fiddlefye

Thanks to all who've posted to this thread, I've enjoyed all of the thoughts. I've spent lots of time in the company of pipe organs of all stripes, from the big Romantic brutes to positiv chamber organs and everything in between and I love the lot of them. If you want to find out what your system is REALLY about, find a great organ recording and let it loose. Try some Romantic, the whole range of instruments and discover what is really a wonderful world of sound.

My KG4's are finally living again! Turned out that some bonehead of a previous owner had taken out the upper bass driver and rotated it 180 degrees. With the terminals from the two drivers now facing each other he wired them together with lamp chord, not even soldered in place. The net result of this stupidity was that the drivers were on opposite phase from each other and the wave forms were cancelling each other out pretty completely. They are now wired correctly and I have gobs of bass. I first tried them on the 4 ohm tap (they're 6 ohm speakers) and the bass was muddy and overwhelming and the mid-range subdued a bit. On the 8 ohm tap they sound great! One odd thing is that they seem to be improving as I play them. They were pretty raw and rough when I first hooked them up and they've refined quite a bit in the past couple of hours of listening. Next I guess I'll have to look into the crossover upgrade possibilities. I gather they can be much improved.... Thanks for all of the support and advice.

I've been in contact with the gentleman I was told had an improved crossover design for the KG4's and he doesn't think it is a capacitor problem, not even sure it would be a crossover problem at all. Just when you think you might see the light at the end of the tunnel.... I don't expect I'll dump the KG4's at any rate. I'd really like to solve whatever the issue is and even if they don't prove to be my ideal answer I'm sure they can find a home elsewhere in another system. I paid next to nothing for them, so I don't mind putting a bit into making them good. Comparing them with other Klipsch models would be exactly the sort of thing I like doing. I'm sure the answer will show up eventually....

I had a loooong listen with the KG4's last night on the Marantz 4300 (full bass, backed off treble) and discovered something strange and interesting. The longer I listened, the more bass I heard. I played the same CD over two or three times and sure enough, more and more bass! I think I'm dealing with some sort of crossover issue maybe? I'm not a tech at all (violinist, in fact), but is it possible that these speakers had been sitting unplayed for a very long time before I got them and that there are some capacitors that are reforming or something such? This morning I brought the speakers down to my regular listening room and hooked them back up to the CJ stuff again. Completely different from the first time I heard them a couple of days ago! I'm listening to them as I type and while the balance is still quite a bit brighter than I think it should be it is slipping back toward what I figure is the normal range and changing by the minute. I'm guessing I'm listening to the results of some bad electrolytics having dried. Any opinions? I posted some questions on another forum also and someone suggested I contact someone named Bob Crites here on Klipsch as he apparently has (or has access to) a much improved crossover for these speakers. If it appears that I really should be rebuilding the crossovers anyway I might as well go with the best replacement I can get, right? I'm also wondering if anyone knows where I could find the schematics for the original crossover that is there presently (mine are early vintage). At least that would give a starting place to work from. I would definitely be interested in Khorns, but I'd really have to rearrange my listening room (which is also my teaching room and office) to find them a home. Fortes might be nice as well and would fit the floor space better. I am just starting to get back to playing with audio again after years of my system changing very little from year to year (having young children will do that to you!) and I missed hearing Fortes and such when they were new. How would they sound in comparison to the KG4's (when they're working properly?). Thanks for all the advice, the more the better is how I always feel....

Hmm, I spot a trend here. Seems to be that Cornwalls are well in the lead. I've never had the chance to hear a pair and I don't know anyone around here (Detroit) who has some to listen to, but I'll have to investigate. I'm also more than a bit curious about Forte II's as they'd be easier to fit into my listening room in terms of overall dimensions. Any further thoughts on them?

A further note on my KG4's. I've tried them with a number of amps from tube to a Marantz 4300 receiver and in no case could I acheive anything like a reasonable tonal balance. The closest I've come was with the Marantz bass all the way up and the treble backed off. Even then there is almost no lower bass at all. Any thoughts? Is there something dramatically wrong with my speakers? I just acquired them and so I've no idea about anything which might be wrong with them, though all four drivers are working (if producing what to my ears sounds like mid-range mud mostly) and the horns sound great, just waaaaaaay too strong relative to the bottom.

I have a Conrad Johnson PV 12 pre and an MV 45 and I'd like some advice on which Klipsch designs might work best with such a pairing. The combination is actually brighter than one might expect (mostly courtesy of the pre, I think). I tried a pair of KG4 that I picked up for an experiment and they were scary, incredibly bright and no matter how I set them up, no noticable bottom end. I tried them on a couple of other amps as well with the same result. They became almost listenable with the bass on my Marantz 4300 turned full up and the treble backed off though the tonal balance was still wrong. I'm looking for a means to tame them (crossover) at the appropriate forum, but looking further down the road I'd love some thoughts on other possibilities from folks who've had much more experience with the various types than I have. Thanks for any advice available!

I have a set of early KG4's and I understand that there are some updated designs for the crossover in these that really improve them dramatically. If anyone could point me in the direction of these designs I'd be deeply grateful!