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Klipsch iGroove SXT: Horny iPod speakers

The new Klipsch iGroove SXT combines horn-loaded speaker technology with the portability of an iPod speaker system. For £99, will it impress as much as Klipsch's high-end audio gear?

Nate Lanxon Special to CNET News
2 min read

Another potential Christmas stocking filler for you iPod fanatics out there is the new Klipsch iGroove SXT speaker system. Klipsch might not be on the tip of your tongue when it comes to iPods, but it's a high-end loudspeaker manufacturer responsible for some top-notch audiophile gear. If anyone's going to make those MP3s sound less rubbish, it's a band of audiophiles (or a better MP3 encoder).

The iGroove SXT features 'horn-loaded technology'. To Mr Average Joe, this is a form of acoustic transformer. To Mr Average Joe's slightly backward offspring, it's a horn-like thing that messes with air to make music sound better. Make sense? Good. We've seen a bunch of horn-loaded gear and theoretically it works, but we've not been overly impressed of late. How such a technology will work when coupled to a portable set of iPod speakers will be shown when we get our hands on an iGroove for review.

The system works with any iPod, including that phone everyone talks about, and the iPod that looks like the phone but isn't a phone. On the inside there are some high-end components that'll hopefully make your MP3s sound like MP-Phwoars.

This all said, it's only a £99 system. We've seen some great little setups offered for under a hundred quid, but high-end audio comes, usually, with a high-end price. Will Klipsch sacrifice its audiophile tendencies to cater for the iPodders of the world, or will it simply sacrifice its profits? You decide. Well, we will actually, because that's what we do. Cover your eyes, Mrs Goggins, this audiophile's getting pretty excited. -Nate Lanxon