khorn#1

Another

You can see I never posted pics before so please forgive me.

Another pic

Here are a few pics from the v-trac demo I had in my home the last two weeks.

Jay, With the v-tracs there was an overall better voicing of the khorn. Like I said in the review, the mid bass was much improved on most selections I listened to. One thing I will add, my khorns have the closed backs on them. I did this mod to my khorns to help with the toe in or sweet spot if you will. Enclosing the backs allowed me to toe them out into the room and not worry about having them sealed completely into the corners.They were still in the corners of course but several inches from being sealed into the corners. It work for me as well as a few others that have done this mod to their khorns or maybe I thought it did. I will tell you that with my top hats completely removed and the v-trac demos just sitting on top of the bass bins, it did allow me to completely push the bass bins into the corners and toe in or out the v-trac demos however I wanted and I did notice in this setup, the lower bass did seem to improve so I really cant say if the v-trac affected the lower voicing of the bass bin or it improved because I had the bass bins even with the enclosed backs completely sealed into the corners. It goes back to the debate if the enclosed backs really work or not in terms of being able to toe them out without the complete seal in the corners or maybe the inclosed backs are a waist of time. Believe me it has got me to thinking even to the point of I am getting gregs horns with the beyma's and making an open baffle that just sits on top of my bass bins along with the es networks and leaving my bass bins with enclosed backs completely sealed into the corners. It wont be a pretty look compared to the stock khorn look but I know what I heard with Greg's demo and I dont want to change that setup even at the expense of the clean look of a complete tophat installed correctly with grill,side and top wood panels. To sum it all up, this v-trac horn setup with the BMS 4592 mid driver and Beyma st25 tweeter with the bass bis sealed into the corners sounded like no other set of khorns I have heard and I have heard a few good khorn setups over the years. Cant wait to hear this setup with my Alk es networks.

Daddy Dee, I have read your post to this forum over the years and know that you are very knowledgeble when it comes to the Heritage line of Klipsch speakers as well as other audio related issues so I will as others on this forum would admit that you know and have experience in what you talk about and add to this forum. In saying all this and not having any sound experience with two way jubilee or jubscala at all, I must speak up for the 2 inch throat tractrix horn from Greg Roberts that I just had in my home for the last two weeks.It is setup for a three way design of course but listening for the last two weeks with this setup of Gregs horn,BMS 4592 mid driver, and the Beyma tweeter with khorn bass bins was just a very eye opening experience. Two way or three way,what does it matter. We all are after the best audio sound performance we can get for the time and money we have available to put into this hobbie and I will tell you from experience, this tophat of Gregs horn as well as the BMS driver will rock any house. If this can be added to a jubilee or jubscala which I am sure it can with crossover mods and even if you have to add a tweeter in the mix, I will bet money it will sound wonderful with any kind of music. The tech part of this would be above my head but I would stand in line to hear it. Just my thoughts and or sound opinion, Randy

Jay, Yes, my order has been placed and my complete trachorns with drivers and crites tweeter are for sale over on the garage site. I really dont have the funds and my wife is not very happy because she is tired of me saying I'm through with upgrades and equipment purchasing and here I go again but, I will tell you Jay, this v-trac horn and BMS driver is very very sweet. Its worth gettin in to a little savings to purchase these. Thanks, Randy

