soundog

Artto: Very interesting - where can one obtain the accoustic treatments you mention?

I replaced a 400 with a cobraflex in the center channel of one of my Heritage Home Theater setups. Both the 511 and the cobra work well with the K55 driver.

Welcome! I would not have been able to make my system as good as it is without this forum - it has been both my motivator and mentor.

All Heritage is the only way to go for a spectacular HT system IMHO. Without matched components things will move depending on the peaks and valleys in a speaker's response curve. I use the Khorns and LaScalas with two Heresy rears.

I have LH-10s crossing over at 4o Hz with my Khorns as well as seperate subs for the .1 channel on DVDs. I rarely use the subs when listening to two channel music on the Khorns. The clarity of the bass due to a "hair trigger" fast attach and decay create an incrediable realism that may not always be forceful but to me it's subtle perfection. However, for explosions and car crashes who needs subtle fidelity? I wouldn't know a real car crash or explosion from a slightly distorted one. The umph and volume are what make sound effects that can be felt seem real in my opinion.

Parts Express has an inexpensive adaptor that can be used to mount the Klipsch K55 driver on the Altec 501B horn. You'll have to drill two holes however as it is a 3 screw mount while the altec was drilled for only 2. I find it to be a very worthwhile improvement - better dispersion and a more "open" sound. Crossover at 400 works fine.

I don't know about this mod. The clarity and realism of the bass on Khorns and LaScalas comes from their horn loaded design - porting could ruin them, maybe you would get some lower bass but I bet it would be boomy and less distinct (might be ok for rap and sound effects or the nostolgic "juke-box boom" of the early R&R era). A good sub you could switch on and off would be a better bet, I would think.

I took the tweeters out of my khorns and mounted them vertically on a block on top which when combined with Al's ALK crossovers made a noticable difference (clearer, more open, less harsh). This was further improved by using a tube amp and external DAC processing for CDs and room accoustical treatments. Very satisfing when you find the right combination but it took a lot of experimentation and info from this site.

I think it is better to use a tube preamp with a solid state amp to get that "old tube sound" with Heritage speakers. My Outlaw 950 Home Theater Preamp has a bypass option that I can use with my Dynaco tube preamp to send a top flight stereo signal to my Klipschorns. IMHO it's the early stage preamplification that shapes the sound the most. And the solid state "umph", especially in the bass, provided by my Outlaw 7100 amp cann't be beat. Anyone else had a similar experience?

I have the 950/7100 combo it is clear and clean, I can not tell that it is on even when turned way up. Since I am feeding an all heritage surround system with it this is trully remarkable, The high currrent amp has power to spare. I still like to feed cds and records through a tube preamp and the 950 has a bypass option that works great with this setup. For movies and SACDs the 950 excells. I had 2 1050s (the greatest value in audio I've ever found except for old used Heritage speakers)and still use one in my second system. Outlaw customer service is like hiring aa audio consultant to work with you. True high end at a mass market price. The 950 and amps are sold for a lot more under other brands - search the outlaw site BB for their names.

Had occasion to stop by the local "wall" mart, as Paris would term it. Those racks and the matching TV stand are first rate. They are equal to some selling for 3-4 times as much! Great find guys!

I have most of my equiptment in a seperate room in the basement on steel utility racks on concrete floors. I use remote extenders to control them. The concrete basement floors do not transmit vibrations and as the equiptment is in a seperate room not much in the way of sound wave vibration reaches the equiptment either. I have used some acoustical isolation under key components but detected no change. I just don't think any significant vibrations reach the equiptment.

The trick is to come up with the right combination of room demensions, speaker placement and reflection, absortion and diffusion treatments and bass traps if necessary for standing waves. Takes some research on the net and a lot of experiementation.

If you search the updating old speakers forum you will find many references to changes in Heritage speakers and the relative merits of former and latter configurations of horns, drivers, driver magnets and crossovers. Their are a lot of different opinions. Many of the older configurations are considered preferable to the newer. On the other hand, some very good things have been said about the changes made in the current models. And then of course some older Klipsch models are no longer in production. There is also a great deal of material on the desirability of using tube amplification with Heritage speakers as well as the desirability of old vinyl records vs. CDs. I have found that using a tube pre-amp along with a solid state amp of good quality produces a desirable result. I have also found that upgrading old crossovers to ALKs have had a favorable result. Using a high quality DAC and jitter reduction on CDs has also produced a noticable improvement of my CDs. The new SACDs also produce an improved sound. Changing some horns and dampening others has produced a favorable result. Each mod has produced a better sound IMHO - I learned about all of them from this site. I also found that room acoustical treatments - reflection, absorption and defusion considerations have all made noticable differences. It has taken a lot of trial and error and experimentatation. I am now very pleased with the result and now spend most of my time listening to what I consider some real great systems which I could not have put together without the help of the people on this site. Good luck - like everything in life it's a great adventure and learning experience.

