JLH

(Klipschorn, Belle Klipsch, LaScala, Cornwall, or Heresy ONLY please)owners answer the following questions: 1. What Heritage speakers have you owned, currently own, or want to own? 1973 K-horns, 1985 La Scala 2. What was your age when you first purchased a Heritage series loudspeaker? 18 years old 3. What is your current age? 28 years young. 4. Why did you choose Heritage loudspeakers over another Klipsch model? So I could use my tube amps with them. High Sens speakers are the best! 5. If you currently own some Heritage loudspeakers, and could purchase some more Klipsch speakers(new or used), which ones would you purchase? Why? I would buy the Jubilee if it was for sale now. See #4 above. 6. Do you think the upcoming Jubilee should become part of the "Heritage" line, since it was also designed by PWK? Maybe, it is closer to the Heritage designs, but is a newer speaker that could get it's own group name. I say that Klipsch should build a whole new line of modern horn speakers! Regards, JLH

Djk, Yep, I neither can imagine anyone ever wanting to run a compression driver down to half its resonance frequency. If you run a compression driver below Fs, you will pretty much just get distortion below that point. However, there is more to what I was trying to say. I was really just referring to tractrix mid range horns in particular. The lowest a tractrix horn will start to provide any efficiency is when the horn is half a wavelength. The actual flare only has a minimal affect on its low frequency reproduction capabilities. This can be seen in McBeans (sp?) horn program. Model a free space, or full size tractrix horn with a depth of quarter a wavelength and see how close it comes to the horns Fc. Now start reducing the throat area to lengthen the horn to half a wavelength and you will see it is pretty much making it to the horns Fc. I have several examples and experiments in which have proven this over and over again. One example is the TAD TD-2001 on a full size 300Hz tractrix. Even through the TD-2001s throat is on the order of a 100Hz exponential horn, the 300Hz tractrix horn only provides loading and efficiency to 400Hz. The depth of a full size 300Hz tractrix horn with a 1 throat is 17 ¼ deep. It so happens that 17 ¼ is half a wavelength at 391Hz. The next example is Bruce Edgars 350Hz tractrix horn he uses with the 375/2440 and TAD TD-4001 compression drivers. Note that even through Bruce calls this horn a 350Hz horn; in reality it is a 340Hz tractrix. He calls it a 350Hz horn because it is a rounder number and is more pleasing to refer to it as 350Hz than 340Hz. Anyway, even through the throat of the 375/2440 and TD-4001 is on the order of a 160Hz exponential horn, it will not go any lower than about 500Hz on the 340Hz full size tractrix horn. The reason why is as follows: The depth of a full size 340Hz tractrix horn with a 2 throat is 14 7/8 deep. This depth corresponds to half a wavelength at 454Hz respectively. I saw Bruce's LEAP print outs of this compression driver and horn combination at the Midwest Audio show in Lima. Just as I stated above, efficiency was nonexistent below 400Hz, but as soon as it reached 450Hz the horn started to turn on and by 500Hz it was up to the zero dB reference line on the graph. The last example is the Radian 475 compression driver mounted on a full size 380Hz tractrix horn. The depth of a full size 380Hz tractrix horn with a 1 throat is 11 13/16 deep. This is equal to half a wavelength at 562Hz. However, this combination is good to 535Hz because the Radian 475s resonance is centered at 530Hz and helps the horn just enough to squeeze out another 35Hz or so on the bottom end. This is no different than what we do with bass horns when we tune the rear chamber to resonate the driver at or just below the Fc of the horn to gain a little more bandwidth. I used the Radian 475s resonance to annul the throat reactance to get just a little bit below the half wavelength barrier of the tractrix horn. I have done this on numerous tractrix horns over the last three to four years and have been able to reproduce these exact types of results in every case. This is what I mean about tuning all my mid range horns to their specific driver. It is fine if you dont need the extra bandwidth for your particular design, you can just go with a smaller horn. However, the broader bandwidth we can exploit out of a single driver, the closer it brings us to the magic of point source sound reproduction. John Hasquin (JLH)

