I always wanted to be on the cover of the Rolling Stone, I guess because of the song, but I will settle for the cover of Klipsch Webpage. I mean we are getting a lot of hits here right?
So now that Professor Thump has blabbed on about speakers and headphones, is there anything that YOU, the Klipsch Fan, would like to hear about from me?
I have some things in mind that have been suggested. Here are a few of them:
How do you evaluate the quality of sound?
How loud is too loud?
How do you design a bandpass box?
Where do you get your Energy?
…Speakers that is?
Why do more guitar speakers sound better when you are jamming, but one Klipsch loudspeaker sounds better for music?
How do you get a job at Klipsch?
What do Acoustic Engineers eat for lunch?
What kind of Klipsch Headphone should we design?
I could go on… But I want to hear what YOU have on your mind. Shout it out!
P Thump
P.S. Don't forget to check out my Tech Blog... Where it really gets dicey!
S4 S2m
Many people are wondering why Klipsch price points on headphones are so varied. S2 sells for $49.99 and X 10 sells for $349.99. Both products have a place in the market and both products have their reasons for their cost. I am here to tell you that it is all in the technology when it comes to sound and cost.
There are different strokes for different folks when it comes to headphone requirements. Some people can’t afford big buck for critical sound others understand and require the best in audio while enjoying the ultimate in comfort.
Take Image S4 or S2m for instance. Both of these designs are moving coil technology as I have explained previously. Both have their advantages of being great value at low cost with compelling audio. That is what a moving coil gives you. You can see the technology of the driver below in the animation.
This design has very few limited parts and a large diaphragm, so it is easy to have big bass in the response of the design. The diaphragm works like an air pump in a pressure field pumping the sound to your ear canals. In the scale of things the moving mass is heavy in relationship to the magnetic flux density. This tends to give most moving coil designs a tubby, under damped sound to the bass. Some would consider this design not fast. The S4 minimizes this effect with an extra magnet in the pole piece section. This is a very uncommon design in the industry thus the S4 cost a little more to make than the average 10-15 mm driver.
X10 X5
Image X10 Balanced Armature compared to a US penny
The photo above shows the extremely small micro engineering that Klipsch has had to do with Sonion’s premium transducer. Hold a penny in your hand and imagine working on parts the size of Lincoln’s head. Now that is small. Even Professor Thump had to get a new pair of super glasses to see what is going on. The letter on the penny is as large as the acoustic snout or exit on the can.
Wanna take a peek inside?
Balanced Armature In Action
* Refresh the web page if this video is not moving animation.
When you look under the hood you can start to understand why the KG 926 or KG 623 balanced armatures are complicated to work on. Imagine tuning the box on this enclosure. It is easy to understand that the port is uber small, so small that it is difficult to see with the naked eye. Even with my super glasses on.
Following through the animation we can imagine electronic audio signal travelling to the fixed coil. With this magnetic charge occurring the armature gets excited and repels the magnetic field as it sit between two Neodymium magnets. The armature then servos the push rod, which in turn moved the diaphragm creating acoustic signal in the form of compressed and rarified air pressure. This air pump pushes air down the snout of the design to the nozzle on the headphone and through the eartip to your ear canal. As the pressure builds up in your ear canal your ear drum reacts by moving out. The electronic signals from your MP3 player have now converted to sound in your earballs. (Earballs... That’s a technical term) And sound is recreated from your favorite tunes…
The benefit of this design is that the armature is very light thus the sound is very fast. Transient attack occurs instantaneously so your highs are buttery smooth and your vocals crystal clear while your kick drum slams your brain to the skull. Now that’s THUMP!
Cools stuff from none other than Klipsch.
Let the concert begin in YOUR HEAD!
P Thump
Peace Out!