MechEngVic

Well it's been a couple of months but I finally got around to building stands. I tried tilting the speakers and it did help some but it was a trade-off, mid-range improved but it high frequencies were off in the distance and not as present as they should be. Plus tilting adds another dimension to finding the sweet spot. It's bad enough having to adjust toe-in, distance apart, and distance away to also have to get the distance where the tilt angle height is right. Too close and the sweet spot's still below you, too far and it's above your head. I bought a 4x4 and a 2x6 and built 6" stands that incorporated the "corner post" style of the stands moray james posted, along with the open box style that others suggested would help maintain bass coupling. I am pleased to report I got the sound I was looking for. If there was a loss or change of bass output it was completely eclipsed by the amazing improvement in imaging and mid-range punch that putting the speakers closer to ear level made. Bass is still strong and solid and appears to have tightened up but I think that's due to the woofers being higher. I can feel it in my chest more now. Keep in mind that the woofers of the KLF-10's are responsible for frequencies below 2300Hz, that's a lot of direction-sensitive sound sitting around your knees, so getting them closer to ear height makes the mids and upper bass bloom. If you're trying to tame bright horns, getting the horn just above ear level, and bringing the lower frequency producing parts of the speaker closer to the ear may help.

WOW. I thought you owned Belle clones, but you built them. I think you picked the perfect finish for them too. I wish I had the time and workspace/tools for woodworking, but I work on industrial machines so all I have are mechanic's tools. I noticed you used Russian PIO's then switched to Audyn MKP to improve the HF rolloff. I plan on using a combination of those very same PIO's plus an MKP on the KFL10 tweeter crossover to try to get a combination of PIO warmth and MKP HF.

HA! I was thinking more like Kenwood or Sony speakers... Every member of this forum knows that Klipsch hits closer to the mark than any other big producer. But even then... I just put in Bob's titanium tweeters and my klipsch speakers are even more "klipschy". I mostly piss off my wife and kids!

Beautiful chairs! Man, now you got me going to Ikea!

Thanks for your comment. I think we should remember that almost every time a speaker-builder designs and makes a speaker, it is not a cost-is-no-object endeavour, and they are mostly building under cost and design constraints. That means that in many cases the speakers they built could have sounded better. How much more would it have cost PWK to make the Belles taller? Why not just make the best speaker he possibly could every time. It wasn't because they sounded the best the way he made them, but rather that was the best sound for the use he envisioned for them, combined with cost he was willing to take on and the price he thought he could get for them. I wish I could afford taller horn driven speakers, or I could use a shorter chair, but it would have to be a chair about 10" off the ground. Plus my listening space is my home-theater/office/studio. It's a small room and most of the time I'm in my office chair just a few feet from the speakers, so height is crucial. I like your idea of using felt pads to tilt, I think I have some felt pads hiding somewhere. I can imagine the height of the CF-3's really being an issue at a close distance. Did you keep the felt pads under the CF-3's even when your sitting position was further back? Also, I'd like to see pictures of your Belle clones.

I will definitely experiment with tilting before committing to purchasing and building any type of stand.

So if I were to build 6" tall "boxes" under the klf's (like the risers on fortes or chorus'), do you think I would not lose bass?

Thank you for your response. I like the way those stands look, they look like a part of the speaker. They actually make me think of the concessions speaker builders make to meet price and aesthetic demands. It wouldn't be hard to determine a range of seating heights and build speakers accordingly, but how many wives would say "no" to an even taller speaker?! But please tell me how it has affected bass response. And could you tell me the height of those stands? They look about 8" tall, and the forte being 36" tall, that tells me that your sitting height is about the same as mine (39") because those stands would put the spot between the tweeter and the mid at about 38"-39" (from my visual guestimation). I desperately need these KLF10's at that height, the sound difference is night-and-day. I have a sub woofer (synergy sub12), and am trying to get a second one, so I can overcome the loss in the lower end, but the klf's are putting out such a good bass response in the mid-lower to mid-upper bass region that I would hate to lose it.

In my listening position my ear is 39" high. The tweeter center of the KLF10 is about 33" high. When I lower my ear to the level of the tweeter center or just below, the sound really blooms. I need to make up that 6" somehow. I can either build some 6" stands or tilt the speakers back a few degrees to get a 6" height differential to my seating position. I was hoping other Klipsch tower owners who have dealt with this issue can chime in. I know stands can change bass response, so how did it change in your experience? Tilting is used to time-align tweeters to woofers and mid-ranges, but with a recessed Klipsch horn I doubt that's even an issue. Will I create an issue should I tilt? Or is there an option I haven't considered? I guess every solution comes with it's own set of problems...I will be doing some testing but in the meantime, I would like to hear what you've heard.