mike stehr

Source the parts for a ALK crossover. That comes out to a pretty penny by it's self. That little extra money is for good reason, considering his time, and labor. Also it's designed ready to hook up. But I agree with Johns02, I like the hobby of DIY. The Chorus/Forte I and II models would be a good one for Crossover redesign AL. Too bad you couldn't get Klipsch to donate cabinets of these certain lines for X-over filter design research. THANX!

Wah.

I envy your fortune of having the opportunity to listen to one. The Japanese folks are about as Purist as it gets. Yeah, Go figure.(He's probably tone deaf.) THANX!

Moderate blatant advertising.

Motto of this Thread: "Let your ears be the judge." (No pun intended.) Who cares how someone else thinks your gear sounds, its a hobby. Gotta agree, EARS, that Audionote stuff is some NICE S**T! I think I have read something about this, Hand made, 3 to 6 months to make, I think. In my situation, I would not turn down Krell, It's not Mid-Fi. THANX!

You Know, If you use various recipes of high quality plenum Cat 5 wire, and a little know-how in measuring and testing, You can come up with a great quality sounding speaker cables for a great price. It's something I need to do. Hey TV, Where do you get that sonotube material? Serious elephant call subs there. THANX!

Hey Ear, you ever check out exoticaudio.com? This guy has a bunch of pages of some seriously spendy gear.eek. Has a pic that Krell 700lb monoblock.($120,000) He thinks it's ugly. Sorry about the slam on Krell. (What is it about the general bad prejudice of Krell products anyway?) THANX!

You Know, If I could afford Krell products, I would go a little further and jump on the Valve bandwagon. Granted, Krell products are excellent quality. And way overpriced. There is something about Krell that seems kinda Yuppie, IMO. If it was SS, I would have to 'PASS' on Krell and take Nelson's route. Deam, I think it was Janet Jackson that killed your Sony receiver. 420! THANX!

Why do folks talk about how one amp 'sounds' different or better from others? I realize a Cheap consumer grade amp will 'sound' worse than exotic top dollar amp due to superior design and parts. But in theory, Wouldn't the perfect amp reproduce and amplify the source material without any artifacts from itself at all? And as efficient as possible? So a guy can't say this amp 'sounds' better than that amp, one would say that this amp reproduced the source material as original as possible, as compared to amp 'B' etc.... I think sub frequency's are a little more forgiving when it comes to audible distortion. (Or just not as easy to hear.) THANX!

It's this Icon I like, not the one on my last post! Thanx!

I just like this Icon. Just found out my current sub amp will run a pair of SVS 16/46's. I should push a little air. Matthew, take that that sub back and demand your money back! If they say no, then all over them! THANX!

Howdy! Dear Al K., I received the Chorus II Schematic today. Yup, there is a 68uF cap parallel wired after the 3.5mH choke for the woofer. Then a 6uF cap before a 20 ohm 12 watt resistor (series wired) going into tap 5 of the autoformer, (T5A(6dB). Tap 3+ and 0 (grnd) go to the Mid-horn,(K-61-K). After the autoformer a 1.75mH choke is parallel wired in the mid circuit.(Between mid and autoformer). A pair of 2uF caps,(a blue film foil type) are series wired to the (K-79-K) tweeter, with a 160uH choke parallel wired between the two 2uF caps. (I'm pretty sure that's micro henries, could be a typo maybe). Whats strange, is the hot path from the input of the tweeter circuit. It has the caps in that path, but goes to the negative tap on the tweeter. (like the tweeter's polarity is reversed). The mid-horn must have some pretty high Impedance. Pretty simple X-over, really. Can a guy get a polyprop that big? I guess you could stack smaller values.(Cascode)? 3.5mH's, that seems like a pretty common value. This won't be to tough a project. Mobile, I gotta admire your gear, I never heard any tube gear yet, But I know that all the audio valve maniacs on the net rave on the single-ended 2A3 route. I'm ignorant to valves, but I'll take stab at it. This design evolved way back in the teens or twenties and is real simple. It used the 300B or E Western Electric tube. (Which the old classic original tubes are prized). I think Western Electric made this design. And technically is a distortion device, but the distortion has different harmonics or higher harmonics, I geuss. Most folks don't notice, fools your ears maybe, but they love the sound anyway. This design is low powered and requires very sensitive Horn Loudspeakers. These old designs where used with PIO caps. And why valve folks more than likely prefer Jensen PIO capacitors. This is maybe why Exotic polyprop's and such do not work so well in a classic Single-ended 2A3 setup with horn Loudspeakers. This could be be why some SS amps do not sound too thrilling on horn Loudspeaker's more catered for tube gear, or like using valve's for Scan-Speaks. (These speakers benefit from high-order X-over networks with the high quality caps). More of a speaker for solid state, I guess. This is maybe why JohnsO2 likes Al's Crossovers with his Rotel Gear. Maybe Al's crossovers work better with SS. Maybe it depends on the equipment one uses. But you gotta admit, changing a electrolytic cap for a Solen is better than leaving it. (Whats the life, 5,10 years, before they dry out? MIKE LINDSEY! I just asked Matt At Klipsch To EMail me a Schematic pdf file. I have a flatbed scanner, but I'm not sure how to format it or how it would come out on your side. I'm kind of ignorant to PC's too. If you have a hard time from them, I'll see what I can do, but you should not, there good guys, very helpful. Or call. Did you ever try rope-caulking your chorus II mid-horns yet? I'm curious if it will do any damping with a plastic horn. I'm goin' to bed. THANX! Mike.

