| THE 1993 KLIPSCHORN SPEAKER SYSTEM by Constantine Soo August 3, 2001 |
Specifications
Manufactured in 1993
Sensitivity: 104dB/w/m
Bandwidth: 35Hz – 17.5kHz +/- 3dB
Crossover Frequencies: 400Hz and 6kHz
Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms
Output: 124dB maximum continuous
Power Handling: 100 watts maximum continuous (400 watts peak)
Configuration: Fully horn-loaded, three-way system
Driver Components: K77-M 1" Phenolec tweeter, K55-M 2"
Phenolec midrange, K33-E 15" folded-horn woofer
Weight: 167 lbs. (75.7kg)
Dimensions: 52" × 31.25" × 28.5" (HxWxD)
Finish: Walnut Oil, Mahogany, Oak Oil, Oak Clear or Black (review
pair)
Grilles: Black, brown, woven cane
MSRP: $5,798/pair
Manufacturer:
Klipsch
Web: www.klipsch.com/
Manufactured in 1993
Sensitivity: 104dB/w/m
Bandwidth: 35Hz – 17.5kHz +/- 3dB
Crossover Frequencies: 400Hz and 6kHz
Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms
Output: 124dB maximum continuous
Power Handling: 100 watts maximum continuous (400 watts peak)
Configuration: Fully horn-loaded, three-way system
Driver Components: K77-M 1" Phenolec tweeter, K55-M 2"
Phenolec midrange, K33-E 15" folded-horn woofer
Weight: 167 lbs. (75.7kg)
Dimensions: 52" × 31.25" × 28.5" (HxWxD)
Finish: Walnut Oil, Mahogany, Oak Oil, Oak Clear or Black (review
pair)
Grilles: Black, brown, woven cane
MSRP: $5,798/pair
Manufacturer:
Klipsch
Web: www.klipsch.com/
I mentioned in my Granite Audio interconnect review that I would be posting a
review of my Klipschorn speakers, which I put aside because of commitments.
Recently, a reader reignited the flame by inquiring into the status of that
review. Thank you, reader.
Some of you may have contemplated adding horns to your systems. While
there are magazines trumpeting the unique experiences of horn proponents,
some high-end establishments remain resistant. One dealer demonstrated his
idea of a horn’s sound by cuppin g his mouth with both hands. As
advancements have been realized in almost all aspects of modern playback
systems, horn speakers are often seen as a throwback. However, in spite of
the horn’s century-old operating principle, it continues to offer advantages: the
simplicity of its technology and an efficiency that permits the use of low-power
amplifiers.
When Stereophile held its High end Show in San Francisco, I returned to two
horn exhibitors’ rooms three days in a row: Kochel and Tannoy. Kochel was a
new Korean company making multi-driver horn systems, utilizing the classic
diaphragm-plus-throat approach, while Tannoy sported their prestigious dual-
concentric technology in the Churchill enclosure, the core technology having
been patented before World War II. The East and the West met at a junction in
the form of the horn. Both exhibitors drove their speakers with low-output,
single-ended triode amplifiers. Since I couldn’t afford either speaker, I kept
coming back with CDs in order to etch in my mind the two systems’
incomparable sonic attributes. While different sounding, their two crowning
attributes were dynamic realism and harmonic coherency.
In the spring of 1999, when a pair of used 1993 Klipschorn became available,
I seized upon the moment and bought them. According to Klipsch, the 1989
and 2001 differ only in an updated crossover, which, so far as I can determine,
produces no variance in sound. Like the Kochel and the Tannoy systems, the
Klipschorns, powered by remarkably few watts, can transport you to the realm
of sonic realism. The Klipschorn exhibits an intensity of dynamic transients via
tube or solid-state amplification. In fact, I’d been driving my Klipschorns with
one Monarchy Audio SM-70 with extraordinary results until January 2001,
when I bought a second SM-70 for monoblock operation.
