Max2

I'm not sure you have heard the two side by side with appropriate amplification. The two 12" have the ability to put out at least as much and probably more than any of the other speakers mentioned. More cone surface area and likely one of the reasons they are used in Jubs. My home built speakers have 2 klf 20 10" woofers in each of them and they, with my Bel Canto REF 1000's, seriously shake the foundation. I've had Cornwall IIs, Fortes IIs, and about 5 pair of K-horns, the KLFs can keep up with the best of them and with some minor tweaking are very, very good speakers. Then again, all can be tweaked and it will just be a matter of what you are looking for. Klipsch makes excellent speakers for a foundation. I have never heard them side by side. My KLF's just always had a tower speaker kind of sound. Nice punchy bass, but seemed to miss out in the lower extension. I know they have a decent response in the lower cycle range, but it just didn't hit me in the chest like the Cornwall and Chorus did. This wasn't the reason I balked on them though, it was the big mid in the Belles I had owned previously that spoiled me. The KLF mid horn is pretty shallow and it seemed the pair I had tended to get a little edgy or maybe too "revealing" when driven with a little power. I still have the KLF-30's hooked up in my Moms setup. Maybe I should go over and give them another chance

Good deal. Nothing like an old school EQ to smooth things out.

I didn't mean to sound like I was discounting the Forte II's. They are that good and have been dubbed "favorite" by more than one Klipsch employee I have had interactions with a decade or so ago. I just know in the past 25 years there were several times I should have saved a little more and stepped a little higher than I was shooting for. The footprint of all the KLF's, Forte's and Chorus is fairly small when compared to each other. If the OP is looking for an 8db increase in Bass, the Forte may leave things a little short and I think even the KLF-30's might not hang in there. However, A Chorus, Chorus II and Cornwall (which may be too big for OP) will put an end for the bass shortage. My pair of Chorus I's would stomp my KLF-30's in the bass department.

Thank you. My first laugh of the day

Sounds like you're ready to move up a couple steps. Skip the Forte. Chorus, Chorus II or Cornwalls will fix the bass shortage and sound better doing it. You will be happy you spent a little more.

IMO, you can't beat them for their sound, footprint and price. They have bass that hits you in the chest that is fairly close to the Cornwall offerings. The Chorus 1 and 2's are very good by my ears.

Looking at older 2 channel SS amps for K-horns. I will be using a Denon 4311 as the preamp and to power the other 3 speakers for rare surround use. Im looking at a Denon POA-1500 and a Onkyo M-504. My uncle had a 504 several years ago that I was really impressed with. After doing some reading, it appears the Denon and the Onk are very close in sound. Maybe Im just spinning my wheels trying to pair them with an AVR as the pre. Any thought's?

I think you have a little more room for error with surrounds ,unless you are into 5 channel stereo. The KG 4.5's may produce a little more bass than the Heresy's, a sub would remedy this though. I ran KG-4's as rears with KLF-30's and they did just fine. I think as long as you can adjust the outputs due to the different sensitivities, you will be surprised how good it will sound.

The bottom bases and the top of the horn (where the X-over is sitting) look like Walnut. Maybe someone did a partial veneer job or did Klipsch offer multiple veneers on custom order?

... the backer board seal to the wall? also any basic tricks for calming down the mids a bit? The backer board (Klipsch calls it the tail board) -- the rearmost board that runs the entire height of the bass chamber (bass "bin") is what to seal. Pipe insulation (hardwood store). Be sure the Khorn is pushed against the corner as hard as it will go. On the mids, be sure to listen with a very wide variety of disks and types of music before you change anything. A good number of CDs are very poorly recorded, and Khorns will reveal every flaw, but you will want the clarity for good recordings. SACDs, DVD-As, and Blu-rays tend to sound better, but whether it's the medium or the care in recording/mastering something the mixers know will go out to audiophiles is not really known. My Khorns don't really have a midrange peak, as measured by REW, but a long broad dip in the midrange is followed by a shorter rise, then a roll off. To "pad down" my midrange by ordinary means would lower the short rise, but further depress the long broad dip. A lot depends on the reflections in the room. Years ago, I tried a "good" equalizer, and the results were terrible. We put up absorbers at the first reflection points, a wall to wall carpet, and, to keep the room from becoming too dead, and increase spatiality, my wife built me 7 hardwood diffusers (incidentally, she loves the look and sound of Khorns). Then, we added Audyssey, which resulted in a curve that is pretty flat from about 700 to 8K (+/- about 2.4 dB). Below 700 there are some hills and valleys, but we got rid of those (see below). Above 8K, we have a choice between Audyssey Reference (about -2 dB at 10K and about -6 dB at 16K with our Khorns) and Audyssey Flat (smooth to ~~~ 16K, depending where you move your head). Some recordings sound best with one of these, and others with the other. We used the true tone controls on the pre/pro to elevate the bass, because we agree with the Harmon research that indicates that elevated bass sounds "flat," while true flat does not (we did not use the virtual sliders, because they will turn off Audyssey). Now our system sounds great, better than at any friend's house, and better than at most movie theaters. Wow. You have a very cool wife! I always used Audyssey with my LaScala's when I had them as the Front mains to help with Bass a little. This did make the top end a little too sharp with decent volume. Since I have re-run the room correction with my K-horns as the mains, I have found that I like the direct source without the correction. I do enjoy Audyssey at very low listening levels, but without any adjustment with Audyssey on my end, it just adds too much coloration for my taste. My room is kind of jacked up with a lot of furniture though, that doesn't help matters.

