Klipsch
Encyclopedia
Klipsch Audio Technologies (icon) (also referred to as "Klipsch Speakers" or "Klipsch Group, Inc.") is an American loudspeaker
company based in Indianapolis, Indiana
. Founded in Hope, Arkansas
in 1946 as 'Klipsch and Associates' by Paul W. Klipsch
, the company produces loudspeaker drivers
and enclosures
, as well as complete loudspeakers for high end, high fidelity
sound systems, public address
applications, and personal computer
s.
On January 6, 2011, Audiovox
announced that the company had signed a "term sheet to purchase all the shares of Klipsch Group Inc". The sale was completed March 1, 2011.
The company advocates the superiority of horns for the aforementioned properties, but historically horns have a reputation for a coloring of the sound sometimes described as "honkiness". The exact causes of this coloration are still being researched, but one cause is vibration of the horn material itself. Early Klipsch designs utilizing metal-throated horns whose material could be energized by the sound within and "ring" or "buzz." Klipsch subsequently introduced horns of braced fiberglass which were said to alleviate resonances that colored the earlier, metal designs. Another cause of "honkiness" is acoustic resonance
s and reflections when the horn shape causes poor transitions in the acoustic wave expanding from the horn driver. In addition to the direct acoustic effects, these resonances and reflections transform into peaks and dips in the electrical impedance, making problems for the passive crossover network. In 1989 Klipsch introduced a midrange horn with a tractrix
flare which was said to reduce "honkiness" and create a more open sound quality, compared to earlier designs. Klipsch also moved away from silk diaphragms to different driver-diaphragm materials like phenolic, aluminum and titanium, to inject a purer sound into the horn in the first place.
Midrange horns made entirely of formed wood were used into the 1950s.
Historically, Klipsch speakers were designed based on principles originating at Bell Labs
in the 1930s. Objectives included wide soundstage and frequency range from about 30 Hz to 15 kHz, and the speakers were designed to be placed in a room with no single dimension a multiple of another. For competitors who disregarded this old research, Klipsch made a special "Bullshit" button, inspired by Paul Klipsch's extensive usage of the word.
is the flagship product of Klipsch Audio Technologies. It was patented by founder Paul W. Klipsch in 1946, and has been in continuous production in the company's Hope, Arkansas
, plant since then—-the longest run in speaker production history. Although the Klipschorn's basic design is more than sixty years old, it has received periodic minor modifications.
The Klipschorn's large (51” H (129 cm) x 31” W (79 cm) x 28” D (72 cm)) enclosure houses a three-way design: separate drivers—the woofer
, the squawker, and the tweeter
, respectively—handle the bass, midrange, and treble portions of the sound signal.
Two rectangular horn lenses coupled to compression drivers handle the midrange and treble, while a 15” cone woofer is mounted in a folded bass bin compartment below. The folds open at the rear of the horn cabinet structure, utilizing the room walls and floor as continuations of horn structure, thereby increasing the effective length and size of the horn and affording greater bass extension.
The body of the speaker cabinet forms a horn. The “Khorn” shape is like a baseball diamond: the pointy rear is open and exposed, the flat front covered with a wood panel and the top enclosed in cloth. The speaker sits in the corner of two adjoining walls, using the walls and floor boundaries as extensions of the horn. Technically speaking, the Khorn's folded bass "corner horn" can be described as a bifurcated trihedral (floor and two walls to form the trihedral corner) exponential wave transmission line.
This design results in extremely high sensitivity. One watt RMS produces a 105 decibel
per meter sound pressure level (SPL), which is approximately 14–20 decibels higher than conventional speakers. Such sensitivity requires less amplifier power to achieve the same loudness. (Paul Klipsch demonstrated that the Klipschorn could reproduce concert-level dynamics powered by as little as 1 watt per channel.) The Khorn encourages the use of low powered amplifiers. The growing popularity in the audiophile community of single-ended valve (vacuum tube) amplifiers has sparked renewed interest in the Klipschorn and other highly sensitive Klipsch models.
Utilizing the room walls and floor boundaries as extensions of the bass horn helps extend the speaker's frequency response down into the 35 Hz range, considerably lower than would be possible otherwise. Because of the folded horn, the woofer cone moves no more than a few millimeters.
