ka7niq

I would be especially interested to know what amps you guys are running on your Klipschorns ? Right now, i just have a TEAC tri Path amp powering them. My tube pre amp is down, so I cant try any of my amps yet ? I did try them with a JVC RX DP 9 receiver, and they sounded horrible ? Funny, because the big JVC has sounded excellent, except on the CF 4;s, and now the Khorns. I prefer a warm, rich sound, and cant stand harshness, and I like 3d imaging. I will give up the last bit of detail for smoothness, and would rather have a roll off then be bright.

I WISH I had an AK 3! Mine is an old AK 2. Is it fairly easy to upgrade the AK 2 to AK 3 ? I cant seem to find the Info ? Nice Pix BTW

Ok, let me give you another option ? Vertically stacked Small FM Yagi's ! http://www.anarc.org/wtfda/stagger.pdf http://www.teeveesupply.com/product_pages/antennas/winegard_antennas.htm Here is why. Antenna gain is seldom a problem in FM reception, thanks to million watt transmitters. The problem we encounter is noise, and adjacent channel interference. There are 3 parameters one must consider in a Yagi or a Log Periodic array. Gain, Front To Back Ratio, and bandwith. Because the FM band is so wide, it is hard to get a single Yagi to cover the whole band, and keep its pattern clean. Thats why you see so many Log Periodic antennas. A Log Periodic will have multiple driven elements, where as a Yagi will have but one or two. To make matters even more confusing, sometimes a Log Yag is used with a small Log Periodic driven array and Yagi directors and a Yagi type Reflector! The best Yagi's are called FM high, and FM low. That is, they are optimizzed for a particular part of the band. It is very difficult , even with Computer modeling, to get a Yagi to have a clean pattern over the entire FM band! The link I have provided is for a small 3 feet long, lightweight 4 Element Yagi. It provided more or less constant gain over the entire FM band. It does so by sacrificing some gain and front to back ratio for bandwith. Remember, the definition of bandwidth here is the ability to have reduced, but constant gain over the entire FM band. It must be noted that an FM only Yagi, cut for either the Hi or Low part of the FM band, will seriously outperform this antenna! Let me know if you have some particular stations ONLY in mind that happen to only fall into either parts of the band! If thats the case, I have a much better option, but that would mean pissing away performance on the other part of the band! Now, let me tell you the neatest "trick" you can do to this 4 element antenna! Buy TWO of them, and stack them vertically, pancake style, on the same mast! Why ? Because stacking them will not only increase gain, but much more importantly, it will cause a reduction in side lobe amplitude! It is possible to get side lobe reduction with deep nulls of 40 db or so by close stacking! Usually, about a 1/2 wavelength distance is best for an antenna this size, IF you seek to only increase foreward gain. But, at spacings a little less then optimum, the side lobes go way down. 1/2 wavelength is only about 4.5 feet at 100 mhz ! So, if you get a 5 foot mast into your rotor, you will have enough mast to effect vertical stacking! Remember, we dont have to go out to the full 1/2 wave stacking. Anything from 3/8 to 1/2 wavelength will effect the side lobe amplitude reduction we seek. Of course, you will need a phasing harness to connect the two antennas, and if you contact the antenna manufacturers engineering dept, they can supply one. I know that Channel Master, Finco, Winegard, and others have them. This should be a wonderful little antenna array that will provide a super quiet signal because of its high degree of side rejection. Also, because it is vertically stacked, it has the ability to respond to a larger variety of wave angles, and will reduce fading under DX and Tropo conditions! Of course, it will not outperform a Yagi cut for a particular part of the band, except on DX because of its larger aperature. Maybe, just try one of these little guys first, and see if it does the job ? Then, you can always stack later, if it dont ? If you want a larger antenna, I reccommend a Log Periodic. The more elements a Yagi has, the more high Q it becomes, and the narrower the frequency range that it will work in. This little guy will cover the whole band, is small, light, and low Q. Plus, its cheap too! KA7NIQ

Oh My God, a National NCL 2000! Wow, it was designed by Maxillion in Swampscott Mass! One of the few class ab2 linears ever made, running a pair of RCA 8122's! Holy Cow, they are collectors pieces! I had one, shamefully, in my CB radio days because 15 watts PEP would drive the heck out of them! It would easily put 1500 watts PEP out! I actually got busted out of band on CB, the Feds walked right in on me. The XYL let em right in, thought they were her Mormon friends, LOL They were pretty cool, and made me a deal. Get my ham ticket in 6 months or less, and no charges. However, they confiscated the National, and that was just as well. I had real problems blowing Diodes in it, probably because I wasnt good at tuning it ? I was 19 years old in 1973, into fast cars, and faster women! Hey Al, now that I have your attention, what would be the first thing you would do to a set of AK 2 KHorns > I think Wil suggested to first upgrade to AK 3 ? he said it is pretty easy to do, but I dont know what to change ? Is it just me Al, or do you hear a 'woody' coloration on some male, and even female voices ? It sounds like it lowers Stevie Nicks voice a little bit ? Is this a horn resonance, or is it because the woofer is playing up too high ? Until I can sell off some stuff, I cant afford all your mods, what can I do in the meantime ? BEC says to NOT rope caulk the horns, and I didnt like it on the CF 4's. What are some "quick and dirty" things I can do until I sell some stuff ?

