CE Pro April 2023 - 54

TECHNOLOGY
Audio Design
company that has never
drastically deviated from its
core industrial designs.
Joining McIntosh and
Klipsch in today's market, a
growing numbers of audio
manufacturers are offering
retro-speaker designs to meet
a growing demand for solutions
that harken back to the
golden days of home audio.
" There certainly appears
to be a sizeable interest
in classic gear. Whether it
is being driven by the ebb
and flow between retro and
modern, or if it falls into
the watershed of the vinyl
market is difficult to say, "
says PSB Speakers product
manager Joe de Jesus.
" [We're] fairly certain that
it is not strictly a matter of
nostalgia. A good portion
of the interest in the Passif
50 is not coming from those
who heard the original models
on a retail floor in the
early '70s. At the end of the
day, we're simply grateful for
the enthusiastic reception
to our speakers. "
Designs Merge
Classic Concepts
with Modern Tech
Back to the Gibson and
Fender reference, both companies
have encountered
some difficulty moving their
product lines forward without
forgetting the past. Part
of the problem has been
consumer reaction. There's
a faction of fans who react
negatively when these companies
launch new products;
conversely, another segment
of consumers criticizes these
brands for living in the past.
For that reason, these companies
have had to learn to
offer both classically inspired
54 | CE Pro April 2023
products like the respective
1960s Les Paul Standards
and American Vintage 1963
Telecasters, alongside more
contemporary products.
Thankfully, in the consumer
electronics industry
manufacturers such Klipsch
have never had the issues
Gibson and Fender have
experienced with consumer
pushback. This has allowed
the nearly 80-year-old audio
company to embrace its past
and move forward to adopt
new technologies and trends.
Tony Martin, director,
industrial design, Klipsch
Group, notes the company's
Heritage line of products
have been available for decades,
but at the same time
the company monitors the
ever-changing state of the
home audio market.
" The Klipsch Heritage line
has been in production since
the first models in 1946, and
while there have been minor
industrial design revisions
throughout the years, the
products remain largely the
same, " says Martin.
" As a company, when we
started to evaluate more
technology in audio products
like the use of Bluetooth
or HDMI inputs, along
with other classic inputs
like line-in or addition of an
integrated phono preamp,
we wanted to ensure that
[users] weren't overwhelmed
by the new tech.
One way to do that was to
keep physical attributes of
the speaker, like how we
have done for many years.
Using this combination of
retro-inspired design along
with emerging and new tech
was a way for the consumer
to remain comfortable, while
gaining the advantage of the
new features. "
Taking this approach
in the design of Klipsch
products, Martin comments
that the listening public has
embraced not only the vintage
designs of the Heritage
products, but also embraced
its retro-inspired, versatile
Heritage Wireless series.
Martin states that
regardless of the product
line, whether it's old-school
influenced Heritage products
or the retro Heritage
Wireless products that
feature technologies such
as Bluetooth and Google
Assistant, Klipsch's goal is to
Companies with long histories such as JBL (top), PSB Speakers (bottom) and Klipsch (opposite
page right) have re-introduced speakers with classic styles or evolved old-school lines.
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CE Pro April 2023

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