Klipsch THX-5002

The THX-5002 is a speaker designed to be recessed into a ceiling and handle the ambience channels of a home cinema room. Klipsch designed it as a fully-fledged surround speaker rather than a simple distribution speaker: it has received THX Ultra2 certification, a benchmark associated with multichannel installations in large rooms, played up to reference levels.

The architecture relies on two 13 cm woofers with Cerametallic diaphragms, working in a sealed enclosure tuned via a port, and on a titanium dome tweeter mounted in a compression chamber on a 60-90-110 VCT 45° Tractrix horn. This combination explains the stated sensitivity of 93 dB /1 W /1 m: at a nominal 8 ohms, the speaker needs little power to reach a high level, leaving dynamic headroom for soundtrack peaks. The two stated crossover frequencies, 1.2 kHz and 1.8 kHz, reflect progressive filtering between the two drive units rather than a single crossover point.

The extension down to 45 Hz is unusual for an in-ceiling model: ambience effects retain body without having to rely solely on the subwoofer. The variable-coverage horn and WDST wide dispersion technology aim for precise localisation of effects while tolerating varied installation positions, a common constraint when the ceiling structure dictates the location of the cut-outs.

This model is aimed at anyone building a permanent multichannel installation who wants to free up walls and floor space, particularly in a room where the rear or height channels need to be built into the structure. The recommended amplification of 150 W indicates the level of amplifier or power processor to plan for per channel; the 400 W peak figure indicates the available headroom on transients.