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In Reply to: Re: PWK's hand picked head engineer does NOT own KHORN, Cornwall, HERESY...... posted by freddyi on May 11, 2003 at 11:31:39:
I sold Jim Hunter some Western Electric straight round trumpet horns I took out of a theatre in the early eighties for his horn museum.
I really dont know hom much Jim's input effects the designs.
I like Jim Hunter, and he was a nice person to do business with, plus a source of considerable knowledge back in my Western Electric days.
I know Roy has a Tractrix horn patent, but thats all I know, and havent any links to it.
I own CF 4's, version 1, before they screwed them up in the search for more efficiency by raising the bass tuning, and making efficient boom boxes out of them.
I asked Roy, in my conversation with him, if Klipsch made anything that sounded better, and he said no.
He said if they did, he would own it!
As for bass horns, I really dont know if he, or Paul , or he and Paul together did them.
The Epic CF 4 uses 2 12 inch neo powered woofers in a D'Appolito alignment with a Neo magnet aluminum diapraghm compression driver mated to a Tractrix horn.
Interestingly enough, there was an AES paper on this type of design.
I dont remember the author, perhaps it was Don Keele, or the guy from Electro Voice.
The article was titled a high performance studio monitor, or something to that effect.
I stumbled across it on the internet somewhere.
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Follow Ups:
hey that's pretty interesting - high honor to have PWK's blessings.
Well, they discontinued the whole Cf series some time back.
They were a radical departure from the Klipsch sound, and were kind of orphans.
The audiophiles didnt want them, because they were Klipsch, and never gave em a chance, and the traditional Klipsch La Scalla, Heresy, Cornwall crowd just never could accept them.
They arent as efficient as the Corns, La Scala's, etc, and they have a diffrent sound.
They have more of a pro sound type of voicing, with an excellent soundstage, and seem to me to be a lot smoother than the La Scalas I used to own.
I never tried the La Scalas with tubes though.
I owned Belle Klipsch, and I thought they were terrible.
They had a woody, boxy sound in the lower midrange, yuk.
But, I bought em used, amd perhaps someone changed the drivers, etc.
I enjoy the CF 4, and I also have CF 3.
The newer series 2 speakers can have the original 5 inch ports put back in in place of the 3 inch ports indicitative of the version 2 and or the version 3.
That will restore the bass tuning, but then you will need to either bi amp them, or change the resistor value on the horn.
I have em bi amped, so I can : voice em" like I want em, for my room, and my tastes.
I honestly wonder why they get so little attention here ?
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proabably right about audiophile perceptions towards the name Klipsch - I remembver one review (perhaps by Done Keele Jr) and the only real complaint was some inductor saturation at high levels - if the woofers have surround material that lasts, then someone will get bargainsmaybe there's not many CF left? - I'm always looking for old Karlson boxes but have seen very few factory 8" and 12" on auctions - less than a handful.
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They are around, and pretty inexpensive, because you gotta know about em!
My friend has CF 4's he got on Ebay, the good ones w/the 5 inch ports for 650 dollars !
He is using an electronic crossover with 24 db per octave slopes, and crosses over from the twin 12" neo magnet drivers at 1250 hz.
He is using a Phase Linear 400 thats been tweaked on the 12's, and a modified Harman Kardon Citation Tube amp that has been blessed by Bruce Moore on the horn.
He used rope caulk on the Plastic Tractrix horns and the woofer baskets, and uses black hole in the CF 4 cabinets in place of the stock fiberglass.
What does it do ?
Shoot, what DONT it do ?
It will set up a wide, deep soundstage, shake the room, sound like music, etc.
for very little money too!
The electronic crossover is the secret I think.
Mine are bi amped, but through the passive crossovers, and cross at 1500 hz at 12 db per octave.
He is wanting to go to even higher slopes !
He's got all the latest shit to test with, etc.
The d'appolito array controls the vertical directivety, and of course so does the Tractrix horn for Holographic imaging.
I am talking pianos 5 feet outside and 5 feet behind the plane of the speakers too !
The electronic crossover allows you to adjust the level of the horn for proper voicing in your room.
I plan on bypassing the internal crossovers in favor of the electronic crossover soon.
I guess I am letting him do the work for me! LOL
I dont know what you have, but if you ever see a set of the un appreciated Cf 4's, my advice is grab em!
They are amp critical, big time, and very revealing of wire, source, etc.
But get em right, and you will be rewarded with a sound to die for, for the money.
I am not saying you will see God, but IMHO, they are a real sleeper of a speaker that can be had for very little cash outlay.
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Hey that sounds like a real winner for sure - thanks, Freddy
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