JohnA

Try your question in the ProMedia Forum. Those people know a lot more about them than we do. John

C&S, The reason to put the 511B on top of the box and build a 3 sided "fence" around it is to make it look like it's in the box, but it's not so the calculations for the box are easier. If the box is short, you could even put a top on it, ala La Scala. I AM talking about a bass reflex box. The optimum distance between the woofer and tweeter would be that smaller than the wavelength at the crossover point. John

Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker, "I've got the Music in ME", Sheffield Lab-2. I have two worn out copies. John

Don't your doors to the outside have the normal 36" opening? 24" x 36" x 46" will equal the volume you described (about 40,000 cu. in.). That will go through a 30" door and is about the size of the original VOTT bass cabinet (imagine that!). Put your 511Bs on top. I believe I'd build a front baffle with sides for the HF horn to hide the crossover. John

With my La Scalas, Parasound amps and ACT-3, my ears distort before the amps do. I'd heard it before, specifically at Grand Funk and Robin Trower concerts, but always thought ears couldn't "clip". They will! I recognize it now that I can do it at will. It starts with my Rat Shack meter showing about 110 dB average. I too found out about overpowering speakers with my subs. VMPS rates their sub drivers max. input just below the point where they will fail. i have an Acurus A-250 driving both subs. It turns out it can clear 400 watts into the 4 ohm rating of the VMPS. I fried all 4 woofers at one time. That lesson cost me $400 with a steep discount from my sympathetic dealer. The final consensus was that I probably wasn't clipping the amp, just melting wire and glue. John

The minimum for a Home Theater system, besides the TV, would be a DVD player, Receiver, 5 speakers and 1 subwoofer. The receiver should be capable of decoding Dolby Digital (aka AC-3), DTS and creating Dolby Pro-Logic from an analog source (TV or VCR). It grows from there. While I always recommend Klipsch speakers, using them requires quality electronics. Shop carefully for the receiver. If your receiver does the decoding, you can save a little money with a cheaper DVD player, since it becomes a transport only. Personally, I like seperates (preamp/processor and seperate power amps), even though that runs the cost to $,$$$. John

Hi Ross! That's a Jacuzzi I can get behind! John

Stuffing the cabinet will change the bass response. The stuffing makes the cabinet appear larger and will make the bass go a little deeper at the expense of peaks at higher frequencies. It won't hurt, but you might not like the results. John

I think Al Klappenberger uses some Solen Caps in his networks that are made the same way the Hovlands are, but cost less. John

Appearance? John

Technically: Both have the all same drivers and, for many years, the same crossover. The Belle uses a K-500 squawker horn. It must be crossed at 500 Hz. The La Scala uses the K-400 from the K-horn and must be crossed at 400 Hz. The K-500 is shorter so it will fit into the shallower Belle cabinet. Shorter horns can't go as deep. The Belle's bass horn is shallower and wider, but otherwise similar in design. The La Scala's bass horn was designed to be as compact as possible. That makes the bends "tight". The more gentle bending of the Belle's bass horn *may* allow it to reach higher frequencies. Aesthetically: The Belle is pretty. The La Scala is not; it is a PA speaker that can be finished and dolled up a bit, but it will always have visible plys at the joints. Sonically: Little difference. Some, like Tony, that have heard them side by side say you can tell them apart. Price: We all know that. John