As the only speaker in the world to be in continuous production for 60 years, the Klipschorn has remained relatively unchanged since its inception. Circa 1970, diode overload protection was added across voice coils to prevent burnout from clipping produced by an overdriven amplifier. The midrange horn was originally made entirely from formed wood. Some fibreglas bells were used on the midrange horn, as well as metal, in the late 1950s. Eventually the midrange horn was changed from metal to braced fiberglass, and the tweeter was front mounted in the 1980s. Both of these changes reduced the already low distortion. In 2005, the company made some minor cosmetic and functional revisions to this legendary speaker, including the elimination of the inset collar, or spacer, between the upper and lower cabinets for a cleaner appearance. A horizontal wall seal was added to improve the low frequency horn's connection to the wall. The crossover, which includes some equalization
, was revoiced in the early 2000s.
In 2006, Klipsch offered the 60th Anniversary Klipschorn, a separate model from the standard Klipschorn.http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/60th-anniversary-klipschorn.aspx
Two of these models, the La Scala and the Belle Klipsch, are fully horn-loaded and have extremely high sensitivity similar to the Klipschorn, but their "W"-shaped folded bass horns do not require corner placement in the listening room. The La Scala II, which uses the same drivers as the Klipschorn but has a smaller bass chamber and less bass extension, was voted into Stereophile magazine's "Recommended Components" in the "A" class for speakers with restricted extreme low frequency.
Other models, including the Cornwall and Heresy, use horn tweeters and midranges in conjunction with direct-radiating woofers and also have unusually high sensitivity (although not as high as the fully horn-loaded models).
All of the models cited above feature separate horn-loaded tweeter and midrange. As of 2006, the majority of current Klipsch models are two-way designs, utilizing a tractrix horn for the upper midrange and treble.
Wood finishes available until the late 1980s were Macassar ebony, zebrawood, rosewood, teak, cherry, oak oil, oak lacquer, walnut oil, walnut lacquer, raw birch, birch lacquer, and black lacquer. In a letter sent to its dealers at that time they cited concern over the responsible use of exotic woods from the rainforests and as a result retired the ebony, zebrawood, rosewood and teak veneers.
The three Icon Series lines (X, W, and V) are diverse products designed to satisfy a variety of tastes and budgets. X=Modern Technology, Contemporary Beauty; W=Modern Technology, Classic Beauty; V=Modern Technology, Value Driven Performance. The trademark of all three is the use of the new 80-degree by 80-degree XT Tractrix horn.
The Synergy line is sold by major mass-market retailers.
The Reference line tends to be carried by audio specialty stores and custom installers. One feature of the Reference line is the use of the trademark Cerametallic woofers. These are a combination of materials that produce a very stiff, highly controlled cone movement.
THX Ultra II series is a line of dedicated theater speakers and subwoofer.
The Klipschorn, La Scala II, Cornwall III, and Heresy III comprise the Heritage line, which is available through select authorized Klipsch dealers and Klipsch direct, often by special order.
line of restaurants and in several AMC and Regal
theaters. Krikorian Theatres have digital sound featuring the Klipsch KMX sound system.
Theaters such as Hollywood's BM Theater house are using Klipsch theater systems for the 18000 audience capacity movie house. On a smaller scale, cinemas like Golden Village (Singapore) used Klipsch custom speakers for their GV Grand and IMAX
theaters.
In addition to several in-ear Image models, Klipsch launched its first on-ear model, the Image ONE, in 2010.
Klipsch has quickly become recognized as a leader of premium IEM's for consumers and musicians thanks to its unique ear tip comfort features and acoustic performance.
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
company based in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. Founded in Hope, Arkansas
Hope, Arkansas
Hope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
in 1946 as 'Klipsch and Associates' by Paul W. Klipsch
Paul W Klipsch
Paul Wilbur Klipsch was an American engineer and high fidelity audio pioneer, known for developing the high-efficiency folded horn loudspeaker, who revolutionized the way the world listens to recorded music...
