tensleep

Nice speakers, very good price! I have an industrial version of the Chorus that I am listening to as I type this. You are correct in finding better power for yours - once I delivered good quality power to mine, they really woke up. At the moment, I have mine passively biamped, but will be treating myself to a crossover sometime this year. Then, these should really rock! Good luck with yours. I am sorry that I cannot offer any information regarding the provenance of your Chorus.

They probably haven't broken up the party yet. [8]

Thanks for the tips - it seems to be a lacquer or shellac finish, as you described. It is certainly more than just an oil coating - it has a glossy surface, but it is definitely not poly. I'll have to wish for an orbital for Christmas! My other oil finishes only required hand sanding - nothing to remove.

I have a nice pair of the KP301-B-BR speakers. The finish has a few scratches, the tops are a little rough to the touch and one has a white spot in the finish on top: http://www.micksmothers.net/gallery2/v/Billy/Stereo+Gear/Klipsch+KP301/ I am not sure what kind of a finish is on these - laquer? Shellac? I have used boiled linseed oil with turpentine on a pair of JBL 4410 studio monitors, per the OEM instructions and the natural finish came out nice. I have also used fine grit sandpaper and Watco's Rejuvinating Oil on some Barzilay cabinets and console that turned out well, too. However, these finishes seem to have more of a coating than just oil. I would like to try to repair the original finish prior to completely stripping and starting over. Any suggestions?

If you can audition them, take a paper tube from a roll of paper towels or toilet paper. Listen through the tube to each of the 6 drivers to ensure that they are all working. Also, listen for any scraping or rubbing sounds. Oh, and do this at low volume [:|]. You should also pull off the grills and inspect the woofers for cone or surround damage. Check the binding posts in the back for any damage. Look over the cabinet for split seams along the joints. If you do use a meter, it can get pretty confusing - there are many components involved that would have to be disconnected and measured individually. Usually, an audition is enough to verify that all of the drivers are working properly.

Good luck with these speakers. How familiar are you with purchasing used speakers? Do you know what to look for and how to test them to see if they work? No offense intended, but it can be easy to get overly enthusiastic and buy something for too much money or that maybe should have been bypassed. I know - I have done that myself. Also, since these are considered and industrial Klipsch model, look for more information under the Pro Audio forum here on the Klipsch Forums. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Hello Nash, Short version, I would say that if the 301s are in good condition, $400 is a good price. You will be very hard pressed to find more speaker for that amount of cash. I doubt you could even build a pair of cabinets for your horn project for that amount. The cabinets are heavy (3/4" void-free birch plywood with a 1" baffle board) and solid. These Klipsch fly a little under the radar and are an Industrial version of the Chorus. I love mine and a more detailed review of my experience follows. By the way, I am using mine in a large living room , approximatey 35' x 20', placed along the long wall, about 14' apart. I have been playing around with a pair of Klipsch KP301-B-BR speakers for about three months now. I am having a great deal of fun and can recommend them. These are my first relatively modern horn systems. I have a couple of old University horn systems that are fun, but not up to the same standard as these big Klipsch. I bought mine, along with the two University cabinets and an old tube mono console, from an antique store - $225 for the lot. I bought the Klipsch almost as an afterthought, as I was (at the time) more excited about the older gear. My Klipsch sat in storage for over a year until we relocated to Texas. I even toyed around with the idea of selling these. Now, I am so glad that I didn't! When I first purchased mine, I drove them full range with an Alesis RA100 solid state amplifier, paired with an Alesis MEQ230 graphic equalizer. While it sounded ok, I had no idea how underpowered these speakers were. I now have them passively biamped. I am driving the woofers with a big QSC CX1202V solid state amp. I use a Rotel RA-870BX integrated amplifier as well. The preamp out is split and I send one side into the Rotel amp section and then on to the horn stack. The other side goes to the QSC. The QSC has attenuators on the face that allow me to match output levels between the woofers and horn stacks. I will say this - I can barely get the volume knob on the Rotel past 9 o'clock without shaking the house. These babies are meant to fill a large room with high volume sound. I usually listen at much lower volumes and really like the sound of these speakers. I have several other pairs of speakers to compare with - JBL 4410 sudio monitors, Bozak B302a, Norman Labs Model 10a, Epi A120. All of these speakers do different things very well. My JBLs will never leave me (unless I give them to my son). The Klipsch are right behind the JBLs, overtaking my Bozaks. I was concerned about reports of the speakers being beamy or honky. I can say that my old Universities exhibit some of these characteristics. They will be upgraded with better crossovers in the future, possibly some diaphragm upgrades as well. However, the Klipsch sound wonderful! To my ear, the horns have a livelier dynamic than a cone tweeter or midrange. The inverted domes on my Epis may be a bit smoother and the titanium domes on my JBLs a bit more detailed, but the horns in the Klipsch really do a good job, especially in keeping the vocals on top of the instruments. The big 15" woofers do fast, punchy, coherent bass very well. Everything from Yo Yo Ma's beautiful cello to Green Day's bombastic drumming just sounds great! If I put the volume to 10 o'clock, they can be heard down the street! Norah Jones sounds like a dream at lower volumes. These speakers are easy to biamplify - the crossovers and terminal block are set up very well for biamping or full range. I am passively biamping at the moment and am saving my dollars for an active crossover. I do want to play around with time alignment and phasing - I believe these Klipsh will respond very well to these tweaks. These speakers really woke up when I put the QSC on the bottom - not so much for the overwhelming power, but more for the damping and control over these woofers. They are very fast and really do not distort. The Rotel has plenty of power for the top end and is a very lucky match (not planned by me) for the QSC. The Rotel has a nice tranparency - I can play CD direct and bypass most of the circuitry, or I can run it with just the tone controls defeated, or I can run the full circuitry, which I actually prefer. The Rotel has a slightly warm sound and the bass and treble controls just kind of nudge the sound in either direction - they do not take over the original recording's character, but rather enhance. The Klipsch respond very well to these subtle tone adjustments. As you can see, I only have experience with solid-state amplification, so I can't give you first hand experience with tubes. However, as you probably know, everyone says Klipsch and tubes were made for each other. Well, there you have my impressions of these speakers. Here is a link to one of my threads on AudioKarma with pictures: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=256754 http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=178244 http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=177838 You will find links to some of my pictures, as well as links to other sites with technical information about theses systems and to other owners.

