jhawk92

Colin- I asked a similar question about 18 months ago; sort out by dates as to which models used which drivers, crossovers, etc. I think it would be a help for people who go out and look at used Klipsch models. They could take their handy date code chart and this info and be sure of what they were getting. The response I remember was that there wasn't a set year when Klipsch switched from A to AA or AK, etc. Same thing for the various drivers. Your question might be a bit easier to solve, as it is just a list of info, and doesn't correspond to a date. At least some of the info (listing of various Heritage models) would be on the discontinued speaker model info here on the Klipsch site. Guess you'd also have to decide if the Chorus/Forte/Quartet line would be included. Personally, I think they are, as PWK had a hand in designing them and at one point they were all listed together.

Moon- Ah, thanks very much. Guess I need to squint better. Will be interested in what new items they have. Will check it out tomorrow.

Minn- Thanks for a cool page. Pretty neat to see my Denon AVR-4800 do as well as it did. I always liked how it sounded in my system. Now it's acting as my preamp, with a Denon POA-8300 and a pair of POA-5200s doing the actual heavy lifting. Wish I could find similar stats for those amps. I would think they'd be pretty close to spec (120W) if not over.

Fini- Thanks much. Nice that they are just down the road from me in C. Springs. I'll ping them tomorrow and see what they have to say. I don't think I have any really rare/expensive ones, as I just started getting them in the mid-80s. But I do have the silver proof sets as well, and a few of them leaked also. IIRC, one of these is kinda rare, I think the '95 silver set, but I don't have a current price guide anymore. I'm also hoping that I can get some replacement boxes for my bullion coins that got wet. Coins are fine, but the boxes are shot and I'd like to keep the coins safe. Called the US Mint and the customer service lady was less than helpful. Supposedly, they don't sell just the boxes. Doesn't seem right to me, but I also think she may not have been able to think for herself; just follow a checklist for phone orders. Will see if ANA knows anything about boxes. So, are you a coin collector also?

Hmm, pretty good price on them. If I were still in CT, I'd jump on those. Gary- You didn't say you had that mouse fart album. You'll have to send me a copy of that and I'll try it out on my Forte IIs. Fini- I bet it was Minnie, since I'm sure she farts quieter than Mickey.

Fini- Most of my coins made it fine, but several of my proof sets leaked, so there's water on the inside. So much for them being "sealed." I don't know if that can be "fixed" or if I can just claim them and get replacements. Unfortunately, the standard coin limit is pretty low, and I think I may bump up against that, so I'll try and get them to replace the more expensive sets if they don't cover it all, and then I'll search for replacements. Yes, I am leaving well enough along on trying to "fix" them. I've called a few coin dealers locally, as well as some companies that specialize in coin investing, but haven't gotten any calls back yet. Good idea about the ANA. Will look them up and call them tomorrow. Thanks.

Dr.- As a current owner of both, I'll add my thoughts. You are correct about the specs, freq response, cabinet size, etc. As Gil mentioned, the Chorus/Forte/Quartet are basically all siblings and I think were made to serve different price points, performance levels, and room sizes. All three have the Tractrix midrange, though slightly different sizes. IIRC, there was about $200-300 difference between each speaker. When I bought my Forte II, I stretched my budget a bit over the Quartet because I liked the overall bigger sound from the Forte, as well as the better bass. At that time, the Chorus was outside my spending limits, but it sounded damn good. As I started upgrading my HT (Pro-logic to DD 5.1 to 7.1), folks here on the board recommended I listen to the Chorus again. I did and ended up buying a pair that are now my HT mains, with Fortes as surrounds. While the Fortes dig a bit lower than the Chorus (and it is noticable), the mids and highs on the Chorus are smoother and more detailed. That's what sold me on them for HT; I can suppliment the bass deficiency with a sub, but those upper frequencies are wonderful. That said, you can't go wrong with any of the three, C/F/Q. As Audio Flynn said, the Chorus can make an incredible R&R speaker and I love wandering downstairs for a little 2-ch time with them. They are not up to K-horn standards, but a damn fine speaker. Also as Gil mentioned, the Cornwall uses the exponential horn vs. Tractrix. My parents have a set of Forte (exponential) and Forte II (Tractrix) in their HT, and I really can't tell much difference, though it's been a while since I've done a serious A/B comparison. Overall, they match up pretty good together. I did lug my Chorus IIs for a shootout with fellow BBS'er Sprocket and his Cornwalls. We liked both speakers, but I think both prefered our own "babies." That said, the Cornwalls definitely have more power down low that the Chorus, but I think the Chorus has a better upper end. And the Chorus would win in a contest that required a smaller footprint. Those Cornwalls are BIG! But they do sound good. Do a search on the 2-ch archives for a "Chorus II/Cornwall shootout" about 2 years ago. Some good thoughts are there. So, what would I do? Tough choice. As Boomac said, I won't be selling my Fortes, or my Chorus IIs. In fact, I bought another set of Chorus and one will become my center channel. Cornwalls are great, and if I found a pair at a good price, and had a room to put them in, I'd have no reservations getting a pair. As far as the Quartet, great "little" speaker and I'd love to get a pair someday in oiled oak to have all three of the sibilings in a HT. Ranking them is hard. I'd put Quartet at the bottom, but only because someone has to finish last. The other three are neck and neck, each has good qualities and small nits to pick. If I had to get only one pair, I guess it would be the Chorus II for the better mids/highs and I'll suffer a bit on the bass side, though an audio system might allow for a sub to be added. If that's the case, Chorus all the way. If space is a problem, Forte II, as it has all the slam of the Cornwall, most of the upper magic of the Chorus, but in a smaller package than either. You can manhandle a Forte no problem. The others realistically need two people. But I cheated and have both for a HT. So, long winded, but I hope this helps.

