pesitalia

I would like to post my experience with Klipschorn's tweeters. I own a pair of new klipschorn loudspeakers built in 2000 and equipped with AK-3 crossover. These speakers have some unique features but when I bought them, I noticed two areas of weakness: 1) some redundancy and coloration in the 300-600Hz area affecting mostly male & female voice and 2) some resonance and harshness in the +- 5000Hz area (affecting harmonic accuracy of most instruments), this one being the most evident weakness to my opinion. Well, I thought that this was a penalty to pay if you wanted a horn system. One day I came across this forum and learned about ALK Engineering. After several contacts with Al Klappenberger and an unsuccessful trial of his 'Universal Upgrade' crossover, I got a set of AP12-AK3 & ES5800 crossover and a trackhorn-400 for the squawker. I installed them with a bit of pessimism, thinking to the disappointment I got with the universal kit. I really got surprised when I started to hear this new setup. It resolved most of the weaknesses addressed above without jeopardizing the efficiency or the dynamics. Concerning the tweeters, I got some improvements: in fact the K-77 had a smoother response maybe due to a better crossover frequency/pitch, thanks to the ES5800. However the sound was still missing that sort of thiny and crystal clear response I was looking for, especially when playing difficult instruments like vibes. I then decided to switch to the Beyma CP-25 as I could not find used JBL 2404. Initially I was quite happy with this change as I got more energy and a better dispersion. However I soon realized that the sound of the Beyma's was too aggressive and missing some sweetness (I could not fix the problem by reducing the output level as this was clearly a characteristic of this tweeter). Just to confirm it, I tested my hi-fi system with different top quality loudspeakers and the harsh tweeter sound was not there anymore. I also disconnected the tweeters and again, the problem disappeared. I was told by several friends that the JBL 2404 would have quite a similar response as it was designed thinking to outdoor applications, not certainly to in house hi-end. So, I guess that the Beyma CP-25 (and maybe the JBL2404) would be good if you listen to rock/pop music or so, but if you are an aficionado of acoustic jazz and classical music, I would not recommend them. I am currently in search of good alternatives compatible with the rest of the speaker. Carlo, Italy MY HIFI RIG I have a system built around an 8+8W Audio Tekne integrated amplifier manufactured in Japan. The other components are: Teac P-30 CD Drive Unit Audio Research DAC-3 Converter, fine tuned with Philips ECC88 Miniwatt vacuum tubes Revox-Studer PR99 MKIII 2-tracks Tape Recorder Acoustic Signature Analog One MKII Turntable with SME V Tonearm Van Den Hul Grasshopper III GLA MC Type Pickup Audio Research PH-7 Pre-phono fine tuned with Philips ECC88 Miniwatt vacuum tubes All cables from Audio Tekne

Sorry, I was not that clear on my previuos message. 1) You should remove the old AK-2 crossover completely 2) The AP12-350 is a 'gentle slope' filter for Woofer/Squawker crossing, emulating the AK-3 on the woofer hi-pass side; it comes complete with level adjustment for the squawker and costs 239USD for two sets. It can be easily mounted inside the horn cabinet, on the right side. You only need a few spade fittings and a good soldering kit. 3) The ES5800 is a 'steep slope' filter for Squawker/Tweeter crossing. It comes complete with level adjustment for the tweeter and costs 415USD for two sets. It can be easily mounted inside the horn cabinet on the left side. You just need a few spade terminals and a good soldering kit. 4) all the components in these crossovers are much better quality than original crossover and this fact alone will bring an improvement to the sound. 4) Important: when you carry out the above operations make sure you mark the (+) side of cables coming from the speakers, usually these are monster cable and the positive line is the cable with white writings on it. You don't want to screw up the phase between speakers as you will destroy the soundstage. I am sure Al will provide you as much support as you need. But I can tell you it's very easy to carry out the upgrade, you don't need to be an expert at all. Just need a good front end, good ears and obvioulsdy good music. Enjoy it.

