stereophile.com n August2019 113EQUIPMENT REPORTI
’m fortunate to have reviewed
in recent years not one but three
different pairs of horn-loaded
loudspeakers. My jaw dropped
when I reviewed what would prove
the finest loudspeaker to ever grace
my home, the Volti Audio Rival.^1
Second came a pricey but pleasing
pair from handlebar-mustache king
Gordon Burwell, the Burwell & Sons
Homage.^2 Then, at the urging of oc-
casional Stereophile contributor Steve
Guttenberg, I took on the fat-boy
Klipsch Heresy III.^3 As the Beatles
used to say, I was dead-chuffed.
Horn-loaded speakers achieve what
few conventional cone-only speak-
ers can: reproduce the note-perfect
timing, rhythmic energy, and blood-
pulsing impact of the real event. With
their high sensitivity ratings and low
power requirements, horns deliver
music faster, like a skier blasting off a
jump at warp speed: There’s no drag,
no lag, no confusion—just jumpin’
jiminy dynamics at practically every
volume level.
Though horn-loaded loudspeakers
began showing up in movie theaters
as early as the mid-1930s, credit goes
to Paul W. Klipsch for creating some
of the earliest horn designs for home
use. The biggest and most famous of
these arrived in 1946: the still-popularKlipschorn, for which Paul Klipsch
was awarded nearly two dozen
patents.
Designed and manufactured in
Klipsch’s Hope, Arkansas, factory,
where the company’s manufacturing
arm remains, the K-Horn has been
in continuous production for over
70 years, a feat no other speaker
manufacturer can claim. The three-
driver K-Horn is, or was, open-
back,^4 folded-horn design. When
the speaker is positioned tightly
in a room’s corner, the floor and
converging walls become part of the
horn and contribute to low-frequen-
cy gain. Single-ended triode (SET)
amplifiers are known for making
K-Horns sing, and tube aficionados
prize the speaker for a measure of
efficiency—electrical sensitivity com-
bined with impedance characteristics
that ease drivability—that contributes
to a lifelike dynamic range.KEN MICALLEF
Klipsch Forte III
LOUDSPEAKER
Description Three-way,
horn-loaded floorstanding
loudspeaker. Drive-units:
High frequency driver:
K-100-TI 1" (25mm) titanium
diaphragm compression
driver on a K-79T horn.
Midrange driver: K-70 1.75"
(45mm) titanium diaphragm
compression driver on a
K-703-M horn. Low-frequen-
cy driver: K-281 12" (305mm)
fiber-composite cone woofer.KD-15 15" (381mm) passive
cone radiator. Crossover
frequency: HF: 5.2kHz, MF:
650Hz. Frequency range:
38Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity:
99dB/2.83V/m. Impedance:
8 ohms nominal. Power
handling: 100W/400W.
Terminals: dual binding
posts/biwire/biamp.
Maximum spl: 116dB
continuous.
Dimensions 36" (914.4mm)by 16.5" (419.1mm) by 13"
(330.2mm) (H by W by D).
Weight 72lbs (32.7kg)
Finishes American walnut,
natural cherry, black ash,
distressed oak.
Serial numbers of units
reviewed 106423218220014,
106423218220013
Price $3998/pair. Approxi-
mate number of dealers: 65.
Warranty: 5 years.
ManufacturerKlipsch Audio Technologies,
3502 Woodview Trace,
Suite 200, Indianapolis, IN
46268.
Tel: (317) 860-8100,
(800) 554-7724.
Fax: (317) 860-9170.
Web: klipsch.com.
Email:
[email protected].
Klipsch manufacturing
facility, 13 Hempstead #278,
Hope, AR 71801.SPECIFICATIONS
1 See stereophile.com/content/volti-audio-rival-
loudspeaker.
2 See stereophile.com/content/listening-178-bur-
well-mother-burl-loudspeaker-great-mother-burl.
3 See stereophile.com/content/listening-119-ken-
micallef-june-2018.
4 After 70 years, Klipsch is retiring the open-back
Klipschorn. The most recent model, the AK6,
has a fully enclosed basshorn to free users from
having to snug their speakers into the corners; a
review of the Klipschorn AK6 will appear in our
pages later this year.