Heard Klipsch Jubilees yesterday

[Tom Brennan]

I visited a fella that use a pair of Klipsch Jubilee theater speakers in his house. Two-way with a folded basshorn and a large-format compression driver, bi-amped (500hz) with an EV digital crossover that also supplies EQ. DBX SS on bassbins and some huge modern Mac tube amp on the treble, Peach preamp, Sony CD and DVD players.

Some of you fellas may know that The Jubilee was PWK's last project and was intended by him as a home speaker but for some reason the Hoosier Garage Door King has no interest in it as a home product but sells it for pro use.

Anyway the setup sounded very good: low distortion, excellent dynamics---as you'd expect from a large format theater system. Tonality was very good with fairly deep and very clean bass and nicely extended and very clear highs.

Good speakers and the best Klipsch I've ever heard by a long shot.

[Mr. Widget]

Thanks for sharing... I was following the Jubilees over at the Klipsch forum for a while... Roy has certainly been very generous with his time and energies. From an outsider's perspective it seems that Roy carries the PWK torch much as Greg Timbers and a few of the guys at JBL still carry on in Mr. Lansing's tradition. It's very nice to see.


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[Robh3606]

Thanks Tom

So are those as big as they look in person?? That's one big midrange horn!!!

Rob

[Tom Brennan]

"So are those as big as they look in person?? "

Yup, the whole schmear's about 6' high.

[Shane Shuster]

Some of you fellas may know that The Jubilee was PWK's last project and was intended by him as a home speaker but for some reason the Hoosier Garage Door King has no interest in it as a home product but sells it for pro use.

But it's more than 8 inches wide and doesn't have fishing lure woofers.

Its a shame Klipsch didn't update the heritage style speakers over the years. Put the tractrix horns on them or some of the other advances their pro engineers have come up with over the years. They have the resources to make a high value/ good sounding speaker.

[Mr. Widget]

Its a shame Klipsch didn't update the heritage style speakers over the years.

They have reworked the venerable LaScala. I haven't heard the new version, but it looks like they gave it some serious thought and the word on the street is that it is really improved with a more robust bass horn and updated midranges and tweeters.


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[Tom Brennan]

Yeah Widget, but damned near anything you did to a LaScala would improve it. ;-) Sometimes I think the best way to improve the midrange would be to remove it.

There was a time that I owned LSs and preferred them to Altecs and JBLs, 25-30 years ago, but I smoked lots of pot back then.

I think the Khorn and Cornwall are pretty good speakers though. Amazing what a little deeper bass and more robust tonality can do.

[Shane Shuster]

They have reworked the venerable LaScala. I haven't heard the new version, but it looks like they gave it some serious thought and the word on the street is that it is really improved with a more robust bass horn and updated midranges and tweeters.


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Did they change the mid and high horns? I was under the impression they tried to keep the "Heritage" sound intact. By updated I meant use some of their horns that don't beam as much and realize that modern music goes lower in the bass region. A Cornwall 4 with new tractrix horns might be pretty cool.

The Heritage update they did seems more for the vintage crowd that didn't want the hassle of old speakers (demagged, old caps, ect.) or the guys who just love Klipsch and wanted them to keep the old flagship speakers available. Having owned Klipsch in the past, I think if they blended the large format of their old speakers with the horn technology they have today they could make alot better speaker.

[Shane Shuster]

Yeah Widget, but damned near anything you did to a LaScala would improve it. ;-) Sometimes I think the best way to improve the midrange would be to remove it.

No, no Tom. Tip them over on their face so they fire directly into the carpet. I've never smoked pot so I never thought they were any good. It has to be one of the most love/hate speakers ever made.

[Mr. Widget]

It has to be one of the most love/hate speakers ever made.

I think that is true of the JBL studio monitors (both the large 43XX and 44XX series), the big old Altecs (including the Model 19), and all of the original Klipsch line up.... for each of these speakers, there are great numbers of people who think they are the last word in audio nirvana, and then there are even larger numbers of people who assume the lovers of these big old beasts must be stoned or at least stone deaf. Sonic beauty is definitely in the mind of the beholder.


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[TimG]

This is what the home version may have looked like. I still don't understand why they didn't release this as their anniversary product.

[duaneage]

I owned a pair of cornwalls in the 80's. I really liked them. very dynamic system with serious punch. I sold them because they were too large for my Korean house and I actually regret it. The cabinets were white oak and very well made and finished. The woofers had pretty small magnets on them for a 15 but really cranked. I wouldn't touch Klipsch speakers made today with a stick.