JohnA

Smoking makes stuff stink. That's all. One menber bought a pair of Klipsch (Cornwalls?) out of a bar. They sounded great, but stunk so bad he (wife?) couldn't keep them in the house!

Bikes Bikes Colts Airplanes

The fights are in The Matrix, a virtual world. There shouldn't be blood. Maybe we should see bits dripping. I didn't like the scene where Neo fought 300 Agent Smiths, either. It seemed stupid. For those of you that have suXP, run task manager and see how many threads and I/Os some of the processes have going (see why suXP is so SloooooooW). That is why the 300 Smiths are there; because a computer would do it that way.

The K-horn would always be better!

Bad crossover cap? Open turn in the autoformer? Which crossover do you have? What is the DC resistance of your tweeter? Does the DCR change if you wiggle the terminals on the tweeter?

I apologize for missing the tweeter question. The difference is noticable, making the speaker sound more open and "airy" with less harsh or brittle sound on some sounds. I attribute that to fewer reflections and diffractions from the tweeter hole.

The ALKs should not be used on 2002 and later Heritage speakers without a redesign. In previous versions most people say the AK/AL-3 is a tie in sound and the ALKs are an improvement over previous crossovers. They are an order of magnitude better then the Type AK/AL/AB.

Actually, the new Heritage Series was was "upgraded" because the OEM for the tweeter and squawker quit making them! I got to hear the new K-horn, Belle and La Scala in Indianapolis earlier this year when several of us toured the Headquaters and R&D Lab. The KH/B/LS went back to the future with the newest drivers. The ones they have now are modern versions of the K-55-V and K-77-M. Both are said to be improved and smoother, though the squawker may be 1.5 db less efficient. In many ways the new crossovers ARE a significant upgrade. They use film and foil capacitors instead of motor start caps. Many would argue that since the new crossovers do not have an autoformer, they cannot be as good. The new ones use an L-pad on the squawker. The advantage to that is that the impedance curve should be flatter and kinder to tube amps. The La Scala was instantly recognizable. It's sound has not changed. If I had mine beside the new ones I might hear a difference, but nothing my memory catches. The K-horn is warmer and the Belle is thinner sounding. For once, I did not really like the Belle.

I have a Model 1. I second Steve's comments. I have the best sounding radio in the building!

The vertical scale may be part of the problem, because the sound is noticably different. In fact, using the pink calibration noise in my Pre/Pro, the modified version is virtually the same as my La Scalas, my goal. However, my real first rection was, "Bloody 'ell!" The speaker with the "inferior" drivers had the better curve. From then on, I haven't seen much reason the choose the K-77-M and solder-terminal -V over the others. I've never been able to hear a difference and this graph solidifies my opinion. While I'm not surprised by the roughness (it was a sine sweep), I would not make too much out of it either. The test room was not good. We should have done it outside. The comparison of one to the other is valid, though. I think the upward slope toward HF is valid and the frequencies where rolloff occurs is valid. Mr. Paul called the University 4401 a sad little tweeter. i wonder how bad they were if these are not?

I don't know if I can answer that. to be sure, test the speaker without the P-trap and see what happens. Attached are curves of 2 of my Heresies run on an LMS system at a local small speaker manufacturer. The light blue is the curve with my modified crossover and a solder-terminal K-55-V and K-77-M. The darker blue is an unmodified Heresy with a spring terminal K-55-V and a K-77. The test was not in an anechoic chamber, but in a room with 15 foot ceilings and lots of boxes, with the speaker on its back on a small table in the middle of the room.

Jaw-dropping comes from good sound. You will also be quite unhappy with all those hard surfaced in a media room (cultured marble and mirrors). The room will be exceedingly reflective in the high frequencies. Think about how a cinema is furnished; soft walls and furniture. The Heritage Line will sound like what you want. You have enough room for big speakers. If you don't use K-horns for fronts and rears, you will need one or more monster subwoofer(s).