Thanks Al, for the suggestion. I just Emailed Matt at Klipsch for the Chorus II crossover schematic and will build a scratch one using better quality parts and see what happens. Then if I don't like sound of the upgraded crossover I still have the old ones to fall back on. And will keep in mind the importance of inductors. (I think a reason a lot of folks don't usually change inductors on DIY crossover upgrades is sometimes the schematic is next to impossible to get, and a lot of inductors have no values marked on them.) And inductance (LCR) meters ain't cheap! I don't think I'll get rid of these, except maybe for Klipschorns.(My buddy and I used to drool on these when we where kids). Malcolm, this first thing I noticed when I seen these X-overs is the electrolytic caps, And thought, why would they put electrolytics on a crossover?! That's no place for a electrolytic! I agree with you, just changing these alone would probably bring more sonic merit. johns02, I have a Yamaha CX-1 pre-amp and MX-1 power amp. Yeah, it's Yamaha, but it ain't bad electronics. The amp is a 440 watt daul mono configuration with two trannies, and lots of audio grade caps. Same with the pre. It may be getting a little old, but it's not skimping type gear. I have Sansui speakers for the less revealing work. Thanks for the replies! THANX!

Thanks for the replies. Thats right! Jensen PIO caps are popular with valve folks, my mistake. But they are spendy! But for serious tube nuts, no biggee.(Caps come in many flavors). I just want upgrade the crossovers on my Chorus II's the simplest way possible. Could'nt a guy take the 4 capacitors on the Chorus II X-over, 2 electrolytics and 2 foil type ones and replace them with high quality audio grade caps? Same value of course, and same or higher voltage. The same with the sand cast resistor, replace with same value high quality non-inductive type. And basically leave the inductors alone. (Autoformer too). Or replace with high quality inductors if one knows the values. (But this will require a new board more than likely due to the larger inductors). Could this give a better sonic improvement to the existing crossover? I have some primitive software for testing speakers, basically tones and sweeps, and a Radio shack spl meter. About all this would do is give me barely some rough idea on the drivers working ranges. But I was hoping I could use a schematic, replace existing with higher quality and come up with better sound. Would this idea be worth it? Your replies are appreciated. THANX!

Hello. I have used Solen fast caps and think that they are great caps for the price. If and when I upgrade my Chorus II X-overs, I will use Solen caps due to budget constraints, and Madisound ships quick. But for people who could afford it, I wonder what would be the sonic advantages of using Jensen caps in various older Klipsch lines? From what I understand, Jensen's have a warmer sound to them than most capacitors. I wonder if these caps could kill some harshness in the horns from using solid state amplifiers? The high dynamics of these speakers will let you know if you are using cheap gear and thought maybe the jensen caps could give the speakers a warmer sound? This is probably irrelevent to tube gear owners, I figure the caps would get in the way of a warm sound already. I guess it applies to the person's taste for the sound they like, and finding the capacitor that suits it. Your replies are most appreciated. Thanx!

