gmjungbluth

I’ve had two pairs of CF-4 series 2 and still have my series 1 CF-4s. They are amazing. I’ve bought and sold Heresys, Cornwalls, Klipschorns, Fortes, Quartets, and Choruses but the Epics stay. There is definitely a sound difference between Series 1 and 2 but it’s small and can be mitigated with crossover changes (you should be replacing caps by now anyway) and new port tubes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just saw an identical pair posted in Northern VA for 1200. Looks like someone is making a quick flip and making some money! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

These are very powerful amps. I have one that has been re-capped and with tubes replaced. It sounds very similar to my Fisher 500C, but with a little more oomph. The transformers on this model are legendary for quality and heft - there are simple modifications to this amplifier that dramatically lower the noise floor of the preamp and can safely increase power to almost double the original wattage. For someone with the right skills this is a great platform to build a truly excellent tube amplifier.

Thanks! I really like the Crites tweeters - to my ear they sound very smooth. When I tested them after installation of the diaphragms and before putting them in the speaker, 'smooth' was actually the first word that came to my mind when I heard them. That said, the speaker still tends to be extremely lively and has the Klipsch sizzle that I know from other Heritage models. If you have the money or need to replace defective diaphragms, I would recommend spending the additional money (about $30 over phenolic diaphragm replacements) for the titanium. I think that midrange diaphragms would provide even more of an improvement but I didn't budget for them, and really I like how the midranges sound now. I bought a replacement K-48 woofer on eBay to have two matching woofers in the speakers. I then sold on the JBL woofer to someone locally who was looking for one. Cost-wise it turned out to be a wash, which was great. Interestingly, the woofers while measuring the same are slightly different in frame construction (guessing different subcontractors) - the new woofer is a little bulkier. But the cones, surrounds, and magnets are identical. If you have one bad woofer and the other one tests OK, I would recommend trying to find another K-48 like I did, or replacing both at the same time. Klipsch may have replacements in stock (I did not check). Other places on this forum folks have recommended the Eminence Kappa Pro 15LFC as the closest drop-in replacement. If you go that route I recommend buying two new woofers and then selling on your remaining original woofer. If you are going to use yours as home speakers like I am, you can also consider going with a different 15" woofer with different frequency response or sensitivity to bring out more low-range if you like - the KP-301s did not reach super low but were able to take massive power, which would not be a requirement in near-field listening. If you do that then there are mods you should do to the crossover and perhaps box tuning that are beyond my capabilities. And after my restoration I'm fine with the low frequency response of these speakers as-is - I think with the right placement and amplification they will sound excellent. Interestingly enough I'm still playing with them and the port tubes to determine what difference the tubes are really bringing to the bass performance - this may take more A/B for me, and perhaps playing with room placement to isolate speaker performance from room performance.

I've finally reassembled a pair of Klipsch KP-301s I've had in disassembled form for too long. I bought them three years ago from a musician who had used them in his travelling rock band for years. When I got them, they were beat up on the outside, grilles frayed, but whole. Upon more detailed examination, I found neither tweeter worked and one of the woofers had been replaced by an 8-ohm JBL 2226H. I pulled them apart, sanded all of the crackle finish off of the cabinets, repaired all dings and scars, primed, and repainted with semi-gloss black. It came out pretty well, but these will never be anywhere near mirror-finish. But now they're quite presentable. Internally I used a good deal of 1" square wood molding to brace the cabinets, both along the length of all panels and braced across panels to eliminate resonance. As an experiment and practice on how to brace cabinets this was a great exercise. Given how thick these cabinet walls are from the factory I'm sure the bracing will result in a rock solid box. Dead tweeters got new Crites Titanium tweeter diaphragms, and the crossover got Dayton 1% caps for mid and tweeter, new electrolytics for the woofer, and Mills resistors. The rest was kept stock. I filled the stock port holes with 6" tubes from Parts-Express. Using an online tube and frequency calculator I found this would lower the resonant frequency of the cabinet and add more oomph below 50 Hz. I just put these back together yesterday and ran a short demo on my restored Fisher 500C. My first impression was extremely positive. These are very lively and dynamic, which is no surprise. The Fisher is an ideal pairing and the efficient KPs really let it shine. The bass is accurate, full, and can extend low. I was expecting more with the port tubes but these do not bellow out of the box like me Series 1 CF-4s. I used the tone controls on the Fisher to lower the treble to 11 O'clock (leaving bass where it is) and this helped. With the right song (I tried Muse Madness) these are lower and hit hard. What really surprised me was how well these image - I had the speakers 1' off the wall, slightly toed in, about 10' from one another and 7' from me. These worked like monitors! Overall I am very satisfied. And while I planned to re-cover the grilles with new cloth, my wife told me she likes the industrial look. So maybe they'll stay open. I also planned on playing with these for a while before selling/trading them on but now that I've heard them that may be difficult. At the least, they will go into my main system while I do a careful restoration of my Klipsch CF-4s.

