features, this is a really solid soundbar with some genuinely impressive sound.
If that’s your main priority, then you’ll really like this one.
Remember, if you happen to have any questions or concerns though, reach out and I’ll do my best to help.
Until next time though my friends, make it easy, keep it simple. 😉
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Specs
Box Contents
4.5 foot (1.5m) HDMI cable
Manual
Mounting template
2 wall mount brackets with screws and 3m tape
Remote with batteries (2xAAA included)
2 power cables
Inputs/Outputs and Connectivity
HDMI ARC
Bluetooth
3.5 mm analog
Optical digital
Subwoofer Output
Power
100-240V 50/60Hz internal power supply
Max Output
99dB
Frequency Response
35-20KHz
Dimensions
Dimensions for the soundbar:
Width: 39 15/16 inches (101.4cm)
Height: 2 7/8 inches (7.3cm)
Depth: 3 3/8 inches (8.6cm)
Dimensions for the subwoofer:
Width: 11 7/8 inches (30.2cm)
Height: 16 1/8 inches (41cm)
Depth: 16 1/8 inches (41cm)
Weight: 27.5 lbs (12.47 kg)
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