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the mid has the ribs all around it for sure & a k55-m driver. so dean, is this "glitch" just something i have to deal with with the current set up? could i switch to a k55-v driver? i see them for sale from time to time. & what exactly is a p trap? & what was it that fixed the guy in your e-mails problem? im sure i will be able to improve them somehow, just wishfull thinking there would be a quick fix. usually never is. also, just listened to some nora jones on youtube, will have to be getting some of her stuff & maybe lowering the Db's a bit!

larry: how can i identify the horns, are the metal ones magnetic to test or are they a diecast type. i can almost guarantee they weren't replaced. what speakers are the 401's for/from, i see just horns on ebay quite often. sound sources are mainly an adcom gcd600 cd player, also used a onkyo dvd player with sacd & dvd audio capability. although i dont have any sacd/dvda yet. the adcom cd seems to sound better. this is all on an adcom gtp500 premap. also have an older onkyo integra turntable i will try for a comparison, have a few of the same cds & LP'S to compare A-B style. i will do some playing around & see what i can localize. also plan to add some absortion things to the room, which there are none of right now, its very echoey down there. thanks again!

max: yes they are a little close & my ceiling im sure is way too low at 8'. but i have senn k's even closer together on some pics on here. i may try moving the left one to the right side long wall & maybe room treatments etc. & thanks, they are rather gorgeous in the oiled walnut finish, sometimes i just stare at them not even playing music!! larry: they are 1995 speakers so i think they are the plastic or fiberglass horns, they dont feel like metal. only reason im considering dampening them is from what ive read on this forum & a couple of the above posts. sounds good in theory... only had them a week or 2 so i plan to do some more listening & switching of amps etc, just got them properly seealed in the corners & waiting for some better speaker wire than the 16awg zip cord im using now. i live in eastern iowa. anyone near by wanna come hear them, or have a pair i could compare them to??? thanks again for all the replies

Try these suggestions--all together at once: move the side wall reflector on the right wall away from the left and right speaker by at least 3 feet further, also the two speakers in the middle between the Khorns - move them out of the center. Place a fair amount of absorptive material on top of each Khorn, fully covering their tops. Move everything else away from the front of the speakers that you can - maintaining at least 3 feet of distance from each Khorn. When you sit on centerline between the speakers you should hear much smoother midrange and better tonal balance in addition to much better imaging. If you are still experiencing harshness in a wide mix of your best recordings (i.e., using more than 2 different type of recording genres) , then try a bit more absorption on the side walls and over the center equipment rack, Then try trial crossover upgrades: recommend try-before-buy since I don't believe that you've got real midrange issues. I'd also recommend swapping out your amplifier with something different - try tubes if you haven't tried it. Chris the 2 speakers in the center get layed down flat on the ground for critical listening, i have yet to try absorbing material on the walls, center stand or speakers. will mess with that down the road. also i may move the left speaker to the right side long wall & see what happens. sorry but trying tubes is easier said than done, no clue where to start with that type of gear yet & after buying these i dont have the funds to spare on tubes.

WHAT???

I believe that a picture of both speakers and the room that they're in will help to answer your question. Can you post them here? Chris heres how they sit for now. spaced about 9' apart from center of speakers. yes the def techs are too close to them, they were there first as part of the "theater" set up, i lay them down when i listen to the k-horns. a new tv is in the works & im not sure where everything will go for now. always wanted k-horns & a local deal came up i couldnt pass up so they are where they are for now. a new house may be in the near future too so things will have to be stuffed for now.

dean & jason: thanks for the info, i may look into the quietcoat or some other type of dampening for the outside horn body.

I'm thinking that over time the problem is going to fix itself. Give it a year or so and you will not be hearing any harshness (or much else for that matter). Be careful with these speakers, they are like a high horsepower car and easy to hurt yourself. Tinnitus sucks. i appreciate that & understand loud volumes can be harmfull, however i have been going to concerts since i was a teenager, i know when its too loud. i also play drums & usually wear some type of hearing protection. i may have overstated the actual DB levels i listen at, it was just a guess, i dont have a meter or anything to verify that. i probably have a mild case of tinnitus to be honest, in absolute quiet rooms i have always heard a slight ringing, never gets any worse though. & i dont listen that loud for extended periods, maybe a few minutes for a song or 2, then back to "normal" levels. i appreciate music for what it is just as much as i like it loud. you can hurt yourself doing most anything, its being stupid about it that usually brings the risk.

no plans to change the horns just yet. would like more info on adding the 2nd order filter section if possible dean. thanks.

