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Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons

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Posted on August 23, 2011 at 10:39:19
xcortes
Audiophile

Posts: 1221
Joined: July 23, 2003
 After many years and after trying several bass solutions I finally arrived to the perfect solution for bass below my midbass horns. In the past I tried Edgar Jr Seismics, a K18, a good Revel subwoofer and a JBL 18" in an open baffle among others.

It's not easy to get a bass solution fast enough to integrate with front loaded horns. A bass horn looks like a perfect solution but has its own problems due to space constraints plus time delay.

Three years ago I heard an Exemplar Audio system and I was impressed by the bass John Tucker was getting out of his Karslons and wanted to try them since then.

So finally a couple of weeks ago, with the generous help from a friend, I finished modifying a pair of Karlsons for subwoofer duties following Jeff Markwart and John Tucker's recipe published in one of the early Sound Practices. And last week with the help of other friends we dialed them in (phase basically).

I'm driving them with a big McIntosh Mc275. The drivers are Altec 416 As.

And the results have exceeded all my expectations. Deep, fast and musical bass. No boominess or any distortion. Clean bass but most of all integrating perfectly and seamlessly with the horns.
They're flat from around 30hz to maybe 200 hz. I can post measurements later.

I'm loving them!

 

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RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on August 23, 2011 at 11:17:56
tubav
Audiophile

Posts: 558
Joined: March 21, 2009
 Pics, plans, writeup, schematics?
Thanks.

 

RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on August 23, 2011 at 12:30:03
xcortes
Audiophile

Posts: 1221
Joined: July 23, 2003
 The plans are posted on the Karlson speaker web page. I just added some bracings. The modification consists in blocking the port and substituting it with two 3" 90 degree pvc elbows. simple!

 

RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on August 25, 2011 at 22:19:35
freddyi
Audiophile

Posts: 3869
Joined: December 6, 2001
 told folks so :^) - K15 sounds great as a whole system or a "sub". Two 3" right angle elbows can be mounted on a 1/2" plywood plate which fits over K15's rectangular vent for the Exemplar mod. With a bit of boost near fb and a 416 Altec, its the most adept bass I've heard. Low driver mass may have benefits.
Karlson Evangelist

 

RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on August 25, 2011 at 22:34:10
freddyi
Audiophile

Posts: 3869
Joined: December 6, 2001
 find or build the original Karlson 15. You could make it with the 1954 wider (4.5" wide by 9" high) vent. Get some 1/2" plywood, two right angle 3" pvc elbows and either a low resonance Altec 515 or the 416. Apply boost with a parametric or converted EV Interface eq box near fb - 30Hz is probably close enough. I've not run one for many years but if can ever gain enough space may go that way as the bass quality was very good with theatre organ cds.

you could mount the adapter plate from the rear - seal it well and make sure there aren't any leaks on the rear panel - I had it on the front with this speaker. If you could live with a higher cutoff then stock tuned K15 makes a nice speaker to replace horns :^) Personally in some setups I would use a midbass K-coupler topped with a Karlson open end waveguide such as the excellent Transylvania Power Company "The Tube" 10 cents worth of 1"ID pvc will make a reasonable facsimile of that waveguide and the sound in its range is excellent.



Karlson Evangelist

 

RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on August 29, 2011 at 04:17:37
zobsky
Audiophile

Posts: 569
Location: dallas, tx
Joined: June 11, 2005
 folks just don't listen to us when we recommend karlsons as bass bins

 

RE: Markwart and Tucker's Karlsons, posted on September 10, 2011 at 22:43:41
freddyi
Audiophile

Posts: 3869
Joined: December 6, 2001
 I've only spoke of them about 10,000 times (literally) over the last decade + maybe its time to increase the frequency and fervor :^) of course in defense, a Karlson enclosure as John built them with K15, K12 and X15 can still be better than many of the horns, rear horn, reflex and other things which are gushed upon daily in forums. At least the minor players eXemplar and Cogent recognize their value if not the experts.....
Karlson Evangelist

 

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