A characteristic feature of the largest consumer electronics show CES in Las Vegas is its futurism. There you can show in the circle of specialists those products that, sometimes, not only have not yet gone on sale, but are also in the process of development. There you can see creative thought in action, evaluate not the execution, but the concept.

image credit: Klipsch

HOW LEGENDS ARE BORN

The Klipsch Group , Inc display at CES was so large and varied that it also included futuristic concepts and products that are about to hit stores. I was also struck by the range of activities of the company, which is steadily expanding into all branches of electroacoustics, opening up new horizons and directions of movement. These are ultra-modern high-speed wireless technologies in a variety of applications, ready-made audio systems and separate components for playing music from the Internet and local network, all kinds of headphones from sports to studio ones. Since its founding in 1946, Klipsch has come a long way, while, as you will see from this review, retaining its uniqueness and original look at the theory and practice of high-quality sound reproduction.

Forte III: for vinyl and more

Let's start with the most traditional novelty. Forte III is a high-sensitivity three-way loudspeaker (hereinafter referred to as AC) designed in the tradition of Klipsch founder Paul Klipsch, a tireless innovator, inventor and subverter of the foundations. The horn acoustic systems invented by Klipsch of different sizes, but with a consistently high efficiency (sensitivity), are so ahead of their time that they do not even think of becoming obsolete. Their valiant detachment - Klipschorn , Heresy , La Scala , Cornwall - is still being produced and is gaining new fans of dynamic and live sound.

image credit: Klipsch

Forte acoustic systems, which can be translated as "strength", are also associated with Paul Klipsch, but rather not as a developer, but as an ideological inspirer. Their first appearance on the market came in 1985 as a smaller and more affordable addition to the Heritage series. The third incarnation of the Forte III combines the traditional high sensitivity of 98 dB with new technologies aimed at expanding the bass range and increasing the overload capacity.

The Forte III can be briefly described as a Heritage series speaker, but with two important differences. The first is a 380mm passive radiator on the back of the speaker that offloads the 300mm main woofer and delivers deeper bass. The second is the titanium membranes of the horn MF and HF emitters and the profile of the "tractrix" MF horn, tested and studied in the new Reference series.

The Klipsch Forte III is seen by its creators as the perfect companion to a modern turntable system, as speakers that perfectly demonstrate the virtues of live analog sound. They will be built in the same facility at Klipsch's Arkansas plant as all other Heritage models.

The Forte III is a product that is still in development, but as Klipsch explained at the show, it is expected to be available for sale around the second quarter of 2017. 

Heritage Wireless: retro chic without wires The

Heritage Wireless is a bridge between the Paul Klipsch tradition and wireless technologies in 2017. The retro-chic finish - natural veneer, fancy brass knobs - is an active speaker shell that easily links to digital portable music sources and the internet.

image credit: Klipsch

New to the Heritage Wireless lineup is The Fifteens, the next step up from wireless desktop speaker to hi-fi. The Fifteens is a stereo set, a pair of active floor standing speakers with wireless connectivity. They start with the built-in preamp/DAC. It has USB-Audio and Toslink digital inputs, an RCA line-in, and even a phono stage for direct connection to a turntable. The smartphone has a Bluetooth connection. These speakers, like other models in the Heritage Wireless series, connect to the Klipsch Stream Wireless system via Wi-Fi, after which they can play music from the local network or from the Internet services of Tidal, Pandora, Napster, etc. Two amplifiers with a total power of 180 W are loaded onto a 380 mm woofer and a horn tweeter.

image credit: Klipsch

The 70th anniversary of Klipsch is also celebrated in the music business.