Yep. The horn is a piece of crap. In fact, all horns are pieces of crap.Don't let anyone here tell you otherwise. Klipsch is smok'n crack for their continued use of them. OP - You wanna fix the mids? You've gotta fix the bass. ok, so how do i fix the bass to fix the mids????

very good info, thanks. forgive my lack of x-over knowledge but can you explain how to add this second order filter section for the squaker? i am good at soldering & basic electronics tinkering so i feel i could add something basic if thats whats needed.

i realize this is a tough subject & many factors can be the cause. also the terms people use to explain sounds are very vauge & can mean different things to different people. so i will try my best to localize it, but in the meantime here is the jist of my concern. i am a new k-horn owner, they are pristine condition one owner speakers of 1995 vintage with the ak-3 x-overs. well cared for & very little use from what i was told. according to bob c the xover is a pretty decent design & the caps should not be "bad" at this age, they sound fine at "normal" volumes, but i do like to listen probably louder than most, close to a-list band concert levels, probably 110-115+ db, if not close to their max db output. quick example is back in the late 80's motley crue, for lack of a better band, came to town & claimed their show was setting records at 126+db for live concerts, we have a pretty large venue & used to get all the top name rock bands touring, so i am used to loud music. i push these k-horns close to that volume with a pretty decent 200wpc rotel amp, also tried a adcom gfa555ii amp but liked the rotels sound better. using a gtp500 preamp that is a pretty decent "mid-fi" pre with good reviews. so what i'm hearing, up loud, is a slightly harsh mid, or what i consider mid, the highs like cymbal crashes & hi-hats etc sound pretty crips & clean, but certain vocals or electric guitars etc are what cause the issue. i understand recordings play a big part as well, but i dont recall having this "harshness" with any of my previous speakers on the same recordings & equiptment. i have klipsch fortes (sound awsome at any volume), kg5.5, & just sold my epic cf-4's which i feel are very underated, they sounded almost as good as the k-horns in every way except sheer volume & dynamics. i never heard what im describing on those speakers. so with that said, i asked for ways to "tame" the mids a bit, i have read numerous threads on here as well as other places that review the k-horns, both private & professional & i am hearing comments that say the same thing, the mids can be a little harsh or overwhelming even on the best of s/s gear. not to mention all the upgrades & mods people do to these speakers, must be an issue for others too or they wouldnt be putting big aftermarket horns on them if the mids were as good as the rest of the speaker. dont get me wrong, i am very impressed overall with them in the little time i have tested them, plus my room is far from ideal, nice solid corners but a little too small & they may be a little too close together. 25x13x8 & on the short wall. just a much different sound than other klipsch i have owned or heard. so before i go jumping into hundreds of dollars of upgrades, i just thought i'd ask for some ideas on ways to improve the mid section. i have seen people fill the outer top & sides of the mid horns with different types of fillers in an effort to improve what must be the same things i'm describing. i doubt i will try any stuffing of socks etc in the mids, but if damping the housing of the horn helps i'd like to try some things on that level.

hi, ive read a few older posts about cheap & easy ways to try & help the mid horns on k-horns & others with the big mid squakers. can i get some input on the best way to do that? i dont want to buy $500 custom wood horns or any other modified horns. just looking for some cheap ideas/tricks to improve the mid section a bit on my k-horns. i have read about using plumbers putty but not sure how/where to put it. also heard about putting something on the inside of the horn like a difuser of some sort, think i read one guy say he uses a ping pong ball or something. also had a drummer friend with lascallas that said he used a small gel pad thats used to muffle drum skins, he used a 1"x1" square inside the middle of the horn & said it helped a lot. i listen to classic & new rock music mostly & frequently play it at higher volumes, when at that level there is some "harshness" that is mentioned many times, just looking to see if i can imrove on that without getting into major mods. thanks

if the veneer is decent under the paint, meaning no chips, you can try some paint stripper. available at most hardware stores or even walmart, just brush on, let sit & wipe the messy mess off. they are some pretty good ones out there intended for fine furniture restorations. worth a try for a few bucks. also as for the mid vs bass response issue, keep in mind that most receivers bass control is way too high in the freq range, verging on mid bass, like 120hz & up on most. better seperate pre amps like the adcom gtp400-500 series have bass control at 80hz & their version of loudness is i think closer to 50 or 60hz. night & day difference for bass response even in direct mode but when needed the bass controls & loudness boost the real bass freq, not mid-bass. as stated above, the klf's may have more woofer space & better bass with the right power but i think the fortes are a more balanced bass with the mids/highs. i have the kg5.5 which is very close to the klf20's & i like my fortes better overall. can i ask where you are using plumbers puty on the mids? i'm curious about trying something for my k-horns to tame the mids a bit.

