kevinmi

Watch out though if you get the Cornwalls. There is a strange ailment called big-itis going around. Starts out with Heresies or KG's, then Cornwalls. Then it's: if Cornwalls sound so much better, I wonder how great K-horns would sound. Pretty soon you'll be living in a tent in the desert with a stack of Klipsch Professional Speakers 8 feet tall and 20 feet wide.

Hi Mike, Glad your speakers delivered the sound you were after. I'll be bringing my wooden tuned ears over for a visit. I'm now on night shift, working from 5pm to 3am, but I still have Fri, Sat, Sun off. Gothover built me some ALK universal crossover clones, I can bring them also. I might bring my wooden top hats with me for a comparison also. I won't have my 2 inch horns done anytime soon, so they won't be in the comparison. See you soon, Kevin

I have recently modified my Khorns using Crites cast woofer, Crites CT125 tweeter, and homemade wooden tractrix horns driven by the original k-55-V drivers. My question is : would I benefit if I changed the crossover points? I was thinking of crossing the woofer higher, like 450hz if the woofer could produce that high, and crossing over the squawker/ tweeter at 4500. I also want to implement the mid attenuation found in ALK's universals. I might try different mid drivers in the future, and it seems hard to find many drivers that go down to 400 hz, so that's why I was wondering if it is possible to raise the woofer limit. Thanks in advance for your advice! -Kevin

Mike, those speakers look fantastic! Looks like a factory built cabinet. I noticed that when I replaced my stock squawker horn with the larger wood horn I built, I lost some volume in the midrange area, opening up the soundstage and letting me hear much more bass. I'm going to build a pair of ALK universal crossovers so I can play with different attenuations on the mids. In a recent conversation with Gothover, I told him my plans to build a bigger horn, and he voiced concerns about the 1 inch driver not being able to support the lower Fc horn, so I'm going to re-think my strategy. I think it would be cool if I could bring my original horns over to you so you could do a comparison between them and your tractrix horns. Im not smart enough to do my own testing, and I don't have a spl meter anyway. Did you ever think of bi-amping your speakers? Like using a powerful SS amp for the bass and tubes for mids and highs? I might try that with my Khorns down the road. Can't wait to hear those babys in person! -kevin

Mike, they are looking fantastic! Also like your monoblocks. I would like to get into tubes real soon, so if you have any left over tube projects laying around, keep me in mind.-Kevin

I would like to find some 2" compression drivers that go down to 300hz and cross them over at 350, but so far I've only found some that are about $500.00 and that's just too much to pay. Keep your eyes open for me if you happen to run across any reasonable drivers. Also let me know how your $35.00 drivers sound. I'll bring my K-55-V's with me if you want to do a comparison when your project is done. -Kevin

The wood horn turned out very good, but now I've got a larger horn drawn out, like 9X27 inches, 23 inches deep, for a 1 inch driver. 3:1 ratio, just for kicks. It should fit width wise on the bass bins, but will be taller than stock. We will see.....-kevin

Grrr! Greg Roberts Restoration Refurbishing!

I was just fine and very sane, but Kevin from Flint had me listen to his K-horns with Mac amplification. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!! At least I now have a very high bar to attain and some thing to become complusive about. Just wait 'till you come back to Flint and hear the newly renovated Khorns! I can't keep myself out of the basement!--Kevin

Just knowing you built them yourself will make the sound coming from them all that much sweeter, I'm sure! --Kevin

The highs sound great. I've actually read some posts that say the tweeters are supposed to be positioned this way.-kevin

Tom, I actually listened to the new top hats for a few days with the original woofers, and there was plenty more bass. I can imagine the Crites woofers will kick it up a notch after they're broke in.-kevin

Now for the interesting stuff: After hooking them up and giving them a listening to, I immediatly noticed improved bass response. I mean a bunch more bass! I attribute this to the mids/highs not blaring at me so loud and overwhelming the bass. The mids are so much more open, it's as if I can climb inside the horn and see the musicians playing. (Maybe a little too much wine!) I notice that I am playing the music at much louder volumes without listening fatique. Now I know that since I have all new drivers/diaphragms, that they need to be broken in before the sound they're best. Does anybody have a ball park idea of how long before they are broken in? Any good suggestions on the best method of breaking them in? About the mid horn-- horn dimensions are 8.25 by 16.5 inches, the biggest I could make with a 2:1 ratio and still fit the original height of the top hat. Many thanks to Mike Dubay for the program and answering many questions about using the program. Fc is 275, If I remember correctly. If anybody has suggestions on mid drivers I could try out with these horns, I'd appreciate the info. Also, I'm using AA crossovers with Crites Cap upgrade. Any suggestions/comments on crossover points or upgrades that would work with this setup? Any and all comments/suggestions/gripes/advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks-kevin

May as well install 5 way binding posts while I'm hacking away. Bought from Parts Express with the sage advice from M Colter.

In with the new

Out with the old.

Next it's time to replace the woofers. Holy Crap, I enclosed the cabinets! (Note to myself: replace woofers first, then enclose, idiot!)

I decided to replace the diaphragms on the K55-V drivers while I had them out. Purchased from Bob Crites as well. Notice the wine glass--mandatory accessory for this kind of build-up!

Rear view on bass bins showing drivers and dust.

Front view before cloth.

Didn't have enough grill cloth to do sides like the original, so I used wood on the sides and just covered the front board. By the way, this is just a temporary setup, so it's not intended to be perfect. I'm going to build big horns with 2" drivers eventually.

Added adapters from Parts Express, installed Crites CT125 horns flush on front.

Coated all surfaces with fiberglass resin for rigidity, and then slopped black paint on 'em.

Used polyester filler (bondo) to make square throat round

More wood horn with a dollop of polyester filler here and there.