Klipsch Group not releasing multi-room audio system

By Devin Brown

In an email sent Thursday, Klipsch Group, the oldest speaker company in the country, told its customers and dealers it’s not ready to release any wireless multi-room audio systems.

In this image released by Klipsch, it shows the
Klipschhorn. It was the first speaker Paul W.
Klipsch, founder of the company, built. (Klipsch Group)

The email was labeled “Driven by Klipsch: The Plain Truth about Multi-Room,” the company said it had spent more than a year evaluating potential technologies in “kick-ass” sound. It said it believes many other audio companies have rushed speakers to the new market and have “fallen off a cliff.” The company said when the time is right it will release new products. It ended the email saying, “stay tuned for more updates. It will be worth it. Rock on.”

AVI Systems in Draper, Utah, is one of the largest custom integrators in Utah for Klipsch. Jim Young, the president of AVI, has more than 20 years in the AV world. He said his company was not surprised by the email. In past meetings with Klipsch sales representatives, Young said the company told him multi-room audio was “in the works.”

“In the world of speaker products there are people who build products and people who buy parts from China,” Young said. “Klipsch files the patents and then they make those products.”

Klipsch builds all of its Heritage and Palladium series in the U.S. The company’s Synergy line – a Best Buy only line – is made in China under direction from Klipsch.

Joseph Bodell, a sales managers at Custom Sound Company in Salt Lake City, Utah, said Custom Sound already pairs Klipsch in-ceiling speakers with Sonos products like the Connect and Connect:Amp.

Bodell said Custom Sound doesn’t want its customers to install their own multi-room audio systems because the setup can be complicated.

“On the custom side people don’t want to set things up,” Bodell said. “They want AV companies to do it for them.”

Young said Bose and Klipsch are usually last to “the table” of new technologies. Some of the most recent technologies to connect audio with speakers are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. He believes Klipsch is waiting to perfect the technology but it’s also waiting to see if the wireless multi-room audio market will be profitable.

This year at CES, the wireless speaker market saw new releases from Samsung, Denon, Definitive Technology, LG, Harmon Kardon and Monster. In October Sonos filed a lawsuit for patent infringement against D&M Holdings, the investing company that owns Denon and Marantz. Sonos cited four instances where D&M had copied its product. Young said Sonos controls 90 percent of the market. He believes 

Klipsch is taking more time because it wants to be sure the new multi-room products stay out of litigation.

In this image released by Klipsch, it shows the
CDT-2650 C II. (Klipsch Group)

Young said it’s hard to order any new product line because he doesn’t know if it will be in production for the next year. He said AVI still has a discontinued series of wireless multi-room speakers from Definitive 

Technology. Young said his customers don’t want to buy anything that doesn’t have a record like Sonos.

Custom Sound’s most popular pair of Klipsch in-ceiling speakers, typically used for multi-room setups, are the CDT-2650 C II and the CDT-3650 C II. According to Klipsch’s website these Reference Series speakers sale for $200 and $300 each.

Klipsch group is owned by Voxx Internation Corporation. The company’s headquarters are in Indianapolis. Klipsch would not comment on what new technologies might be used in its new wireless multi-room audio system.