Howdy. Okay I'm interested in these SVS subs. But I mostly listen to music. So as most folks have done, is scour the net for reviews and opinions on the product. (You can't hear them unless someone you know has them.) One particular site, which is just a consumer review site, rate 5 stars on the SVS's out of a quite a bit of reviews. The real only negative thing I had read,(which is strange, there is always some negative feedback.) was someone who had a pair of 16/46's in a larger size room, and had bottomed them out. He eventually swapped the 16hz port for a 20hz. It then gave him the depth and punch he so desired. Who knows why he bottomed them out, but my question is: I will listen to mostly music, and would like to purchase the 16/46 (Height does not matter). Do these subs come with various ports and be purchased? For tuning to 16hz, 20hz etc? They'll be doing more music than home theater if and when purchased. your replies are appreciated. THANX! Mike Stehr.

Now I have a good idea just how large the SVS subs are. I did not quite realize that a 20/39 SVS is as large as a Chorus II. (Should just go for two of these.) I like the natural wood finish better than the black on the Chorus II's. (IMO). Nice gear, YUP! Mike Stehr.

Thanks for the replies guys! Now that I think about it, these are '95 Chorus II's. The drivers had '95 printed on them.(DUH!) Maybe the 1989 date on the input cup is when the series was introduced. Whatever the date is, I like them. I'll just have to get a crossover schematic, plus possibly new Chorus II X-over's from Klipsch and play with the old ones. I bought the MX-1 amp and CX-1 pre-amp because they were the units that were for sale with Chorus II's, and I figured that they would be a better match up than any of the gear I had. And they were cheap. I did'nt think much about the units when purchased, other than the heavy amp. When I got home and cleaned and inspected the components I realized I had some quality items by the audio grade capacitors and lack of cheap construction. The Amp is 440 watts with a 35 watt pre-amp, Daul mono with two trannies. I'm pretty certain that the amp is in class A mode still when the Klipsch's are at 100 decibels. (I have a rat-shack meter, it does'nt take much). I'm happy as pie with them. A couple little things though, the pre-amp has a real wimpy power cord.(I don't understand this, the pre-amp has some hefty Nichicon great supply power supply capacitors, but a glorified lamp cord for AC.) The amp has input sensitivity pots, something you see with car amps but home?! More than likely for matching output sesitivity of various other Yamaha pre-amps to the input sensitivity of the MX-1. Which is great for matching up other units and brands of pre-amps, but kind of lame from a purist standpoint. I mean is'nt the CX-1 the intended pre-amp for the MX-1? But these are easy mods, a better power cord for the pre-amp, and matching the output sensitivity of the pre to the power amp input sensitivity by using high quality resistors matched, I guess. I have no complaints with Yamaha gear, its just all I ever had. I had a AX-592 integrated with a pair of Sansui 5-ways from the mid-eighties that I converted to 3-way with a pair of Vifa D25 aluminum domes.(better X-over). Sounded good, and plenty sensitive. But nothing like the Chorus's. When I bought these speakers I was so glad to have a Klipsch site with a BB, and helpful folks. Its a nice tool for getting these speakers to shine like they should. Thanks for input! I'm gonna go for the 16/46 dual subwoofer with Samson 700 amp, (if I can get one). I have the money, and my friends will think I'm stupid and it seems dumb, but the hell with it, it will be the last step for my stereo.(At least 'til 5.1). THANX!

