Malcolm

My experience was that with Dolby Prologic, it didn't make a whole lot of difference what I ran for rears. My guess is that was because the rear signal was mono and not full range. When I upgraded to Dolby Digital and DTS, it made a big difference if the rears did not have the same frequency range and timbre as the fronts. Of course, what is important here is your experience. How do they sound to you?

Klipschorn has had many different woofers, a few different squawkers, a few different tweeters, a few different crossovers over the years. The same is true for the most of the rest of the Heritage line. Blindly swapping parts from a speaker of one vintage into a speaker of another vintage is not guaranteed to yield acceptable results, particularly if there was a parametric change in the part. When there is a parametric change in one part, there is usually a corresponding change in at least one other part. If the combination of woofer, squawker, and tweeter you arrive at is one Klipsch shipped, it may be as simple as modifying your crossover network, assuming you can get the schematic for the appropriate crossover network. More than a tap change on the autotransformer may be involved. If it is not a combination Klipsch has shipped, you are in the position of engineering your own crossover. And, even if everything works out properly, you may still wind up with a speaker that no long matches its mate as well as it did before the change. If you are considering this because of the issues you raised in your other post about your Cornwalls, I would suggest you just find another K-33, preferably of the same vintage if possible. K-33s show up on eBay fairly frequently, alhough I don't recall seeing one of the CTS manufactured ones recently.

The surrounds on the CTS woofers in my 1974 Heresys are orange accordion cloth (woven, zigzag). Same goes for my 1972 models. I think all of the CTS woofers used by Klipsch were this way. Later model woofers manufactured by Eminence and others had paper accordion surrounds that were part of the cone itself. The difference in dust cover size does not mean a lot. Sometimes people replace a damaged dust cover. But, dust covers are also replaced when a speaker is reconed. The difference in surround is certainly significant. By flat, round surround do you mean a foam or butyl rubber surround? I don't think any of the Klipsch Heritage speakers from the 1970s used that. So, that would mean that either the surround has been replaced or the woofer itself. If you pull the back off the speaker in question you should be able to tell more. The CTS woofers had alnico magnets. They should have a heavy D shaped steel magnet circuit on the back of the woofer. There should be a Klipsch label on the back of the woofer with the number K-33. Also, if there is an EIA production code on it, it should start with 137 for CTS. But, there may not be one there. Or, it may be covered by the Klipsch logo. If the woofer in question has a round or square ceramic magnet, it is not the original CTS woofer. If everything checks out on the inside, it is possible that one of the speakers has been reconed, or at least had the surround and dust cover replaced. Either could account for the difference in size of the dust cover and difference in surround. Actually, it seems more likely to me that it would have been reconed than just had the surround replaced. The cloth surrounds were stronger than the cones themselves. If the cone was replaced, the spider may have been replaced, too. If just the surround and dust cap on one woofer was replaced, you may want to replace the surrounds on both woofers. The compliance of the surround affects the sound of the woofer. They need to be the same for a proper match. If the cone and spider was replaced, you may be looking at reconing and replacing the spiders on both woofers for the same reason. Or you might be able to find an unrepaired, vintage K-33 to replace it.

If somebody wants to pay $1.50 for Monster speaker cable, or even a lot more, for more esoteric cables, more power to them. Spread the wealth around. IMHO, this argument was settled a long time ago. See: http://www.sundial.net/~rogerr/wire.htm Cable tweakers disagree. There are all kinds of esoteric speaker cable designs using litz wire, coax, Cat 5 wire, etc. I am currently running about 200 feet of 12 gauge cable for my HT system. I went with the Carol architectural grade cable from Parts Express at about $.20/foot and will use the money I save for a few bottles of 18 year old Glen Morangie single malt scotch whisky.

The current Klipsch subwoofers are powered subwoofers. They have their own power amplifiers built in. So, the maximum output power of your monoblocks is not an issue. Haven't seen a RSW-15 yet. But, according to the specifications on the Klipsch site, the RSW-15 has line level inputs and outputs. It doesn't mention speaker level inputs. So, it looks like you would just route your preamp outputs to the subwoofer, and route the subwoofer outpus to you monoblocks.

Assuming the pictures that follow the one you posted the link to are of your speakers, you apparently have Heresy IIs. Klipsch tech support ought to be able to fill in the date. FWIW, if I remember correctly, the early Heresy IIs, 1986 or so, with the round connector plate, said Heresy II on the label. I think I have seen later Heresy IIs, with the rectangular connector plate, where the model was not on the label, but on the connector plate. Enjoy your new toys! Let us know how they sound with your other gear.

According to a post by Stig just one month ago, there are 1831-2074.

TBrennan, Just speculation... How about threats of lawsuits. Its done all the time in many industries. You don't actually have to be right to discourage a competitor, just enough trouble. BTW by copy, I am talking about an exact knockoff, not something that comes close. Bigger question is why EV would want to copy an Atlas product when they already had designs and tooling for competitive products.

djk, You are obviously a first rate twit. Anybody who would make such comments about a person they do not know must be. Why don't you take your flames somewhere else. FYI I have had both K-55-V and K-55-M drivers apart. And just because you can put the K-55-M diaphragm in a K-55-V doesn't mean it fits. BTW you contradict yourself. First you say that EV made the K-55-M. Then you say you cannot put the K-55-diapraghm in any driver EV ever made.

