INDIANAPOLIS (January 5, 2006) - Klipsch Audio Technologies announces that 2006 will be its 60th year of manufacturing high-performance loudspeakers, but consumers will hear the real sound of the celebration. To mark its rise to being the number one speaker brand in all channels of U.S. distribution*, Klipsch will launch close to 50 new products this year. With these new items on the market, the company that has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 18 percent over the past eight years is poised for double-digit success for a ninth straight year.

"There are very few companies in this industry that have been around as long as Klipsch has so we are really proud to be celebrating six decades of success and longevity," said Fred S. Klipsch, chairman and CEO of Klipsch Group, Inc. "I believe our accomplishments lie in our ability to continually innovate and find ways to address an ever-broadening range of customers' needs."

To commemorate its 60th anniversary, Klipsch will host a series of year-long activities starting with the introduction of the limited edition 60th Anniversary Klipschorn® at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. With only 200 pairs available, this speaker is crafted for high-quality sonic performance and adorned with distinct aesthetic features that make it a collectors' item.

Founded by legendary audio pioneer Paul W. Klipsch in 1946, Klipsch is one of the longest-established North American loudspeaker companies. From humble beginnings in Hope, Ark., the company has evolved into a globally recognized speaker brand that employs 262 employees worldwide and is sold in 75 countries.

The Four Laws of the Klipsch Universe

Klipsch has always been devoted to producing no-compromise, premium-quality audio products. The company has been able to achieve and maintain its superior, best-in-class performance status by consistently following the theory "efficiency is inversely proportional to distortion." As efficiency rises, distortion falls. This classic observation applies to every Klipsch loudspeaker and results in reliable, durable products that deliver powerful, detailed audio performance.

Based on sound acoustical science, Paul W. Klipsch discovered that the use of horn technology was and is the best way to get high efficiency and low distortion from a loudspeaker. In addition, horn technology also brings the added benefits of controlled directivity, flat frequency response and wide dynamic range. Together, these design principles are and will always be the foundation for every Klipsch product.

As Klipsch moves into the future, it will continue to keep an eye on the past. As the industrial design of its products continues to advance to keep up with the times, the foundation of its work - horn-loaded technology - remains constant.

Klipsch History

Paul W. Klipsch founded the company on the promise of a corner, horn-loaded speaker design. Movie theaters and concert halls had long used horns to reproduce motion picture soundtracks, however those horns, at over nine feet long, were much too large for use in the home. Klipsch's solution was to fold the horn back onto itself and place the speaker cabinet in a corner, making the walls of the room an extension of the horn. An unquestionable success, the Klipschorn®, patented in 1945, is still considered by many to be the finest loudspeaker ever made and is the only speaker in the world that has been in continuous production for 60 years.

In the mid-80s, Fred Klipsch saw a loudspeaker advertisement in a magazine that bore a familiar name - his. He tore out the then Klipsch & Associates ad and carried it around with him for three years before calling the company's founder. Although they had never met, Fred Klipsch and Paul Klipsch discovered that they were cousins and, without an heir Paul Klipsch began talking about a way to keep his privately held company in the family.

In 1989, Fred Klipsch and his wife Judy bought the promising loudspeaker company and moved the headquarters to their hometown of Indianapolis, Ind., keeping manufacturing in Hope, Ark. Since then, the company has significantly grown its product portfolio and business operations. In fact, last month Fred Klipsch announced a reorganization of the company's operations into five business divisions, each categorized by brand or distribution geography. The two brand management companies are Klipsch Audio Technologies and Jamo International (Klipsch purchased the Jamo brand in February 2005). The three newly formed distribution management divisions are Klipsch Group Americas, Klipsch Group Europe and Klipsch Group Asia. Overseeing these is a new parent company Klipsch Group, Inc.

*Source: NPD Techworld market tracking data Jan. - Nov. 2005.