REPORTS The consumer's guide to new and important high fidelity equipment KLIPSCH H-700 ‘SPEAKER SYSTEM ‘THE EQUIPMENT: Klipsch 1-700, a three-way fullrange speaker system in enclosure. Dimensions: 21% by 15Y% by 13% inches. Price: $188-§225, doponding ‘on ‘cabinet finish, Manufacturer: Klipsch and. Asso cates, Inc., P.O. Box 96, Hope, Arkansas 71801. COMMENT: Just to racap a bit, the H in this nomen: lature stands for heresy. The departure from doen in this instance, has to do with inventor Paul Klipsch ‘original contention that horn-loaded speaker system is best; and further, that such a system should be placed in the comer of a room where the walls act as extensions of the horn enclosure and algo. provide ‘radiating surfaces for the bass. Klipsch stil belie this and stil offers his huge horn systems for wel hhosled perfectionists, The self:named heresy derives from his introduction of much ‘smaller reproduce, which does not horn-losd the bass, which is a rectan: gular box, which may be postioned along @ wall— fand which nevertheless is designed for clean, wide- range sound reproduction, albeit without the fabu- fously deep bass reach of the big Kipschorn system (Gee High Fidelity, December 1963). The first H system (Gn 1957) was designed ae a center fill for use with two corner Klipschorns. Later, Klipsch redesigned the H system to. serve as a full range unit on Its own, the most obvious change that of enlarging the front. ack dimension of the cabinet to accommodate a new midrange unit with @ lower response range than the original had. Reprinted with permission of High Fidelity Magazine, October 1967 For furtbor information write KLIPSCH and Associates, lnc. TELEPHONE (601) PRoepoct 16751 The present system uses Klipsch’s KOrtho-12 drive system: a 12%inch woofer for bass, and separate horn- Toaded midrange and twecter uns. Thece units, plus a threeway dividing network, are housed inside & neat walnut cabinet fronted with a neutrattint grille cloth, Connections are made at the rear to.a barrier-terminal strip marked for polarity. Impedance ts 16 ohms and efficiency is forty high—not as nigh as the larger full horn system but noticeably higher than most sealed- cabinet systems of thie general size. The system has 2 rated power hancling capacity of 25 watts RMS. Ik ossn’t take much listening to the 1-700. to iscover that it meets ls avowed design aims hands down whieh is to provide supsrior reproduction for a hhoms music system ina format and at a price sulted for mamy who couldn't manage the larger Klipecn models, he sound is big, open, and transparent, Feminiscent of larger horn systems except of cours for that bass at the very bottom of the scale. In this regard ft resembles many other systems of its size, with pemape somewhet more forceful projection of Sound into the room. ‘The bass response of the 1-700 ie clean and full down to about 50 Hz, Some doubling begins here and increases as frequency is lowered, but useful bass continues down to about 40 Hz. Below this frequency the response becomes increasingly mixed with monies and gradually rolls off to about 38 Hz. Mick ‘bass and treble response is clear and well balanced, with scarcely’ any evidence of directional effects all the way up the scala. Tones up to 13 kHz are audible off-axis of the system, with 2 slope in level toward inaudibilty beginning at about this frequency. White noise response is moderately bright but with no signs ff roughness or tonal "beating." The H-7C9 hae no builtin’ level controls although fsteners whe might want to reduce the treble output a litle ean position the system horizontally—thie changes the dispersion pattern of the highs due to the shape of the tweeter ‘and will result in slightly less apparent treble being Wafted into the listening. area. ‘The H-700'is very much at home in targe or smth rooms, and it produces no drop-out of musical ma: terial when driven at low tistoning levels, When driven have, i ean produce o big, broad front of room filing lume with a high order of Internal separation and, In paire, an excellent stereo image. The same system comes in cholces ‘of enclosure finish, ranging in cost from $188 for "theatre black,” ‘through $214 for unfinished. hardwoods, to $225 for finished cabinets. The speaker elements and diviging network sans enclosure (Model K-Orth-12. drive. sys- tom), for installing in one's own enciosure, cost $15: Individual elements also are sold separately: a price list 1s available from the manufacturer.