In the last two weeks I have had the pleasure of listening to Greg Roberts v-trac horn setup with the BMS 4592 mid driver, beyma ct25 tweeter, and Alk universal crossovers. First let me tell everyone that Greg is a first class gentleman that has a great passion for the Klipsch heritage line of speakers. He has as we all know provided first class upgrades to the Klipsch Heritage line of speakers for some time and we have all admired his work down through the years. He has been a credit to this forum like so many have in taking Paul Klipsch great designs to greater musical heights and enjoyment. Forgive me for sounding corny and maybe overbearing but, I will tell you that since I had my first encounter with a friends pair of Heresys back in 1975 on a cheap kenwood receiver I have not considered any other line of speakers other than the klipsch heritage line. Can you feel the passion. Anyway, on with the review. A little background on what setup I have. I have 2004 khorns with Alk trachorns ( k55 driver), crites tweeter, and Alk es networks. I have Mcintosh 501 monoblock amps running with Mcintosh c-46 preamp with a modified Denon 2900 cd - dvd player connected to a ps audio dac III with Rick Cullen stage 4 mod ( sweet for the money) and 2 Richard Grey 400 pro power centers. Upon receiving Gregs v-tracs, I removed my tophat section including the es networks and set the v-trac set up right in place. Greg did a great job in laying everything out so as for as the khorns go, you just set the v-tracs right in place on top of the bass bins, hook up your amp source and your ready to go. With the bass bins tucked in the corners, I was able to toe the v-tracs in to my sweet sitting spot and begin the evaluation. I first listened to a selection from the Mapleshade collection ( Austin Backalley Blue - Sweetman with his South Side Groove Kings) very well recorded as well as all the Mapleshade recordings are that I have listened to. Let me tell you, I have had trachorns for about two years, they were a big step up from the stock mid horns. The v-trac takes the performance of the khorn to even another higher level for sure. Listening to this first cd selection which I am very familar with I quickly noticed a larger more dynamic sound from these khorns. I thought okay, this recording always has sounded great even with stock khorns as well as the trachorns but, I thought Greg might have come up with something special here with these v-tracs. Because of work and other things that came up, it was several days before I was able to sit down and really put these to the test. This time I was able to take my time with these v-tracs, listening to many types of music from hard rock, blues,jazz and even a little classical. I listened for about 6 hours mostly at high volumns which is the way I like to listen ( 100 - 108 db ) according to my sound level meter. Whatever I played, which were all selections I was very familar with, the sound was incredible. I have never heard khorns sound like this and I have heard khorns at different venue's down through the last 30 or so years. The sound with the v-tracs is very smooth and clear at all sound levels. Im not an expert by no means but these seem to bring out an upper mid bass that was missing most of the time before. The sound is larger, more open, never and I mean never constricted at any level I took it to. My 15 year old son who at times likes to sit in and listen from time to time with me when I play rock music even agreed that he had never heard these khorns sound this good. I know others here have heard larger 2 inch type mid horns with khorns but this was the first time I had heard anything but the stock 400 or trachorn which is no slouch by any means. I realize and Greg has said also, the BMS 4592 mid driver is a first class driver and is not cheap in price but mated with these v-tracs, it really is something to hear. It really puts the khorn in another class. I would place it right up there with Al's es networks as far as upgrades go. I did not have the chance to try the es networks with these v-tracs but I can imagine it will be magical. I listened several more times to these before I had to pack them up for the next person on the demo tour, Craig Otsby, hope I spelled your last name right Craig. They are going to be on display at an audio show in Michigan the first week of May ( Audio Karma Fest I think ). If your in that area, you need to hear these or get in line possibly on Greg's demo. I want to thank Greg for allowing me as well as others on this forum to have the chance to hear his v-trac's in our on homes. Greg really has a passion for the klipsch heritage line and has hit a home run with these mid horns. I have talked with Greg several times while I had these and I can tell you, with him its not about making a dollar on these, its about taking a great speaker design that has been strong for over 60 years and really improving the overall voicing of this audio speaker. Again, with the cost of the BMS driver, its not a cheap upgrade but after hearing this combo I am telling you, its worth it. I have some pics which I will post later, my wife took the camera to work for some function so the pics are with her on the cameras sd card. Thanks for reading, Randy

Greg, Count me in on this, I manage a shipping dept so I can receive and ship easy and at a reduced cost ( perks ). When you are ready to go ahead with this we can get in touch with each other via phone and work it out. I have very positive feedback on ebay and Audiogon for character reference and have had several transactions with Al K. over the years. Let me know. Thanks, Randy

Greg, Yes, I emailed Al and he told me also that his trachorn could not be modded to a two inch driver. The flare rate, horn length, etc would noy be right for a two inch driver. I thought that might be the case, stab in the dark on my part. I am not going to destroy my trachorns to find out. I'm still interested in your v - tracs, I've got a cornscala projects in the works that I might use the trachorns in and then that would open a door for your v -tracs in my khorns. Thanks for all you have done for this upgrade as well as your very fine restoration work. Guys like you, Al, Dean, Bob C. and JWC have all had a part in making the mighty khorn as well as other heritage models and offspring ( Cornscala, Jamboree, jubscala, etc) so much more special. Thanks, Randy

Greg, Not to take any business from you but, your v-trac horn is very close in every way to Al's trachorn. I am strictly going by look of both designs. I have not taken any measurements. I have Al's trachorns installed in my khorns along with his es - networks and crites tweeters. I was wondering if with a little modification the trachorns could be setup to take the two inch BMS drivers. Im concerned that the voicing of the trachorn would change in a negative way if this mod was tried but if it would work, trachorn owners could possible convert to two inch mid drivers. I've never heard khorns with two inch mid drivers or any other driver except the k-55 for that matter. I know what the trachorn did for me over the stock horn and as you have heard the two inch driver is another very positive step in the khorn upgrade. One I am very interested in. Thanks, Randy

Busterfree, I went ahead and ordered the stage 4 mod from cullen circuits, It will be delivered today 6/13 so you know what I'll be doing this weekend. I'll let everyone know my thoughts after a few weeks of serious two channel listening. Thanks, Randy