And I'll bet you are not even pushing 10 watts at that volume! agreed. when on the onkyo m-504 it shows about 10 watts constant, maybe 15-20 peaks at the most.

way too hard to pick just one as my tastes span many genres. so heres the top 2 or 3, or 4 for what i will call soft/classic rock vs newer harder rock. male: paul simon, roger waters, maynard james keenan, layne staley female: linda ronstadt, anne wilson, melissa etheridge group: steely dan, toto, pink floyd, zepplin, eagles, van halen, alice in chains, TOOL & a perfect circle. ok thats more than 3 or 4.... if i had to pick one of each category its pink floyd & tool.

being the basement is so small & stuffed with a large sectional couch & mainly designated as a "home theater" set up, false corners are not an option. the k-horns were an impulse buy & this house was a starter house for me, hope to have a bigger better house in the near future. so i have to make due with what i have for now. i am considering moving one of them to the other end of the long wall, then adjusting my seating position on the couch for 2 ch listening. i have 4 perfect corners in the rectangle so that might be ideal for now. however, at the volume level i like to listen to most 2 ch music, they fill the room on the short wall to rock concert levels with ease. at that volume level in a small room, stereo & imaging etc go out the window, its just a full wall of sound, basically like a higher end rock concert. if any one has ever seen pink floyd live, or roger waters the wall tour, or any of the A-list rock groups, you know what i mean. i like it LOUD for most my 2ch music.

My best advise would to be to keep it as simple as possible-if you are using a HT preamp, make sure you set it in a direct, or stereo setting, so the signal doesn't travel through unneccessary curcuits. K-Horns are VERY revealing, so sending the purist signal to them is beneficial. Stay away from bi-amping, you'll only get frustrated at the sound.Remember the K-Horns are very efficient, so if you are using high power amplifiers, the amplifiers may not be in their best behavior, but instead just idling along. I have better luck with good sound from a 60 watt per channel amp than a 100 watt amp. I have driven my K-Horns with a 2 watt tube amp and had more than enough volume. definantly not using my HT receiver as a pre, & if i did i do know not to use it in anything other than stereo/direct mode. however my upper end onkyo AVR doesnt even come close to the adcom gtp500 in sound quality. so im sticking with seperates on the k-horns. i have high power s/s amps & the 200wpc rotel seems to be pretty darn good at all volumes, but at the level i like to listen to music, it is far from "idling along." these k-horns were designed to give you the "concert sound in your home" & believe me, thats what they do. about 40% on the volume knob is really all i can take in my smaller basement! thanks again

any ideas where i could confirm that? sure would be nice to tone down the squaker a bit.

thanks for the input gary. i don t plan to use these for home theater, just 2 channel & they will be driven off seperates. i learned that most avr's do not make good pre amps. bi-amping is probably overkill for these, i will just decide on a good 2 channnel amp & use the rest of the equiptment elsewhere. i just got the pipe foam & it will keep the sides & backs of the tops off he walls, without it they hit. im very impressed with them on the right recordings now that im running a pre amp, much better than my receiver as a pre.

figured i'd try this here before posting a new topic... can anyone confirm if the ak-3's are adjustable at all?

thanks again, kind of what i figured that video was ok for audio nut not vice-versa. the Ar brand are very decent budget cables & the older pro-2 series are very nice, they have thick jackets with a foil & wrapped wire insulation & thick gold connectors. i assume the wire inside is up to par as well. will give em a try, while drinking my folgers instant coffee....

is there an echo in here? the chorus are a very good speaker & of course have value. they go for anywhere from 450-700 on ebay, probably a little less on CL. as stated, they are definantly worth keeping as i dont think you will find anywhere near the sound quality for that price new or used.

sounds like a good deal... however, why do people always try to compare or mention what a "new" pair costs? the new k-horns are not the same speaker as the vintage ones, for better or worse. they have updated drivers & x-overs & cabinets... & they are new with full warranty. granted the folded bass horn is the same technology but the rest of the speaker is not the same. so mentioning that new ones cost $9000 in an effort to support your used price is pointless & misleading to an unknown buyer. but again, a good price for a good speaker.

ok thanks for the answers. they are AR pro2 series. for sure a step above the standard red & white ones that used to come free with cheap components.