The wooden horn is the K-5-J. It was used in the 50s. The Metal horn is the K-400. It was used in the 60s through the 80s sometime. Now, the horn is the K-401, a composite of some kind used since the K-400. The K-55-V was used with the K-5-J and the K-400. The K-55-M was used with the K-400 and K-401. As of this year the "new" K-55-X(?) will be used with the K-401. The K-55-X is essentially the K-55-V. The K-400/401 is said to have less high frequency beaming and a smoother response curve. Others like the sound of the K-5-J better. All of mine have the K-400 and I can't verify any of the claims. John

http://www.klipsch.com/letter.html

Speakers DON'T break-in. Only your ears break-in. Crank 'em if ya got 'em! John

I'd design your mounting brackets for at least 3 Gs. John

Hetman, I was able to obtain the exact specified values for the caps. I can't remember the cost, but I got my Hovlands from madisound.com. I used a 6 uF and a 7uF in parallel for the 13 uF squawker cap. Tom, The Type AA network uses 6 dB slopes for the woofer/squawker crossover with no HF rolloff on the squawker, then an 18 dB high-pass slope for the tweeter plus a pair of zener diodes to limit power input to the tweeter further. The diodes sound awful when you reach their power limit! The attached Type A network is 6 dB all around and has little tweeter protection. Converting a Type AA to Type A would be easy, even as an experiment. John This message has been edited by John Albright on 05-07-2002 at 09:29 PM

I'm with John Warren on this. I've replaced the caps in my Type AAs with Hovland Musicaps. The change to the tweeter was noticible and nice. It became clearer and cleaner. Changing the squawker cap was inaudible, but you never know 'til you try. I was put in the situation of replacing caps because my La Scalas were mismatched. One had a K-55-V and Type AA and the other had a K-55-M and a Type AL (awful). I bought a lab built Type AA from Klipsch, but the 2 uF oil caps are no longer available, so they used something else. After a while, I just couldn't stand and replaced all of the caps so they'd both match. Rebuild yours with good parts. It won't change the character of the speaker, but will improve it slightly. John This message has been edited by John Albright on 05-07-2002 at 04:28 PM

My Sony DVP-S3000 did/does a darn good job with both formats. It's boxed up, now because it doesn't pass DTS from a DVD. It's analog section sounds better than the Panasonic progressive scan DVD/DVD-A player that replaced it. John

I was afraid when i heard he was sick. Today will be a somber day for me, as well. God rest his soul. John

I wouldn't be surprised if DPL had surround info in the front speakers, too. That would emphasize the surround aspect. If you are not using surround speakers yet, ignore any surround info and sounds. Do not try to calibrate the surround setting even if you hear something. Where is your sub? If it is closer to one main than the other, you might hear (see) a slight difference in output level when comparing the sub to another speaker if you move the dB meter. Sit at your listening position. Set all speakers to the same level, say 75 dB, while you're sitting there (you may have different settings for every speaker), then calibrate the subwoofer to that same 75 dB at your seat. Finally, leave everything set that way and watch movies! John This message has been edited by John Albright on 05-05-2002 at 12:49 PM

Though of questionable effectiveness, the purpose of spikes is not to isolate the speaker from the floor, but to prevent minute movements of the cabinet and therefore the tweeter. The theory is that the short wavelengths produced by the tweeter are more suseptible to timing errors and doppler effects since the wavelength and minute movement are so nearly the same. Think about it, sharp spikes pushing through the carpet to make hard contact with the floor could not be more isolation. John

Try to keep us posted. I'm sorry Mr. Paul is not doing well. John Mr. Paul, and the Klipsch Fans Tour at the factory. Look at that smile! We're listening to the Jubilees. This message has been edited by John Albright on 05-03-2002 at 07:11 PM

So the setting that replicates the Klipsch squawker output, losses and all would be 4-0? John

If you have corners for K-horns, you'd be better off building a pair and putting the L-S components in them. The K-horn's rated response goes down to 35 Hz and the L-S is now rated to 53 Hz (quite realistic), so you're not gaining that much. I'd guess that's about 2/3 of an octave. Still, If you could use K-horns, I'd rather have two of them than to have 2 L-S and one or 2 K-horn bottoms in the room. John

For now I'm using 3-0. The squawker seems a little "recessed" sometimes and the tweeter a little hot. I've been planning to take one to a co-worker's house to do some testing on the bass horn. I'll try to get curves on the squawker, too. Al, do the new calculations change your recommended tap selection? John