Indianapolis — Klipsch revealed details about one of the first new audio products, an active soundbar, under its Reference Unity strategy.
Under the strategy, the majority of future product offerings will fall under the Reference series, the company announced Friday. All future home-theater speakers, soundbars and headphones will carry the Reference-series name to tell a unified sonic-signature story to consumers across product categories.
The new Reference R-10B soundbar at a suggested $599 is the first soundbar to carry the Reference name. Another new Reference product will be announced later this week.
“The R-10B establishes a new level of performance and value consumers can expect from our products as the first soundbar under our new Reference unity strategy,” said Klipsch CEO Paul Jacobs. The product incorporates the advanced acoustic engineering and industrial design of Klipsch’s Reference home-theater speaker line, the company added.
The satin-black soundbar has a perforated metal grille and connects to the optical digital output or analog output of a TV. The bar features Dolby Digital decoder, a surround mode to simulate surround sound, stereo Bluetooth with AptX technology and a 2.4GHz wireless 8-inch side-firing subwoofer. The 40-inch by 2.8-inch by 4.1-inch soundbar delivers 250-watt peak output and 27Hz to 20kHz frequency response.
The driver complement includes two 0.75-inch horn-loaded textile-dome tweeters coupled with proprietary 90- by 90-degree horns to reduce distortion and widen dispersion. The tweeters are in turn complemented by two 3-inch polypropylene woofers and the 8-inch side-firing wireless subwoofer, which is housed an MDF cabinet with a slot-port design. The subwoofer pairs automatically with the soundbar.
Two built-in keyhole mounts are available for wall mounting, and removable rubber feet are available for tabletop mounting.
The Unity strategy accommodates other series. Current products in the Palladium, Heritage, and THX Ultra2 home-speaker lines and in the ProMedia computer-speaker line will remain in the brand’s product selection, and future products could be introduced, a spokesperson said. The Gallery name will also remain.
The new soundbar is available at stores and at Klipsch.com.