Oops, I forgot, This is for Sweetspotheaven. Regards

As I said in my previous post, I got a real improvement when I replaced (most of) the original AK-3 crossover with the above set manufactured by Al Klappenberger (ALK Engineering). I wanted to retain the AK-3 bass section, that is all the components inside the woofer hatch, because it handles quite well the response of the woofer in the 300-400 Hz region, but I was a bit unhappy about the response of the squawker especially in the overlapping frequencies with wooofer and tweeter. That's where I got most of the improvement. In your case you have an older AK-2 crossover, therefore you may want to replace the whole lot with the ALK "AP12-350" plus the "ES5800". You can contact Al directly for assistance. Good luck. Carlo

This post might be useful for those guys looking for an improvement of klispchorn sound without major rework or driver replacement. In fact this update only requires a plain replacement of the original crossovers, which can be easily reversed should the result not be satisfactory (I am quite sure this will not happen). I own a pair of new klipschorn loudspeakers build in 2000 and equipped with an AK-3 crossover. These speakers have some unique features like a tremendous efficiency and an unmatched ability to reproduce music at realistic levels without any apparent compression or distortion. Nevertheless most hifi purists rehiterate the fact that these speakers produce an unrealistic sound because are not very accurate in terms of tonal balance and finesse. I must admit that after years of intensive listening of different kinds of music (jazz, blues, classical, vocal) I found some of these critics fundamentally correct as I noticed two areas of weakness: 1) some redundancy and coloration in the 300-600Hz area affecting mostly male & female voice and 2) some resonance and harshness in the +- 5000Hz area (affecting harmonic accuracy of most instruments), this one being the most evident weakness to my opinion. Well, I thought that this was a penalty to pay if you wanted a horn system. In fact I could listen to several other horn speakers (Tannoy Westminster and others); more or less, all of them were carrying evident colorations and inaccurate tonal balance, therefore I decided to keep my Klipschorns. One day I came across this forum and learned about ALK Engineering. After several contacts with Al Klappenberger and an unsuccessful trial of his 'Universal Upgrade' crossover, I got a set of AP12-AK3 & ES5800 crossover. I installed them with a bit of pessimism, thinking to the disappointment I got with the universal kit. I really got surprised when I started to hear this new setup. IMPRESSIVE !!! It resolved most of the weaknesses addressed above without jeopardizing the efficiency or the dynamics. More i detail: BASS SECTION It actually sounds better than before as it is a bit cleaner and tighter. Initially I was confused as I thought I'd lost the 'roundness' of the acoustic bass typical of previous arrangement. Indeed it was a false feeling as I now get a more modulated signal both in the deep side and in the mid-bass section which seems less prominent but, for sure, more realistic. The male voice is more homogeneous and has lost the tendency to inflate (Mark Murphy, JJ Cale, Eric Clapton as an example). Very good. Grand piano is spectacular (Bill Evans, Duke Ellington, Michel Camilo, Michel Petrucciani ...) I think it has to do with the interference between woofer and squawker, substantially reduced with ALK crossover. MID SECTION Female voice is even better, very accurate, clean and homogeneous (Patricia Barber, Diana Krall, Randy Crawford, Carol Kidd...). Same applies to all main instruments, specifically horns, guitars, violins. Much more definition, articulation and separation between them. In fact the soundstage has moved backward but is clearly deeper and full of details which I could hardly hear before. There is more echo and backstage is 'darker' than before. HIGHS This is the area with most improvements. I never tought that horn tweeters could provide such a thin and sweet sound, in competition with best dome tweeters. Very impressive. The bit of harshness I was used to, has almost desappeared. For example, vibes are very difficult to be reproduced because of the energy generated by the peaks. Now they come out crisp but smoother than before; there must be less distorsion or maybe less interference between the horns. All in all I am very satisfied as I've got a better quality without loosing the main benefits of my Klischorn, that is, high sensitivity and promptness. MY HIFI RIG I have a system built around an integrated SET amplifier (6+6 W I guess) manufactured in Japan by a guy called Kiyoaki Imai (Audio Tekne Incorporated), which provides an excellent sound. The other components are: Teac P-30 CD Drive Unit Audio Research DAC-3 Converter, fine tuned with Philips ECC88 Miniwatt vacuum tubes Revox-Studer PR99 MKIII 2-tracks Tape Recorder Acoustic Signature Analog One MKII Turntable with SME V Tonearm Van Den Hul Grasshopper III GLA MC Type Pickup Brinkmann Fein Phono Preamplifier All cables from Audio Tekne Carlo, Italy