Edster00, The amps I have used in the past have run the full gambit. Ive done the 300B thing and the 2A3, 45, and 10. They all had their positives, but also had a common problem, noise from the directly heated filament. To my ears AC heaters sounded much better than any form of DC heating the filaments, but I could not tolerate the hum with my horn speakers. Then I began to experiment with the TV triode sweep tubes like the 6AH4, 6BL7, 6CK4, and 12B4. Once again, just according to my ears, I felt like I was able to make fewer compromises and get better sound with the IDHT sweep tubes. Right now I run a small SE 6AH4 direct reactance drive amp on the mid range horns, and a PP 6AH4 direct reactance drive amp on the bass horn. These are my favorite amps up to this time. Until I get the itch to just build something, I think Im done with my amps. John Hasquin (JLH)

SOUNDJUNKIE, Throat size doesnt throw anything off. A 220Hz tractrix is a 220Hz regardless where you chose to terminate the throat. The only difference is if the horn were made for a 2 compression driver, you would just have to extend the horn back until it reached 1.4 or 1, depending on the driver. You still use the same calculations for the curve; you just plot the coordinates out to 1 or 1.4, instead of just 2. As far as the horn itself was concerned, it served as a footstool for a while, then I used for kindling in the fireplace. If you are going to NY Noise on June 1st, Ill be there. We can talk in person and I can answer all your questions. Dont every be afraid to ask questions, thats how we learn. John Hasquin (JLH)

SOUNDJUNKIE, The biggest horn and biggest waste of time was a 220Hz 225Hz horn I built before I had figured out where tractrix horn unloads its compression driver. Making bigger and bigger horns in the attempt to get lower frequency output is foolish and misdirected thinking since your low frequency limit is set by the compression drivers resonance. If you try to use a compression driver below its resonance, you will pretty much just get distortion. Anything above resonance and you are throwing away usable bandwidth. As far as JBL drivers and using first order crossovers at 500Hz, Ive never had a problem. Of course, I like to listen to my music at reasonable levels, 80dB continuous, 105dB peaks. If I know anything about Tom, he likes to listen to music at a more spirited level than I. I am yet to run my 1.5Wrms SE amplifier into clipping. I mean these mid range horns are at 109dB to 112dB 1W@1M, why would anyone need more than 1 good watt? I guess that is just me, I know others may think that too loud is just right.

SOUNDJUNKIE, It is actually very easy to turn down horns on a lathe. After everything is put together, it only takes about two hours for the inside, and then about one and a half hours for the outside. What takes the most time is laying out the tractrix curve and cutting out the wood. I do enjoy my work a great deal. I've never really done it for the money, its been more of a research project to find the best sound. John Hasquin (JLH)

Tom, Actually, I live in Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm only half an hour from the Klipsch building There is a lot more to proper mid range horn design than just throwing whatever size horn you have, onto whatever driver you have. The reason I bother to make horns is that I am able to match the horns to the driver's parameters and get the best performance. When you throw a 2420 onto a 650Hz tractrix, you are throwing away a good 300Hz on the bottom end. However, if 800Hz is as low you need to go to achivie good system syergey, than theres nothing wrong with it. I on the other hand shoot for maxuim bandwidth for a given driver. We might as well, compression drivers give us tons of effeciency. John Hasquin (JLH)

I know a while ago someone purposed this, but one of the Klipsch employees stated that the building was not ready yet. This has been some time ago and I was wondering if it would be possible for a group of us Klipsch enthusiasts to take a guided tour through the new facility? I know the Indianapolis facility probably wont have as much to see as the Hope facility, but I thought it would be very interesting to talk with some people and hear about the history of Klipsch from its employees. Any thoughts on this guys?

johnnyp, Almost forgot. Most likely the reason you were getting cone smack with (2) screws is because of an air leak. You have to have an air tight seal, or you are going to get cone flap. The small chamber of air created from the area between the cone and mounting board creates a compression chamber to dampen the cone so it doesn't flop around. This is the reason the cone flap stopped after you installed all (8) screws. Or at least that's my take on it. JLH

johnnyp, I thought about trying the Dayton speaker you are talking about. Can you give us an idea of what you think of it's performance in your horn? A lot of people on this BB are always interested in new speakers to use in their horns. Thanks! JLH