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Tweaker256

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Posts posted by Tweaker256

  1. Thanks everyone, if you can solder it's really not that hard. You don't need to go to extremes like I did to get much better sound from the RP series of speakers. I only replace what was already there with better components.

    That killer horn tweeter's crossover consisted of a 9 ohm 10 watt resistor and a 3.9 uF cap in series with the + side and a 0.36 mH inductor across the + and - in parallel, that's all.

    The woofer crossover is even easer, a 1.4mH inductor in series with the + side of the woofer and a 43uF cap across the + and - in parallel.

    Remove the sandcastle resistor and replace it with a 4 ohm and a 5 ohm 12 watt Mills resistors soldered in series to make a 9 ohm, you can't buy a 9 ohm Mills resistor.

    Now you have many choices from easy to complete rebuild. You can remove and replace the 3.9 uF cap in the tweeter circuit or bypass it, I choose both, the easiest would be to bypass it with a 0.1 uF Audyn True Copper Cap, yes that will increase it to 4 uF but that is only a 2.58% increase still within the manufacturing tolerances. Next bypass the 43uF cap in the woofer circuit with a 0.1 uF Audyn True Cooper Cap, that is the quick and dirty approach. Bypass means solder across in parallel. You will get 95% better sound.

    Replacing the 43 uF cap requires rebuilding the crossover due to its size. You need to buy a 39 uF, a 3.9 uF and a 0.1 uF cap in parallel.

    You can get all the above parts from Parts Experss for about $60.00.

  2. Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but not unfamiliar with Klipsch. A good friend of mine has 2 pair Heresy’s, 2 pair Cornwall’s and a pair of Khorn’s. I have replaced crossover caps in all of them and the original diaphragm’s in one with Ti.

    After looking at a number of small speakers to replace a pair of tweaked NHT Super Zero’s I finally picked up a pair of RP-160M’s. I used to build speakers when I was younger, everything from cabinets to crossovers. My brother and I would use our front yard as our anechoic chamber laying the speaker down on the grass facing up into the atmosphere to do near field measurements for mechanical phase correction etc.

    I knew looking at the horn design in the RP series it had potential, compacted rubber coating on the Tractix horn to eliminate resonance? Who does this? Only Klipsch. The 6.5" Spun Copper Cerametallic woofer is nice and tight as well, very rigid and light weight. Klipsch did an amazing job with these drivers. They have serious potential!

    After listening for a few days I thought they should have had a little more clarity in the high frequency and upper midrange so I pulled the crossovers and sure enough to hit the targeted price range Kilpsch used a relatively inexpensive poly cap in the tweeter, a sandcast resistor and an electrolytic cap in the woofer circuit. These had to go.

    Stock crossover

    I ordered a pair of Jantzen Cross Caps to replace the Klipsch 3.9uF ones and put a couple of ceramic disks that I had lying around across the 43uF electrolytic, stage 1 complete.

    Stage 1 upgrade

    Stage 1 upgrade

    Now the horn is coming alive! This made an improvement in the high frequency clarity that let me know I was right about these drivers and moving in the right direction.

    Next step was to replace the 43uF electrolytic with Jantzen Cross Caps, the 9ohm sandcast resistor with a Mills type and add some 0.1uF Audyn True Copper bypass caps.

    Stage 2 crossover

    But that required rebuilding the crossover boards, 43uF of poly cap is too big for the pcb behind the binding posts. I purchased a 3.5" wide x .25” thick Poplar board from the local hardware store and rebuilt the simple crossover. I used Velcro to attach it to the bottom of the speaker housing.

    Due to the size of these speakers the crossovers needed to be very compact and as it turned out the positive spade terminal on the inside of the binding post had to be rotated 180 degrees so it didn’t touch the crossover. I arranged the crossover so the upper binding posts go to the tweeter and the lower to the woofer circuit.

