Ziggurat

Here are my options for SMWS or MWMS - interested in comments.

That is where this originally started for me. I was pretty drawn to the design, but I moved on for several reasons: Firstly, those who own both MWMs and Jubes said the former had significant advantages, and secondly it has been noted that the diy plans are not necessarily accurate. Other ideas have been suggested too, but tracking plans down has been hard work. I don't mind going big, but if there was some way to keep the depth to 36" or so, I would immediately gain two additional placement possibilities in my house, one being in a larger and possibly more suitable room. Maybe I'm back to Jubes, a leap of faith with DIY plans and perhaps running a sub? Maybe the subwoofer is the great leveller of the argument? Build 4 LaScala cabinets and a sub? As much as I like the idea of the direct radiator simplicity, I have 15" dr speakers now, and really want to experience horn bass again. Keep hitting me.

Chris, thanks for this. Very much what I was originally thinking - using the classy amp up top with more of a workhorse down below certainly frees up cash for other areas. I've never had an issue per-se with horizontal bi-amping, but have heard that vertical is 'better' if you have 4 identical channels of amplification of high quality. Therein lies the rub. Personally, after what has been said here - I will look for a Crown or similar for the grunt work and stick to the El34 amp for the K402s.

Hm. I am guessing a 904 passive xo circuit is easy enough to come by too.....

Now I know I am throwing a fat cat among the king-size pigeons here, but I gotta ask.... I love DaveA's SMWMs, no doubt - but they do stick out like my mother-in-law's nasal implement.... No offence DaveA, you are an artist and a scholar, but my wife is not blind and my house has walls - one or both of these minor inconveniences must at some point be considered................. so....... .... What if I were to plonk my soon-to-arrive K402's on top of a Jensen/Decware Imperial rear loaded horn instead? I'd have to lay Imperials on their side, but I would have several more placement options and could still use the Xilica to tweak... People have said that the magic is in the K402, and they would rather have a K402 on a LaScala bin than an MWM bin with something else on top. Other people have said that the Imperial leaves the KHorn far behind. I wouldn't know. I've never heard a rear-loaded horn that didn't have an evil Lowther stuck in it, so I am not able to fathom how it might sound. Could I be onto a winner? Is there any other easily recommendable horn bass bin that goes low, but maybe tucks up a bit nicer than MWMs and their derivatives? Does anyone know just how low an Imperial actually goes? I hear tell of 20hz, but I'm dubious. Very interested in your opinions!

Well I suppose I could spin something up on the lathe.... will see what the K691 sounds like, in the first instance.

Absolutely. It will only be for a bit of fun. I will save the fine tuning for once I have built the bass horns. The Altec XOs have a little bit of adjustment available by the L-Pads, but I am sure you are right. I also considered making some throat adapters for the K402s permitting me to bolt on the Altec drivers.... but it would be a wasted effort unless I could do it quickly. Even then, it would be a short term folly just for fun.

Thanks for the encouragement! I've had discussions with a few of you via email and the forum here. By all accounts the new setup should be in a different league to my current Altec 19s - which I totally love. Seems like I won't be able to go wrong. In fact... I am going to run the K691's in on top of the 19's when they arrive - temporarily using the Altec network to drive them instead of the 811b horn and driver. That in itself will be an interesting experience. I will put up some pics. The K402 setup is a month or so away, so I am chafing at the bit, and working through plans for their arrival. Thanks again!

Totally. I would only consider vertical bi-amping if i had four identical channels of amplification, hence the question. I could go out and buy two identical high quality stereo amps at this point for vertical, or buy just the one stereo solid-state amp and use it for the low freq in a horizontal bi-amp system, retaining my EL34s for the high-freq. This looks like it is the way forward.

This is all very very good news. Thanks heaps!

I have a pair of K402 / 691's on their way to me, as well as a Xilica 8080. I'm going to build SMWM's a-la DaveA. Currently I have a Prima Luna Dialogue HP Premium integrated that has inputs allowing me to bypass the pre-amp section of this amp. My thoughts were that I could grab a decent SS power amp to drive the bass section, and use the EL34-based Prima Luna for mid/highs, in a horizontal biamp system. How does this plan stack up? I see that many of you are operate vertical bi-amp systems using Crown amps and similar. Having had no opportunity to listen to any of this gear, I'm basically taking a leap of faith based on your experiences written out on this forum, so I am interested in your opinions. Am I wasting time considering horizontal bi-amping? Should I factor in a two-amp purchase and go straight to a vertical system? Maybe I am suffering from audiophile snobbery, but I am struggling to shake the belief that a PA-grade amp will do an equal or better job than a good EL34 amp up top, even if vertical bi-amping is a "better" way to do things. I am more than happy to be schooled on this though! Appreciate your thoughts.

It's been nice knowing you DaveA !! 🚑

I think they are fricken beautiful. Once my K402s arrive I am going to follow your lead. Awesome Dave.

Thank you.

@babadono yes - please - looking for the 2-way. Cheers - appreciate your assistance.

I am placing an order with the local Klipsch agent (I'm not based in USA) for a pair of K402 horns and K69 drivers. Can anyone please help confirm that the Klipsch part # for this combination is KPT-402-MF ?? We are not able to work from a parts manual for this, relying on emails back and forth. I just want to make sure I am not going to end up with the wrong setup, this would be an extremely costly and irreversible error. Thanks in advance.

Obviously, Claude. Bob and I were discussing crossovers at the time. His comments, as I recall, were more around matching the (high) output of Faital HF200 / K402 combo with the bass bin section. He seemed to imply it would be be difficult to build a passive xo that would take care of this with a single MWM per side, but I may have misunderstood. I certainly am in the 'back seat' as you say. My interest in these projects (that I would love to duplicate) is hampered by massive gaps in my understanding, and trying to work out which is the best way forward when importing costly gear.

@DaveA - do you plan to build two of the SMWMs for each side for a stack, like I see many of the folk here have with the standard MWMs? Or does this design mean that is not necessary? I talked to Bob Crites some time ago and he suggested a K402 really needed a pair of MWMs sitting under it, hence why ask. Thanks.

Can I just jump in here and ask a dumb question: If one had a set of crossovers designed for MWM bass and K402 on top, would they require modification for use with this Super version? Thanks.

I think I want to build a set of these.....