Well, met with the adjuster yesterday, and he was fine with replacing the cables, so I'll be making up a list. While none of the ends were actually in water, he said that he has authorized replacment in similar situations, so we should be good to go. Not sure if they will take the cables once we are settled up. The risers seem to be doing ok, though a bit of the finish is gone. I think when we have a furniture refinisher out here to look at a couple of antique pieces that were in the basement, I'll have them look at the risers to see if there is anything they can do to clean them up. Heck, I might be able to do it with a bit of sandpaper and some BLO. The risers are spreading out a bit at the corners, and while I haven't lifted up the speakers yet, I might just be able to tighten down the screws and be ok. The adjuster did say he would authorize some money for "visual damage" so that's cool. The drying out is taking much longer than I had hoped. Fans are still going and probably will for another day or two. I can see this whole thing taking up to a month to get everything on the reconstruction done. Then there will be the wait for the personal property claim, so I bet the theater will be down until some time in Feb. Oh well, still counting my blessings. Anyone know of a good coin restorer? Not getting much luck with the shops I've called so far.

Ok, so you used to be able to find all sorts of DTS gear for the home theater on the site; there was a mention of a new DTS sign/plaque for HT use, but I can't find any mention of that now. Anyone know anything about that? I'd like to find one for my HT.

I would agree with colter's advice. And I think the pages are still a bit dark and hard to read with the white type. In terms of the "discontinued" section, you are missing the Academy in the "center channel" section. And you must get the Chorus/Chorus II loaded in the "floor standing" section. I understand you are listing them alphabetically, to make it easy to find a certain model, but I like having them grouped within their own "line," i.e. Epic, Legend, Heritage, etc. But things are getting better.

Here's another bump for this, as I found it very informative and was searching back a week or so for threads I hadn't read yet.

Dodger- Yep, we are just starting this process, so we'll be going over everything with a fine-tooth comb. We have up to 60 days to file the personal property claim, so that should give us enough time to check everything out. I plan on checking out all the IC's, power cords, etc tonight, even the ones that don't seem to have been in the water. My surge supressor was on a rack, so no damage there. The speakers have been in a dimly-lit room, so I can't really tell about swelling on the risers, but quick looks show little to no damage, but again, we'll be checking closely in the coming days. We haven't tried the washer/dryer yet as all the fans/dehumidifiers downstairs pretty much maxes out the various circuits down there, and I'm sure if we fire up the dryer, we'll trip all kinds of circuits. Hot water and furnace are all ok, as the water didn't get inside them. Whew. Larry- Thanks much. Cable/Picky- Yeah, this is certainly not what I wanted to do right now. I really wanted to spend some time enjoying the system this month as work will pick up in Feb and probably limit the movie time.

Leo- Yeah, clean water is certainly better than a sewer backup. That would have been really bad. I spoke with my local AQ dealer and he agrees on replacing the cables. He's seen a couple of water damaged situations and the cables did corrode. Time to start making a list of all the damaged things. Doug- We were home during the deep freeze, and I think that's when the pipe froze, most likely a draft following the hose spigot. It was in a location where we had put insulation around bathroom walls, and so with the draft and insulation, it stayed cold until the past "heat spell" warmed it enough to thaw out. I'm glad it held off until just before we got back, otherwise, we'd be in much worse shape. We also had a sump, but it didn't do much for some reason. Something to look into. Thanks for the offer to take the speakers off my hands. Very kind of you! Greg- Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if they were that much, as I have replacement coverage on the personal property. The other big issue I'm having is with my coin collection. Most made it through ok, but a number of my older US Mint Proof sets got soaked. Not sure if they can be restored, or if they will get replaced. Scott- See answer above to Doug. Now that we have a few holes in the drywall, we'll put in some access vents which will allow for better air circulation around this specific pipe. We just sealed it off too good with the basement remodel. Larry- Thanks much. Do you also have Maureen's? Dee- Yeah, certainly not the way we wanted to start out the new year. We didn't have as much damage as we could have, and that's certainly a blessing. Thanks for the kind words about Carlin. She's a cutie and was very good these past couple of days when she wasn't the center of attention as she normally is. Alan- I'll certainly keep everything in mind. I think I'll pop the hood on all the electronics once things are back together to make sure there aren't any obvious signs of damage. Rob