SOUNDSTAGING
The K-horn is a three-way system consisting of a one-inch compression
tweeter horn, two-inch compression midrange horn and a fifteen-inch folded
bass horn.
The tweeter’s horn sits on top of the midrange horn and covers the range from
6kHz to 17.5kHz. Centrally situated above the bulk of the cabinet and below
the tweeter’s horn, the midrange’s horn runs only about half of the width of the
cabinet and is the main driver of the system with a specified frequency range
of 400Hz to 6kHz. The main cabinet houses the rear-firing, 15-inch driver’s
folded bass horn, which covers the range from 400Hz to its specified limit of
35Hz.
Most speakers sacrifice soundstaging definition when placed wide apart. The
K-horns are designed for large rooms and will generally function satisfactorily
in opposite-corner placement. In a medium-sized room like mine, I had to
make a few minor adjustments to optimize performance.
Specifically, the K-horns are designed to fit into the corners of the long wall,
using the adjoining sidewalls as an extension of the bass horn. This unusual
placement actually creates the Klipschorn’s life-size soundstage. Although the
dimensions of my listening room, at 12’ × 17’ × 8’ (W × L × H), can
accommodate the recommended long-wall placement, it is an open-ended
rectangle with only one short wall. Since this asymmetry precludes the
recommended placement, I had to use the short walls’ corners. At their initial
setup, the K-horns inevitably became overly "toed-in," both channels
converging into a sweet spot five feet in front of my listening position, making
the soundstage unfocused and remote-sounding. I toed them out until each
K-horn’s midrange was firing at the listening position. Then I tilted the
speakers slightly downward to have the midrange fire straight at me. Thus set
up, with my listening position approximately three meters away, the K-horns
throw a precise center stage with excellent overall soundstage delineation.
The height of the midrange and t weeter horns further reinforce the life-size
soundstage. For our readers in San Francisco, it resembles the Premier
Orchestra first floor seating at the San Francisco Symphony’s Davis Hall.
And yet, with their impressive soundstage depth, horns are less than peerless
in soundstage crystallization. For readers who are adamant about supreme
image depth, quite a few planar and cone speakers will do a better job, e.g.,
my Apogee Duetta Signatures. Furthermore, the K-horns’ midrange and
tweeter horns are so highly directional that my ASC acoustic treatments are
largely unnecessary. The Klipschorns sound their best when pointing directly
at you.
THE SOUND
The K-horns do not possess the timbral finesse of the Audio Note AN-E/D
speakers I recently reviewed, but I do not hear this shortcoming as a serious
liability. Many describe the horn system’s sound as artificial, congested, flat
and unmusical. In my listening room, the K-horns produce the opposite effect,
and their unrivaled dynamic realism remains evident and clean even at high
volume levels.
The K-horn’s bass achieves its maximum with modest amplifier power. The
Audio Review website contains comments from K-horn users, mostly
describing the bass as natural. Although the low end can be thunderous, it
maintains the music’s critical overtones, a capability that relates to the
naturalness many K-horn users proclaim. However, larger rooms are a
prerequisite for optimum bass. Therefore, if good bass is at the top of your
sonic priorities, the K-horn may not be for you if your room dimensions do not
allow for corner placement.
Regarding the Klipschorn’s 17.5kHz roll-off, although I’ve never seen such
limited top- end specifications from any speaker, I have always been happy
with the K-horns’ highs. Other speakers in the same room do not provide
more perceptible top-end information. In addition, the 3dB roll-off slope may
be slow enough to allow for higher-frequency information at high listening
volumes. Furthermore, with CD’s 20kHz upper limit, the differences may be
too subtle to be appreciable.
Some studies show that our brains can process ultra-high frequencies
although our auditory senses cannot seeming hear beyond 20kHz, even in our
youth, when our hearing is at its best. Certain theories further claim that our
well being depends on this ultra-high-frequency information, in that it
stimulates the secretion of a relaxation-inducing chemical. This may be
significant when playing SACD’s or LPs. Perhaps some day Klipsch will
better address this design aspect.