    Stage 2 installed

    I added a little constrained layer dampening (peel and stick type) to the Tractrix port for good measure as well, it is plastic and it dose ring a bit when you tap on it.

    Rear Tractrix Port

    Rear Tractrix port

    You think they imaged before? Holy crap, the clarity will blow you away!

    It turns out I was correct in my assessment of these drivers. This horn is the finest Klipsch has ever designed, the culmination of years of thought and research and probably reading these forums to find out what all of you have been doing to their speakers.

    The balance, linearity and amazing clarity from the Ti diaphragm and the Cerametallic woofer are astounding. Every bristle of the brush on a snare drum is individually defined. Voices have an airiness to them and each instrument is individually discernable.

    For this price these are unbeatable.

    By the way I stole them for $299.99 and free shipping from ebay, brand new in the original boxes!

    I probably spent $150.00 or so on the crossovers alone bringing the total around $450.00.

    A great deal on speakers with such potential.

    • Like 7
  3. Wow some exotic way to clean records.

    I just rinse them under cold water, being careful not to get the label wet and pat them dry with a clean cotten flour-sake dish towel.

    This eliminates static and also cools and stiffnens the vinyl so they wear a bit less.

    I store them in a rice paper sleeve inside the cover.

    I have some 30 year old records that sound like new.

    I have tried grounded carbon fiber brushes and such but they just pushed the dust around but didn't really remove it.

  4. I can solder anything, from copper pipe to 0.031" open face strain gages you need a microscope to see.

    31 years Quality control and Spacecraft assembly. Currently I do instrumentation and data recording.

    I have modified almost everything I own from CD players to amps to speakers.

    No Fear, nothing is safe!

    • Like 2
  5. So I've just finished my second solid week with my RP-160m's and I have to say, these things are incredible!

     

    Supremely balanced, extremely linear, and THAT HORN!

     

    This new horn is, imo, a complete revolution.

     

    I absolutely cannot believe the improvements it brings along with it. The upper midrange is completely smoothed out and imaging is easily the most holographic I've ever experienced!

     

    I'm surprised that there aren't very many glowing reviews of the RP series floating around the forums, but I'm 100% onboard. So smooth, rich, holographic, dynamic, and lots of sparkle.

     

    Homerun, Klipsch!

     

    Hello everyone, new to the forum but not unfamiliar with Klipsch. A good friend of mine has 2 pair Heresy, 2 pair Cornwall and a pair of Khorn’s. I have replaced crossover components and drivers in all of them.

     

    I finally picked up a pair of RP-160M’s as well and I am also amazed. I knew looking at the horn design it had potential but Wow it is really smooth and yes stellar imaging.

     

    The 6 inch woofer is nice and tight as well, very rigid and light weight. Klipsch did an amazing job with these components. They have serious potential!

     

    After listening for a few days I thought it should have been a little clearer in the high frequency so I pulled the crossovers and sure enough to hit the targeted price range Kilpsch used a relatively inexpensive poly cap in the tweeter, a wire wound resistor and an electrolytic cap in the woofer circuit.

     

    I ordered a pair of Jantzen Cross Caps to replace the Klipsch 3.9uF ones and put a couple of ceramic disks across the 43uF electrolytic that I had laying around, stage 1 complete.

     

    Now the horn is coming alive! You think they imaged before? Holy crap, the clearity will blow you away, for this price they are unbeatable. By the way I stole them for $299.99 and free shipping from ebay, brand new in the orignal boxes!

     

    Next step is to replace the electrolytic with a Jantzen Cross Cap and the 9ohm resistor with a Mils type and add some 0.1uF Audyn True Copper bypass caps. But that will require a rebuild of the crossover boards, 43uF of poly cap is too big for the pcb behind the binding posts.

     

    I think the reason for few favorable reviews is the marketing has targeted these as Home Theater speakers rather than bookshelf models.

     

    Not a good move, they are awesome bookshelf speakers for a 2.1 system, just add a sub!

    • Like 1
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