I've got a 73 Mits rear projection that I bought in 2004 that at that time paid more than most would pay for a tv. It was and still is noted by most in the industry to be one of the best built performance televisions in the market. It is huge but I have it in a large home theater media room so thats not a problem. Last october I had Craig Rounds from the chicago area come down to calibrate this set. I met him through the Home theater spot forum ( Like this forum alot of nice folks that for the most part no what there talking about concerning Video performance ) Anyway, Craig does this for his living and nothing else so he sets up these tours at differont times of the year so after talking to other forum members and doing some other research comcerning video calibrating I made my appointment with him to come to my home in Birmingham, Al. He is regarded as one of the best on the planet at what he does and I will tell you that its not cheap for him to come to your home but he will make follow up visits every year at a much lower price to keep everything in tune which is an option.. When he arrived at my home, he brought with him about 60,000 worth of equipment, software, etc. He was at my home for ten hours working and adjusting my set which already had a good display I thought. When he was finished I could not believe my eyes, this was the best display I had seen anywhere and I have seen $ 30,000 runco front projectors, fancy plasmas,Lcd, etc. True HD broadcast is amazing, Granted, I did purchase a $ 2000.00 Lumagen video scaler from Craig which he calibrated and set up also but even without the scaler the display was very, very good and still one of the best I had seen. The scaler took it to another level. Blacks, whites, grey scale were spot on. The lumagen is not for the amature, its highly recomended that someone with Craigs credentials install it. He told me not to adjust anything but if I did and messed up what he had done that all I had to do is reset the lumagen with a push of a button and it would go back to the calabrated settings which I thought was pretty cool.He also made a backup of all my calibrated settings so in the event of some major problem he could download all my correct calibrated settings right into the lumagen through the USB port on the back of the unit which is also great to know and at no extra cost. He also installed a SDI video connection on my Denon 2900 DVD player which improved its performance to the point that its not HD or blue ray but it aint far off from it. It to runs through the Lumagen scaler also. If you really want to get your display to look its best, Craig can make it happen and I no talking to other people that has used Craig that he can work his majic on any display you might have from front projection to plasma, etc. Now I will tell you Standard definition does not improve much but who watches that on a large video display anyway. I 've got a 20 inch tube in my home office for that.I'll be honest and say that I did spend much more than I ever thought I would on a vidio display since I'm mainly a two channel audio freak but it is a treat to watch this display especially true HD sporting events. Thanks, Randy

I'm looking at buying an outboard dac for my Denon cd player. I'm very interested in the PS Audio Link Dac 111 with cullen circuit mods. Has anyone here ever heard this DAC unit? I've read great reviews on this unit especially after the mods are done. Thanks for any help and or advice.

Dean, How much is the rc-7 crossover upgrade and can I install it myself. I use this as my center channel and have read great reviews on this upgrade. Please let me know. Randy

I'll be watching Amy and by the way will you marry me. I would love to have a wife that is pretty and loves Klipsch.

Bob, What's the price on your die cast model?

Bob, I'm running your horn tweeters in my 2004 khorns along with ALK trachorns and Al's extreme slope networks, would replacing the stock k-33 with your die cast model make any real bass performance improvement in the khorns? I'm thinking improvement could be made to the other heritage models with a better bass driver such as your die cast model but with the complex bass horn section of the khorn which as we all know when set up properly and using the stock k-33 e driver performs very well. Also, using the extreme networks, Al demands that no other bass driver be used except the k-33 e. Does the specs on your die cast model fall in line with the stock driver? To be honest, I've have been extremly pleased with the mods I have done to my khorns, I do not want any other speaker system and I have heard most all shapes,sizes and brands through the years. The improvement mods I've made to these khorns with the help of great people like Al and Bob have made these khorns amazing so since these guys as well as other forum members have helped me so much in the past, would it be worth changing out the stock bass drivers with Bob's die cast or should I just leave it alone? Thanks for any input and direction. Randy

Meagain, That, I cannot say because the es-networks were installed before the trachorn install. I will say that the overall midrange presentation was smoother after the trachorn install. I could not do a fair camparison because I had already sold my AK4 networks and of course could not switch out each network to see if the change in networks contributed or not. I'm thinking with ALK ES - NETWORKS, it surely did not hurt or degrade performance of the midrange horn section. I will say this, if your on the fence of wheather to buy the trachorns or not, I would say yes, buy them and regardless of the network your using, it will make a very positive sound difference in your heritage speakers midrange presentation. I've had the benifit of the es-networks and now the trachorns in my 2004 khorns as well as Bob Crtites ct-125 tweeters ( over $ 2000.00 worth of modifications) and again will confess that every dollar was well spent. My khorns sound incredible, I am very satisfied even knowing I have over $ 8000.00 in these speakers which I did buy my Khorns new. I have listened to several much more expensive speakers, B & W, Wilson Watts, focal, etc and would not trade my modified khorns for any of them. This is of course my opinion and we all know what opinions are like. Regards, Randy

