INTEGRATED LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
Do you remember your first really decent hi-fi system? It opened up your music, teased your brain with the possibilities of thrilling aural excitement, of dives to the bottom of the musical ocean. Perhaps it was all you needed, but more likely it was the beginning of a quest for your own ultimate sound-induced bliss.
That quest may be ongoing and never-ending, because our tastes and preferences evolve over time, money comes and goes, and we’re simply never satisfied. And even if we are, eventually, we’re audiophiles, and the industry always offers something interesting and new, or something old that’s new again.
My time with a pair of Klipsch The Nines speaker-gadgets1 reminded me of the exciting, youthful bloom of my first serious sound system: a Technics SL-D2 turntable with Audio-Technica cartridge, a Philips 45Wpc receiver, and New Advent Loudspeakers. That collection of early-1980s components opened my ears to the endless variety and flavors of recorded music. It stayed with me through college and into early adulthood. I spent thousands of hours with that system, exploring artists and genres, learning music history, forming and refining my own aesthetic.
That system served me well. In middle age, I’ve had to spend a lot more money and effort to build a system that tickles my sonic bones as intensely as that one did. And then The Nines came along and—well, it’s too soon to say what I thought about The Nines, so for now let’s just leave it at that.
Voice, heart, and guts
The Nines are part of Klipsch’s “Heritage Inspired Power Series,” which also includes the Fives and Sevens, similar but smaller speaker-gadget systems. The Nines are the fullest-range and largest speakers in the series. You can buy them directly from Klipsch or from a Klipsch dealer. You can also buy matching 24" stands.
I spent about two months with a pair, in the Walnut finish with off-white fabric grilles, on the matching black metal stands. They’re also available in black with black grilles.
The Nines is a two-way, bass-reflex speaker system with a rear-ported, 8" “high-excursion fiber-composite cone woofer” and a 1" “LTS vented tweeter with Tractrix horn.” The crossover between the two drivers is at 1.6kHz, which equates to about G#6, nearly four octaves above Middle C. The veneer boxes are a very manageable 19" high, 9.5" wide, and about 13.5" deep, and each weighs