AMPLIFICATION
Although the Klipschorn’s high sensitivity invites the use of low-power, single-
ended triode amplifiers, care must be taken in choosing a quiet preamp and a
power amp with low idling noise. The Wadia 27’s versatile, user-adjustable
output level and digital volume control are supremely quiet, making it an ideal
candidate in driving most tube amplifiers. The Audio Note Western Electric
300B Quest monoblocks (review in progress), as driven directly by the Wadia
27 Decoding Computer, produced a minute level of non-intrusive idling hiss.
The Decware SE84C (review in progress) also mated well with the Wadia.
The 125-wpc, EL-34-based Music Reference RM9 II was inappropriate, in that
it must be set to the highest feedback/lowest output position in conjunction
with the Wadia to keep the idling noise down. At this setting, the RM9 II lost its
transparency.
Solid-state amplifiers are quiet during idling. Both my relatively high-powered
Aragon 2004 and Monarchy Audio SM70 produced very satisfying results.
The 2004 rendered a less energetic presentation, with a softer top end,
smoother midrange and thicker bass, versus the SM70’s crystalline top end,
detailed yet slightly forward midrange, and dynamic lower midrange and bass.
The Decware SE84C, AN Quest and MR RM9 II amplifiers exhibited
increased idling noise when a Krell KRC-2 preamp replaced the Wadia 27.
Therefore, the otherwise excellent Krell, with its high output capabilities, is
inappropriate for driving the Klipschorn with some tube amps.
COEXISTENCE WITH SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
My wife welcomed the Klipschorns positioned in their corners. She deplores
the imposing presence of all other speakers, complaining regularly about my
room-dividing Apogees and Genesis, and even the mini-monitor Celestion
SL700s, as they must all be positioned well into the listening room.
The Klipschorns will coexist with your other speaker system in other ways. You
can position new speakers in front of them with no negative consequences.
For example, to minimize early reflections from the rear wall and the sidewalls,
I usually place other speaker systems about one-third into the room. The rear
radiation of other speakers will engage the front of the Klipschorn. Since each
Klipschorn is now angled at 30 to 45 degrees from the long walls, corner
standing waves are mostly diffused, with the remaining reflections from the
front of the K-horns returning to the rear of the freestanding speakers.
Therefore, you need only treat the sidewalls. I have obtained excellent results
using other speaker systems in the presence of the Klipschorns. As I never felt
the need to move the Klipschorns while using other speakers, you should
beware that the K-horns’ majestic yet unobtrusive presence may grow on you.
CONCLUSION
The Klipschorns tower over my other speakers in their dynamic realism and
sheer listenability. CDs played through them possess lifelike, compression-
free qualities. Furthermore, the horn midrange and tweeter are impressively
devoid of c haos in the midst of instrumental outbursts. Although Klipschorn
possesses impressive detailing, realism and musicality, perfection doesn’t
exist in any loudspeaker system. While its extreme sensitivity permits the use
of low-power purist amplifiers, mating it to a suitable amp is crucial.
Even after careful consideration, it may require a leap of faith to acquire a
horn system, since to do so may alienate you from orthodox audiophiles. To
return to the High End Show I mention above, I was able to loiter for long
periods of time in the Kochel and Tannoy sound rooms because neither room
ever got crowded. The true believers stayed away. Even stepping in for a
peek would mean excommunication. That was about three years ago. With
recent rave reviews for the European Avante Garde horn systems, a
heightened awareness of a well-designed horn’s strengths may have changed
High-end sentiments.
When driven by my 25-wpc, solid-state single-ended class A Monarchy Audio
SM-70, the K-horns delivered full-blown dynamics and convincing
dimensionality. Tube amplifiers, like the Audio Note Quest monoblocks (see
my recent review) and the Decware SE84C (review in progress), provide a
mellower, more musical sonic signature without dynamic sacrifice. The
technically capable purist can replace the original crossover with an external
three-way unit, the doing of which might elevate timbre accuracy and
dimensionality, among other performance aspects.
