New Products

Klipsch has once again teamed up with the McLaren Formula 1 Team, this time to create a series of speakers featuring “papaya orange” accents that recall the distinctive color racing legend Bruce McLaren chose for the F1 cars he drove to victory in the late ’60s.

Starting at the top, the series is capped by the limited issue Klipsch MCL-905 McLaren Edition speaker (far left, $15,998/pair) slated for release in March. Production will be limited to 25 pairs, each of which will be hand-built in Klipsch’s facility in Hope, Arkansas and covered by a 10-year warranty.

The speaker is a two-way design featuring two 15-inch fiber-composite woofers in a large, ported cabinet made of real wood and topped with a compression/horn assembly, which has been a signature element of Klipsch speakers since Paul Klipsch introduced the iconic Klipschorn in 1946. The speakers sit behind a removable metal grille. The horn, in this case, is actually a modern cinema version of the original horn that mates a 3-inch titanium compression driver with the latest version of the company’s soundstage expanding Tractrix horn geometry.

Standing 55.5 inches tall, the MCL-905 boasts a super high sensitivity rating of 105dB and is rated to play down to 45Hz ±3dB (32Hz at –10dB) with maximum SPL spec’d at 127dB. In addition to the orange horn, the side of the cabinet has an orange and white banner with Bruce McLaren’s signature and the number 5 to commemorate the car he drive to victory in 1958 when he became the youngest Grand Prix winner at the time.

Next in line is the McLaren Edition of the Forte floorstanding speaker (far right, $10,998/pair), which over the years has distinguished itself as the company’s most popular model. Introduced in 1985, the three-way design mates a horn-loaded 1-inch titanium diaphragm driver with a modified Tractrix horn-loaded midrange driver, 12-inch woofer, and 15-inch passive radiator in a grain-matched wood-veneered cabinet that boasts an aluminum panel with high-quality binding posts.

The speaker is also hand-built in Hope, Arkansas, AK and features the same McLaren accents as on the MCL-905 but the horns are mounted in the cabinet behind a metal grille. Standing just shy of 3 feet tall, the F1-inspired Forte has a rated sensitivity of 99dB and plays down to 38Hz ±3dB with maximum SPL spec’d at 116dB.

The Legends Series also includes a new set of Bluetooth-enabled wireless speakers dubbed the Klipsch Nines McLaren Edition ($3,798/pair). Standing just over 19 inches tall, each speaker mates an 8-inch long-throw woofer with a 1-inch titanium tweeter loaded in a large Tractrix horn. The system packs 240 watts of onboard power and features 192kHz/24-bit decoding plus an integrated phono preamp and a host of connections, including ARC-enabled HDMI, digital optical, analog RCA, and USB. The free Klipsch Connect App provides EQ customization and facilitates system setup, firmware updates, and one-tap support.

Rounding out the McLaren Edition lineup is The One II ($349), an F1-inspired version of Klipsch’s all-in-one tabletop speaker featuring 60 watts of power and a biamplified 2.1 configuration that pairs a 4.5-inch woofer with two 2.25 full-range drivers.

For more information on the Legends Series, visit klipsch.com.