Ki Choi

As AL K is offering the Trachorn upgrade, it would been ideal for some one from the fourm to offer a kit - precut and pre drilled hole pieces shipped for DIY project. However, if not all Khorns are created the same way, it would not be feasible...

Indy: Very interesting thread indeed. I recall there were fall corner discussion earlier and someone had used single plywood instead of PWK the "wall" approach. I am in the middle of Trachorn upgrade now but would certainly make an attempt at copying what you have done. Did you by any chance make drawings of the pieces? Unfotunately, I have no wood working skill nor the necessary tools to do proper job. I would have to ask a local cabinet maker for help if I had the drawings. Ki

Al: You are too kind. I am no expert in the subject matter. Considering the breath of experiences with the Khorns in this forum, I expected someone to have already tried such a set up and save me the trouble, I hoped. As soon as I get through with the current projects, I will try the RCS setup with Khorns and will report. Thanks, Ki

I work for a company that supplies probes and instruments to acquire eddy current signals beyond audiable frequency range for non-distructive inspection of nulcear steam generator tubes using only the best physics. Fortunately, we haven't need to resort to the directional pure gold wires with high tech geometric braiding yet. ;-) But then again, may be I am discounting the need to use the best technology to protect all of us from the next nuclear accident due to neclear steam generator tube leaks... On the other hand, the Room Correction System is more than the typical marketing hype I believe. There are many info on the Net but try this one as a starter. http://www.roomcorrection.com/ I think we need curmudgeons with reality check here and elsewhere. I am lucky and can depend on my teenage daughter to tell me the truth... Ki

Gary: I have the Kind of Blue first Columbia release in 2CH SACD. Is it me or dose this SACD sound distort whenever Miles Davis' trumpet comes on? I'll play it again tonight and let you know the time marks. I am wondering if others have experienced the similar distortions. Ki

Al: I had mentioned in other post - using the TACT RCS 2.2X room correcting preamp with subwoofer outputs to drive separate power amps for the Khorn bass bins and using the mid/high normal outputs from the RCS to drive another amps to power the squawker and tweeter input of the Klipsch crossovers via its speaker inputs. Basically the idea is to disconnect the wires going down to the bass bin from the crossovers and using it as controlled subwoofer. The RCS would correct and match levels, delays, phase shifts and all the other anormallites. I believe above set up should work as biamp set up for Khorns ...whether one needs it or not is for another discussion. Ki

Like with other high resolution formats such as DVD-A, I never got too exicted about the SACDs...Most of the worthwhile materials are reissues of old recordings and the new releases do lack in substances, IMHO. It seems the record company had forgotten that it's the content that sells records... However, I do like some of the Chesky recordings. I liked the Livingston Taylor SACD that I use to demo the Khorns I just sold (I gave the SACD to the buyer - I think it was the SACD that made the deal). I like the usual Diana Krall SACDs with good recording and good music to boot. Ki

The thought came to me reading about the RCS device driving two corner subs with mid/high drivers out in the room being the recommended setup. The Khorn bass bin had to be the one of the best best performer living in the corners but I had no control over the room acoustics and the time variables between the bass driver and the rest of the speaker systems. It would be ideal if I can keep the Khorn bass bins in the corners and place the best mid/high combo such as Trachorn 400/K55V+CP25s with the AA crossovers positioned for the best imaging possible and let the RCS device manage the delays, phase shifts, and all the other anomallities associated with disjointed speaker drivers. Although I don't own a TACT device to confirm but the software measures different parts of the room responses as well as the sweet spot to come up with the numerous curves to choose from. I believe whenever one manipulates the source, there are losses and unwanted gains to the signal in comnparison to the simpler setup with best transparency possible. Thus, I was hesitant to add it to my system but I guess I won't know for certain, until I give it a try in my own room. Ki

Dean: My 2002 Khorns sold two weeks ago from Audiogon. I was asking $3,950 with no upgrades and settled for $3,700 for local pick up by a nice person from Portland. He drove up in his Suburban with two other friends but couldn't get the third bench seat out before leaving his house....ended up staying at a hotel for the night and renting an U-haul the next morning. He is very happy with his purchase. Your newer Khrons have, by my quick calculations, ~$1,700 upgrades in addition. Thus, if you would list the Khorns for the wider audience on Audiogon, you will sell them soon, IMO. Ki

Although we have a relatively large home, I did eventually ran out of good corners that my wife would let me place Khorns. It is rare I would jump on an audio rage purely based on reviews now days... I got wiser perhaps. There were many disappointments earlier but one of the gems is the first Khorn I purchased - never have heard them before. However, I still get things on impulse - I hear at the local audio shops thinking that that's what I have been searching... Some of the modern speakers at too heavy for three grown men to move and the amps must be placed on a stand with casters for me reposition them by myself but I would still buy them, set them up in my room and think...maybe I need more time to get used to the new sound ... but usually after couple of days I end up thinking - it doesn't pull me into the music - as much as from the 30-year old the Khorns and the 8B can do. All Khorns sounds good to my ears even though they don't go down to 30Hz nor extend out to 100Khz like the B&W N800s I have in the same room (not that I can hear that high). The 2002 model was nice cosmetically and couldn't see how it can be made to sound better. But I am more attached to the old '76 pair. It seemed to be made better than the later models. I am not sure if the multi-layer Baltic plywood has any impact on the sound or the difference between K-55Vs and K-55Xs but have been corresponding with other people who know a lot more about the Khorns and their potentials and decided to go for the Trachorn upgrade. The '76 pair was doing the HT duties and now I have three Belle Klipsches for HT and moved the Khorns up to 2CH music setup. If I can figure out how to post the photos, I will do so soon. Ki

