I upgraded my sound bar in my living room just a couple of years ago to a Klipsch Cinema 600. I really like Klipsch speakers in general and overall was happy with the Cinema 600. The sound quality was excellent and it was plenty loud. It did have a few odd qualities, however. Most notably, I thought the sub made noise at inappropriate times. For instance, if an interview was being conducted and it was windy outside or the person blew into the mic on accident, the sub would thump. Unfortunately turning the volume down on the sub didn't help much. Additionally, periodically the electronics would do funky stuff like turning the volume up when you were pressing the down button. Again, overall I was happy with the sound quality, but there was a small part of me that wondered if I could've had a better sound bar for the same price. The odd ends and outs weren't enough for me to replace it, however, especially since it was only two years old.
I know a guy who is a sound engineer at Klipsch, and that relationship has been very lucrative in terms of getting new Klipsch products. He has been working on the replacement for the Cinema series of sound bars, the Klipsch Flexus CORE and he gave me an entire system to "test". What's cool about this is that the Flexus CORE 200 is already out and available to buy, but the surround sound speakers I'm testing I've had a full 4 months before they will be available to the public to buy. I'm happy to report that the Flexus CORE soundbar is better than the Cinema sound bar that I had in every way.
The first thing that I noticed when I got it was its size - it is huge! It's nearly 4 feet wide and weighs around 30 pounds. I'm the type of person who equates weight of electronics with quality, and the Flexus CORE is markedly bigger than the Cinema bar. The width of the bar fits nicely in front of my TV as it stretches edge to edge of the screen. This bar adds Atmos up-firing speakers, something the Cinema bar did not have. I was always a bit jealous of not having Atmos. When I purchased the Cinema bar in 2022, adding Atmos speakers to a soundbar was quite expensive, so I decided to bypass this feature. I have Atmos in my basement theater setup, and while I think Atmos speakers are the least impactful speakers in a surround sound setup, they are still a nice feature to have.
In addition to having Atmos, this bar has full surround sound as well. I could've expanded the Cinema bar to have surround sound, but never did. It was only a 2.1 system, with a separate sub (as mentioned above). I never really wanted surround sound in my living room, to be honest. I always wanted to keep the setup simple, and not have to mess with the wiring and such. Since this bar came with surround speakers, however, I felt like it would be a waste not to use them. Unlike the sound bar itself, the surround speakers are quite small and were easy enough to setup on a small shelf. They connect to the sound bar wirelessly, and thus just needed an outlet close by for power. They look a bit like the cylinder shaped Alexa devices in terms of size (though these are square). Having the surround sound is a nice bonus feature which does add to the overall experience. I also like that the surround speakers also have Atmos upward firing drivers as well, giving the full 4 speaker Atmos experience (something my basement theater does not have).
Klipsch has a partnership with Onkyo, and the Flexus CORE features Onkyo electronic components. This is a very good thing, because while I love the sound of Klipsch's speakers, I have had more than one experience with wonky electronics in other Klipsch products. Additionally, I've had two Onkyo AV receivers and have been happy with both. In addition to improved looks and expanded capabilities with surround and Atmos, the Flexus CORE bar just works better than the Cinema bar. The sub no longer thumps annoyingly at unnecessary times. The volume control is much better as well. The Cinema bar was too loud, even at the lowest possible volume setting. The LED screen showing the volume and input is fantastic as well. It is large and easy to read, and when it is not needed it goes black, leaving the sound as the only indication that the bar is working. It's not that the Cinema bar was bad, but the Flexus CORE really improves on every aspect. I'm much happier with this bar and it is one that I would more confidently recommend.
Addendum: I thought this was a Klipsch Flexus Core 200 bar, but it is actually a Flexus Core 300 bar. What is super cool about that is that as of the time of this post (and addendum on March 6, 2025) the Flexus Core 300 is not available to the public. It is completely in testing phase right now.
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