Review: Klipsch Klipschorn Speaker


Category: Speakers

What can I say about my K-horns? As do many of us, I have spent most of my life searching for "perfect" speakers, moving up the pricing ladder and trying different technologies (planar, ribbon, dynamic) always looking to get the sound "right". Well I came to these Klipschorns by accident. An acquaintance was moving and could not manage to take them with him (they ARE huge!) For only $1,500 I grabbed'em and have never looked back! Way below the budget amount I thought I would have to spend for my "perfect" speakers, and certainly not falling into any of the technology categories I imagined such audio bliss would come from. These "horns", these megaphone-type speakers. How can they produce "right" sound? LOL! Well after a few short days of listening I knew I had found what I had been looking for all along. I thus have come to two conclusions as a result of my experience with the K-horns; 1. That listening tests are the only true way to pick components, forget specs and 2. That price and reviews are not reliable guides. I thought I knew what I was looking for, but that was the problem; looking instead of listening. I won't recommend the K-horns to you, but I will tell you this they give you a unique perspective on music, one that is coming back into vogue (look at the reviews of the Avantgarde speakers), one that is emotionally involving and one that, for me, gives me the most enjoyable window into my music. Let me tell you what the K-horns excel at; they have dynamics like no other speakers, dynamic contrasts virtually explode from them. their level of detail in the mids and highs are something like no other speaker I have heard, clarity, definition, speed. That is the third major strength, speed, they produce and release a note, a sound, faster than almost any other speaker I have heard. The closest "speedy" speaker I have heard were Magnapan units, but they could not produce the dynamics that a K-horn can. Do K-horns go down to 20hz? Forget the specs! No they don't but they produce strong, tight, bass down into the low 40s/upper 30s and that is quite enough for what I listen to. I have never heard a K-horn owner complain about lack of Bass. They probably don't go all the way up to 20mhz either but the cymbal, piano and bell sounds that emanate of them provide me with a level of realism I have never experienced before. Imaging? superb! great, wide soundstage with images well placed. One warning, you need extremely good upstream components with these speakers, since they are ultrasensitive (>100db) they reveal every nuance of the source, the preamplification or the power amps they are mated with. I suggested tubes, tubes, tubes. There is also a healthy tweaking community that can help the audio enthusiast get the last little bit of audio nirvana from their K-horns. Don't worry about getting them set up correctly, you have to place them in the room corners, no choice, they use the walls as the finishing touches on their bass horn enclosures. If you don't have the appropriate space forget these speakers (go for Belles) Do I read the audio magazines and pine after B&W 801s and Revel Studios? Well yes, but after walking into stores to listen I walk out with the realization that my speakers are truely unique and the differences in sound are just that...differences, neither better or worse than any other. What works best for you and your music? How do you put together a system that reproduces for you what you hear in your head? The only way to find out is to get out there and listen, I recommend that you audition a pair of Klipschorns, they just may be the speakers you have been waiting to hear. If you are ever in San Salvador, give me call and we'll listen together, but watch out! You may be bitten by the K-horn bug and shipping in Central America is Hellishly expensive!

Associated gear
Click to view my Virtual System

Similar products
Magnaplanar MG-3, Paradigm reference 100s, JMLabs Electra,Polk.
sunnysal
Mike you've found the magic combination too: classic Klipsch's driven by fet's are the only way to fly.
I have an audio salesman / friend who has the XRT20's, but when he really wants to sell someone who's "on the fence" he'll bring them not over to his house, but to mine. These vintage classics are now 25 years old, but they can sure still captivate with their dynamic realism. We break out the Telarc's & the newbie customer just HAS to buy something - funny that it typically doesn't even resemble the rig that they just heard, but now they know just what hifi in the home can sound like & they're in love.
If you've even given consideration to tweaking your Klipsch's to an even better performance level then drop me an email - that goes for anyone too.
Hello Bob and Thanks. Looks like people go into a "feeding
frenzy" of hearing music after they have heard Klipschorns that were set up properly. Despite the bad rap that they have received from many audio dealers and the Brett Butterworth's of the world, They still are the best. I suppose people play them too loud with equipment that does not do them justice. Don't get me wrong, I'm strictly not a "High end" type of guy. I've heard Klipschorns sound very good with The Carver Receiver, Mcintosh 1900 receiver, and even a very cheap Kenwood integrated amplifier. It's how you set everything up and tune to the room. The Yamaha Vertical Field Effect Trannies sound so sweet. Just listen to "Fire On The Mountain" by the Marshall Tucker Band on vinyl with a good Moving coil cartridge. Talk about heaven!
I hope that when a person goes shopping for audio and has
a little money in his pocket, hopefully, he will at least hear some Klipschorns. Happy Listening to you!
Mike
Mike thanks for your email. Let's compare our notes! I'll respond privately to you both with a rather long-ish writeup. But not tonight; we have a big crash project going on here at the satellite uplink station that has me rather tied up for the next several days. I will get back to y'all though.
Am I the only one here who finds their midrange to be dreadfully colored, and to sound like a PA-system?

Oh well, to each his own.