Gary- Yeah, I'm sure it will be a thrill dealing with all the work that will be needed. I'm just glad that we had updated the homeowners policy for the finished basement. Will let you know when the package arrives. Thanks. Fini- Yep, I'll be bringing out all the pics of the remodel when the adjusters arrive. Looks like the HT will be down for the better part of a month. Too bad as the football playoffs are coming. Rick- Thanks for the feedback on cables. I think all the ICs between the receiver and amps are ok, but the sub one was definitely soaked. I'll ping AQ early in the week to see what they say as well. Fortunately, all my albums were up off the floor. Not that I have many, but it would have been a pain to replace them. And, yes, I'm so glad the K-horns were upstairs. Would have been VERY hard to replace those! Ed- Good idea to double check the risers as well as the speaker "guts." I'll certainly have them easily accessible when the adjuster comes. Better safe then sorry. On a related note, does anyone still have an email addy for Mike Klementovich, who was one of the authors of the PWK biography? I got to meet him at the book signing in Hope and he gave me a very nice Klipsch item that was damaged in the water and I want to get in touch with him. Thanks. Rob

Well, Happy F'in' New Year! We were out of town for Xmas and got back home last night. Heard water running somewhere, and headed for the basement and were greeted with 4+ inches of water down there. Plumber came today and found a frozen pipe that must have just thawed out a few hours before we got home, so we were lucky there. On the HT front, all the electronics seem to be ok, as they were up on Flexy racks with 2" casters (and were on the high end of the basement!) They may have a bit of condensation, so I'll let things dry out first. The speakers fared a bit worse, but at least the water damage was confined to the risers and didn't get into the speaker enclosures. New HT furniture got wet as well. So, I spent New Year's Eve hauling speakers, and other stuff up out of the basement to minimize damage. Called the plumber today and fixed the pipe, and also had a water restoral company out and pulled out the carpet and started the heavy duty drying process; 10 big fans and 3 huge dehumidifiers. Needless to say, this sucks, as we had just refinished the basement in early summer. Pics/descriptions of the remodel can be seen here. http://www.snoozingdogs.com/Basementremodel.html Insurance adjuster should be here Monday, and I'll have them look at the speaker risers, but I think they'll be ok. Maybe just a bit of swelling there that might dry out with time. My main question deals with cables. I had cables running to the sub and the four main speakers, L/R main and L/R surround. All are Audioquest and they got soaked. Are these safe to use once they dry out? If not, should I write these off and get the insurance to pony up for new ones? I would think that with water getting in could lead to a pretty serious case of oxidation? Any advice here would be most appreciated. I know this probably belongs in the HT or General forum, but there's more knowledge here in 2-ch than the others. Thanks much. Rob

Dodger- Hope things are going well for you up in NY. Your Chorus IIs are doing great, now in Colorado. They made the trip out fine and are now flanking a front projection screen in our dedicated HT. Were you ever able to find the Chorus II cut sheet? That's one I've been on the lookout for for quite some time. Rob

Tony- I'd go for another meeting in Hope. I missed out on seeing inside the museum when I was there for Mr. Paul's book signing, though it was great spending the day with Michael, Maureen, and Lee and going to lunch with everyone and Miss Valerie! Beside, I still owe you dinner from our audition.

Bringing this one back up from the bottom. Yes, Paul is right, the 930 has a bit more power than the 730, but, according to HDBR, the tuner in the 930 is what makes it "better." And I'll agree with Dee, the 730 has an extremely classic look to it. I bought one about 6 months ago, for under $80, and it's in excellent condition. Didn't require the pot cleaning, as there was no scratchiness, but I did it anyways, and cleaned under the hood. I tried it out on my Chorus IIs and it sounded VERY good. I haven't tried it on my K-horns yet. It went over to my Dad's and he listened to it on his classic Jensens and said he wanted one. So, I jumped back on ebay and found another, not quite in as good condition, for a bit more. He tried it out and now I see/hear what the pot cleaning is for. The tuner knob was especially dirty and made a ton of static while tuning. But with several shots of contact cleaner, it cleaned up pretty well and Dad's happy. The 430/730 are siblings with the same lines and knobs. There was a parts 430 up on eBay a couple months ago and while it sold, I was able to snag all the knobs and button caps before the seller sent it off. They were dirty, but a little homebrew cleaner shined them up right and it's nice to have a few spares in case a knob breaks. About the only issue I have with the 430/730 is the spring connectors for speaker cables. You sure can't have very heavy speaker cables and still get them to fit in the little holes. I much prefer the spade connectors on the 930, but it's a minor annoyance. I do like that the 730 can act as a preamp, so I may try that sometime with some outside amps. These are great units. I bought mine mainly as a bedroom system for our daughter. Will hook it up with a set of Heresy's from fellow forum member, and Colorado resident, Jim, and a Denon CD and she'll be good to go. Granted, she's only one, but when she's old enough, she'll be well set in the music department.

