markus111

---------------- On 3/28/2005 10:33:20 PM chuckears wrote: markus, How do those Martin-Logans sound in your Heritage Klipsch dealer's shop? I listened to an M-L 5.1 system a couple of years ago while auditioning HT processors, and I thought my Klipsch Fortes would give them a run for their money. ---------------- The ML's sounded mighty fine - very detailed, transparent highs, clear mids. They have them hooked up in an all Mac system. Even so, they don't have the authority of Khorns for reproducing clean bass. I bought a Marantz receiver from them, and it was nice that they could hook it up to a pair of LaScalas so that I could get an idea of how it would sound when I got it home. We need more shops like this! Mark

You would do better to stick with something from the 1950's on up. Amps from the 30's and 40's were designed primarily for the vocal range. They can have some great midrange, but the response is typically flat only in the range between 100hz and 8khz. I've had a number of these 60+ year old triode amps, and generally use them for display only. Mark

The people who don't have them to sell say they suck. If I tried to replace my Klipschorns in my home theater with B+W, I would have a lot of dissapointed friends and family. It seems I'm one of the lucky ones with a local store that sells the heritage line. They have sound rooms with Klipsch and Martin Logan electrostatics. They have their Klipsch's hooked up to single ended tube amps, and amazingly enough have a lot of satisfied customers! Mark

The paramours with the CCS upgrade ($39?) really are pretty close to dead quiet. With the stock paramours, I could hear some 60hz hum from my seating position with Khorns. Once I installed the upgrades, I literally had to put my head right in the horn to hear any noise at all. Very nice sounding amps. Mark

---------------- On 3/17/2005 11:20:24 AM fini wrote: Great question! I have a Sony receiver that seems like it was used as a cigarette filter. Really, I'd like to find some sort of "dip" to dunk the whole thing in (the tar & nicotine is all over inside). For the outside, a product called Krud Kutter works very well. On a side note, everyone who smokes should visit my Mom in the hospital. ---------------- I had a Proton amp that was in worse (probably) shape than yours. Not only was it used as a large Marlboro filter, but it was also used as a latrine for a family of mice. Apparently, they would sit on top (because it was warm?) and their waste would just "dissapear" into the little vent slots. I had nothing to lose, so I filled a spray bottle with 70% rubbing alcohol, and washed the bejeezus out of the main circuit board with the alcohol and a very soft paint brush. After complete drying, the amp worked fine. For the outside, I used orange Fantastik to clean the gunk. If you try this, do it at your own risk! It worked for me, but I wouldn't guarantee that it would work in every circumstance. Mark

After upgrading my Klipschorns, the Klipsch AK4 upgrade actually looks pretty good in 20-20 hindsight. From what I understand, they give you new tweeters, midrange drivers, crossovers, and wiring. It's pretty easy to break $1000 buying new crossovers, horn drivers, and tweeters yourself. I know, because I've done it. I notice a substantial upgrade in sound compared to where I started. Does my upgrade sound as good as the AK4? I may never know, because I would need to have the new AK4 system in my basement to be able to compare them side-by-side with my upgrades. Klipsch has the advantage of having full time engineers and technicians design their system and test it in an anechoic chamber. I would hope theirs is better than mine. I do have one major criticism of Klipsch though. They should have their upgrades and components listed somewhere in plain site on their website. I can't say that I would have run right out and bought it - $1800 is a still a lot to spend. However, if I were to advise someone who was thinking of upgrading, I would at least tell them to seriously consider it. Especially if they are not a compulsive tweaker like myself, and would just like to listen to music. So no - it's not a dumb question at all! Mark

Hi Erik, Thanks for the compliment - my Mom's a darn good cook too. I can only hope to be as good a DIY'er some day. My most recent amp, and the one I'm enjoying the most is an SE 45. This is my second iteration of this amp. For the first one I built, I copied the Eric Barbour "single ended glory" design exactly. It was a very nice sounding amp, with monster soundstage and glorious midrange. However, it was seriously lacking in the bass department. In my second amp I switched to an SRPP front end, and put a lot of work into the power supply. I ended up doubling the power supply available current, and raising transformer voltage enough to use a choke loaded input with no peaking capacitor on power supply input. The effect this had on the bass response was amazing. My little 1 watt RMS (2 watt peak) amp can get my Khorns to rattle the rafters. I'm using PIO caps for coupling and power supply bypass. But again, I could use garden variety poly caps, and the sound would still be wonderful. I'm still amazed by how unforgiving these crossovers are on component types! But, that's why I'm here. I get to ask the resident experts about an area where I'm a complete novice, and I've been getting some great advice. Mark

These were featured in AudioXpress magazine several issues ago. As I remember, he had his grad students put most of the pieces together. I believe his critique was that the sound and imaging were very good, but there wasn't a whole lot of bass below 50 Hz. I wonder if there is a matching sub? Mark

Chris - I think I'm beginning to agree with you on this. My main focus is on amp building - I've designed and built SET 45s, SET 2A3s, push-pull triodes, pentodes, you name it. While parts quality is definitely noticable in an amp, it's generally the circuit topology that gets you the most bang for the buck. I'm new to speaker tweaking, and I'm amazed at how much difference there is from one inductor type to another. I don't regret building the networks from scratch - I've learned a heck of a lot about my Khorns in the process. I may eventually end up buying the complete networks from Al. After all, he's done all the blood, sweat, and tears already, so I may as well lunch off of his pain It's like my mother use to say when she would bake a new recipe - bake it EXACTLY as written the first time, and then tweak it around to your liking after that. Mark

Hi Al, Thanks for your comments. I damped the k400 horns with Dynamat, and this made a huge difference. I ended up with the midrange taps at 5--2. I was using a .33mH foil inductor from parts express to start, as I couldn't find the Litz inductors. I unwrapped several feet of the foil until I reached .30mH exactly. This seemed to make quite a difference in the sound. Should .03mh make such a difference? I'm just curious, as many caps are spec'd at +/- 10% If this is the case, I'll measure all my parts more carefully! I also ended up putting an L-pad on the tweeter temporarily to see if this would make a difference. With the tweeter reduced about the 3db, I'm getting really close to the sound I want. These networks are really starting to shine! Mark

Has anyone seen the wooden exponential horns that come up for sale on ebay every once in a while? They are made by someone in Canada. They are about 30" x 12" as I remember, and can be crossed over as low as 300Hz. They are part of a large corner horn system, with a bass bin that uses an 18" driver, and looks suspiciously like a Jubilee. They are offered for $500 per pair. I'm not sure what the differences are between exponential and tractrix. I don't know if they would work for this project, but they sure are pretty Mark

You've definitely peaked my interest with your description. Is there a schematic available for this crossover? Thanks, Mark

Hello, this is my first post to this forum! I have a pair of mid 70's Khorns that I built ALK crossovers for. I was amazed at the detail that was revealed - like taking a blanket off of the speakers! Much improved bass as well. I would be very happy with the system except for one problem - a glare in the upper midrange. It is especially evident on female vocals and violin. My ALKs are made with ok components - alpha core inductors, original T2A, Solens bypassed with Dayton audiograde caps. I have seen some earlier posts regarding the use of p-traps to tame response in the 5-6khz region, but there were so many varying opinions that I came away with no clear solution. I'm kind of at a crossroads right now. Before I spend more money and add to my growing collection of unused crossover components, I'd like to ask the experts here about some recommendations. 1.) Do the new autoformers and Hovlands make a big enough difference over the mid-fi components I am currently using? 2.) Has anyone had success using the p-trap on khorns to tame that unruly upper midrange? Any help would be appreciated! Mark