, the company produces loudspeaker drivers
Speaker driver
A speaker driver is an individual transducer that converts electrical energy to sound waves, typically as part of a loudspeaker, television, or other electronics device. Sometimes the transducer is itself referred to as a speaker, particularly when a single one is mounted in an enclosure or as...
and enclosures
Loudspeaker enclosure
A loudspeaker enclosure is a purpose-engineered cabinet in which speaker drivers and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and amplifiers, are mounted...
, as well as complete loudspeakers for high end, high fidelity
High fidelity
High fidelity—or hi-fi—reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images, to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment...
sound systems, public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
applications, and personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s.
On January 6, 2011, Audiovox
Audiovox
Audiovox Corporation is an American consumer electronics company founded in 1965 and headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.Among the domestic brands now owned by Audiovox are: Acoustic Research, Advent, Code Alarm, Invision, Jensen, Prestige, RCA, and Terk. The international brands they own include...
announced that the company had signed a "term sheet to purchase all the shares of Klipsch Group Inc". The sale was completed March 1, 2011.
Horn loading
Since its inception, Klipsch has promoted the use of horn-loaded speakers as part of its goal to produce speakers which:- Are high in efficiency (more formally called "sensitivity"), meaning that they can be driven by relatively low-powered amplifierAmplifierGenerally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
s - Are low in distortion, which Paul Klipsch believed was very important
- Have wide dynamic rangeDynamic rangeDynamic range, abbreviated DR or DNR, is the ratio between the largest and smallest possible values of a changeable quantity, such as in sound and light. It is measured as a ratio, or as a base-10 or base-2 logarithmic value.-Dynamic range and human perception:The human senses of sight and...
, meaning that they accurately reproduce both soft and loud sounds - Exhibit controlled directivityDirectivityIn electromagnetics, directivity is a figure of merit for an antenna. It measures the power density the antenna radiates in the direction of its strongest emission, versus the power density radiated by an ideal isotropic radiator radiating the same total power.An antenna's directivity is a...
, meaning that the radiation patternRadiation patternIn the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern most commonly refers to the directional dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source ....
is directional, rather than diffuse - Have a flat frequency responseFrequency responseFrequency response is the quantitative measure of the output spectrum of a system or device in response to a stimulus, and is used to characterize the dynamics of the system. It is a measure of magnitude and phase of the output as a function of frequency, in comparison to the input...
, meaning that there is no unnatural emphasis in the bass, mid-rangeMid-range speakerA loudspeaker driver that produces the frequency range from approximately 300–5000 hertz is known as a mid-range.Midrange drivers are usually cone types or, less commonly, dome types, or compression horn drivers...
or treble.
The company advocates the superiority of horns for the aforementioned properties, but historically horns have a reputation for a coloring of the sound sometimes described as "honkiness". The exact causes of this coloration are still being researched, but one cause is vibration of the horn material itself. Early Klipsch designs utilizing metal-throated horns whose material could be energized by the sound within and "ring" or "buzz." Klipsch subsequently introduced horns of braced fiberglass which were said to alleviate resonances that colored the earlier, metal designs. Another cause of "honkiness" is acoustic resonance
Acoustic resonance
Acoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to absorb more energy when it is forced or driven at a frequency that matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration than it does at other frequencies....
s and reflections when the horn shape causes poor transitions in the acoustic wave expanding from the horn driver. In addition to the direct acoustic effects, these resonances and reflections transform into peaks and dips in the electrical impedance, making problems for the passive crossover network. In 1989 Klipsch introduced a midrange horn with a tractrix
Tractrix
Tractrix is the curve along which a small object moves, under the influence of friction, when pulled on a horizontal plane by a piece of thread and a puller that moves at a right angle to the initial line between the object and the puller at an infinitesimal speed. It is therefore a curve of...
flare which was said to reduce "honkiness" and create a more open sound quality, compared to earlier designs. Klipsch also moved away from silk diaphragms to different driver-diaphragm materials like phenolic, aluminum and titanium, to inject a purer sound into the horn in the first place.
Midrange horns made entirely of formed wood were used into the 1950s.