There are a number of great suggstions here. With my Khorns I found the highs sounded smoother with 1) ALK crossovers 2) a tube preamp into a high quality solid state amp 3) a high quality DAC for the CDs 4) jitter reduction devices for the CDs 5) room accoustics with the right combination of absorption, reflection and defusion elements. A lot of work and experimentation but well worth it!

If money is no object why not get some new Klipschorns and Belles while you're at it?

Klipsch speakers are quite efficent so high wattage is not necessary. The Outlaw Audio 950 HT Preamp w/ am/fm tuner and their 7 channel high current 100 watt per channel 7100 7 channel amp both won 2004 Editor's Choice Awards from Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. Cost is aprox. $1600. You can pay a way lot more but this combo would be a great match for your speakers. It is truly high quality at a budget price. If you really want more power, Outlaw also makes a 200 watt per channel version for about $800 more.

The stage one is a very high quality Home Theater Preamp with a tunner section. Seperate power amps for all channels would be needed. It is not a "receiver" that consists of integrated preamp, tunner and amps all in one package. If price is no object why would you choose a receiver over seperates? What speakers are you planning on using?

A great choice is the new OutlawAudio.com 950 HT preamp for $799. It is very musical as well as being a great HT preamp. As a bonus it also includes a decent am-fm tuner. The unit has just received one of the Stereophile's Guide to the Home Theater Editor's Choice Awards for 2004. Reviews on it are outstanding.

If one system of loudspeakers reproduces a recording in such a way that the instruments seem to be "in the room" and "very real" and the other does not seem as real and have the same presence and realism, I would say the first has less distortion then the second. I'm not knocking the Klipsch in wall speakers but I'm sure I'm not the only one who hears a significant difference between the Klipsch Heritage loudspeakers and the Klipsch inwall reference speakers. Remember this fellow was asking for a "jaw dropping wow" experience.

NO distortion? There has never been a speaker made that has NO distortion. Some have less than others; some have considerably less than others; NONE have NO distortion. Some think the little Bose cubes and sub have a great deal of "jaw dropping wow" power - just go to one of their demo rooms and observe the reactions of some of the people. My point is that at low levels, in a corner with a small TV, so unobtrusive that they won't interfer with conversation; doesn't call for something that would produce "jaw dropping wow". But, IMHO in a room this size, if you want something that sounds like it would in a theater or concert hall you need speakers similar to what you would find in a theater or concert hall. In short, the Klipsch Heritage speakers. The speakers you suggest would be a fine compromise but they would be a compromise that would not produce what I would consider "jaw dropping wow". But, then, maybe I just have higher standards for defining "jaw dropping wow".

You have a good point, but I guess it's a matter of focus. He said he wanted "jaw dropping wow!". I guess the first thing an installer would have to tell this fellow is : "You are NOT going to get 'jaw dropping wow' from small unobtrusive in -wall speakers". "You can get some good sound but you can't have your cake and eat it, too." They might be ok for movies but when it comes to music they will fall short in terms of clarity, soundstage depth, realism, etc., etc. If he wants a samll TV with a system in one corner of the room that will be unobtrusive and will play low he could get a "home theater in a box" but if he wants jaw dropping wow that will take a lot more.

The Khorns sound great at any level and the bass is as clean and natural as can be ... use either LaScalas or Heresy's as sides with either a LaScala or Belle as the center channel.

With the speakers you have you would have more than enough power with a quality high current amp like the Outlaw 7100 which gives you seven channels and the Outlaw 950 Pre-amp ...The combined package is only $1598. And both provide top rated sound! If you really want 5 channel 200 watt; you can't beat the Outlaw 750 at $1299.

Are you refering to component video cables that transmit the video in 3 seperate color segements versus the A/V composite video cables? Or are you talking about high end type audio cables vs the usual cables packeted with the equiptment components you purchase?