America has a reputation for being a number bigger and more spectacular than in Europe. Hollywood delivers not only the blockbusters for the rest of the world. From the land of unlimited possibilities comes also the whole surround trend for the perfect roller coaster ride in the cinema hall and for many years also at home. Klipsch is one of those manufacturers that are firmly anchored in both worlds. The company’s history, which has been going on for more than 70 years, began with the legendary Eckhorn, which was physically so clever that its designer, Professor Paul Klipsch, was miles ahead of the time. It used the reflections in the corner to drastically increase the efficiency. With this know-how, the success in the emerging sound film cinemas did not take long.
Beautiful back
For many, Klipsch is the first name that catches the horn. Finally, the Americans have always adhered to this principle forever, ignoring the principle-based disadvantages beyond the efficiency with each new generation. Thus, the current Tractrix horn enjoys low discoloration and distortion. It comes in all Reference Series speakers. Even the surround speakers, which were consistently designed as dipoles in Klipsch, use two of the square tractrix horns for the high frequency range. The RS-14S, with a curved front, have been specially designed as surround speakers and produce a diffuse sound field with their two-way systems, which are angled away from each other. Compared to conventional direct-lighting boxes in the surround channels, they are hard to spot. This gives the film sound the necessary space and ensures that the loudspeakers, which are usually placed close to the wall, can not be identified as such.
Lesetipp
A wall bracket facilitates placement over the listeners' heads. In the RS-14 S Klipsch also uses the IMG low-mid-rangeers with their copper-coated membranes. In the nearly 40 cm wide dipoles the two behind hidden fabric chassis have a diameter of 10.2 cm, which corresponds to American standards 4 inches. Since the right compact center can show more, because its two low-mid-range speakers have a diameter of 5.25 inches, ie 13.3 cm. The R-25 C is used in the same way as the dipoles on the closed housing construction. This distinguishes the 2-way design from the main loudspeakers, which have been designed as columns.
Conclusion
The one meter high R-26F is a bass reflex construction with a front-firing port for optimum airflow with low distortion. The stately columns use two of the copper-colored shining IMG drivers. The abbreviation stands for Injection Molded Graphite, ie injection-molded graphite material. Klipsch does not use the standard dust cap and replaces it with a piece of IMG material with the same curvature as the membrane.
From its material selection, the American company promises an ideal balance of weight to stiffness. The membranes of the low-mid-range speakers are to penetrate far into the bass cabinet without breaking open. Thus partial vibrations should not have a chance to impair the sound. Apart from this, the drivers have a decisive influence on the appearance of the well-processed, but relatively simply designed boxes.
Their MDF housings have to be used with foil veneers, which however appear very robust and have been optically brushed on brushed metal. In view of the very low price, however, this is perfectly fine, especially since the home cinema is usually gloomy.
The product planners showed generously on the backs of the boxes. There, they use bi-amping screw terminals in the R-26F and rely very quickly on the crossovers mounted on the back of the connection panels, which are designed puristically. In the case of the R-26F and the center R-25C, the transition frequency between the regions is uniform at 1800 Hz, which ensures an adaptation of the radiation characteristics. The transient dipole RS-14S is slightly higher at 2200 Hz. Although our laboratory has rated the passive boxes 4 Ohm nominal impedance and not 8 as stated, they are well manageable in connection with the absence of critical impedance breaks, especially since the high efficiency for
The Americans with the subwoofer drive a rather heavy caliber. The R-12SW weighs 22 kg. This makes it heavier than the R-26F columns. And even with the diameter of its IMG woofer, no other can reach the water in this 5.1 set. In its almost square front, it carries a decent 12-inch woofer, which receives bass reflex support through a front slot. In order to make the 30.5 cm woofer legs, Klipsch integrated a digital output stage with a sinusoidal output of 300 W. For impulses, the manufacturer even promises double the performance.
As far as the connection field of the active subwoofer is concerned, the stepless phase control should be emphasized. In addition, one can connect it also via the loudspeaker outputs of the amplifier, but this has practically no meaning in the home cinema area. Recently the little brother of the R-12SW provided for swirls in the 400 Euro class. But already the first notes clearly make clear that here again a different wind blows. The subwoofer played perfectly with its five brand colleagues. The extremely coherent and dynamic performance quickly made you forget that you were listening to a loudspeaker system. With this 5.1 ensemble you could be very deep into the action. It was never distracted by the fact that individual loudspeakers were pre-arranged or part of a technical transmission chain.
This also applied to the center, which reproduced the voices very authentically and differentiated. Above all, he did not make them seem as if they were coming from a small black box, but from a stadium or the prairies, depending on the scene. The fast response encouraged especially for this favorable price class surprisingly many subtle sub-noises. In addition, the set itself achieves remarkable dynamic jumps without noticeable effort. The timing was very good, which benefited shooting, explosions and collisions in the cinema.
The R-26F standbars showed the same basic characteristics in the stereo system and were placed on their own, and even the bass sounded really black and taut without subwoofer support. However, voices appeared a bit slender with some pre-eminence brilliance.
Klipsch offers with the Reference series a lot of fun and finesse for under 2000 euros. A hands-on 5.1 speaker set that does not require too much power and control from the AV receiver.
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