ClaudeJ1

RAFellows, The new amp should be fine, but you can always upgrade to more power later. I have Klipsh TSCMs wich are Pro Klipschorns that are even more sensitive than K-Horns as they are 106dB/1 meter?/1 Watt and also louder as well, and I use 225 watts on my center and 200 watts on all other channels. The bigger amp will give you more headroom and help with authority on your Bass with your K-Horns and LaScalas for both music and movies. Roger Not true.

No. ClaudeJ1, You say no, have you looked at the SVS subs? Also wouldn't alot depend on listening levels etc, etc? There are lots of good direct radiator subs out there. Many of them by Klipsch. But, based on the PHYSICS, rather than brand, they do create lots of harmonic distortion, which is what makes them incompatible with Khorns. Paul Klipsch original made the Heresy as a center channel speaker, then the Cornwall, and finally, a Belle (Pretter version of a LaScala named after his first, late wife to match Walnut Khorns). His reasoning evolved, based on measurments and listening, that even when played 6 db down from the flanking speakers in his classic 2PH3 setup, which I had myself for 30 years, the distortion was still objectionable based on the lowest common denominator. You can have a horn sub with direct radiator main speakers, but not the other way around. An exception to this might be having LOTS of 18" sub cones to keep excursion at the lowest frequencies below 1.5 mm Xmax. But that is way more expensive than just building a THT or some other sub bass horn.

Since the average power, when played LOUD, with Khorns, is about 1/4 watt, adding in a conservative 20 db headroom (100 times), you get 25 Watts, so 80 will give you about 25 db head room. The rest of you guys that recommend more are crazy! (in a good way, of course). I was a DB freak with my Khorns in my early 20's and even then I was only hitting 10 Watt peaks on most of my music. I also want to remind you that signal to noise ratio is based on full output, so, good low power amps, technically, have an advantage over higher power ones, in that they have a higher signal to noise ratio. 100-300 Amps of modern times are great (Bryston 4B, etc.) but you will NEVER use it on a Khorn and it's money wasted. Save that kind of power for SUBWOOFERS.

Thanks for filling in the blanks. Time domain issues are handled by Audyssey Voodoo in my listening room. Takes a while to master the miking technique because it messes with the imaging quite a bit, but once it's done and all the receiver selections tweaked, it's nothing short of amazing. 2.1 or 7.1 for dummies, I call it. Sometimes I like to be a "dummy" and just enjoy the music without breaking out the all the measuring tools, which should be tweaked before applying Audyssey anyhow. Love them Blue Ray concerts, but most times, they sound better in 2.1 than DTS.

We got a bit off track here, but I digress...........................................So do my expert engineer friends agree with the title of this thread?

I try to keep my levels in the 80-85 db range (JBL used to recommend 75). This keeps things loud enough and detailed enough. Based on your posted letter, I use about 1/100th of 1 watt to do this (10 milliwatts) or 20 db less, which is 1/4 as loud, which agrees with my own measurements of amplifier power going to my passive Xover. A 300 Watt amplifier is a 25 dbWatt amplifier, which means you can reach 125 db peaks, which are pretty obnoxious to my ears. I would say YES you have tons of headroom. That would translate about about 45 db headroom for me. The only thing I wish to point out is that Signal to Noise ratios in amplifiers are referenced to full output, so, all other things being equal, the guy with less powerful amplifiers will also have less noise. I should point out that the 10 W/channel, $26 Lepai is what I use on my woofer section. It has enough headroom to handle the latest TRON movie dynamics. My beefy power goes to the Danley DTS-10's where it's needed.

It's actually too much. I once designed my own peak level meter for speakers. My Khorns were loud on 2 Watt PEAKS, most being 1/8th watt or less. 10 Watt peaks were painful. PWK used to demonstrate "ear splitting levels" with a 10 Watt Brook tube amplifier in the mono days. It's just hard to get good low power amps these days unless you get a chip amp. My little Sonic Impact was tested by a Klipsch Engineer and he said it was a great little 6W amplifier perfect for a Khorn. That being said, when I was at Paul W. Klipsch's house, he was using a Crown D-60 and a BGW-100 on his Khorns. Those two were the lowest powered amps one could get in the 80's that had super low TIM distortion. Now pretty much all amp makers do that.

wow. 1,178 views and counting. More people who like bass as much as I do, it seems. This doesn't include the other link to this. WOW

vewy intwestink.

I think we could shoe horn this Eliptrac 240 into your KHorns. Might go nice with those BMS Drivers. Dave If you look at John Warren's "Super Khorns" you will note that he crosses at 300 Hz. into a rare Altec horn. I'm currently crossing my K-402 at 320 Hz. and it sounds fantastic. So I believe your new horn to be the cat's meow as a Khorn upgrade because Khorns bottoms get pretty funky between 300-400 Hz, so it they can be bypassed by your horn, that would be a great thing. I think you are going the right direction here based on intuition and experience.