If you ever think about delivery for the KV-4 I'd be interested. Good luck with the sale!!

I was very skeptical of the Echo when it came out. My wife got it for me for Christmas. I didn't want to like it - I wanted to stick with my awesome sound systems. But it grew on me. I didn't think I needed an iphone before either but now I can't live without one. The music is great and right now it's one of the primary selling points for the Echo but where the real potential is in the voice recognition technology - it's basically a new breed of computer operating system a la DOS, OS, iOS,Windows, Linux, etc. I think we'll all be surprised at what these systems are doing (and how they're integrating into our lives) in a few years. Also, the Echo now has a little brother that has an 1/8" line out so you can plug it into your favorite receiver and speakers. I think once this technology starts taking off we'll be seeing more of these types of options for people who want to bring their own tech to the party.

In addition to Klipsch CF-4,s Heresys, Quartets, KLH Model 6s, Polk Monitor 7s and Polk Lsi7s, 3 AV receivers, numerous NAD separates and a restored Fisher 500c, I have an Amazon echo. Guess what gets 90% of my music listening attention? The Echo. It's tiny and sits in my dining room next to the kitchen, which is where my family spends 90% of its time too. There's no room in there for a stereo or big speakers so before that we went without music. My kids and I can all ask Alexa (the Echo's personality) to play whatever we're feeling like listening too. For background music, it's easy. I go in to the kitchen to make dinner and ask the Echo to put on a mix or to play NPR, or to share the forecast or do some other internet searches. I can say that my family and I have increased our music listening and discovery by an order of magnitude. We all have impromptu dance parties after dinner or on weekends (happens a lot with a 2 year-old and a 7 year-old) and each one of us is now exposed to more music genres and styles than ever before due to the ease of the Echo's voice-operated search and suggestion feature - I have Pandora, IheartRadio, and Amazon Prime Music linked to it. Sometimes I'll discover music on the Echo that I'll then buy and listen to on the CF-4s. It's way nicer sounding. But I've also rediscovered enjoying music for its ambience and fun, and not sitting down to discern imagining or decay or bass extension on a song I've heard a million times. The Echo's not bad for a small background music listening device. And it's turned my whole family on to enjoying much much more music. Which I think is the whole point. I'll never get rid of my serious audiophile speakers but I probably won't get rid of the echo either, unless it's to get another one (or the Google or Apple equivalent).

I have my CF-4s running as my mains in my basement home theater. They are currently being pushed by an Adcom GFA-535ii running out of the preamp outs from my Marantz AV-1403. This sounds pretty good. I also have a restored Fisher 500C that I pull out for pure 2-channel listening. With the CF-4s this is an amazing combination. I really like it - the sound is liquid and imaging is superb. Interestingly enough, with the Fisher the horns get a tiny bit overpowering. I don't have that problem with the Marantz/Adcom combination, which actually sounds kind of flat in a lot of circumstances. I'm actually thinking about pulling the Adcom out of the mix and trying to run the CF-4s directly from my Marantz again. The 1403 is only rated at 50 wpc but in reviews these amps have pushed much less-efficient speakers to very good dynamic levels. We'll see.

Thanks! It was actually close between the CF-4s and the Fortes. The Fortes sounded very well-rounded and I'm sure that given the right placement they would have been excellent replacements for the CF-4s. And I wish I had the space for the Cornwalls! If I ever build a house I'm going to make a room with wall cut-outs of Cornwall size!

I'm getting to a bit of year-end housecleaning and writing up my impressions of a number of speakers I was fortunate enough to sample over the course of the year. This was a great Klipsch year for me - I've had Cornwalls, Tangent 5000s, and Forte IIs in the house alongside my CF4s. They were, and still are, all amazing speakers. But only one pair got to stay while the others found new and willing homes. It was tough winnowing the herd but that's the only way I can keep up with this amazing hobby! I've written up my impressions with some pictures on my blog, www.silverfacestereo.com. I'd be happy to hear whether others have done similar comparisons and what they've concluded. I hope you enjoy my post! G

I've had Klipschorns and Cornwalls and still have my CF-4 Series 1. I've also had CF-4 Series 2, which were produced only days away from my Series 1 in 1994. There is a difference in sound between 1 and 2 (I had them next to one another in a room for a demo) but not enough to keep me from buying the Series 2 - they are still very very good speakers. The lore states that Series 1 have the longer ports, 'monster' wiring, and grey horns. I think changes were made on the line in a rolling fashion so there may be individual exceptions. I really like my CF-4s. They're much easier to place than the Klipschorns and the Cornwalls due to being narrower. They are still pretty heavy and tall, and due to their depth (about 19") they stick out a bit if you need to push them up against a wall. They are still very efficient and produce great bass and image very well. It's not a heritage sound but I like it very much. There are just as many mods out there for the CF series as for Heritage. But replacement parts are much harder to come by - the tweeters and woofers are no longer being made and to my knowledge there is no substitute for the woofers. So test any speakers you are looking at to make sure everything works. The woofers' voice coils can sag and rub. If you have any additional questions I'd be happy to try and answer. Good luck and enjoy!

