Even though Loewe has primarily focused on high-quality televisions over the past few decades, the long-established company is also an important player when it comes to high-end audio. However, the Klang MR series – MR stands for Multiroom – offers more than simple streaming speakers. You are familiar with two operating modes: on the one hand WDAL as an additional loudspeaker, for example for the rear channels in a home cinema system, and on the other hand with Apple AirPlay, Google Home and DTS Play-Fi as a multiroom loudspeaker. The corresponding installation decides which mode becomes active. We tested the multiroom variant.
Design: Triangular, cut off at the top and polished
Not round, not elliptical, not cuboid or octagonal: Loewe delivers the sound in triangular, rounded pyramids with a black, polished control panel on top and a dark gray acoustic fabric covering. At 22.5 cm wide, 21.5 cm deep and 40.1 cm high and weighing 4.4 kg, the Klang MR5 is the largest model and is definitely intended for playing in the living room – even as a stereo pair.
equipment, installation and operation
The touch panel on top of the speaker is controlled with taps and swipes. However, not circular, as one might assume from the marking. Rather, swiping up increases the volume, swiping down decreases it. A swipe left or right selects tracks and tapping the top of the circle activates Bluetooth. Tapping in the middle pauses and restarts.
In the middle is an LED that changes color depending on the operating mode. It is blue in Bluetooth mode and red in WLAN mode (“orange” according to the instructions). Green with a signal from the analog input and blue-green in WDAL mode, which does not occur if you have activated the device for multiroom.
On the underside there are connections for 230 V – a “mains tap” is spared -, a jack socket for analogue inan Ethernet socket if WLAN is not available, a pairing button for WDAL, which is not required for multi-room operation, a control LED and a WPS button to connect the device to WLAN and Google Home to start, i.e. to configure the loudspeaker for multiroom.
Our test device registers for multi-room operation even without pressing the WPS button. Helpful if you can’t find these buttons – they’re hidden under the magnetically docked stand, which you otherwise have to pull off to install. A USB port is also hidden here, but it is not used for playing files, so this location would have been extremely unfavorable, but only for service – i.e. upgrades or diagnostics in the factory.
In addition to analog input and WLAN over 2.4 and 5 GHz, Bluetooth is also available, but without apt-X. After all, AAC is available, as TechStage found out in the test – the instructions are silent on this. A language assistant is not integrated, Apple Airplay 2, Google Cast and Spotify Connect are available for use. Most can be controlled via the DTS Play-Fi app, with Spotify being controllable directly via the Spotify app as usual.
A separate Loewe app, on the other hand, only serves as an alternative to the printed instructions and has no operating functions – that’s pretty meager. In addition, there is the remote control “Remote Klang MR” as a special accessory for just under 40 euros – with it you have the usual comfort of a modern system and can also adjust treble and bass.
The instructions are pretty short without showing it. So you look in vain for the operating step to analogue in to activate. It doesn’t even exist: the loudspeaker automatically switches to the analog input as soon as there is a signal and the other sources are no longer delivering anything. So you should make sure that there is no signal if you don’t want any unwanted switching, but otherwise this is of course a very practical solution. Like Bluetooth, the analog signal is only reproduced locally on the connected loudspeaker, not via WLAN.
Loewe sounded mr5 screenshots
Other very practical functions are explained rather briefly, but there are videos for that. Five program sources (tracks at Spotify or Qobuz as well as Internet radio stations, whether from the DTS Play Fi app or from tune in) on five virtual program keys and then call them up directly without an app. However, you then have to be careful not to activate the middle program position when swiping “Quiet” and thus interrupt the current program.
The whole thing is part of a concept: Loewe traditionally sells through the previously intensively trained specialist trade and not at consumer electronics discounters. If the customer has questions, he can and should contact his dealer, and vice versa, the dealer should show him the devices in the shop before buying them.
However, Loewe now also sells directly via its own online shop. That’s why there is also a dedicated, competent hotline for product questions, just like with other multi-room providers.
The Klang MR speakers can be controlled either via Google Home/Airplay or DTS Play-Fi. The latter pushes their possibilities to the limit and allows them to be grouped into stereo pairs. This should also work in Google Home, but it didn’t work in the test. In addition, a high-resolution transmission mode can be used via DTS Play-Fi, but only with a single speaker, not a pair or a group, and only with the larger Loewe Klang MR3 and the MR5 tested here. All other program sources that cannot be accessed via Google Assistant from a smartphone or another smart speaker in the house, such as Qobuz and local files on the smartphone, can be accessed via DTS Play-Fi.
If you start DTS Play-Fi, as is usual with multi-room speakers, a short firmware update of the speaker is required when it reports for service for the first time, which takes place without complications. After that, the app not only takes over the streaming of radio stations via its own app internet radio or music services like Qobuz, but also streaming music from your smartphone. Only for Spotify you switch to the Spotify app as usual.
The sound: clear and powerful
A 180 W power amplifier and a total of nine “sound outlets” are installed in the Loewe Klang MR5: three tweeters with a diameter of 2.5 cm, two tweeter and mid-range full-range speakers with a diameter of 5 cm and a woofer with a diameter of 10 cm. There are also two passive radiators. According to the manufacturer, this covers 36 Hz to 20 kHz.
Loewe does without showmanship, but the difference to the smallest model Klang MR1 is enormous: the highs are crystal clear, the mids are transparent and the bass is so powerful that you shouldn’t put the Klang MR5 on a desk or bedside table, otherwise all other objects will be in the shortest possible time may skip time.
Schwarzwaldradio and Radio Caroline already sound pleasant from Tune-in and even better from the DTS Play-Fi app “Internet Radio” due to the higher bit rate. Music from the smartphone comes via the DTS Play-Fi app Music with clear highs, reproduced somewhat dull in the original setting without sounding dry. Songs from Spotify come out bright but still balanced, while Qobuz delivers balanced with slightly less highs.
The sound is almost comparable via Bluetooth if the smartphone supports AAC, otherwise it drops if there isn’t apt-X unfortunately significantly because of the unpleasant artefacts of the SBC standard codec. If you afford a pair and set them up appropriately, good stereo reproduction with a broad base is possible.
Price
With a street price of around 650 euros, the Loewe Klang MR5 is expensive for a single box without stereo and voice assistant, but other multi-room speakers of this size and equipment have comparable prices.
Conclusion
Loewe has succeeded in developing its own high-quality multi-room and surround loudspeaker series with all the important features. The Klang MR5 convinces in terms of sound and is also suitable for those who no longer want to set up a classic stereo system in the living room, but only two wireless loudspeakers. The price is high but competitive in this segment.
In addition, the loudspeaker is manufactured in Germany. Since the development team is based entirely on site in Kronach, repairs and the supply of spare parts should not pose a problem. In the best case, you have a long-lasting purchase that does not mutate into a risk candidate after the warranty expires or is “taken over” by a new app version and new products in two years. In addition, you can listen to the product and have it demonstrated before you buy it in a specialist shop and thus decide whether you like the device or not.
