Home theaters have come a long way. Since the advent of Netflix, online television and Bluetooth control, smart home technology has outfitted the modern household with fantastic options. Why settle for less when you can have more?
So you stop by your local Big Box home electronics retailer to look at some home theater equipment. A friend was recently telling you about the awesome system he got at a fantastic price and you figure it can’t hurt to check things out. You wind your way through the aisles of computers and vacuum cleaners to arrive at your destination.
If you have ever owned a baby monitor or a wireless intercom from your local Big Box retailer, you have experienced wireless audio at its most entry level. Sound quality is typically mediocre at best, range often falls short of ‘perfect world’ specifications, and interference is just part of life. Such technologies have to some extent, given wireless audio a bad rap.
Loudspeakers for audio reproduction come in many sizes, styles and price points. You can pick up a pair at your local superstore for the cost of a take-out lunch, or you can spend more than you did on your car from a high-end audio boutique. The bottom line is that if you are serious about sound quality, speakers can be a substantial investment.
We’ve all seen the most esoteric of home theaters in magazines and on the Internet. Affluent people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment, architecture, furniture and cables that cost more than some cars. It is most certainly glamorous, but not within reach of most consumers. Many of us have other minor expenses like mortgages, food, auto payments and college funds to concern ourselves with.
From the company that was instrumental in the creation of in-wall and in-ceiling audio comes a complete offering of installable speakers steeped in performance and years of experience. It begins with their Visual Performance Series, which is equipped with a low-profile grille that is paintable to blend seamlessly into any wall or ceiling. Available in multiple shapes and sizes, this series comes in several performance levels and a range of specialty applications.
In 1946, an entrepreneur named Paul W. Klipsch designed and hand-built the legendary Klipschorn speaker in Hope, Arkansas, with the goal of bringing live music into his living room. He was a true American audio pioneer and a member of the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame. His passion for quality sound and his understanding of the science involved gave rise to speaker technologies that would forever impact generations of music lovers.
As audio technologies evolved over the years, it became obvious that music listeners were moving toward computer-based audio. However, consumer electronics were not adjusting to this rapidly developing trend. Sure, you could connect your portable music device, laptop or PC to your home stereo via a plethora of splitters, cables and adapters, but you would still be dealing with typically low-quality, analog output stages or headphone jacks. Sound quality was mediocre at best and horrible at the other end of the scale.
An electrostatic loudspeaker is a speaker in which sound is generated by the force exerted on a membrane suspended in an electrostatic field. Some of the advantages of this design include significantly lower levels of distortion than conventional cone drivers and exemplary frequency response, since the operational mechanics are almost free from resonances and other sonic irregularities. Musical transparency is also enhanced over conventional speakers because the radiating surface has much less mass that must be moved.