What djk shows is a hornresp simulation, not a measurement. Real measurements are good too, but listening is believeing. What Roy Delgado said about the K-43 woofer is that it has a higher BL product which tips the response towards the mid range instead of the bass. I lived with LaScalas for decades as center as well as main channels. When I tried K-43's I was Amazed at the greater MIDRANGE detail I would hear....guitars, saxes, female vocals, etc. It does, however "thin out" the bass substantially, but if you build another THT, you won't miss it, I promise. IndyKlipschFan's home theater is all commercial split LaScalas with K-43's in the bottoms and it's one of the best I've ever heard (outside of my setup, of course, LOL). And NO, nothing tames the LaScala/FH-1 peak except a PEQ. Sorry.

"A tweeter with 4-22kHz bandwidth will sound "better" than a tweeter with a bandwidth of 4-15kHz even if you can only hear to 15kHz. Bandwidth defines transient behavior, the broader the bandwidth, the better the transients. In other words, the 4-22kHz tweeter will be a better tweeter in the range you have audibiltiy. Repsonse linearity, as a function of input power (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 10 20W, etc) is also of importance. Lots of tweeters look very good at 1W input but not so at 3W, 5W, etc." I posted a quote from PWK saying the same thing about the GAUSS coffee can sized driver on the original 2-way MCM back in 1976. If it does 19Khz. it will be better at 10 Khz. or something to that effect.

Excellent, that's good news. I have had good results with B&C drivers as well. Dave Me too. I'm using a DE-250, mylar diaphragm on the QSC "mini me" horn that looks like a small K-402..........see avatar. Since I don't have to retrofit a Klipsch cabinet, size is not a factor here. B&C makes good stuff.

I recall the same comment, but didn't comment at the time because I agreed with the context. The Table Tuba is a good for music while the THT is also good for movies (in addition to music). The Table Tuba just doesn't go low enough for movies. Admittedly, the THT drops like a rock below 20 Hz and some people are not satisfied with that as well. The lil wrecker is interesting as well, and the Cinema F20. Danley DTS-10 is good for music, movies, and to simulate earthquakes in your house or vibrate things at the other end of the house. LOL. Otherwise you can go to the AVS forum and build the HousWrecker or the LilWrecker, both of which were inspired by the DTS-10. The nice thing about the F-20 and the Tubas is that they are NOT tapped horns. They won't go as low, but go higher, like 100 Hz. instead of 60 or 70 Hz. for the tapped horns. That being said, the 24" THT is terrific. I own one of those too. It's great for music and movies.......VERY efficient, but won'd go as low as spuds, which are less efficient. Trade offs are alive and well.

djk, Are your mid horns 640's? Which drivers, the EV DH1A's? had a bunch of those. Great drivers, but that horn didn't satisfy my ears in my old MWM stack in the basement. Maybe I was crossing it too low.

My Danley DTS-10's use a push pull configuration. I believe the argument between Wayne Parham and Tom Danley had to do with Danley saying that a pair of LABhorns in a home environment could be EQ'd flat to 20 hz. with about a 10 db boost, which it can afford, excursion-wise, with two 12's per cabinet, fully horn loaded (not tapped). Parham claimed the horn was too short (about 10.5 feet) to go that low. I agree with Danley, since, like the THT, it relies on cabin gain andn corner loading to pick up the low end substantially beyond the horn's Fc.

No.

Satin Lacquer

As former Technical Editor of Rangefinder and Professional Photographer Magazine, and "being digital" since 1986, I fully concur with Mike's advice here. Plus he has some really good sample Wedding photos on his walls to diffuse the sound of his Klipsch Pro speakers! Mike knows his stuff, so pay attention.

As far as I remember the specs. they would be good for bass reflex or horn loading down to about 50-60 Hz. But their low Qts would suggest great response near the midbass/midrange

You appear to be a fan of PPSL. Do you have measurements? I seem to recall you also used EV 6040 horns........have 3 of those in the garage.

K-33 E stands for Eminence. CTS was 60's I think. I had K-33 P with square magnets, may have been CTS of Paducah, but not sure. Been Eminence for a LONG time.

Good points, Islander. I got spoiled by MWM bottoms. Between K402 and 510, the 402 is a better horn. My bottoms now a close enough to LaScalas, so I have a 3-way version of what you have with a bigger top and more bottom because I have room for it, which wasn't the case 2 months ago. Anyway, I did improve my sound as much as anyone. I agree about spending more money and time acquiring and listening to new and old music.

Hey, Mark. You have the coolest HDTV stand I have ever seen.

What do you consider reference levels?