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I'm considering a pair of 70s Klipschorns -- being a little unhappy with the lack of "liveness" from my current setup (near-omnidirectional Gallo Ref3s). But the KHorns are monster big, and so I need some encouragement or opinionated feedback before I can take the plunge.So: pros & cons? Where are the KHorns weakest? Things to beware of in a 30-year-old speaker? Essential mods?
My room is relatively small: 13x16, and these would be on the short wall.
Follow Ups:
You should post an inquiry on the Klipsch Forum to see if someone there is located near you and would be willing to have you come listen to his or her K-horns.I bought a pair used and had them in my listening room alongside Magnepan MG 1.6 QR and PSB Stratus Golds. The Klipschorns are the cleanest and clearest of these speakers, and, as others have pointed out, their large size is mitigated by the fact that they can sit back in the corners rather than out in the middle of the room.
I absolutely love mine.
I thought you were selling yours? What happened?
Cut-Throat
I was considering selling them for awhile, but I decided to try EVERY reasonable (to me at least) avenue of upgrades first. This went--buy Crites' network and tweeter...much imporoved. Buy Altec 511Bs and attach K55-V to them--much improved. Buy Juicy Music Blueberry Xtreme, much improved. Waiting now on a pair of ALKs trachorns and have JBL Baby Cheeks in the wings to try.All in all, I'm still hanging in there with the K-horns.
Enjoy your posts a lot!
Best,
George---Of course you know you no longer have Klipschorns. Like Cut-Throat who has not Khorns but Altec A5s with Klipsch bassbins. Now he really needs to go the rest of the hog and get some 825s with 515s in them and relegate his Klipsch bassbins to use below 100hz.I visted a fella who had "Khorns" with TAD 2001s on 511s and Beyma tweeters (why use a 2001 with a tweeter?) and some screwball's crossover, the only part of it that was "Klipsch" was the bassbin. Which is fine but he would have saved himself a lot of time and bother (and money) by starting with different speakers in the first place. I know, I went through the same bullshit 20-25 years ago and then scrapped Klipsch altogether and went in a different direction. Now I sit with completely stock speakers from that direction.
Of course I realize there are many satisifed with stock Klipsch speakers but that's another story.
So Tom, what exactly do you use now> I assume it is some kind of Altec Lansing speaker, can you fill me in?
George---I'm using plain old Altec Model Nineteens. Best all-in-one-box turnkey speakers I've had and very satisfying to this old horny.Not quite as good as my old A5 setup augmented with tweeters and JBL Pro subs but I'm done with that kind of thing.
I also use some Heathkit AS-21s (Altec 9844s in furniture cabinets) and Altec 890C Boleros. Altec 605As, A7s, and Bozaks sit unused in the garage.
Tom,I'm going to have to hear these. "Dylani" on the Klipsch Forum has a pair pictured as his icon, and he lives a little south of Pittsburgh, somewhat close to me. Maybe when the weather warms up we can visit and give each other's systems a good going over.
Altec 19s are handsome and well regarded, but I hear speaker reconing or surround repair is often a concern.
Best,
George----The Model 19 uses the 416-8B woofer which has a corrugated fabric surround that rarely needs work. Reconing would be rare too, I've owned some 416-803s as old as made in 1957 that worked fine.However the models 14 and 15 used woofers with foam surrounds and these often need replacement.
I believe the ALtec A5's are 2 way! - I still have the Klispch Tweeter, The Klispch Type 'A' Crossover and Klispch Bass Bin.SO I would describe what I have is the Klipshorn with the A5 Midrange.
Cut-Throat
Cut throat,I know you have Altec 1005 horns and a variety of 288 Altec driver, correct? Since that Altec combo is supposed to go down only to 500 Hz and the K-horn bass bin crosses over at about 400 Hz do you have any signal loss in that crossover region? How are you managing that?
Best,
Ah, I'm sorry. I still think you should get some A5 bassbins; best reproduction of 100 to 500 there is IMO. The Khorns bins would fill in very nicely below 100 where the A5s are weak.
A lot of the convetional speakers that are about 16 inches wide and 35 inches tall require placement with about 8-10 feet behind them. This would put them in the middle of my pool table.My Klipschorns are tucked tightly into the corner and are using space that essentially was not used anyway. They don't take up that much space in a room. Draw 2 lines from a corner about 30 inches long and connect the 2 ends of the line with another. That Triangle that you made will be the footprint of the Khorn. No damn speaker in the middle of the fricken room!
Cut-Throat
Agree with that . A pair of mini monitors on those hefty stands will take more place of the room than klipshorn in the corners.
And may other stuff...
I don't like them but I know that
some people love them.
I love mine.
Mine are 1978.
Get the crossovers updated by Bob Crites.
Make sure the corners are sealed & you have straight walls.
Use very good SET amplification (I use anything from a 0.75 watt SET amp to 3 watt set amps). YOu can also use good PP amplification of course.
IN your situation I think you have to start by trying to hear a pair in someones system to see if you like the general sound of a klipschorn. Clarity and dynamics they have in spades, some people can find them kinda hot on top though and in the end it is a taste thing. In a small room it will be a hit or miss thing, but if you have good corners you may really like the sound. over at the klipsch forum thier are some members who have set up k-horns in small rooms and can give you some great feedback and tips for best sound. On a 1970's k-horn about the only thing you might want to do would be swap out the caps on the crossovers, besides that everything is tweaky and you shouldn't think about that until the k-horns have been in the room for a while and you identify specific weaknesses in sound you wish to address. what does the rest of you system consist of? what kind of music do you listen to? best regards, tony
Jean-Francois Lessard 2A3 PP amp
Marantz 7T Preamp
Klipschorns w/ALK xovers
Sony CX350&CX-230 cd changers
MSB link DACIII w24/96k
MSB digital director
Luxman PD-272 TT
Technics M85 Cassette
Have you heard them yet Shuggy?IMO the virtues of the Khorn are it's excellent clarity and dynamics and a good tonal balance too.
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