My sincerest thanks go to Trey Cannon of Klipsch for his responsive replies to
my many background inquiries.
Associated Equipment:
Digital Front End
CEC TL1 CD transport
Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player
Wadia 27 Decoding Computer
Amplification
Audio Note M3
Audio Note Conquest Silver Signature monoblocks
Audio Note Quest 300B monoblocks
Decware SE84C
GW Labs 270 tube amplifier
GW Labs Cyclop Integrated Amplifier
Krell KRC-2
Monarchy Audio SM70 monoblocks
Loudspeakers
Audio Note AN-E/D
Celestion SL700
Genesis Technologies VI
Cabling
Audio Note AN-La (8 feet, bi-wired)
Audio Note AN-V interconnect (RCA, 2m)
Cardas 5c (8 feet)
Granite Audio #470 silver cables (RCA, 1m, 2 pairs)
Kimber Kable AGDL digital cable (0.5m)
TMC balanced XLR (1m)
review of my Klipschorn speakers, which I put aside because of commitments.
Recently, a reader reignited the flame by inquiring into the status of that
review. Thank you, reader.
Some of you may have contemplated adding horns to your systems. While
there are magazines trumpeting the unique experiences of horn proponents,
some high-end establishments remain resistant. One dealer demonstrated his
idea of a horn’s sound by cuppin g his mouth with both hands. As
advancements have been realized in almost all aspects of modern playback
systems, horn speakers are often seen as a throwback. However, in spite of
the horn’s century-old operating principle, it continues to offer advantages: the
simplicity of its technology and an efficiency that permits the use of low-power
amplifiers.
When Stereophile held its High end Show in San Francisco, I returned to two
horn exhibitors’ rooms three days in a row: Kochel and Tannoy. Kochel was a
new Korean company making multi-driver horn systems, utilizing the classic
diaphragm-plus-throat approach, while Tannoy sported their prestigious dual-
concentric technology in the Churchill enclosure, the core technology having
been patented before World War II. The East and the West met at a junction in
the form of the horn. Both exhibitors drove their speakers with low-output,
single-ended triode amplifiers. Since I couldn’t afford either speaker, I kept
coming back with CDs in order to etch in my mind the two systems’
incomparable sonic attributes. While different sounding, their two crowning
attributes were dynamic realism and harmonic coherency.
In the spring of 1999, when a pair of used 1993 Klipschorn became available,
I seized upon the moment and bought them. According to Klipsch, the 1989
and 2001 differ only in an updated crossover, which, so far as I can determine,
produces no variance in sound. Like the Kochel and the Tannoy systems, the
Klipschorns, powered by remarkably few watts, can transport you to the realm
of sonic realism. The Klipschorn exhibits an intensity of dynamic transients via
tube or solid-state amplification. In fact, I’d been driving my Klipschorns with
one Monarchy Audio SM-70 with extraordinary results until January 2001,
when I bought a second SM-70 for monoblock operation.
SOUNDSTAGING
The K-horn is a three-way system consisting of a one-inch compression
tweeter horn, two-inch compression midrange horn and a fifteen-inch folded
bass horn.
The tweeter’s horn sits on top of the midrange horn and covers the range from
6kHz to 17.5kHz. Centrally situated above the bulk of the cabinet and below
the tweeter’s horn, the midrange’s horn runs only about half of the width of the
cabinet and is the main driver of the system with a specified frequency range
of 400Hz to 6kHz. The main cabinet houses the rear-firing, 15-inch driver’s
folded bass horn, which covers the range from 400Hz to its specified limit of
35Hz.
Most speakers sacrifice soundstaging definition when placed wide apart. The
K-horns are designed for large rooms and will generally function satisfactorily
in opposite-corner placement. In a medium-sized room like mine, I had to
make a few minor adjustments to optimize performance.
