sweep the listening room more completely. The result is a horn with a rectangular opening and rounded walls. This noticeable improvement in efficiency also brings about improved speaker expression. There is less reflection off the walls, especially in those first rebounds which can add grun- gy colours to the audible spectrum. “You’ll hear it right away. It’s very perceptible,” concludes Mr.Latour, who is delighted at the prospect of showing us what his system can do. “But first, look at the subwoofer. It’s really something. I’ve got two of them – enough to stir up the emotions of even the most insensitive listener,” he says proudly.
RW-12D SUBWOOFER
Here too the ports are large-sized. The company has impro- ved on the principle of Bass Reflex configuration with a sort of cannon tube placed at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. They call this tube the Corner Port. Because it’s oblique it can be long without taking up too much room. The air stream is less subject to port noise and distortion and the air gets off to a better start before shooting forward and rebounding off the ground. This way, the enclosure can handle notes that are lower than those reproduced by other products of the same dimensions. The cabinet is relatively compact, measuring 49 cm (19.2 in) high by 37 cm (14.6 in) wide with a depth of 53 cm (21 in). The cone has a 12- inch (30 cm) diameter and, at 22kg (almost 50 lbs), the unit is surprisingly heavy. One important design feature is the bevelled port corners. This looks unimportant but it avoids a lot of acoustic problems. In fact, all of the other speakers in the Klipsch Reference family have the same kind of chamfer.
The Klipsch speakers have the rare ability to be able to rocket people into ecstasy. These are really powerful speakers. Their force is breathtaking.
The magnetically attached grilles which protect the cones from dust have a low-diffraction cloth. But what stands out on the subwoofer is the glowing blue screen which displays the operating parameters of the unit. A digi- tal circuit drives the speaker. You can adapt the sound to a number of musical styles and listening situations. For example, there’s a compressor that can dampen the punches if you want to listen to a film in the evening without rattling the whole household. As well, there are three equalisation modes : one to accent the punches, one for maximum depth from recordings that are a bit flat and another neutral mode. This is the one we chose to get a balanced idea of the natural talents of these speakers.
The cabinet is finished in a black wood grain ... beach I think. Okay, so much for the overview. What do we listen to?
DIVING RIGHT IN
We were twitching with impatience. It didn’t really matter to us what CD or video Claude would pull off the shelf, we
just wanted to hear what this daring set-up with two sub- woofers could put out. Since we couldn’t make up our minds, Claude chose for us. He got things underway by put- ting on some demo discs, the kind you hear at trade shows. I have to admit, we weren’t very impressed by the first lis- ten. The effects were bland and the recordings pretty flat. However, things got better when he put a classical music DVD into the player. Stravinsky I think. A full-sized orches- tra started playing. Each instrument came through with remarkable clarity. The snare drum hits especially went right to the gut. I felt stirred right to the depths of my being. The Klipsch speakers have the rare ability to be able to rocket people into ecstasy. These are really powerful speakers. Their force is breathtaking. We found ourselves caught up in an orgy of decibels. Never raw or vulgar. Rather, delicate brush strokes on an enormous canvas. As impressive as a summer storm. A build-up of raindrops that turns into an overpowering torrent. We had the wind knoc- ked out of us. It took us several seconds to understand what was happening here. Amazing !
Later, after other samples from other discs, I was still thunderstruck, mesmerized, not knowing quite what the cause was. Was it the dual subwoofers? Or was it the other speakers that were casting a spell on us? I tried to fake out the other speakers with a recording I knew to be defective: a copy of The Healer by bluesman John Lee Hooker which I’ve hauled around in my gear for ages and which, by chan- ce, had a couple of damaged tracks. Most sound systems either skip over the defects or make them worse, especial- ly in the high register. To my astonishment the Klipsch speakers did neither. They reproduced the recording as is: flat in the flat parts, scratchy in the scratched parts. The sensitivity of the front RF-63’s is phenomenal. No imperfec- tions make it past. Everything is reproduced faithfully – you get the naked truth. Claude jumped in here to unders- core an important point: This speaker sensitivity cuts both ways. If the take is impeccable, the Klipsch will hand you an unforgettable experience. However, if it’s under par, your ears will hear every little flaw.
Moving along to an album that I know is very good – a sampler called Asia Lounge (AudioPharm, 2001) that I have often used as a reference for my tests. The seventh track on disc two plunges us into the strange ambience of an airport corridor which gradually morphs into an Arab tune played on an oboe. Synthesizers accompany the traditional Arab instruments. Many speakers have a tough time keeping the sounds straight. But with the Klpsch, the natural tone colours stay natural and the artificial ones stay artificial. After several bars, the music sort of hung in the air and the airport noise resonated in the distance. Then BOOM! A shockwave blew us away. Powerful bass notes shook the room. Once again the subwoofers worked their magic, but this time the other speakers kept on amazing us by their precision and their clarity in the mids and highs. Finally, for the first time, I heard the surround speakers add deli- cious details here and there. We were in heaven. Give me more! Jolly Mukherjee’s tablas and his Madras Cinematic