Historically, Klipsch speakers were designed based on principles originating at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
in the 1930s. Objectives included wide soundstage and frequency range from about 30 Hz to 15 kHz, and the speakers were designed to be placed in a room with no single dimension a multiple of another. For competitors who disregarded this old research, Klipsch made a special "Bullshit" button, inspired by Paul Klipsch's extensive usage of the word.
The Klipschorn
The Klipschorn, or Khorn, loudspeakerLoudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
is the flagship product of Klipsch Audio Technologies. It was patented by founder Paul W. Klipsch in 1946, and has been in continuous production in the company's Hope, Arkansas
Hope, Arkansas
Hope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
, plant since then—-the longest run in speaker production history. Although the Klipschorn's basic design is more than sixty years old, it has received periodic minor modifications.
The Klipschorn's large (51” H (129 cm) x 31” W (79 cm) x 28” D (72 cm)) enclosure houses a three-way design: separate drivers—the woofer
Woofer
Woofer is the term commonly used for a loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds, typically from around 40 hertz up to about a kilohertz or higher. The name is from the onomatopoeic English word for a dog's bark, "woof"...
, the squawker, and the tweeter
Tweeter
A tweeter is a loudspeaker designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically from around 2,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz . Some tweeters can manage response up to 65 kHz...
, respectively—handle the bass, midrange, and treble portions of the sound signal.
Two rectangular horn lenses coupled to compression drivers handle the midrange and treble, while a 15” cone woofer is mounted in a folded bass bin compartment below. The folds open at the rear of the horn cabinet structure, utilizing the room walls and floor as continuations of horn structure, thereby increasing the effective length and size of the horn and affording greater bass extension.
The body of the speaker cabinet forms a horn. The “Khorn” shape is like a baseball diamond: the pointy rear is open and exposed, the flat front covered with a wood panel and the top enclosed in cloth. The speaker sits in the corner of two adjoining walls, using the walls and floor boundaries as extensions of the horn. Technically speaking, the Khorn's folded bass "corner horn" can be described as a bifurcated trihedral (floor and two walls to form the trihedral corner) exponential wave transmission line.
This design results in extremely high sensitivity. One watt RMS produces a 105 decibel
Decibel
The decibel is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity relative to a specified or implied reference level. A ratio in decibels is ten times the logarithm to base 10 of the ratio of two power quantities...
per meter sound pressure level (SPL), which is approximately 14–20 decibels higher than conventional speakers. Such sensitivity requires less amplifier power to achieve the same loudness. (Paul Klipsch demonstrated that the Klipschorn could reproduce concert-level dynamics powered by as little as 1 watt per channel.) The Khorn encourages the use of low powered amplifiers. The growing popularity in the audiophile community of single-ended valve (vacuum tube) amplifiers has sparked renewed interest in the Klipschorn and other highly sensitive Klipsch models.
Utilizing the room walls and floor boundaries as extensions of the bass horn helps extend the speaker's frequency response down into the 35 Hz range, considerably lower than would be possible otherwise. Because of the folded horn, the woofer cone moves no more than a few millimeters.
As the only speaker in the world to be in continuous production for 60 years, the Klipschorn has remained relatively unchanged since its inception. Circa 1970, diode overload protection was added across voice coils to prevent burnout from clipping produced by an overdriven amplifier. The midrange horn was originally made entirely from formed wood. Some fibreglas bells were used on the midrange horn, as well as metal, in the late 1950s. Eventually the midrange horn was changed from metal to braced fiberglass, and the tweeter was front mounted in the 1980s. Both of these changes reduced the already low distortion. In 2005, the company made some minor cosmetic and functional revisions to this legendary speaker, including the elimination of the inset collar, or spacer, between the upper and lower cabinets for a cleaner appearance. A horizontal wall seal was added to improve the low frequency horn's connection to the wall. The crossover, which includes some equalization
Equalization
Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...
, was revoiced in the early 2000s.