Specifically, the K-horns are designed to fit into the corners of the long wall,
using the adjoining sidewalls as an extension of the bass horn. This unusual
placement actually creates the Klipschorn’s life-size soundstage. Although the
dimensions of my listening room, at 12’ × 17’ × 8’ (W × L × H), can
accommodate the recommended long-wall placement, it is an open-ended
rectangle with only one short wall. Since this asymmetry precludes the
recommended placement, I had to use the short walls’ corners. At their initial
setup, the K-horns inevitably became overly "toed-in," both channels
converging into a sweet spot five feet in front of my listening position, making
the soundstage unfocused and remote-sounding. I toed them out until each
K-horn’s midrange was firing at the listening position. Then I tilted the
speakers slightly downward to have the midrange fire straight at me. Thus set
up, with my listening position approximately three meters away, the K-horns
throw a precise center stage with excellent overall soundstage delineation.
The height of the midrange and t weeter horns further reinforce the life-size
soundstage. For our readers in San Francisco, it resembles the Premier
Orchestra first floor seating at the San Francisco Symphony’s Davis Hall.
And yet, with their impressive soundstage depth, horns are less than peerless
in soundstage crystallization. For readers who are adamant about supreme
image depth, quite a few planar and cone speakers will do a better job, e.g.,
my Apogee Duetta Signatures. Furthermore, the K-horns’ midrange and
tweeter horns are so highly directional that my ASC acoustic treatments are
largely unnecessary. The Klipschorns sound their best when pointing directly
at you.
THE SOUND
The K-horns do not possess the timbral finesse of the Audio Note AN-E/D
speakers I recently reviewed, but I do not hear this shortcoming as a serious
liability. Many describe the horn system’s sound as artificial, congested, flat
and unmusical. In my listening room, the K-horns produce the opposite effect,
and their unrivaled dynamic realism remains evident and clean even at high
volume levels.
The K-horn’s bass achieves its maximum with modest amplifier power. The
Audio Review website contains comments from K-horn users, mostly
describing the bass as natural. Although the low end can be thunderous, it
maintains the music’s critical overtones, a capability that relates to the
naturalness many K-horn users proclaim. However, larger rooms are a
prerequisite for optimum bass. Therefore, if good bass is at the top of your
sonic priorities, the K-horn may not be for you if your room dimensions do not
allow for corner placement.
Regarding the Klipschorn’s 17.5kHz roll-off, although I’ve never seen such
limited top- end specifications from any speaker, I have always been happy
with the K-horns’ highs. Other speakers in the same room do not provide
more perceptible top-end information. In addition, the 3dB roll-off slope may
be slow enough to allow for higher-frequency information at high listening
volumes. Furthermore, with CD’s 20kHz upper limit, the differences may be
too subtle to be appreciable.
Some studies show that our brains can process ultra-high frequencies
although our auditory senses cannot seeming hear beyond 20kHz, even in our
youth, when our hearing is at its best. Certain theories further claim that our
well being depends on this ultra-high-frequency information, in that it
stimulates the secretion of a relaxation-inducing chemical. This may be
significant when playing SACD’s or LPs. Perhaps some day Klipsch will
better address this design aspect.
AMPLIFICATION
Although the Klipschorn’s high sensitivity invites the use of low-power, single-
ended triode amplifiers, care must be taken in choosing a quiet preamp and a
power amp with low idling noise. The Wadia 27’s versatile, user-adjustable
output level and digital volume control are supremely quiet, making it an ideal
candidate in driving most tube amplifiers. The Audio Note Western Electric
300B Quest monoblocks (review in progress), as driven directly by the Wadia
27 Decoding Computer, produced a minute level of non-intrusive idling hiss.
The Decware SE84C (review in progress) also mated well with the Wadia.
The 125-wpc, EL-34-based Music Reference RM9 II was inappropriate, in that
it must be set to the highest feedback/lowest output position in conjunction
with the Wadia to keep the idling noise down. At this setting, the RM9 II lost its
transparency.
Solid-state amplifiers are quiet during idling. Both my relatively high-powered
Aragon 2004 and Monarchy Audio SM70 produced very satisfying results.
