Klipsch has announced the new Flexus Core 300 soundbar, which it says is the industry’s first to utilize Dirac’s Live Room Correction technology to optimize its sound specifically for the room in which it is installed and where the listeners are. Dirac Live is typically only used in amplifiers and receivers that are part of more complex and expensive home theater setups.
According to reports, the Flexus Core 300, priced at $999, will be “available this winter.” What high-fidelity speakers? It is also equipped with eight side-firing, front-firing and upward-firing 2.25-inch speakers, and four 4-inch subwoofers. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, 8K pass-through HDMI, HDMI eARC, USB-C and digital audio ports. Settings such as switching inputs and adjusting EQ are handled through the Klipsch Connect Plus mobile app for iOS and Android.
Changing sound output to compensate for the layout, size, and shape of a room isn’t a new feature of soundbars, but its execution varies. Samsung’s SpaceFit Sound relies on microphones on the soundbar itself to determine how sound is affected when it bounces around a room, while LG’s AI Room Calibration uses a mobile app and built-in microphones on smartphones to perform tests and determine sound Correction is required.
Dirac Live Room Correction technology is more comprehensive, relying on a Windows or macOS app and a microphone connected to a laptop to take sound measurements from multiple different locations in the room where the listener is. Dirac Live uses all of these measurements to calibrate the soundbar to create a “coherent and natural sound environment” that “enhances the clarity of dialogue in movies and the purity of vocals in music.”
The Klipsch Flexus Core 300 comes out of the box with a “limited bandwidth” license of the Dirac Live software, which only corrects frequencies up to 500Hz. Dirac also plans to eventually offer a “full bandwidth” license for the soundbar, which corrects frequencies claimed to cover the entire range of human hearing (up to 20kHz), for an additional fee.