Yes Mike, They are Chorus II's. Serial #'s 299594369 198592452 Inspected by: Julie Hood Neyda Jones Finish Black. Made in Hope,Arkansas. The input cup has a 1989 date printed on it. That's why I figured they were '89's. I'll check the guy out on E-bay, Thanks! But the thing is, I want to improve upon the original crossover using higher quality components. I'll just have to hunker down and figure it out when I get a X-over schematic. Nice gear! SVS sub! I've been hunting for some subs, to retire a old rockford fosgate 8 ohm pro series car woofer in a ported box, Boomy. And have read the raves for Svsubwoofers. Read the site, the board here, and have not read a bad thing about them. Looking forward to some realistic bass. I see you have SV20/39 with a Samson 700. I have been considering the two SV16/46's with the 700 watt Samson amp as advertised. How does the SV20/39 setup work with the Chorus II's? Do they extend the bottom end nice, match up well, nice and smooth...etc...???????!!!! Would you think two 16/46's could be overkill? Your opinions? I'm pretty certain I would more than happy with these subs, (better than the fosgate for sure) but would like to hear a straight up honest opinion. Thanks Mike. Mike Stehr.

Howdy. O.k., I have a pair of '89 Chorus II's I purchased a few months back at a thrift store with the Amp and Pre-amp. Yamaha MX-1 power amp and CX-1 pre. Yeah I know, Yamaha! Yay. I haven't read too many raves on matching Yamaha gear with Klipsch gear but these units are somewhat heavy-duty for Yamaha. They have decent audio-grade caps, the power amp has dual transformers and weighs as much as a Chorus II. (The 1/2 inch metal plate for the bottom of the damn thing is probably a good reason why). And they were a hundred bucks for both and in excellent shape. The Chorus's seem to run better with these units, than the AX-592 I had. (Yeah more Yamaha! Argh)! One Chorus when purchased has a bad X-over. I would like to upgrade these crossovers. Now could'nt you take the existing crossover, use the same autoformer,(transformer)and then replace the sand-cast resistors with high quality non-inductance(or low)resistors? The same with the inductors, replace with high quality. (like the ones mentioned by ALK engineering). Then dump the electrolytic caps, and use high quality audio-grade bi-polar caps. Using the same values(Of course) and wiring the X-over the same as the original.(Same taps on autoformer,etc.) Would the X-over SOUND better? I know, thats a pretty dumb question. Or would this possibly cause impedance problems or other anomolies due too higher voltage and tighter tolerance parts? Your replys are greatly appreciated. (This problem with my Chorus has been bugging me for months!) THANX! Mike Stehr.

Howdy. Would A pair KSW-15 subwoofers be A good matchup for A pair of Chorus II's? Or would one be fine. They seem to have the same max decibal rating. (121db)1/8th space,(I think that means in a corner). Like Bass. Thanx! Mike Stehr.

Hello. does anyone know or have spec info on the Klipsch K-48 15'' woofer? I know they are 4 ohm. Are these made by Electro-voice? And if so, what would be the cross-reference model #? Trying to hunt down info for these. Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANX!

Thanks for the reply. I have browsed Al's site, He does use Excellent Quality parts, His crossover's Have to make a obvious difference over stock ones. When I get a schematic if possible, I'll more than likely leave the stock autoformers in place when upgrading. If it does not affect SS performance then it is no big deal. But it makes me wonder if a guy can make the proper bandpass order network for the K-61-K mid-horn, (Be what ever that would be) and pad down accordingly using resistors.(Wire wound non-inductive type)? But then again, there could be major importance of the use of autoformers, I have no clue. one of my crossovers have no mid circuit, Which may be the autoformer, I'll have to check for possible broken wire/connections. I may have to source another autoformer. What a mess. THANX!

Hello. Are the tranformers used on klipsch speakers used to attentuate the midrange horn with the rest of the drivers? I think I read this on a post here somewhere, mentioning something around 6db's? They also help amplifier impedence matching, helping the amp ''see'' a higher load, right? (Bear with me here, I'm new to Klipsch X-overs). This makes good sense with valve gear to me, But does it still make sense with SS gear, which can work with lower impedences? (Bear with me). Would the Exotic brands of transformers such as Jensen, Piltron, Sowter, etc.. properly matched and implemented bring any sonic benefits over the current autoformers used in these X-overs? (Mine are T5A, for example). Or would they have to be custom made to match? Would anyone know what ohm rating/minimum impedence is for the K-61-K mid-horn? Is there any websites/pages for Klipsh crossover design info other than digging through various Forums? Is there white page archive material on this site? (I did not notice anything). I could go on and on.... Your reply's are most appreciated. THANX! Mike Stehr

Chorus II's in Question. THANX!