I've had Klipschorns and currently have CF-4s. I found the Klipschorns a lot of fun and they added a new dynamic and lively element to the music that I'd never heard before. But in the end I felt I was listening to the Klipschorns and not the music. The CF-4s in my opinion do a lot of what the Klipschorns do - they're alive, dynamic, have a big sound - but they go a step farther in adding more and tighter bass, better imagining, and less ringing/resonance in the tweeter and upper mids. And the CF-4s despite their size have an advantage in placement - my Klipschorns were limited in their ability due to how I had to place them in my room. I think in a different house and with the ability to perform some serious mods I would consider klipschorns again. But until then I will be more than happy with my CF-4s.

Hello all, I have a pair of the 'Big Heil' ESS AMTs from a defunct pair of AMT-1As. These are massive, likely five pounds apiece. The crossovers in the speakers were shot so I tested each at low volume directly wired. They both work and sound clear. They're not in beautiful cosmetic condition but operate perfectly. On one the wiring plug is no longer affixed to the back of the dispersion frame - the glue came undone. I have not fixed this. I have these on eBay with a higher asking price but am offering $300 plus shipping to forum members. These go for 350 apiece new and I think this is a good deal. I'd also do a trade for a pair of EV DH1506 horns in good shape if anyone has them - I'm thinking about swapping a pair into my CF-4s. Thanks G

I was going through some old photos and found these of the acoustic testing chamber at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight center in Greenbelt, MD. One is of one of the smaller horns they use in testing. The others are of the horn outlet in the testing chamber, and another is of the backs of the horns sticking out of the adjacent wall. If I remember correctly the chamber is used to test instrument and component durability in simulated launch and space conditions. I'm guessing they get pretty loud....

Alex, these look awesome. Great work and good luck with the sale! I have a pair of CF-4s and I've been following your cf-4 build and trying to build up the energy to do the same. I've also been thinking more and more about getting a pair of heresys to play with. Maybe this is not the post for it but some time I'd love to hear your thoughts on the similarities/differences between the CF-4s and the heresys, especially after mods. G

What a great thread! Zeus, thanks for running the serial numbers. Unfortunately I measured the space I have under my projection screen and a CF-3 wouldn't fit. My wife wasn't enthused about the idea either. So I'll be staying with my Boston VR-12C center for now. Which I really do like, but upgrade-itis is setting in! G

How would that CF-3 work as a center channel? I've got CF-4s as my mains in my HT setup. This could be an interesting match. Would having the CF-3 lay horizontal present any problems, like dispersion from the horn? Mark, do you know by chance what series these CF-3s are? Thanks G

Dan, Thanks for this update! And I have to add that my CF-4 were made within days of Dan's in 1994, have the longer ports, but have colored wiring inside. They also have the same woofers as his speakers. So very strange. But I love them all the same! G

Not to go down the rabbit hole on this, but the CF4s always reminded me of the hawthorne Raven speakers. You can find out more here: http://hawthorneaudio.us/ Perhaps their 12" drivers would be some sort of substitute? You'd have to do all 4 but who knows? When I heard the Ravens at Capitol Audio Fest, they were easily my favorite speakers there.... Edit - looking at the site, those are 15". guess they wouldn't work here....

Fleawatt, Thank you for the offer! Those Khorns look great! Unfortunately I don't have anywhere in my house I could set them up. I used to have a pair of 1990 vintage in Oak that I loved, just couldn't make them work in my space. I do have someone coming over to look at them Friday with a potential trade. Good luck with your sale! G

Weird that it is gone. Maybe the link changed. here it is http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/ele/4679682847.html Asking 1200 on CL, 1000 for Klipsch Forum. Thanks G

I'm not getting any bites on these anymore. I'm surprised. They sound really really good, and the few people who have been interested have been reall really interested but couldn't make it work for various reasons. I'm flexible on price if anyone wants to come see them. I have not been interested in shipping. I thought that the size and dimensions would make shipping a pretty costly proposition. And I've never boxed something this size before and don't want to ruin them en route. Has anyone used a shipping company that can correctly prepare large speakers that might change my mind? Thanks all! G

Bump on this once again. Still flexible on price. Send me a PM. thanks! G

Bumping here. These speakers are still for sale. I've had a lot of nibbles locally but nothing solid. Is anyone on the forum interested? I'm flexible on price. Thanks all! G