|
Klipsch kg2.2 Bookshelf speakersThe Klipsch kg2.2 is a compact two-way speaker with two 6.5-inch woofers in a vented enclosure that cross over to a horn-loaded tweeter at 2,200 Hz. The woofers are located near the top and bottom of the speaker panel, with the tweeter between them. Like other Klipsch speakers, the kg2.2 has above-average efficiency, with sensitivity rated as 93 dB sound-pressure level (SPL) at 1 meter with a 2.83-volt drive signal. Its nominal impedance is 8 ohms, its frequency response is specified as 50 to 20,000 Hz +/-3dB,anditis recommended for use with amplifiers rated up to 75 watts output.
The speaker's wooden cabinet has a removable black cloth grille. Binding-post terminals recessed into the rear of the cabinet, just below the enclosure vent, accept wire ends, lugs, or dual banana-plug connectors. For room-response measurements and listening tests, we placed the speakers on 26-inch stands, 3 feet in front of a wall and about 8 feet apart. The room response was excellent, with an overall variation of about 5 dB from 60 to 20,000 Hz, except for an unavoidable floor reflection that introduced a 5-dB peak at 270 Hz. The close-miked woofer response, when combined with the port radiation, resulted in a response curve that varied about +/-2.5 dB from 30 to 200 Hz and sloped off smoothly to about -12 dB at the nominal 2,200-Hz crossover frequency. Obviously, no simple or unambiguous splice would be able to create a believable response curve combining the close-miked and room responses. But when we ignored the floor-reflection peak in the room curve and assumed that the response was reasonably flat between 150 and 400 Hz, the two curves matched up very nicely to form a composite response varying only about +/-3 dB from 30 to 20,000 Hz. While the kg2.2 system's actual variation in response through the bass and lower midrange is arguable, our ears provided convincing evidence that a pair of these speakers can generate an impressive output in the 30- to 60-Hz range. True, there were audible amounts of harmonic distortion, but the fundamentals were unmistakably there. The horn tweeter had somewhat narrower dispersion than typical small dome tweeters, causing the high-frequency response at 45 degrees off-axis to be down about 6 dB at 10,000 Hz and down 14 dB at 20,000 Hz. A quasi-anechoic MLS frequency-response measurement, although differing in many respects from the room measurements, confirmed the reality of a dip in output in the vicinity of the crossover frequency. Depending on the measurement conditions, the dip ranged from 2 to 5 dB, but it was clearly a real effect, appearing in every measurement (except room response, which tends to smooth out irregularities in a speaker's response). Another indication that all was not ideal at the crossover point was the group-delay plot, which showed a sharp jog from 800 to 100 microseconds at that frequency. Woofer distortion, measured with a 2.12-volt drive to the speakers (equivalent to a 90-dB SPL in our sensitivity measurement), was between 1 and 2 percent from 70 to 2,000 Hz, rising to the 5- to 9-percent range between 70 and 20 Hz. The 8-ohm impedance rating of the kg2.2 seems unrealistic, since its impedance remained well under 8 ohms for most of the range below 1,000 Hz. The lows were 4 ohms at 50 Hz and 3.5 ohms between 120 and 400 Hz. The bass-resonance peaks of 22 and 16 ohms occurred at 24 and 90 Hz, respectively. Fortunately, the speaker's high sensitivity means that there is little likelihood of amplifier overload, even with amplifiers specifically not recommended for use with loads lower than 8 ohms. Despite its high sensitivity, the Klipsch kg2.2 was able to handle very high peak input levels without distress or damage. At 1,000 and 10,000 Hz, the amplifier clipped at 900 watts output into the speaker's 8-ohm impedance with no signs of difficulty from the speaker. With a single-cycle 100-Hz tone-burst signal, the woofers began to sound hard at a few hundred watts, and we stopped at 550 watts into their 10-ohm impedance at that frequency even though the speaker cones were not audibly bottoming. These measurements should convey some idea of the high peak sound levels the kg2.2 can generate-most comparably small full-range speakers would require several kilowatts of input to play as loud! The Klipsch kg2.2 sounded very smooth and well balanced, quite consistent with the final composite response curve we had created. As mentioned earlier, the bass was both smooth and deep, and the highs were as extended and effortless as one could wish. In listening to music, the crossover dip was never audible.
All in all, the kg2.2 was a very easy speaker to listen to for extended periods. It's a fine choice for those who want good sound quality, high output capability, and an attractive appearance at a very affordable price. ![]() |