kapsnb01

I don't think you'll have any trouble selling those. They look like they're in great shape!

Congrats Mark...glad you like em. That's a hell of a nice setup for $150 out of pocket!

I guess I'll believe it when I see those Fortes on the local CL!

Thoughts and prayers with all those affected by the tragedy in Boston today. As a runner that aspires to qualify for Boston, I can't imagine the range of emotion felt today. If it is what it appears, it's another despicable & cowardly act against innocent people that were there simply to enjoy/participate in a great sporting event. God be with those affected in this time of need.

At this rate...I wouldn't count on it. 2 more chances for snow/sleet/ice/rain yet this week. Hey...it might be 50 degrees by August though...so, I suppose that could be an improvement.

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Spent a little time doing A/B testing to see if there would be any benefit from adding more damping in behind the woofers. I think I've got it dialed in to where it sounds best (to my ears anyway). Thought I'd share a couple more pictures, for those that are interested. I've essentially cut the box in half with damping behind each woofer.

I've actually read a lot of similar articles. In all of them, the conclusion was that there was really no reason to spend the extra money on cables. I think a few even used the Monoprice cables in the tests. I'll keep my cheap old monoprice cables...they've done well for me so far.

Glad to hear that the bracing has made a noticeable difference for you also. Certainly cuts the cabinet noise out of the equation. Keep us posted on how things turn out if you do some more bracing. Horn will be a project for mine at some point soon too...but, since it's finally starting to warm up around here, I think time will be tougher to find for speaker projects.

Too funny... I miss my old boombox, had many a fun time jamming back in the day!

Hey Brian - That is too funny...I probably grew up less than an hour from where you did. We actually had a small farm out in the sticks around an hour north of St. Cloud. Small world...where are you at now? I'm in the St. Cloud area myself. Wish I knew how much time and money I've blown at the local Best Buy over the years...funny how much you learn later on that would've been useful to you back then also! I actually did the Crites work and the bracing at the same time. Just seemed to me that as long as the networks were gone for a couple weeks that it'd be the right time to do the cabinet work. I know that there are others that disagree, as it doesn't allow for true A/B testing. So, I have my suspicions on which of the modifications is causing certain dynamics, but I can't be 100% sure. At any rate, upon putting the networks back into the braced (but not yet damped) cabinets, the first thing I noticed was that the speakers were definitely brighter than they were before. I myself am convinced that this comes from the rebuilt crossovers. I listened to a fair amount of music before putting a shred of damping material in them and I found the sound to be cleaner and tighter than before. In songs that I had heard many times, I was hearing details and background sounds that I had not heard before. After putting in the damping material, I immediately noticed an improvement in sound clarity. For this part, I did do a true A/B test and I could really tell a difference. Again, I heard additional minor details that I hadn't before. I'm sure I could just be hearing things...but, I have definitely noticed a difference. To answer your questions though, I'm driving my speakers with the same power at the same listening levels that I had before and imaging is great. For lack of a better description, I think it just cleans up the sound and allows you to hear all of the finer detail that might get lost in some of the cabinet talk. Hope that helps...feel free to fire away with more questions if you've got em.

I know I'm late to the party, but Congrats! That's a fantastic find...and a really great gesture by your brother-in-law. I'm sure you'll be smiling about that score for a long time!

Thought I'd post an update and a little more information for any who are interested. I changed around the damping over the weekend a little bit. The damping is now around the woofers to form a little chamber. Specifically, I created a box of damping material that splits the cabinet roughly in half and runs both above and below the woofer. So, each woofer has it's own little chamber. This seems to work much better and I noticed the difference from what I had immediately. I might play with it a little more in the coming days/weeks, but it'll be more to confirm that I've got it the way I want than to actually change anything. I'll try to get some pictures up soon to show what I'm talking about. In my haste to post what I was doing, I didn't do a very good job talking about what materials I was actually using. For the cabinet bracing, I used 3/8" baltic birch plywood and attached it to the cabinet with carpenters wood glue. The stringer braces were simple 1x2 pine and also were attached with wood glue. I also swapped out the factory wood screws with machine screws, so I used epoxy to glue in the machine screw inserts. So, all my woofers, horns, and networks are now attached this way. This works well, especially with the number of times that I've taken off the woofers/horns to trial damping and such. At any rate, I hope this thread is helpful for anyone that might be considering a similar project. To me anyway, it was certainly worth the time and effort. Will try to keep updating with any additional mods/upgrades that I do.

Loaded - Welcome to the forum! Glad to hear that the horn damping you did worked out well and that you're happy with the results. Working on the horns will be one of my next projects too...so, I'm looking forward to hearing the results for myself. How long have you had yours? I paid $475 for mine in very similar shape...best money I could've spent on speakers! I think you'll be pleased with the results from the bracing work that you're thinking about as well. For myself, I found it to be a very noticeable improvement in sound quality. The link to what I did is below, if you're interested in giving it a look. http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/172130.aspx Anyway, welcome and glad to see another forum member that enjoys the Epics!

Looks good an sounds like you're very happy with the results. Definitely a worthwhile project!

Thanks for the heads up...sounds like a pretty impressive disc. When do the JTRs show up at the house? []

+1

Damping was done using 1/8" thick F11 felt that I bought from Amazon. I attached it using 3M spray adhesive, which seemed to work very well. Tried to match up the volume of F11 to be similar to that of the original factory damping material.

A look at the rebuilt crossover from Bob Crites.

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Spent some time over the weekend damping the cabinets. Haven't had a lot of time to listen to them now that both are done, but I did do one cabinet at a time and did some A/B testing. Clarity is the word that I keep thinking of. Little details seem to pop more easily, especially noticeable in tracks that I've listened to many times. Was very noticeable when I popped in Hotel California...heard many secondary guitar chords & notes that I had not heard prior...and I've definitely listened to that track a ton. Here are a few pics...

It's mostly documentary but it is very good . Will probably buy myself when it comes out . +1. I really liked it. Definitely worth a watch. Does have some music in there, though more to supplement than anything.

I just finished bracing my CF3s using the same methods that Moray described. Pictures certainly make it seem as though the brace work is taking up a good deal more space than it truly is. The factory damping material that was wedged into the box actually took up more space than the bracing that I have in there now. I'm going to do some damping work here this weekend, so that will take up some additional space, but I agree with Moray, I seriously doubt it's close to a 10% change in cabinet volume. Mark - you're always welcome to drop by and take a look in the boxes and have a listen if you want. I think you'll like the results if you go ahead with some brace work on the Chorus'.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. No regrets on my end on the planning, research, and execution of my modifications. For me, the results are what matters and I am certainly happy with those.

No. The drawback to bracing the cabinets while the crossovers were sent out was that I wouldn't be able to test separately. For me anyway, it worked out as I'm pleased with the end result.