INDIANAPOLIS — Klipsch shipped the first home theater speakers and first soundbar under its Reference Unity strategy.
Under the strategy, all future soundbars and headphones, and a majority of home-theater speakers, will carry the Reference-series name to tell a unified sonic- signature story to consumers across product categories, the company said. A majority of the brand’s product offerings will therefore be available as part of the Reference series.
The company positioned the strategy as making Reference’s “superior sonic signature attainable to a wider audience at various price points.”
“The comprehensive program creates consistency of product, performance and image to increase cross-selling opportunities, customer recall and overall consumer confidence,” the brand said.
All Reference-series marketing collateral, such as packaging, messaging, advertising and retail displays, will feature the brand’s copper and black color palette.
Because a majority of the brand’s product offerings will be available as part of the Reference series, the brand will make Reference’s “superior sonic signature attainable to a wider audience at various price points,” the company said.
The first Reference soundbars and home-theater speakers under the new strategy became available in July and will be followed by other products throughout 2015, the brand said.
In May, Klipsch launched the Klipsch Reference R6 and R6i in-ear monitors. The company already offers a Reference series of home speakers.
In home speakers, the brand will drop the Synergy, Icon and HD Theater names on products. “Klipsch is selling through those lines until all the Reference component audio tiers are in place,” a spokesperson said.
Current products in the Palladium, Heritage and THX Ultra2 home-speaker lines and in the ProMedia computer-speaker line will remain in the brand’s product selection, and future products could be introduced, the spokesperson added. The Gallery name will also remain.
The Palladium series is in the luxury market with a 5.1 home-theater system priced at $31,500. Heritage is a high-end series of $850 to $4,500 each. These are the original speakers founder Paul W. Klipsch introduced in the first years of the company’s history. These speakers are still hand-built upon order in Hope, Ark.
“Klipsch is returning to our celebrated core product line” and “launching exciting products in complementary verticals with much tighter parameters for consistency in the marketplace,” said Matt Sommers, Klipsch’s marketing and creative strategies VP.
The new Reference home-theater speakers launched by the brand represent the entry-level models in what the company said would be a “tiered” approach to Reference home-theater speakers. They will join the currently available Reference II series. The home-theater speaker strategy will be fully implemented in 2015, the company noted.
The new home theater speakers consist of two floorstanding towers, the R-28F and R-26F at $698 and $898/pair; the R-15M and R-14M monitors at $249/ pair and $199/ pair; the R-25C center channel at $249; the R-14S surround pair at $279/pair; and two subwoofers at $349 and $449.
The new soundbar under the strategy is the Reference R-10B soundbar at a suggested $599. It is the first soundbar to carry the Reference name.
The satin-black soundbar features perforated metal grill and connects to the optical digital output or analog output of a TV. The bar features Dolby Digital decoder, a surround mode to simulate surround sound, stereo Bluetooth with aptX technology, and 2.4GHz wireless 8-inch side-firing subwoofer. The 40 by 2.8 by 4.1-inch soundbar delivers 250-watt peak output and 27Hz to 20kHz frequency response.
