It’s a trans-pacific audio dream team of sorts: Klipsch, the iconic American speaker company, has joined forces with Onkyo — one of Japan’s premiere audio processing and amplification companies — to create a new, modular soundbar system known as Flexus. Klipsch showed the new hardware at CES 2024 but didn’t offer any demos. It says the Flexus system is expected to be available by April 2024.
Despite showing the major components of the Flexus system — two soundbar options (Flexus Core 100/Core 200), wireless surround speakers, and a compact, 10-inch wireless subwoofer — very few specifications were released.
Both of the soundbar options support at least one 8K Ultra HD capable HDMI input, plus an HDMI eARC port, and they both have Bluetooth connectivity. Both bars can decode Dolby Atmos, though they render the 3D surround sound format differently. The Core 100 is a virtualized Atmos 2.1-channel system with two 2.25-inch drivers and dual 4-inch built-in subwoofers, while the Core 200 has dedicated up-firing drivers in a 3.1.2-channel configuration, with four 2.25-inch drivers, dual 4-inch built-in subwoofers, and a dedicated horn-loaded tweeter, which Klipsch says is designed for vocal clarity.
The only other thing Klipsch is willing to discuss at the moment is the degree to which it has invested in the new system (it claims that it conducted over 1000 rigorous tests to ensure its quality and performance) and the importance of its partnership with Onkyo. Klipsch credits Onkyo’s technology as key to reducing the size of certain components as well as helping to perfect “every aspect of sound reproduction within our soundbars.”
While we wait for Klipsch to give us some more substantive info like how much power it handles, and whether or not it supports Wi-Fi features like AirPlay, the company has given us a price list for the individual components:
- Flexus Core 100 Soundbar: $299
- Flexus Core 200 Soundbar: $449
- Flexus Surround 100: $249
- Flexus Sub 100: $299
In some ways, it’s surprising we haven’t seen a Klipsch-Onkyo partnership before now. Both brands share the same corporate parent — Voxx International — which also owns several other well-known audio brands like Pioneer, Acoustic Research, RCA, and Energy.