CFR is likely to be model C, the plainer or simplier version and made from Fir that was shipped Raw, or unfinished. I too would be interested in pictures and a sketch of the schematic of the 1RB crossover. It is fairly unusual, so we don't know much about it.

How much of those differences are manufacturing tolerances?

I'm quite pleased with my Heresies as center and surrounds in a room that is about 18 x 21. A Heresy is brighter than my La Scalas, so I modified the crossover to correct that. As for subwoofers, you will want one or more. One Klipsch RSW-15 will be enough, my 2 VMPS Larger Subwoofers are plenty (4 dB below 1000 Hz at 16 Hz in my room) on 450 watts/ch., and there are several other subs that will do. However, you need to think BIG and LOUD so that they will be operating in a low distortion mode under normal conditions. Otherwise, its distortion will stand out compared to your K-horns.

Sounds like your P-trap in not right with the resistor in there.

Don't know, but I doubt it. In a pinch, I'd do it anyway.

Botox Queen!

Who is Jerry?

Hissed there, done that! The common cause of HT system hiss is the preamp. The digital section is usually the cause. Normally the power amps or power sections are dead quiet. I solved my problem with the ACT-3 Upgrade. It now has what amounts to Stage 1 guts. It is not dead quiet, but is close. Another trick I used was to drastically turn down the input gains to my power amps so that the preamp ran at its best S/N ratio.

Welcome Brett, The amp you have runs in Class A up to 25 watts, or so and is made to very high sound and quality standards. I think you already have a good match. It has more power than you will ever use, but since it operates in Class A so much higher than most amplifiers, many of the common transistor problems are avoided. I do not believe Palladiums will sound better and they have much more power than you could possibly use. Like many here have said, the extreme efficiency if the Klipschorns means you can easily live with a 20 (twenty) watt amp in most homes and rock the place. I am not a tube amp fan, but there are many excellent tube amps available. I'd suggest investigating Conrad-Johnson, McIntosh, esp. the older ones, and other makes you will hear about here. There is a transistor amp that is often praised calles a Monarchy SM-70 you may want to consider. To go beyond your Aragon and make it worth the effort, you will have to look at Pass Labs, Mark Levinson and amps in that league. However, those amps are intended to drive very inefficient speakers and usually have much greater power output than you could use. They may also have more distortion at the very small power levels you will normally use. I have, just once, pushed 100+ watts through my La Scalas. I could not hear any distortion and could not hear properly for several hours after. It was so loud I could not endure more than one song. Normally I am running at about 1/100th of a watt and having peaks less than one watt (98 dB in MY chair).

Shawn, Can you run a La Scala bass horn curve the way you have the tweeters, but do it outside? I believe the La Scala bass horn will go up to 1000, but I'm not sure. I believe I want to set my crossover point at 600 Hz to help tame a bump I see in your graphs.

Hey Tom, Your crossover points of 500 and 5k are better and worse. The K-55-V struggles to get over 5K and the bass horn struggles to get to 500. The Type AA went to 400 and 5k. Those are very good points for a K-horn. Also, there is so little difference between 400 and 500 Hz when 1st Order crossovers are used that either could be used. When you get your K-500-5000 sketched, post it. I want a copy for my archives and we will ALL tell you what to do to improve them!

Lorenzo, I'd replace the tweeter caps right away. I replaced the 13 uF squawker cap in my Type AAs and could not tell the difference. I think you should replace the 4 mH woofer inductor with an air-core inductor like a Solen "Perfect Lay" or an Alpha-Core foil inductor. That will reduce bass distortion some and stabilize the crossover frequency. Iron-core inductors will "saturate" (sort of an overload). When they do, their inductance changes, changing the crossover point. The same inductor on the squawker doesn't see as much power and may not need replacement since lower power means less tendency to "saturate" and change inductance value. As to the Ducati (I have the hots for an ST2 or ST4), Does "Narrow Head" mean a narrow included angle between the intake and exhaust valves? That is a common feature of racing engines.

Get on the sound team, like I did! Then you can ride the lift up to see what they are.