In 2006, Klipsch offered the 60th Anniversary Klipschorn, a separate model from the standard Klipschorn.http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/60th-anniversary-klipschorn.aspx
Other legacy speakers
Other noteworthy Klipsch speakers over the years include:- La Scala
- Belle Klipsch
- Cornwall
- Chorus
- Heresy
- Forte
- Legend
- Reference
Two of these models, the La Scala and the Belle Klipsch, are fully horn-loaded and have extremely high sensitivity similar to the Klipschorn, but their "W"-shaped folded bass horns do not require corner placement in the listening room. The La Scala II, which uses the same drivers as the Klipschorn but has a smaller bass chamber and less bass extension, was voted into Stereophile magazine's "Recommended Components" in the "A" class for speakers with restricted extreme low frequency.
Other models, including the Cornwall and Heresy, use horn tweeters and midranges in conjunction with direct-radiating woofers and also have unusually high sensitivity (although not as high as the fully horn-loaded models).
All of the models cited above feature separate horn-loaded tweeter and midrange. As of 2006, the majority of current Klipsch models are two-way designs, utilizing a tractrix horn for the upper midrange and treble.
Wood finishes available until the late 1980s were Macassar ebony, zebrawood, rosewood, teak, cherry, oak oil, oak lacquer, walnut oil, walnut lacquer, raw birch, birch lacquer, and black lacquer. In a letter sent to its dealers at that time they cited concern over the responsible use of exotic woods from the rainforests and as a result retired the ebony, zebrawood, rosewood and teak veneers.
Current speakers
The Palladium line, introduced in 2007, is a high-end luxury line of premium speakers. These are sold through special qualified dealers only.The three Icon Series lines (X, W, and V) are diverse products designed to satisfy a variety of tastes and budgets. X=Modern Technology, Contemporary Beauty; W=Modern Technology, Classic Beauty; V=Modern Technology, Value Driven Performance. The trademark of all three is the use of the new 80-degree by 80-degree XT Tractrix horn.
The Synergy line is sold by major mass-market retailers.
The Reference line tends to be carried by audio specialty stores and custom installers. One feature of the Reference line is the use of the trademark Cerametallic woofers. These are a combination of materials that produce a very stiff, highly controlled cone movement.
THX Ultra II series is a line of dedicated theater speakers and subwoofer.
The Klipschorn, La Scala II, Cornwall III, and Heresy III comprise the Heritage line, which is available through select authorized Klipsch dealers and Klipsch direct, often by special order.
Multi-media speakers
The company also manufactures products for multimedia purposes; its ProMedia line of computer speakers has been sold since 1999, and it produces iPod-marketed speakers like the iGroove (with an angled form-factor).Klipsch used in theaters
Klipsch also features its speaker designs in the Hard Rock CafeHard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
line of restaurants and in several AMC and Regal
Regal Entertainment Group
Regal Entertainment Group also known as REG is a movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Regal operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,775 screens in 548 locations in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of...
theaters. Krikorian Theatres have digital sound featuring the Klipsch KMX sound system.
Theaters such as Hollywood's BM Theater house are using Klipsch theater systems for the 18000 audience capacity movie house. On a smaller scale, cinemas like Golden Village (Singapore) used Klipsch custom speakers for their GV Grand and IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theaters.
Headphones
"In Ear" headphones or earphones using balanced armature technology were launched in November 2007. These headphones utilize patented Contour Ear Gels, invented by Mark Blanchard of Klipsch Group, which are anatomically designed to accurately fit inside the human ear canal. These oval shaped silicon tips reduce ear fatigue by minimizing pressure to any one given area of the ear canal wall. The patented ear tips are designed to be inserted in the ear canal to acquire an air seal for noise isolation and a proper frequency response.In addition to several in-ear Image models, Klipsch launched its first on-ear model, the Image ONE, in 2010.
Klipsch has quickly become recognized as a leader of premium IEM's for consumers and musicians thanks to its unique ear tip comfort features and acoustic performance.
Other products
Klipsch Group, Inc., the parent company of Klipsch Audio Technologies, also owns the Danish loudspeaker firm Jamo, and in 2006 acquired the brands of Mirage, Athena and Energy speakers from Audio Products International (API) of Canada. In 2001 it acquired the company Mondial Designs, manufacturers of electronics under the Aragon and Acurus brand names, but subsequently discontinued those product lines.External links
- Official website
- Abstract from 1968 AESAudio Engineering SocietyEstablished in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working...
paper by Paul Klipsch on frequency modulation distortion