If you are going to sell them, I would recommend you not do anything to them besides clean and oil them. That walnut finish is veneer only about .030" thick. Sand through it and you will definitely devalue the speakers.

If you are Heresys to your Klipschorns, remember that they are bound to sound a bit different below 700 Hz. Squawker goes to 400 Hz on Klipschorn, only 700 Hz on Heresy. There may not be much you can do about any difference due to that. If the box is too small for the woofer, I would think it would be reflected in poor low end response rather than upper bass/lower midrange problems. Some people use the K-24 to try to get a little better bass. I suggest starting with the fiberglass fill, not polyfill. Its nonflammable. The McIntosh folks did some tests years ago and found out it is not a good idea to use a flammable material for the fill. Under certain driver failure modes, the fill can be ignited. You'll have to experiment with the amount of fill. If that doesn't solve the problem, I suggest the MDF back panel. One other relatively simple thing that can be done is to install one or more dowels from side to side and top to top, or stringers along the panels, to make the panels more rigid. If that doesn't solve the problem, you could build new cabinets out of MDF or baltic birch.

Sounds like an interesting adventure. You might want to check out http://www.diysubwoofers.org and do a internet search on "subwoofer DIY". There are a lot of plans out there. I give a thumbs up to the Decware designs. I built a Decware WO32 and power it with a Marantz MA700 monoblock amp. It sounds wonderful. But I think Marvel is right that the K-33 doesn't really fit any of the Decware designs. Not to discourage you, but the K-33 has a pretty high Fs for a subwoofer. You might be a lot happier with something else. You won't need the Type B crossover or tweeters for a subwoofer. But, unless it is being driven off the LFE output from a HT receiver, you will need a low pass filter of some type and possibly some way to combine signals from multiple channels. If the amp you use is one of those designed for a subwoofer, you are probably good to go. All the required circuitry is usually built in. If not, the filter can be as simple as a capacitor across the input to the subwoofer's power amp or as complex an op amp design as you would like to build. Or the low pass filter can be after the power amp, in the subwoofer itself. Downside is the components are fairly large and expensive. Good luck and enjoy!

K-55-M was made by ElectroVoice. I really doubt it t was a copy of the K-55-V which was the Atlas PD5V. For one thing, it doesn't take the same diaphragm. For another, Altas would never have allowed ElectroVoice to copy their design. I believe other threads in the past have indicated tyhe K-55-M might be a version of the 1823 or 1824.

Yep, the "transformer" with just two leads and no taps is a transformer core inductor. It could just as well be an air core inductor (coil).

IMHO damping Heresy cabinets is not necessary. It does not seem to be a popular tweak. Is there something you actually hear that you want to change? I doubt 1/8" cork would do much. Dynamat would probably do much better. You may want to try filling part of the cabinet with fiberglass insulation instead. You can play with the amount to and see what it does to the sound. Some people replace the back panel with 3/4" MDF.

I don't think anybody here is going to tell you what to buy. To find out which system is right for you, you need to listen to the systems. Maybe the dealer will even let you take both setups home, one at a time, to audition. Who knows, you might not like either one. As far as your questions go... Any speaker's response varies considerably across the frequency spectrum. The frequency response you experience will be different from what the manufacturer measured under laboratory conditions. And what you experience will vary from room to room, and point to point within a given room. There will be dips and peaks. Treble does indeed go up to 20 kHz. Any decent mordern speaker is capable of doing this. Even the not so decent ones are. But you probably aren't capable of hearing it. Some people like bipolar surrounds. The idea behind them is that they diffuse the sound instead of focusing it right at you. The idea is to approximate the effect of the multiple surround speakers in a theater. The signal arrives at your ear from different directions at different times. Some people like regular speakers pointed straight at the listener, or pointed in another direction to get the indirect sound. Some people even use multiple surround speakers on each side, just like in a theater. Manufacturers do not generally publish minimum impedance of speakers, just the nominal impedance. Actual impedance varies from nominal, with different values at different frequencies, both higher and lower. As long as speaker impedance stays above about 2 ohms, almost all modern SS amps will be just fine. Don't know a thing about Energy. It really doesn't matter if the sub is floor firing or side firing. Either way, a properly designed sub is capable of generating plenty of bass. And, you are likely to disturb your neighbor either way. Phase switch is only a convenience. If the subwoofer is out of phase with the other speakers, you may hear less bass at frequencies that both the sub and the other speakers generate. Its easy enough to correct my changing the polarity of the wiring to the speakers.

Hmm, Hersey would be just about perfect with Cornwall. Same tweeter and squawker. However, 14 years old would indicate Cornwall II which had different components. I think Academy might be best bet then. Alternatives would be KV-4 and KLF-C7. Heresy and KLF-C7 are easy to find. Academy, and more so KV-4, are harder to find.