Everything is soldered except the bannana jumpers that go from the top network down to the bass bin, unless they have been modified. Well I guess I just repeated what you said

I swapped the caps in my '92 LaScalas two years ago with Sonicaps and couldn't hear any difference. Now, Im obviously not saying caps don't go bad, but I am saying many people jump to change them only to find out they really didn't need to. There will always be some measurable differences in caps from batches, age, brand etc, but Bob, Dean or Al would be the Guru's to hit on this topic. Don't get me wrong though, IMO, every set of K-horns deserve a network with fresh caps. The caps are easy to swap and anyone that can hold a soldering iron can get it done.

yes it is, 2014 - 1995 = less than 20 years. caps should be fine. so use the pipe insulation to seal the backs tro the walls? where exactly do i put it on the backs? the side panels with the grille material is what touches my walls, or do i want to have the backer board seal to the wall? also any basic tricks for calming down the mids a bit? can anyone post some pics of where to seal them? or maybe i can post pics of what mine look like on the rears. I have a set of 1989 AK-2 networks which the mid is 2db less than the AK-3's. The 2's are toned down a bit more, but I need AK-3's to match the AL-3's in my LaScalas. If interested we could swap top networks and bottom caps or just top networks. Where to add the pipe insulation These are not mine, but a good photo where to add the foam

Here's your premise: A cable exists in one of two conditions. It has audible degradation or it does not. How would you like to test your premise? Isn't this the $1000 question for everything our ears cant decipher ?

Time to appease the wife. Go with her biggest weakness. New car, A big Diamond, Furniture, Caribbean vacation....whatever it may be. Nothing will replace your K-horns sound and if she is wanting to ace them, don't count on another pair coming into play in the future. Oh yeah, better get a 20 year agreement in writing. Women are vicious my man. If you do sell, there is no replacement. In fact a LaScala is not ascetically appealing as a Khorn in my eyes and doesn't save much room. But I guess it would be a LaScala or a Belle and a darn good Sub if I had to dump the Horns. Maybe a Cornscala would work for her, but you would have to spend heavy to doll a set of those up. One thing is for sure, I would have to have that big mid, a Cornwall wouldn't cut it for me. K-horns are regal, intriguing, handsome and unlike anything else out there when it comes to looks. Tell the woman she has everything in your life, but please don't take your speakers.

Its probably the direction Im going to go. Its only that for a few dollars more I can look at something that has some adjustability. I am concerned that one of the "adjustable" networks might take me too far off the path of that original, creamy, lively mid that I am so accustomed to. There is obviously no clear winner here, but you know how the woulda, shoulda, buyers remorse goes.

Thanks for all the great info and responses. Man, choosing Networks for Khorns must be like picking a color for your midlife crisis sports car, not that I have been there, but right now I feel like it. Fixing up my old LaScalas was easy, just update the Caps in the AL-3 networks and pop in Bobs tweeters. The timbre issue may never be resolved between the Khorn and the LaScala, but I would like to have the outputs on the mids close. Its not a big deal, because now listening to the K's with two channel listening I am more concerned about getting the very best out of them, than worrying about making them sound the same. Now, do I keep it old school with an new A network from Bob, go with Bob's 4500HZ type A network with his tweeters or do I go with a new school adjustable attenuating crossover?

I picked up some Khorns with AK-2's and the mid is a few db lower compared to my LaScala's with AL-3's, hence they aren't matching up well. I have just a couple of hours experience with these Khorns and would like to hear what traditional crossovers the seasoned Khorn owner prefers. Im not after any boutique style networks as I want to stay with something somewhat close to the original offering with this line and money is a little short now after the purchase. I will likely change the tweeters to the Crites 125's and get one of Bobs Networks. I am more focused on the two channel listening since I picked these up, but I do miss the more pronounced mid output that I was used to with my Lascala's and the AL-3's. Any input is greatly appreciated.

Yes, it is hard to find them clean. If these were in AR, I would be in Postalman's driveway with my truck.

Sounds like someone just got a job transfer and are having to LEAVE the state of Colorado

PM sent

I was curious If things had changed much with the latest SVS offering. I picked up the PB2 plus I guess around 10 years ago or so when they were new. I didn't know if the newer 13 had tons more power and output. I can testify to the old PB2 plus, mine has been rock solid all this time and blends really well with my LS's. I don't even choke it down to pull the last few cycles. Leave all ports open, good for music, movies and still pulls hard down to 25HZ. I think its good down to either 12 or 16hz with two ports plugged.

well a PB-13 ultra is a great sub. What else? Well the rythmik v15hp is supposed to be pretty close for less money. But unless you are building your own or buying multiples, you gotta spend more to get any better. After trying diy, or I guess I should say assemble yourself I will never be a buyer of any of those. But ones that would step up would be the seaton submersive, JTR cap ported or S2 and also the JTR orbit shifter. Both it and the s2 are 3,000$ but both would be more than any sane person would need. So the PB13 is above the old dual 12 series that SVS used to build?

What new subs out there now are clearly above the old SVS PB2 plus and ultra series for similar money?

Wow, great looking speaks and GL with the sale. Is that a clear Urethane that was applied ?