Klipsch KL-650-THX Driver Size question

JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
Everywhere, including Klipsch's website indicates that this speaker is supposed to have 2x 6.5" drivers.

I stuck a ruler to mine, and they appear way off. Am I missing something stupid/obvious? No one discussing / reviewing these has made any mention I can find of the specs being dishonest.
Klipsh Woofer.jpg
 
JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
Indeed: this looks like a 5" driver (guessing where under the surround the cone ends) to me. Nowhere near the 6.5" it's advertised to be. But even the aperture is only 5.5".
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Driver size is commonly measured from frame edge to frame edge. So that driver wouldn't even make 6" by that metric. So that is the KL-650 and not the KL-525? Maybe some of the frame is hidden by the front baffle? On the surface, that does not appear to be a 6.5" driver.
 
B

Beave

Audioholic Chief
It's standard practice to measure from the frame edge.

It's also standard practice to round up from there. With most drivers being designed and built in Europe or Asia, they are measured in millimeters. When marketed/sold in the U.S., the millimeter measurement is converted to inches - and then rounded up to the next highest inch or half inch.

And as shadyj pointed out, it's also possible some of the driver frame is hidden by the front baffle - so you're not seeing quite the entire frame of the driver.

In any case, it's completely normal for the driver to look and measure smaller than what you would expect.

8" woofers often appear to be about 6.5 to 7 inches (measured at the surround).
6.5" woofers often appear to be about 5 to 5.5 inches (measured at the surround).
5.25" woofers often appear to be about 4.5 inches (measured at the surround).
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
It's standard practice to measure from the frame edge.

It's also standard practice to round up from there. With most drivers being designed and built in Europe or Asia, they are measured in millimeters. When marketed/sold in the U.S., the millimeter measurement is converted to inches - and then rounded up to the next highest inch or half inch.

And as shadyj pointed out, it's also possible some of the driver frame is hidden by the front baffle - so you're not seeing quite the entire frame of the driver.

In any case, it's completely normal for the driver to look and measure smaller than what you would expect.

8" woofers often appear to be about 6.5 to 7 inches (measured at the surround).
6.5" woofers often appear to be about 5 to 5.5 inches (measured at the surround).
5.25" woofers often appear to be about 4.5 inches (measured at the surround).
That is correct. Drivers are measured edge to edge of the chassis. Rounding it off your driver would be a 6" driver.
 
JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
This feels a lot like including the bezel in screen size measurements.
 
JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
Driver size is commonly measured from frame edge to frame edge. So that driver wouldn't even make 6" by that metric. So that is the KL-650 and not the KL-525? Maybe some of the frame is hidden by the front baffle? On the surface, that does not appear to be a 6.5" driver.
It says 650 on the box, and on the sticker.

More convincingly: there's a port (the 525 doesn't have one).
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
No the driver is 240 mm, which is 9.45".



Driver diameters are measured on the outside if the chassis.

Look at the side elevation. The speaker diameter is the 240 MM dimension, the number on the far left of the side elevation.

That is how drivers are specified, not by cone diameter.
 
everettT

everettT

Audioholic Spartan
No the driver is 240 mm, which is 9.45".



Driver diameters are measured on the outside if the chassis.

Look at the side elevation. The speaker diameter is the 240 MM dimension, the number on the far left of the side elevation.

That is how drivers are specified, not by cone diameter.
Yes, I was just commenting on the diameter from the surrounds as a reference to the OP, as I'm aware of how they are sized. Pretty sure I can read a tape measure :p when I measured surround edge to edge for the sake of the original post.
 
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JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
No the driver is 240 mm, which is 9.45".



Driver diameters are measured on the outside if the chassis.
With a bicycle wheel and some welding I can make your 9" driver a 48" driver by extending the chassis.
 
Matthew J Poes

Matthew J Poes

Audioholic Chief
Staff member
It is what it is, it's a well-known standard practice.

It's nothing to feel jipped about. With a finished speaker like this, ultimately it is the performance that matters, not the precise driver size. If you are happy with the speaker, don't worry about it.
 
JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
It is what it is, it's a well-known standard practice.

It's nothing to feel jipped about. With a finished speaker like this, ultimately it is the performance that matters, not the precise driver size. If you are happy with the speaker, don't worry about it.
I won't know for sure until the other two come in.

There's missing (to my ear) up around the "ringing" range; but I'm not yet convinced that is a bad thing in this context (movies). The vocals are super clear and well projected. I've read concerns about mid-bass, but until I've got a set tuned in I won't have an opinion there.

My point, once someone brought to my understanding that the measurement was the basket, wasn't that Klipsch was dishonest; but that this was a method of measurement which intrinsically unspecific and ripe for dishonesty.

The surface area of a cone is one of the factors affecting its performance. Indeed: surface area + xmax = freq x SPL. I am aware of no intrinsic relationship between cage diameter and surface area (except that the latter fit within the former). Measuring cone diameter would be more useful for buyers.
 
Matthew J Poes

Matthew J Poes

Audioholic Chief
Staff member
Yeah speaker cone should mostly be taken with a grain of salt. It’s more meaningful to the designer than to a consumer. Honestly what matters for us is the final product. Without knowing everything about the driver, it’s nominal diameter is pretty unimportant. The diameters do differ amongst manufacturers but not by much. They are close enough that in trying to guess at some difference in swept area or peak spl in the bass, it would be mostly inconsequential.

Klipsch is more about efficiency and output at the expensive of bass for a given sized speaker. If you don’t like their midbass you might consider adding a kind of midbass module under each one.
 
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