I have the Denon DCM-440 and a 460. I use the fixed outputs and run to my preamp. IIRC, the variable outputs allow you to hook the CD player direct to an amp, and control volume using the CD remote. With the DAC, you should use the digital coax, as that will send the signals, still digital, to the DAC, where it will decode them. Using the analog outputs means you use the DACs in the 520.

Probably not much better than these monsters http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/Denver/denver_9.html The top couple of pictures, not great quality, of the Cogent loudspeakers. Reg Body (Sprocket) and I went to the Denver AudioFest last weekend and we did a quick listen to these. Not all that impressive. The big thing in the back is supposedly the sub. Up close, you could see the screw pattern and make out the folds in that horn as well. So how do I do the HTML to make this a clickable link?

C- While I don't have KG4s, I have a number of similar speakers; Chorus II, Forte II, etc. Yes, they are very efficient speakers, so 85WPC will be enough to drive them to pretty loud levels. Now whether those levels are loud enough for you, that's up to you to decide. If you want THX reference level, (forget the specific dB levels), then 85 watts won't be enough. It all depends on what your room size is and what you want your system to do. Certainly a receiver will drive the speakers well. If you are willing to spend some extra money, then separates (preamp/amp) are a good way to go, and you can get some added sonic benefits that way. Initially, I used my Denon AVR-4800 to drive my HT, but now I use is as the pre/pro and have separate Denon amps to drive the speakers. I really enjoy the Klipsch/Denon combo, though some people prefer other brands. Making the switch from "receiver" to "separates" did make a difference to me, in terms of overall cleaner sound. There are a number of other KG4 owners here, so I'll leave it to them to recommend specific gear. But if you want to stay in the receivers, Denon, Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Kardon, etc are good. Separates can go from lower end (cost-wise) like Outlaw, to mid-level like Sherborne, B&K, Rotel, to higher end like Anthem, Aragon, Krell, Theta, etc. There are lots of other options, it all depends how much you want to spend.

That should make a great system. I'd love to have the room for a set of Quartets for the rears, but for now, it just won't happen. Maybe someday, then I'd have a set of the entire line, Chorus II/Forte II/Quartet and an Academy. Let us know how your system turns out.

Yep, count me in as a "Flexy fan." I built one with walnut MDF, veneered the edges, and used a cherry stain to "warm" up the color a bit. Then used the clear satin poly and it looks sharp. I went a bit on the pricy side and bought brass hardware, so it matches with my 299B very well, and gives a very good look when next to the K-horns. I went with 2'x2' shelves, so got 4 shelves out of a 4'x4' piece without any waste. Using 3' rods, I think they were 3/8", allows for some nice room in between the components. After my experience with the walnut one, I built three for my HT, though this time I used birch MDF, standard steel hardware, and just painted black, since they will be in the dark most of the time. I made two at about 30" tall for HT components and then another to support a couple of components and the center channel speaker, currently an Academy, but soon I'll try a Chorus II. All racks have the rubber washers and I used 2" casters to make moving the rack easier. Great system in the Flexy, and well worth the investment, considering they are infinitely adjustable and can be made to look very nice. Sure beats the $$$ furniture out there.

Gil is correct about the difference between the Chorus I and II. The II digs a bit deeper, 39Hz vs 45Hz for the Chorus I. I attribute that to the passive radiator in back, though I could be wrong. I haven't heard from Mike Lindsey in a while; I bought his set of Chorus IIs and really enjoy them. I don't remember which set he liked better, I or II, but he sold me the IIs as he said he would be able to get more money for them, and the exponential horns of the I matched what he was keeping. I did get them for a fair price. Both are great speakers, but I'd lean towards the II, though I have never A/B the two together.

Boy, this is tempting. Oiled oak, my fav finish, boxes, and local! I just don't know where I'd put them. HT is full with Chorus II/Forte II and the K-horns are upstairs in the FR. $750 is a great price. Even if I can't buy them, I'd love to hear them before you leave town. I'm in Highlands Ranch. Shoot me an email if you want.