I am ready to biamp my Klipsch! QSC CX1202V for the low frequencies Rotel RA870-BX integrated for the mids, highs and sources. I believe that the crossovers are designed for this. All I have to do is remove the red jumper from the terminals, right? See the pictures below. Then, I will have to split the Rotel preamp out and attenuate the input to the QSC so that the Rotel amp output matches the QSC amp output. Suggestions? Corrections?

Well, let's not have any needless suffering! Thanks very much for that information! I assume that I make the request to the moderator to move this thread to Commercial in the body of this message? If so, would the moderator please be so kind? If not, how do I contact the moderator? I'll look around some more, but it wasn't obvious to me at first glance. I see the "Report Abuse" link at the bottom of the post, but nothing else that may link me to a moderator.

Thanks for the information Michael; you're a stellar fellar. I will pull out one of the input jack cups and get some pictures posted. I will also look at a way to make the modification for biamplification reversible, should I wish to return to full range at some point. I pulled the fuses when I first got the speakers, just to be sure they were present, but I will look more closely for type and value (20A AGC).

Could be, but it would be located inside of the cabinet - unusual. There is no LPAD control on the terminal block.

I am game! I have printed the schematic and at first glance, this schematic shows separate LF and HF inputs already. However, the Klipsch terminal panel is labeled biwire and the system is definitley running full range at the moment. The "-" post of the LF input must be bound to the "+" post of the HF input on the backside of the terminal block, interior of the cabinet? Also, what is that device labeled RDE 050 in the tweeter circuit? I am sure that it is used to help block low frequency energy, but it looks like some kind of active device symbol. Finally, with this crossover diagram, it looks like I could send full range to both inputs without worrying about an external crossover, correct?

I am using the preamp section out of a Rotel integrated. The QSC is much easier to control and I can switch different sources with ease. I am currently running a very nice Denon DVD player. It has SACD capabilities, so I guess I need to get an SACD and see what all the fuss is about. I have a turntable at my cousins house that I need to reclaim as well. The QSC and the Klipsch sound very good together. I can turn up the volume with ease. I cannot open these all the way up - the SPL gets ridiculous. At reasonable levels, they sound tremendous. The highs and mids are very detailed without any of the honkiness that I have heard described. When I turn up the volume, the highs do become uncomfortable quickly. The Rotel provides just enough tone control to help me take off some of the edge. I can also defeat all tone controls, as well as run direct from the CD. I am considering biamplification, using the amp section of the Rotel to drive the mid and high frequencies, leaving the QSC to handle the lows. Will I need an active external crossover or can the speaker crossover already installed be configured to acommodate biamplification?

I am auditioning the Klipsch and the QSC as I type this. I think I am in love! This match is amazing. I gotta get some kind of a preamp soon. I am using an old Realistic stereo mixer right now. Even so, the QSC is really working well with the Klipsch. I bought them used over a year ago, but never really had a place or the amplifier to do them justice - until now!

I have the KP301 in the new house. I haven't yet had a chance to drive them with the QSC, but should have an opportunity this weekend. However, I don't have the source input plug in blocks to connect the source cable to the back of the amplifier. I posted on the QSC forum as well, but I thought that some of you pros here could point me in the right direction for these small parts. Thx Bill

[] All part of the plan! The amp was super cheap and you can never have too much headroom - well, maybe!

I have had the Klipsch for awhile, but never had a good amplifier to really give them a spin. Hopefully, that is about to change! I am moving into a new place and will set up the Klipsch. The QSC is a recent find. I still have to check it out, but other than missing the main fuse, it looks new. What do you think about this match - what can I expect? What type of preamp/mixer/tuner would you use to control the amp? I will listen to music in stereo initally. I may eventually incorporate the Klipsch into a home theater environment, but they are pretty big. Dunno if the wife will go for it, unless it really sounds good.