The 2004 rendered a less energetic presentation, with a softer top end,
smoother midrange and thicker bass, versus the SM70’s crystalline top end,
detailed yet slightly forward midrange, and dynamic lower midrange and bass.
The Decware SE84C, AN Quest and MR RM9 II amplifiers exhibited
increased idling noise when a Krell KRC-2 preamp replaced the Wadia 27.
Therefore, the otherwise excellent Krell, with its high output capabilities, is
inappropriate for driving the Klipschorn with some tube amps.
COEXISTENCE WITH SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
My wife welcomed the Klipschorns positioned in their corners. She deplores
the imposing presence of all other speakers, complaining regularly about my
room-dividing Apogees and Genesis, and even the mini-monitor Celestion
SL700s, as they must all be positioned well into the listening room.
The Klipschorns will coexist with your other speaker system in other ways. You
can position new speakers in front of them with no negative consequences.
For example, to minimize early reflections from the rear wall and the sidewalls,
I usually place other speaker systems about one-third into the room. The rear
radiation of other speakers will engage the front of the Klipschorn. Since each
Klipschorn is now angled at 30 to 45 degrees from the long walls, corner
standing waves are mostly diffused, with the remaining reflections from the
front of the K-horns returning to the rear of the freestanding speakers.
Therefore, you need only treat the sidewalls. I have obtained excellent results
using other speaker systems in the presence of the Klipschorns. As I never felt
the need to move the Klipschorns while using other speakers, you should
beware that the K-horns’ majestic yet unobtrusive presence may grow on you.
CONCLUSION
The Klipschorns tower over my other speakers in their dynamic realism and
sheer listenability. CDs played through them possess lifelike, compression-
free qualities. Furthermore, the horn midrange and tweeter are impressively
devoid of c haos in the midst of instrumental outbursts. Although Klipschorn
possesses impressive detailing, realism and musicality, perfection doesn’t
exist in any loudspeaker system. While its extreme sensitivity permits the use
of low-power purist amplifiers, mating it to a suitable amp is crucial.
Even after careful consideration, it may require a leap of faith to acquire a
horn system, since to do so may alienate you from orthodox audiophiles. To
return to the High End Show I mention above, I was able to loiter for long
periods of time in the Kochel and Tannoy sound rooms because neither room
ever got crowded. The true believers stayed away. Even stepping in for a
peek would mean excommunication. That was about three years ago. With
recent rave reviews for the European Avante Garde horn systems, a
heightened awareness of a well-designed horn’s strengths may have changed
High-end sentiments.
When driven by my 25-wpc, solid-state single-ended class A Monarchy Audio
SM-70, the K-horns delivered full-blown dynamics and convincing
dimensionality. Tube amplifiers, like the Audio Note Quest monoblocks (see
my recent review) and the Decware SE84C (review in progress), provide a
mellower, more musical sonic signature without dynamic sacrifice. The
technically capable purist can replace the original crossover with an external
three-way unit, the doing of which might elevate timbre accuracy and
dimensionality, among other performance aspects.
My sincerest thanks go to Trey Cannon of Klipsch for his responsive replies to
my many background inquiries.
Associated Equipment:
Digital Front End
CEC TL1 CD transport
Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player
Wadia 27 Decoding Computer
Amplification
Audio Note M3
Audio Note Conquest Silver Signature monoblocks
Audio Note Quest 300B monoblocks
Decware SE84C
GW Labs 270 tube amplifier
GW Labs Cyclop Integrated Amplifier
Krell KRC-2
Monarchy Audio SM70 monoblocks
Loudspeakers
Audio Note AN-E/D
Celestion SL700
Genesis Technologies VI
Cabling
Audio Note AN-La (8 feet, bi-wired)
Audio Note AN-V interconnect (RCA, 2m)
Cardas 5c (8 feet)
Granite Audio #470 silver cables (RCA, 1m, 2 pairs)
Kimber Kable AGDL digital cable (0.5m)
TMC balanced XLR (1m)