Don't know of a place that will give you the specs for the individual components. You could get an idea, though, by checking the specs for the products that use them.

Uh, Jim, All my Heresys, from 1965 to 1984, have had the same tinned, stranded, copper wire. I've seen the insides of a lot of other speakers, Klipsch and other brands, and none of them had aluminum wire between the crossover and the speakers, although some had aluminum voice coil wire. Just because it looks silver/white instead of reddish on the outside does not make it aluminum. OT Congratulations on promoting yourself to moderator!

If you are going to reveneer, it needs to be over a sound substrate. It sounds like you may have to sand down to solid, well bonded veneer, or remove the old veneer. There are different methods of applying veneer, e.g white glue, hyde glue, yellow glue, contact cement. But most are susceptible to removal with heat. Cleaning up the glue residue is a chore, but can be done. If you are not thinking of taking up veneering as a hobby, but really want to do this job yourself, I would suggest you use preglued, paper-backed veneer. You should be able to do a respectable job. As far as other methods go, no, you don't need a high pressure press to avoid bubbles. Bubbles are generally the result of poor workmanship and/or inexperience. And they can usually be fixed satisfactorily. However, unless you are, or are planning on becoming, a skilled veneerer, I would recommend that you let a professional do the job on your Klipschorns. IMHO they deserve the best workmanship and materials. And a good veneer job can only enhance their value. BTW you might want to check out www.constantines.com to see what kinds of veneer you can get. If you are going to go to the trouble and expense of veneering, why not pick something more exotic than cherry, maple or mahogany?

At the risk of being flamed by some tweakers... The wire Klipsch used in the first place is just fine. You may want to reheat the solder joints if the speakers are old. The use of Monster Cable in some of the current Klipsch products is marketing hype, plain and simple. The wire between the speakers and the crossover is a miniscule part of the entire signal path. There is much, much more wire in the voice coils, chokes, autotransformers and cable to the amp than between the crossover and speakers. You'll never hear the difference.

Danartdis, See what you've started? Simple fact is that you can build a good system powered by tubes or powered by transistors. Only your ears will tell you what is right for you. If this thread isn't enough, for more than you will ever want to know about tubes, check out www.audioasylum.com.

And some people prefer vinyl over CDs... A lot of the hype about tube amps being superior to transistor amps goes back to the days of the earliest transistor amps. People swapped out tube amps for transistor amps and didn't like the sound, then blamed it on the transistor amp, when the problem was probably just a mismatch in damping factor. Speakers that sound good with an amp with a low damping factor do not necessarily sound good with an amp with a high damping factor, and vice versa. I had a JVC transistor power amp from the 70s. It was a real piece of audiophile gear, not the consumer stuff that JVC builds today. It had a switch to alter the damping factor of the amp to match the speakers. You could really hear the difference in sound the different settings made with an given set of speakers. There is a lot of talk about the even harmonic distortion of tube amps sounding better than the odd harmonic distortion of transistor amps. This ignores a few things. As already pointed out, even harmonic distortion is still distortion. The harmonic distortion of low power tube amps when driven hard can be an order of magnitude greater than a good transistor amp. The human ear is relatively insensitive to harmonic distortion in the first place. The speaker is a much worse source of harmonic distortion than a good transistor amp, or for that matter, a tube amp driven at reasonable levels. Intermodulation distortion is more disturbing than harmonic distortion. But, it really all comes down to what you like to listen to. Some people don't like speakers with reasonably flat frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. They want a bump in the bass or midrange, or a rolloff of the treble, etc. Likewise, some people just like the sound of tube amps better than transistor amps, or vice versa. And some people just like the idea of tube amps. Biggest disadvantage to me of tube amps is having to replace tubes periodically. There's the time involved, plus the fact that you don't pay for a tube amp once. You pay for it over and over again buying tubes. Finding tubes can also be a problem sometimes. They aren't exactly a commodity item anymore. You can't go down to the local supermarket for a replacement like in the 50s. You have to use NOS tubes, which are becoming increasingly rare, or tubes from places like the former Soviet Union. And as what's left of the Soviet countries slowly modernize their military and economies, and their tube factories shut down, tubes will probably become considerably harder to find and/or much more expensive. Another disadvantage, not a big one if you like Kipschorns, etc., is the need to use high efficiency speakers to get reasonable sound level. There are not nearly as many choices today as there were in the 50s. You are pretty much limited to vintage gear or a small fraction of currently manufactured speakers.

More likely a loose connection between the fuse and its socket, or the socket and wiring. Easy to find out if its the fuse, though. Just replace it. If the problem persists, I suggest you contact Klipsch tech support.

How the heck did the magnet break? Must be ceramic. Klipsch can probably supply a replacement. But you may want to change out the woofer in the damaged speaker's mate also to ensure a good sonic match. Call the parts department at 1-800-554-7724. They show up on eBay from time to time also.