Paul Klipsch founded the company in 1946, and the first product - Klipschorn - appeared in 1947, so the celebration of the 70th anniversary can be extended to 2017 too. The American record company Capitol Records turns 75 in 2017, and on this occasion, two highly respected labels have entered into an agreement on a special partnership promotion. The list of special editions within the Capitol Records 75th Anniversary Collection will include not only records or CDs, but also three limited-edition loudspeaker models Capitol One, Capitol Three and Capitol Heresy. The first two are rebranded Klipsch The One and The Three from the Heritage Wireless series, while the third is a custom-finished version of the classic Klipsch Heresy III . 

image credit: Klipsch

Reference R-25PF: Wireless sound in a modern design

These floorstanding active speakers join the Reference series - marked by narrow front panels in a modern design, but with horn-like design at high and mid frequencies. In terms of functionality and connectivity, they are almost identical to The Fifteens (phono stage, DAC with 192kHz/24bit digital inputs, Bluetooth), but they will look different.

Low Control: control your subwoofer from your smartphone

New subwoofer seriesReference Wireless is a first look into the future, an exploration of new directions in audio technology. The series includes two models (with 250mm and 300mm woofers respectively) that receive the signal from the AV receiver via a wireless transmitter-receiver pair (included). The set of subwoofers in the "wired" Reference line is even larger: four models. Three of them can also be switched to wireless mode using an optional accessory (WA-2).

image credit: Klipsch

The next milestone in wire-free Klipsch subwoofers is the ability to control sound parameters and settings via a mobile app. The Klipsch Low-Control app debuted at CES 2017 for iOs and Android mobile devices. With it, the user can change the output level ("loudness"), the polarity ("phase") of the radiation, the cutoff frequency and the curve of the correction of the amplitude of sound pressure depending on the frequency (AFC of sound pressure) while directly at the listening position.  

image credit: Klipsch

Internet Music Ecosystem

The term "ecosystem", now fashionable in consumer electronics, means only the communication of individual devices with each other so that they can be used together with a minimum of preliminary settings - and preferably automatically. This is how the Klipsch Stream Wireless system works. It couldn't be easier: a device from the ecosystem connects to your home Wi-Fi, just like the Gate preamplifier hub, the Klipsch Stream app is launched on a smartphone or tablet ... and that's it. You have control on the display, and music is played from the corresponding speakers. Whether it's the compact RW-1 or The Three's retro design, or various soundbars. Or, as they showed us in Las Vegas, almost any hi-fi speaker. To integrate them into the Klipsch Stream Wireless, amplifiers of the Powergate series are designed. The newest of them is Powergate MAX. This is a 180-watt integrated amplifier with Wi-Fi LAN connection, built-in ESS DAC and MM/MC phono stage. Its exterior design, which subtly combines retro and handmade, with copper and wood accents, also echoes functional features to some extent. The amplifier has both a tone block (XX century) and an OLED display (XXI century). The output stage is based on key switching (class D) and Hypex modules, which made it possible to make a powerful amplifier very small. The Powergate Max is still in production and expected to be available around the end of 2017.

image credit: Klipsch

A Fresh Look at Popular Reference Series Models

Klipsch engineers have updated a number of design details on two key models in the Reference series of loudspeakers, while the exterior design has also been redesigned to be lighter and more modern, more reminiscent of the Reference Premier series. The RF-7 III top floor model and the RC-64 III center speaker are manufactured at the Klipsch factory in the USA, veneered with real wood veneer and differ from previous versions with a new tweeter design. The series is also said to be joined by a new natural veneer subwoofer with a 15-inch (380 mm) woofer. The RF-7 III will be the first to appear on the market, but this will not happen until autumn 2017.

image credit: Klipsch

Klipsch- Style Wall Speaker Klipsch

's tradition of big, dynamic sound can make its way into the wall-mount speaker segment with the Reference Premiere Series. The developers are preparing three models of flat wall speakers for universal use (front, center, rear) and a passive soundbar, that is, three speakers (left, right and center) in one case with a width for a flat TV panel with a 42-inch screen.

They will use one, two or four bass/midrange drivers with Cerametallic metal cones with a diameter of 90 mm and a horn tweeter with a titanium membrane with a "tractrix" horn profile. A special stand will allow the use of universal models also in a desktop arrangement, and on the wall they can be mounted both vertically and horizontally. 

image credit: Klipsch

This review is over for now, in the next part there will be new Klipsch regarding headphones, as well as a short story about the almost secret prototypes also shown at the January CES.