mikebse2a3

Colin wrote: Since Gingkos research showed smaller racquet-size balls to be better, those are the ones I would use. Their advice is to weigh the front-end components and then use one ball for every ten pounds. So if the receiver weighs 15 and the CD player is five pounds, that is twenty pounds or two balls. Obviously two balls under the front-end equipment is NOT stable, so at least a third ball is required. That means however, that ten pounds of weight should be added as a platform between the units and the balls. A small $3 paving stone is dense and weighs about 20 pounds, meaning that with four balls (40/4), the combination makes a vibration isolation platform similar to the Vibraplane and the one I wrote a few years ago. In an article for EnjoyTheMusic.com, Save $1680, Simple to make platform isolates vibrations: Brings out details for CD and record players, on Tweak Page One (http://enjoythemusic.com/tweaks/), I detailed how air and rubber isolation improve the sound of front-end equipment. Mass also helps. The weight of the stone and components lowers the resonance of low energy waves, the bottom component of human hearing range. The front-end equipment should be coupled to each other, with space for air between the units, and the heavy platform. Blutack or sticky rubber is good. Racquet or tennis balls, cut in half are also popular with tweaking audiophiles. Personal correspondence with a reader last year indicated that large bubble wrap under a thick maple platform had bass extension almost the equal in measurement to the inner tube under a marble slab, with no bass hump at all. Bass was extended and taut. Vertical and lateral stability were second only to the small bubble wrap. So yes, four racquet balls under a 40 pound load seems to be the recommended ratio. tell me if you hear a difference at moderate to loud levels THANKS for the tip Colin! I tried three racquet balls under the CD player with extra weight and this is what I've noticed.The CD I played was JUNIOR WELLS (come on in this house) Telarc. 1st: Dynamics were improved. If you remove the balls your impression is like the volume was turned down. 2nd: the vocals, guitar and piano are more realistic and in the room with you. 3rd: imaging isn't as vague with more depth layering. 4th: Bass is tighter and easy to follow. 5th: I noticed improvements at all volume levels. I was curious and asked my girl friend to listen without telling her what I thought and her responce was: 1st Did you turn the Volume down! 2nd: the guitar is more real, everything is just more real sounding! Three racquet balls at wal-mart $2.50 man talk bang for the buck!! Thanks Again for the tip Colin mike b

If the pre-amp and amplifiers both invert polarity then hook the speakers up regular(+ to + & - to - ). mikeb

---------------- On 7/1/2004 7:18:48 AM Frzninvt wrote: 1984 I believe was the transition point to the AK crossover network, I think they were still using the K-55V but they may have K-55M midranges in them. They should still have the metal K-400 horns, the K-77M square magnet tweeters. If you are compelled to open the woofer trap doors on the side they should have the K-33E woofers in them. If any drivers have an "R" stamped on them that means that they have been replaced with a refurbished one from Klipsch. Good luck, I am certain that you will be happy. The parts for them are still readily available. Welcome to the forum. ---------------- I bought 79KHorns from a man in Nov. 1990 and he had recently updated them with AK-2 networks and K55M. I noticed the "R" stamped on the K55M drivers so I called Ginney who handled the parts questions at Klipsch at that time(Great Person and would go out of her way to help you like every one I ever talked to at Klipsch) and she told me the "R" meant that the driver was a replacement part and those carried less waranty than the orginal drivers but they are "New Parts" not rebuilt. mike

K77 responce in 5ms time. What I really hope to do with this program is search my room for audible problem reflections for acoustical treatment which I believe causes alot of the problems that we think are the speakers but actually room/setup problems.

here is K77 at 3ms gate time.

K77 graphs. these were taken with the squawker(K55V) unhooked from ALK Network. Please Note: these were taken with the radioshack SPL meter so the drop off in sound level as frequency goes higher is mostly because of the meter used.(hope to get a calibrated mic. soon) Notice as time is increased how the responce is altered by interfering reflections!! Like always what the ear/brain hears is different from what we can measure and I'm very pleased with the sound of my KHorns in the regions I've shown here. AL K, what did you notice of the sound in the squaker/tweeter region with your extreme slope network verses other networks with the stock drivers?

Finally the K55V on ALK network with K77 unhooked at 5ms. time. By now the room is getting involved. HOPE this interested some of you!!! Like I said early on I'm just beginning to learn this program and how to setup for these Test so I'm sure some things could be improved but it sure is fun playing with this program. mike

This is responce by 2ms. time. Also notice how soon the K55V cuts out using the ALK network. I probably should have terminated the tweeter output with an 8 ohm resistor for completeness but I thought this was good enough.

This is the K55V responce alone. The K77 was disconnected from the ALK network. The gate time is 1.4ms so you are seeing the responce just as its leaving the horn. the next two graphs will show how the responce changes as the time is increased so you are seeing reflections from the horn mouth ,Khorn cabnite and other close objects.

