JohnA

I have a poor copy. If you want to analyze yours it will be O.K. If you want to build a pair, it won't be much help. If I were you I'd build a pair of Type As or Type AAs. The Type ALs sound pretty rough. They have a midrange ring to them that makes French Horns sound like a howl. John

Do your calibrations while seated in your "sweet spot' with the meter pointed at the ceiling at a 45 degree angle from vertical and facing the TV. Don't point the meter at any speaker. John

Watch your Language! We don't need that kind of stuff here! John

30 years? John

The square tweeter is a K-77-M. It was probably a replacement for a defective K-77. The K-77-M has more and smoother VHF performance. Only damp the back (out) side of the horns and don't remove the tweeter's magnet. It isn't supposed to come off. John

You'll get a better answer in the Promedia forums. It does sound like an amp failure, though. John

Ross has a valuable suggestion that will improve the value of the BBS. I like it! I especially like the voluntary, self-policing part of it. John

Those are VERY new, so $400 pretty well qualifies as a steal. They would have sold for ~$1100 a pair. John

This message has been edited by John Albright on 10-25-2001 at 11:18 AM

The number you provided is the serial number. You have a pair of 1981 Heresies. It should have been a good year. John

Klipsch designed the Z-bracket to flush mount the tweeter in a Belle and K-horn. They require a larger hole for the tweeter so it can fit through to the front. The the Z is used to screw the tweeter to the back of the motorboard while holding it forward flush with the front of the motorboard. It will also work on La Scalas. I con't recommend them for Cornwalls or Heresies due to the cabinet seal that's required. John

What is the serial number of your La Scalas? Which Type of xover do they have (AL-3)? I can e-mail you a schematic of the AL-3, AL & AA. John

Exactly! John

The DC resistance of the K-33 should be 3.2 to 3.6 ohms. John

It should be 3,500 Hz to 17,500 Hz. However, based on the response plots I've seen of the Heritage line, I'd call it 3,500 to 15,000. John

Ross, Yes, I did it to my front La Scalas to the squawker opening. I went to Home Depot and bought their heaviest self adhesive felt and cut it into 3/4" strips. I stuck that to the edges of the plywood where the squawker horn "looks" through. I disassembled my tweeters to front mount them; don't do it, get Z-brackets! It's been so long I can't remember how it affected the sound. I don't think I did that much for the squawker. John

First try lining the openings with heavy felt. Front mounting the tweeter will be a nice improvement, but the Heresy has a sealed cabinet and the seal is very important. The Cornwall, while ported, is not supposed to have leaks either. John

Steve Phillips did. John

You cannot adjust the impedance of an amplifier after it has been built. If you could it would likely not change the way your speakers sound. Not getting too technical, your amp is rated to put out some number of watts into an 8 ohm speaker. It does not have an 8 ohm impedance itself (more like 0.05 ohms output impedance). As the speaker's impedance gets lower the amp puts out more power until the thermal limits of the transistors are reached or the power limit of the power supply is met. Then the amp clips or the thermal protection circuits operate and probably shut the amp off. More than likely the minimum speaker impedance for your amp is 4 ohms, so you are in good shape unless you try to run 2 pair of speakers. The impedance would be half of the impedance one pair would be. Even then, the amp will not be damaged unless you insist on pushing it hard and making it get too hot. John

I doubt the bass driver from the KSW-10 was relabeled and put into the RP-3. They may look alike, especially since Klipsch makes most of its own drivers now days, but thee is surely a difference that justifies the new number. That said, a bass driver can be placed in any box design if the volume is adjusted for its new role. The K-33-E in the Cornwall is a ready example. The Cornwall is ported abd the K-horn, Belle, and La Scala are horn-loaded acoustic suspension designs. John

Rope caulk cannot hurt the horns and it is removable. You'll have to try it to see it it will work. Use at least 2 layers mashed on firmly. Your cabinets were not designed to have "insulation". Adding it will change the tuning and will likely make the bass softer, with peaks and valleys in the response. I cannot predict where or how bad the peaks and valleys will be. Try it and see if you like it. The "insulation" will not affect the horns. John

You will not increase the power going to the speakers. You will be wasting your time if your speaker cables are already large enough. John

If you have the round (AlNiCo) magnet tweeters you can swap them for the rectangular magnet T-35/K-77-Ms and get smoother more extended highs. If your squawker drivers have spring-clip K-55-Vs, you can change them to the solder terminal K-55-Vs and get smoother response between 4k and 6k Hz. I can't hear the difference, myself. I'd wrap the squawker horn and tweeter horn in several layers of rope caulk to damp the horns and I got an audible improvement in my La Scalas by replacing the capacitors with Hovland Musicaps from madisound.com. You might consider changing the woofer inductor to a Solen "Perfect-lay". Other than that, you already have a great speaker. John

Speakers and amps DO NOT need a break-in. Turning the treble on your preamp all the way up could have easily overpowered the tweeter. In addition, turning the bass all the way up could have easily caused the bass notes to clip, even with a 220 watt amp. Clipping generates HUGE amounts of high frequency energy that kills tweeters. Go to Rat Shack and get a sound level meter and use it to keep from clipping your amp. 220 watts is 23 dB louder that 1 watt. the loudest you should be able to get the system, on peaks, is 123 dB at 1 meter from a speaker. BTW, that's insanely loud. If you stop turning it up at 113 dB on the meter at 1 meter away (with no bass or treble boost) you will be relatively safe. Stop at 103 dB, or so with the boost on. John

It sounds like you're turning up the volume too loud and activating the tweeter protection. One side of the amp may be a bit louder than the other, or one tweeter protector may be more sensitive than the other. I'd say what you're doing is bordering on abuse and you should not turn the volume up that loud any more. John