Klipschorn AK7 80th Anniversary: An 80-Year-Old Legend Gets a Serious Hot-Rod Treatment

There aren't many products in high-end audio that can claim an 80-year history. There are even fewer that remain recognizable eight decades later.

The Klipschorn is one of them.

Paul W. Klipsch's original Klipschorn dates back to 1946, establishing the foundation for a loudspeaker that would become one of the most recognizable designs in American HiFi.

For the Klipschorn's 80th anniversary, Klipsch could have simply created a special veneer, added a commemorative badge and called it a limited edition.

Thankfully, that's not what happened.

The new Klipschorn 80th Anniversary Limited Edition is a substantial rethinking of the Klipschorn concept. It returns to a two-way, fully horn-loaded architecture, introduces an active crossover, incorporates a completely new high-frequency horn and wraps everything in a spectacular combination of real wood veneer, brass and cast aluminum.

Only 280 pairs will be produced worldwide.

And at $12,999 each — $25,999 per pair — this is unquestionably a serious loudspeaker.

But this is also a very different Klipschorn.

Back to the Beginning — Sort Of

One of the most interesting things about the 80th Anniversary model is that Klipsch didn't simply modify the current Klipschorn and dress it up for the occasion.

Instead, the company went back toward the philosophy of Paul W. Klipsch's original design.

The anniversary model is a two-way loudspeaker, rather than the familiar three-way configuration associated with later Klipschorns. That's significant because it makes this much more than a cosmetic anniversary edition. Klipsch has fundamentally reconsidered how the Klipschorn's drivers and horns work together.

Klipsch has essentially taken an idea born in 1946 and asked:

What could we do with it using what we know today?

That's where things get interesting.

The New K-5-K high-frequency horn Is the Star of the Show

You can't exactly miss it.

Sitting proudly on top of the cabinet is the new K-5-K high-frequency horn, mated to a high-powered compression driver. Rather than hiding the horn behind cabinetry or grille cloth, Klipsch has made it one of the defining visual elements of the speaker.

And we think that's exactly the right decision.

A Klipschorn shouldn't be shy about being a horn loudspeaker.

The two-way architecture allows the high-frequency horn to handle an enormous portion of the audible spectrum, while the lower section retains one of the fundamental ingredients of the Klipschorn formula: the massive folded bass horn.

Inside the cabinet is an approximately eight-foot-long folded bass-horn path.

The basic principle remains classic PWK: use horns to dramatically increase acoustic efficiency, reduce distortion and produce tremendous dynamic output without requiring ridiculous amounts of amplifier power.

It's an old-school idea that still makes an enormous amount of sense.

Then Klipsch Added an Active Crossover

This may be the most interesting technological change of all.

The Klipschorn 80th Anniversary uses an active crossover, giving the system considerably more control over the relationship between its low- and high-frequency sections than would be possible with a traditional passive network alone. Klipsch says the active crossover is designed to extract maximum performance and control from the new architecture.

For some Klipsch traditionalists, combining modern electronics with an 80-year-old loudspeaker concept might initially sound almost sacrilegious.

We look at it differently.

Paul W. Klipsch was an engineer.

The Klipschorn itself was an engineering solution to a problem: How do you reproduce the dynamics and scale of live music in a home with high efficiency and low distortion?

If modern technology gives engineers better control over how the horns and drivers work together while preserving the fundamental architecture, using it seems completely consistent with that philosophy.

This isn't technology being added simply to make the feature list longer.

It's technology being used to extract more performance from the original idea.

This Thing Looks Fantastic

There is no pretending a Klipschorn is a discreet loudspeaker.

It's big.

It's architectural.

And the 80th Anniversary Edition embraces that rather than trying to hide it.

The cabinet uses real wood veneer with book-matched grain patterns, accented by real brass inlays that trace the geometry of the cabinet. Above it sits the dramatic sandcast aluminum horn, giving the entire speaker an almost industrial-sculpture quality.

There's an obvious mid-century influence here, but it doesn't look retro simply for the sake of nostalgia.

It looks like a Klipschorn that knows exactly what it is.

And that's important.

At this level, a loudspeaker isn't necessarily something you're trying to make disappear into the room.

It becomes part of the room.

Still Hand-Built in Hope, Arkansas

Perhaps our favorite part of the story is where they're being made.

Every Klipschorn 80th Anniversary Limited Edition is handcrafted in Hope, Arkansas, continuing the manufacturing tradition behind Klipsch's Heritage loudspeakers.

That matters on a product like this.

We're talking about a loudspeaker celebrating a design conceived by Paul W. Klipsch in the 1940s, still being constructed in the Arkansas town at the center of the Klipsch story.

There aren't many parallels to that left in consumer electronics.

In an industry increasingly dominated by products with short life cycles, the Klipschorn is almost the exact opposite.

Eight decades later, the fundamental idea is still alive.

Klipsch Went Into the Archives, Too

Every 80th Anniversary Edition also includes something particularly cool for Klipsch collectors: a special 180-gram vinyl pressing of original KlipschTape recordings.

These recordings date back to the early 1950s, when Paul W. Klipsch was using stereo recordings to demonstrate the capabilities of his loudspeakers. Klipsch says the limited pressing includes recordings that have been out of print for decades, including material that has never previously been publicly heard.

It's a small detail compared with the loudspeakers themselves, but it's exactly the kind of detail an anniversary product should have.

You're not just buying something with an "80th Anniversary" badge attached to it.

Klipsch actually dug into its history.

The Grid's Take

This is what we want to see from an anniversary product.

Don't just change the finish.

Do something.

Klipsch took arguably the most historically important loudspeaker in its catalog and used its 80th birthday as an opportunity to revisit the engineering behind it.

The two-way architecture connects the speaker back to its beginnings. The new K-5-K horn pushes the concept forward. The active crossover introduces a level of control that simply wasn't available to Paul W. Klipsch when the original concept was developed.

And the wood veneer, brass detailing and enormous exposed horn make sure nobody mistakes it for an ordinary Klipschorn.

Is $25,999 per pair inexpensive?

Obviously not.

But look at the Klipschorn 80th Anniversary within the context of today's ultra-high-end loudspeaker market and the equation gets considerably more interesting.

You're getting a hand-built American loudspeaker, an ambitious fully horn-loaded design, a genuine connection to one of the most important products in American HiFi history and one of only 280 pairs being produced worldwide.

More importantly, Klipsch hasn't tried to turn the Klipschorn into something it isn't.

It's still big.

It's still unapologetically horn-loaded.

It's still extraordinarily efficient.

It's still built in Hope.

It's just been given 80 years of hindsight.

And we think that's exactly how you celebrate an icon.

Klipschorn 80th Anniversary Limited Edition at The Grid HiFi

The Klipschorn 80th Anniversary Limited Edition is available at The Grid HiFi for $12,999 each / $25,999 per pair.

With production limited to only 280 pairs worldwide, this is a genuinely limited opportunity to own one of the most significant Klipsch Heritage releases in decades.

Whether you're a longtime Klipsch enthusiast, a collector, or building a reference-level two-channel system, The Grid HiFi can help with amplification matching, source components, system design, delivery and setup.

$12,999 each | $25,999 per pair

Shop the Klipschorn 80th Anniversary Limited Edition at The Grid HiFi