K55M/K77 1000hz-10000hz

Here is the K55M from 200hz-2000hz

This is the K55V/K77 with tweeter polarity reversed on ALK network. Some slight differences. The mic was on the Squawker axis and moving it would definitly change the looks of this responce.I haven't really noticed any difference in sound with K77 polarity changes.

K55V and K77 from 1000hz to 10Khz The radio shack spl meter was used for these test which is acceptable for alot of the test for this computer program but for truely accurate spl readings a callibrated mike would be necessary. I'm mostly looking at the differences between drivers and setups.

Sorry for the large post hopefully the third times the charm!!

Hopefully this is smaller version of graph of K55V Sorry image still big

Trial post of K55V graph this is 200hz to 2000hz with 5ms window. Trying to post smaller picture next

Thanks Al K. These are the solder terminal type. My 79 KHorns had been updated in the past with the K-55-M and AK2 crossover before I had bought them and I flush mounted the K77 to complete the update at that time. I installed a pair of your ALK crossovers(146A& early this year and have liked being able to adjust the autofomer settings(seem to prefer 5-2 with K-55-M and looks like 4-0 with K-55-V). I've always been curious about the K-55-V so I located this pair to try. I have a computer program (ETF5) that I'm learning to use and when I learn how I'll post some graphs of what I've seen so far. What I've noticed so far is that the K-55-M & K-55-V are very similar and reasonably smooth. Most of the roughness at(3500hz to 6000hz) appears to be caused by the interferance between the K77 and K55. The K55 is dying out quickly(by 7000hz) but I can sure see where a sharper cutoff on the K77 would help here. I also noticed on axis the responce measures smoother if the K77 polarity is wired in reverse like the K55 but If you are off axis it could go either way. I can't say you can really hear this change though it was just something I noticed. What I'm wondering now Al is would it be possible to modify the ALK crossover with out messing your crossover up to cutoff the K77 Quicker? Would appreciate any of your thoughts AL K! Thanks mike

Thanks Malcolm! You are probably right. Mike

---------------- On 6/25/2004 8:31:57 PM djk wrote: PWK claims 0.7" If you pull off the screen and measure it, I say 0.625" ---------------- Thanks djk for the correction. naof74 sorry if my answer was off. I was making an estimate based on the screen opening but after reading djk answer I relooked at my K-55-V driver. I didn't want to pull the screen out so I used a light so that I could see down the throat to the phase plug and set a dial calliper at .7" and it seems to match very close to me. maybe when someone has one apart they could measure it for us.

---------------- On 6/25/2004 6:24:04 PM naof74 wrote: I would like to know the throat size of K-55-V. Is it one inch? ---------------- Just measured one of mine and it looks to be 1" except there is a bug screen at the opening that reduces it to approx. 13/16". just in case you need to know the mounting size is 1-3/8" x 18 thread mount. mike

just bought two K-55-V drivers that came out of a pair of heresy spk on e-bay. I'm wondering what year these were made. does anyone know how to read the code dates on the drivers? No's are 196070 & 196886 thanks for any help mike

---------------- On 4/23/2004 7:45:50 AM StickMan wrote: John, thanks for the feedback. About two years ago I had a guy re-wire the AK-2's to remove the oxidized monster wire and re-configure the network for bi-wiring. Every since that time I have felt there was a slight but noticeable reduction in the "slam" or "punch" in the region where drum wacks ocurr. They just don't snap hard like before. So I have convinced myself that he must have done something incorrect. I thought that this would be the opportune time to upgrade to the AK-3 or ALk. By the way, in your opinion which of these would be best for 88 Khorns using tube amplification? thanks Howard ---------------- Just an idea, You might want to make sure they are sealed in the corners good since you've noticed a reduction in punch and slam because this could easly cause that problem. mike

neo33 ask? OK, Mark, that must be one helluva big cap in there. I switched the AE-1 from "operate" to "standby" and it continued to play on for about 5 minutes. But if I switched it to "off", it stopped playing immediately. What happen to the cap here? I believe what is happening here is when you go from "operate" to "standby" the tube's heater is still active letting the tube still produce current(sound) untill the "Plate voltage/Power supply capacitors" drain down. When you switch to off the "heater voltage" is removed and the tube stops producing current(sound) much faster. All this would be normal and it just shows the preamp has a large power supply reserve which is a good quality to have. mike

I had a pair of dynaco MKIV monoblocks that are basically like an ST70 and I had an intermitent Hum and hiss problem in one that would get better and worse when I would try swapping the 7199 out. I eventually found a Bad ground connection where dynaco grounded a circuit board trace to the chassis. these boards used solder over the traces and over the years the solder deteriorated under the screw holding the board to the chassis. Moving the 7199 just caused the bad connection to clear up temporarily. Like others have said I believe You should check out the Bias Supply Circuit since you can't set a proper bias. Mike

Hi Benesesso, I think the best answer is for you to try the seals and see how they affect your situation since all rooms have unique qualities that might affect your personel taste in sound and only you know what you like! As you can see in my first post I found a way to easly slip the seals in and out and found that a compromise worked the best for me at this time. It cost very little to try this so have fun and play with it. mike