Other than sanding down the surface to the veneer...is there a good way to remove the coffe cup ring on top section on my other babies one pair of '76 Belle Klipshes (and one Heresy also)? As for the quest to get shine back on the front part of my '76 Khorn's front section, I ended up sanding the entire front strip down a little on both Khorns - not quite down to the veneer level but using very fine grain sand paper (400 and 600) to get the finish down to satin finish level, taping the rest of the surface area and applied thin coat of glossy lacquer from Home Depot. I am waiting it to dry and may sand it again with 600 sand paper to get the surface to semi-glossy and match the rest of the speaker. As I was sanding the dull section, I noticed there are some areas that looks and feels rough when I run my finger over. It seems the factory didn't spend much time getting final sanding done properly before spraying the lacquer in some sections. Thanks for all the good ideas. I will apply to the rest of the speakers. Thanks, Ki

Groomlakearea51: Thanks a lot for the info. The interested area is the front part of the top section that touches bass bin. I will make an attempt to follow your direction. To answer Audiovk's questions regarding my Khorn obsession, I did have a pair of '71 Khorns but traded with Hoggy from this group for a pair of '76 Belle Klipsches. Since then I had a pair of 2002 Khorns, '76 Khorns, '79 Khorns, and a single '92 Khorn. I thought it was too much as well and sold the '79 and '02 locally and decided I would live with the '76 Khorns for a long time. I still have the single Khorn with a plan to use it in the long wall corner but different mid driver and crossover make it incompatible to the '76s. While waiting for Al K to send me the Trachorn 400 upgrades, I am cleaning and touching up few spots on the '76s. They are beautiful and will be ready for public viewing very soon. [] Ki

Hi, Finally, I have settled for the 1976 pair of walnut lacqured Khorns. They are clean and beatiful. However some parts are glossy and other parts are rather dull. What is the best way to get the shine back on the walnut veneer surface? Thanks, Ki

DrWho: Can you elaborate on bi-amping the Khorns for SET for mid/high and SS muscle for bass bin? I thought about removing the bass bin connection from the AA crossover and drive the mid/high through the AA crossover and SET amp from from a Room Correction Preamp output such as TACT 2.2X and run the sub output of 2.2X with SS amp to drive the bass bin to solve crossover and time alignment of the bass drivers, etc... Ki

Hope this works...

Bill: Thanks for your comment. I'll wait few days and may relist on Ebay if there's no interests from the group. A local sale would be excellent where I can demo the speaker and the buyer can check out the condition in person. I can not see the photos I listed in my original post so I'll try it again. Maybe I tried to post 3 in one message may be the problem. Ki

Being ignorant of what a nice Academy would be going for these days, I listed the Academy on Audiogon Auction first with $400 (what I had paid used) at the starting price with no reserve and received no bids.... I figured Audiogo is too high nosed for the old home theater stuff, so I cancelled the auction with no bids and I moved it to Ebay at a lower starting price of $350 with NR for wider audience. Having received only two bids from the same person on its first few days, I foolishly posted a FS message on this forum to remind people of the speaker... a bad mistake. I should have offered it to you guys (and girls) first...and then go to Ebay. I'd learned my lesson and know better now. In the meantime, the benevelant Ebay police had pull my listing on the last day (I am still trying to figure out what had gone wrong). I tried to contact the sole bidder via Ebay email to explain that it's not my doing to cheat him from the opporutinity to buy the speaker but Ebay email link is also removed. So, please tell me what this thing is worth and send me a reasonable offer via email. What can I say about the speaker other than to say that to my eyes, it's as good as new. There are few hard to see marks in the rear of the speaker where it might have been touched up but functionally it's perfect. However, it is a used speaker. I will stand by DOA though. It will be packed professionally and shipped from Seattle via FedEx ground with insurance and buyer should pay the actual cost. Also, if you are Paypal user, please add 3% for their fee to the final cost. Thanks, Ki

Sorry about that. Ki

Selling my very good condition Academy on ebay starting at $350 if you would be interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-Academy-Center-Channel-Speaker-NR_W0QQitemZ290039748907QQihZ019QQcategoryZ116197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Thanks, Ki

Has anyone in the group tried a TACT or Lyngdorf type of room correction system in their Khorn setup? Thanks, Ki

Gary: You are correct. It was the older Model ONE mono preamps that started out with 12AU7s and went to 12AX7s before making the 7s.

There seems to be 7c's with 12AX7 tubes and another version with 12AU7 tubes? Am I correct? If so, which one is more desirable? Thanks, Ki

Most of the decent ST-70s sell for $350+ on ebay lately. Judging from the photos, I would say, it falls into the same price range if it was still in its original form. However, the amp has the SDS designed Cap Board that is an excellent upgrade, IMO. I have used similar SDS Cap Boards for Heathkit W5M monoblocks with excellent results. I am not sure what the price is for the board stuffed these days but it seems to me with the Cap Board upgrade and the relatively new output tubes that would cost around $50 for the pair make the asking price of $450 seems reasonable but not a steal of deal. What speakers are you planning to drive? Ki

It was interesting read for me as well. One question though... I know of the 50th Anniversary Khorns but the article mentions 100 pairs of 60th Anniversay Khorns at $10K to be made. Any details? Ki

Thanks for your inputs. So, I am guessing it's a '92 model. Ki