Movie Previews  

Klipsch

Paul W. Klipsch - the legend

Pictures

 

Home The Background The Brands Facts Items for sale Links Wanted

 

As a matter of fact, we had very little use for the Klipsch agency. And there was only one reason for taking it - The Klipschorn! Or the fact that the man behind the company was an audio legend! The Klipschorn is my favorite speaker and my favourite Home Cinema setup today would be: 2 Klipschorns in the front (placed in the corners - where else?), 1 La Belle in the center (it can carry any TV or projector) and a pair of Heresys in the rear (mounted up in the roof corners). Shouldn't be much need for a subwoofer in such a setup.    "The Horn" is very special in that it, literally, uses the corners of your room as the last part of its bass cabinet. From this you will understand that its cabinet is not closed, but "bass reflex" in its most sophisticated form - "folded horn" might be a better description. Coupled with horn drivers in the top and midrange, the efficiency rises to a whooping 104 decibels. I.e. 104 decibels with 1 watt input - measured at a distance of 1 meter! The speaker has its name from its constructor, Paul W. Klipsch. The first versions were made for mono applications and without the top-range horn. In the 1940's the high treble was better discarded of, due to the noisy program sources - mostly AM radio broadcasts or '78 records. Or maybe some early tapes. At that time they also were much easier to find space for. Two empty corners, which you need in stereo, are infinitely tougher to find than one! They were supplied in various wood finishes. Both untreated and in some very exotic materials - like cherry. Most of those imported by us were in walnut. We soon found that the bass was a little "blubby" for our taste - it shouldn't be! After some consulting with the factory and the European distributor - mr. Hoffmann in Frankfurt, Arnfinn came up with a little modification of the dividing network that worked admirably. Good guy, Arnfinn! Their smallest model was the Heresy. This was a bass-reflex construction with horns in the top and midrange, and a 12 in. woofer. It had a frisky sound, was very efficient, but soon we found out something that perplexed us - it had no damping material at all inside the cabinet! And it didn't sound boxy at all! Strange! In a way, Altec and Klipsch complemented each other well. Both companies had high-efficiency speakers, but somewhat different in design. And Altec had nothing like "The Horn". So everyone was happy. We experienced that some U.S. manufacturers were rather high-brow - and I really don't blame them. Our minor market and constant haggling over petty details must have been a pain-in-the-ass for them. Klipsch, however, was all cooperation. Back to top.

 

. .

Earning money by just surfing on the net - is it possible? Click here to go to my information page and find out by yourself.

My e-mail address is:

frleand@online.no