Meagain, Im sorry, I've been busy with work, family, etc. The trachorns took my khorns to another sound level, the k-400 seems to run out of gas at higher volumns. The trachorns are so smooth at all levels, it really does not sound like a horn at all, it really opened up the soundstage on most all recordings. Along with Alks-es networks and Crites tweeters, it really brings out what this timeless speaker design can do. I'm running Mac power and pre amp and really could never ask for anything more. Alk engineering products are first rate and Al himself is a pleasure dealing with, With Al, its not about making a dollar, its about taking Paul Klipsch great speaker designs to world class levels. I honestly can say that I have the best sounding speakers that I have ever owned and look forward to sound enjoyment for years to come. Regards, Randy

Amen to Deans comment. Also, Al's ES crossovers perform magic in the mighty khorns. Both upgrades are worth every penny and don't forget crites tweeters to give you one smooth sounding khorn.

I've got a basement man cave also with khorns,mac amps, 73'' mits hd tv, svs sub, etc, etc. I've been happly married for almost 24 years, the first 10 years or so of our marriage, the equipment I had at that time which included cornwalls had for the most part been stored at my dads house because we just did not have the room to set it up. It was tough not having any real jams to listen to for that period of time but, little by little as we were able to afford a bigger place, I was able to get out the stuff and enjoy music once again. Now I'm thankful to have a full blown dedicated home theater - 2 channel jam room that My wife and kids enjoy but, mostly Its me that gets the most enjoyment out of it. It stays locked until I get home from work because everyone knows thats Daddys espensive toys and if anything got messed up or broke, it would not be pleasant around my house. My wife knows the passion I have for this hobby and for the most part is very understanding. If I was single and my girl friend was moving in with me and told me the khorns had to go, I dont care how smokin she was or what she did for me in bed, she would have to go and the khorns would stay. Can you feel the passion?

Mike, There is a crossover enabled - disabled switch on my sub ( SVS pb-2 plus) that I switch on for two channel and off for home theater. I do have a differont gain level for two channel as opposed to home theater which for home theater it is set higher for the bass impact of movie sound tracks. For two channel as you know the main key is not letting the sub bring attention to it self but add the bass info at the lowest crossover point and below of the front mains which are khorns in my case. The niles switching unit will do the job of switching between the two channel signal ( crossover enabled) and the home theater processor ( sub crossover disabled - processor bass management controlled) other wise I would need to unhook and rehook what ever format cable I'm listening to. I really do not want to use a another splitter at this point and Im not sure it would work anyway. The niles unit would be perfect for this situation, I'm already using one such unit to switch my Mcintosh 2 channel main amp back and forth between the Mcintosh two channel preamp and my Denon home theater processor using the khorns for both front main formats. So far, it has served me well and the niles unit totally isolates the two inputs signals. The units are about 70.00 bucks, really not a big deal and with all the niles products, built very well. Regards, Randy

Mike, Thanks for the advice, I bought a splitter this past weekend and ran it off my mcintosh 2 channel pre amp and it work fine. In two channel mode, Im using the crossover in the subwoofer to send everything below around 40 HZ to the sub and in home theater mode, I'm letting my Denon processor do the bass management. The two channel mode, Im still trying to get everything dialed in right, could take a week or two, Im going to run the latest video essentials this weekend and see if it might help with the two channel setup using the sub but, basically I need to have several serious jam sessions and make adjustments then as I listen which in the intial hookup last weekend I was able in a few hours of listening able to make several positive sound adjustments to the sub in crossover mode. I think this setup will work fine, it does not seem to be causing any problems splitting the pre out on my Mac two channel preamp between the Mac two channel amp and the sub. My next problem now is when Im either watching movies or jamming with 2 channel, I'll have to unhook and rehook cables to spilt the two formats but, I just might look at a niles switching unit that with a push of a button could help me connect either format I wanted to use with the sub or two channel which would be better than connecting and disconnecting cables. I might just be on to something. Regards, Randy

What do you mean by, it made the signal weaker. Do you mean sharing the pre amp outputs between the power amp and sub inputs, like the setup on the left . I'm searching tonight for this very answer. I'm wanting to install a sub in a two channel system but, like your setup, my pre amp does not have any connections for subs so I saw this set up on another forum where a quality y adapter was used at the pre amp outputs to share the signal between the sub amp crossover and the power amp. I want my front mains to operate fully and the sub to add some low end where the mains bass response cuts out. Let me know or Dr who, what do you think concerning this proposed setup. I do not want to degrade my preamp signal but at the same time want my front mains to operate fully. Regards, Randy