The Yeti

Well, I did say "cheaper OR better".

Right on, thanks guys!

I want to replace the capacitors in my 20 year old Klipschorns. I know nothing about working on electronics, but have an engineer buddy that can solder really well. Should I just order Bob Crites' upgrade kit, or can I do it substantially cheaper (or better) from other sources?

Well, like I said, my drawing is badly done and not to scale. [+o(] The sweet spot is actually 7.5' into the room (the wall that the K-Horns are on is 15' wide), I sit about 15' back - so, yeah, I'm outa the sweet spot for sure. To me, it still sounds damn good but the whole reason I did this little phantom center experiment was to try and improve my imaging, with the thought in mind that if toe-ing in the K-Horns accomplishes that, I can always disconnect the tops and turn them to move the sweet spot to my MLP while keeping the bass bins tight in the corners. After toe-ing in didn't work for me last night, but dramatically changing the crossover did, I want to know why! [^o)] You're the first that's said the KV-4 "doesn't stand a chance of keeping up", others on AVS have said that it's pretty comparable to Klipsch's current top-of-the-line centers. I've had the same speakers for almost 20 years and have always thought it did a respectable job...of course, I know no different, so maybe I'm wrong. I've never had the chance to be in a home theater that was actually better than my own. I've often thought about a La Scala or Cornwall (or even Heresy) center, but the logistics of making it fit in with the decor (that damn WAF again!) has always discouraged me. Thanks for the input! It's appreciated.

Thanks Guys! I'm attaching a pic of my living room here: Not everything is to scale - the subs aren't really that tight between the TV and K-Horns for example. Just a quick drawing I made in Paint. Measurements are correct, though. I know, I know...the FL K-Horn doesn't have enough wall to the left side, an unfortunate necessity due to WAF. I've come to expect less than stellar FR from the FL. Couple of details I left out: I do have a center speaker - Klipsch KV-4 For these tests, I am running the K-Horns WITH my dual subs. The room is carpeted, 8' ceiling. The room itself sounds pretty good, pretty absorbent with the carpet and all the furniture, I was playing around with toe-in for the phantom center because I just wanted to hear what it sounded like and, like I said, I think I prefer the center channel on. I do know the K-Horns need to be tight in the corners, I even have pipe foam on 'em. I was just playing with toe-in to see if I could get the center image to work before maybe spinning the top hats. But, like I said, I got great imaging (with them tight in corners, and even though I'm not in the "sweet spot"), but only when my crossover was set to 120hz - anywhere below that and the image just falls apart. Acoustic treatments are in my plans, but I want to do some FR measurements first to see exactly where the problems are. I'm just now learning REW.

So, last night I messed around with trying to get phantom center to work. I got it to work - not sure if I like it, but that's another story...it's how I got there that's kind of worrying me: I was messing around with FL/R toe-in and settings in the AVR to try and get the center to image in the center of my TV. The setting that finally did it was my crossover - I've had it set to 80hz for all speakers, but raising it to 120hz is what finally created the phantom. This also made my entire system sound better; better imaging, better bass (esp. in the center channel/voices)...just an overall "smoothness" I didn't have before. Now, what's worrying me is that my FL/R are Klipschorns, but they are almost 20 years old. I'm thinking there's something wrong with them, most likely culprits would be the bass drivers or crossovers - both fairly expensive to replace. Gonna do some FR measurements tonight to see if the bass is actually smoother or it's just my ears, but the imaging is definitely much better at 120hz. BTW, my subs are up front so even at 120hz, no localization issues. I'm really happy my system is sounding even better than before, but I hate that my K-Horns aren't performing up to their potential!

Yes. Back in the "Golden Years" (mid-90s, when my financial situation was much better), I owned a Lexicon DC-1 and a couple of higher-end Carver amps. After I had to sell those, I had a lower end (~$250) receiver for a few years, and now the Denon. I have never had a dedicated 2 channel setup, the KHorns have always been a part of my HT setup. I rarely listen to music in 2 channels anymore...with the vast majority of my music in MP3 format (albeit 320k) I just don't see the point of a dedicated 2 channel system - I just can't afford to do it right. My goal now is to try to work with what I got and make it sound the best it can.

Following your advice, I plan on re-arranging my LR to resemble the pic below. This is how I had it arranged originally (until about 5 years ago). But, from reading that I should be in the K-Horns "sweet-spot", I moved the speakers to the long wall. If memory serves, I think it did sound better the old way - I'll find out this weekend. Does this sub placement look better? I currently have my FL & FR crossed over at 80hz (as are all speakers). Are you saying I should lower that? The thing that always bugged me about this setup is that my FL K-Horn doesn't have enough wall - that could be remedied with a false wall I suppose. Thanks for all your help! Alan P.S. Why is it my paragraphs never translate to my post??

I made up a crude drawing of my living room, might help with questions.

OK, how much??

In order to get my back against a wall, I would have to rotate my setup 90 degrees so that the K-Horns are on the shorter (15') wall. Are you saying this would maybe be preferable??

Awwww...I thought it was something I could just BUY. I got no woodworking skills nor the tools to do something like that. Beautiful job though! How's it sound? What drivers did you use? Got any plans? I do know a guy....

8 feet. They are on carpet. From what I've read, a solid surface is better. We are due for new carpet, but I'm now considering hard wood flooring just for the K-Horns. I sit about 11' back, in the center of the room. I know that 10' would be the perfect sweet spot for the corner horns, but will have to do some re-arranging to accomplish that. I'll test that out and let you know. No, I'm not expecting sub-like output, but I just know their not giving all they can. Thanks for the responses so far, very helpful!

What IS THAT?! Whatever it is, it looks to be the perfect center match for the K-Horns and I WANT ONE! PSST - You've got no corners for your K-Horns, dude. And, seriously, get a universal remote man!

I've never been very impressed with the bass response from my K-Horns...I never really noticed how much bass they lacked until my subs stopped working. From reading around the inter-web, I seem to have the perfect room for the K-Horns. The speakers are situated in the corners of my living room (20'x15'), along the longest wall (20'). Room is carpeted, and the walls are covered in knotty pine - 6" wide boards over sheet rock, running horizontally with a small seam between each board. Could this wall surface have an effect on bass response? I wouldn't think so, the walls are very solid. I'm about to try the pipe insulation trick because they aren't super tight in the corners, I think my walls/floor aren't exactly square - I've got the insulation, just need to clean out the dust bunnies from behind the K-Horns first. I'm wondering if there could be something wrong with my crossovers...? Is there a way to test them? BTW, I'm driving them with a Denon 2113ci, and I've been testing by setting the AVR to STEREO with FULL RANGE fronts.