Here is what he need, LOL http://www.answers.com/topic/tv-fm-dx You are so right about the BIC Beam Box. Its great for city use. And, its true that a push up pole/tower with a Yagi and decent rotor is best. ALK's reccommendation of the big Finco's is a good one, the FM 5 is a "weapon of choice" among the FM dx crowd. I am glad you added the mast mounted amplifier! That can be very important, especially on long cable runs at VHF frequencies. Twin Lead actually has less loss then Coax, except Hard Line of course. The problem with twin lead is noise P/U and upsetting its balance when you come into the house. Many Hams use Twin Lead, but go to a balun and coax cable where it enters the house. REAL hams simply punch a hole into the side of their house, and put a PVC tube to run the twin lead into. Of course, we have a can of Raid nearby, and own stock in Tampa Electric Company too, LOL I used to live in Seattle, thats why I have a 7 series ham callsign. I knew Bob and Diane Carver very well. Seattle is a nightmare for FM reception, and I am not suprised the Carver tuner works so well! I lived on top of one of Seattles highest hills, and I was blessed with a 120 foot tall tree in my back yard! I had a coaxially fed vertical dipole hanging from the top mounted branch of that tree! I had a rope coming from the bottom of the dipole, and I could actually slope it in the direction I was most interested in. I had an Onkyo super tuner, and a Sony Es tuner too. I could P/U Portland full quieting, and Vancouver BC ! Vancouver had a real nice Jazz station, Eh ? Hey, BTW, have you ever tried a Tri Path amp ? I havent hooked my Moscode 600 up yet, but this Tri Path amp I find most impressive so far.

Hello Al ! The Finco is an excellent antenna. The FM 5 used to be one of the antenna's of choice for FM DX. Here in Florida, we get lots of Tropo and scatter modes. I used to have the big Channel Master up! It was mounted on top of a 72 foot Hy Gain crank up, on top of a 5 element 17 meter Monobander I built. Because 17 meters is so narrow, we optimized the 5 element Yagi for maximum front to back ratio. Had to give up about 1 db of gain, but it was well worth it! Signal to noise ratio is everything. The Computer gave it a real clean pattern with very deep side nulls, and well over 25 db over the entire band! But, I moved, sold the tower, etc. I am not even active anymore, the Old Kenwood TS 850 S is all thats left. I sold the Henry 2K Ultra ... stupid me! I bought it from the Widow of a silent key. He was a 3 ... his name was Hans ... ex broadcast engineer for the Voice of America! He was really in to Amtor and Pactor ... perhaps thats why he owned the big Henry ? He also had a Kenwood TS 950 but the XYL was keeping it in case her son got his ticket ? it's probably still there, but I really wanted the TS 850 S. My friends up at ARRL lab test all transceivers, and the TS 850 had the best receiver of any rig ever tested by ARRL, at that time. I bought the Henry 2K Ultra, AND the TS 850 for 1,500.00 ! I wound up trading/selling the big Henry for an Ameritron AL 1500 and a computer, and a thousand bucks! W0AD bought it, and flew down from Minnesota to get it. He was low band contestor, and the big Henry is still going. What an amp! I sold the Ameritron, and just used the TS 850 barefoot on my favorite band, 17 meters. Gosh, it looks like there is a fair amount of us Hams here, Hi Hi ! Wil McDermott is a ham too! I am sorta new to the world of the Heritage line of Klipsch speakers. But, fortunately, there are many "Elmers" around here! You, DJK, BEC,Wil, Dean, and many others, I was about to give up on them before the tri path amp! And, I thought the CF 4's were fussy ? 73 KA7NIQ

Neither did I ! Hey, what Tri Path amp are you running ?

You got your *** kicked! I watched the whole game while listening to my Klipschorns driven by a tri path digital amp. Now, to answer his question. An antenna, be it dipole or Yagi, doesnt begin to show a directive pattern unless 1/2 wavelength above ground. The more elements in an antenna, the higher the Q of the antenna, and the more it will be effected by height above ground, and proximity to nearby objects. Radio Shack makes a crossed dipole outdoor antenna that will work just about anywhere. If you are going to compromise a Yagi antenna by placing it in an attic, make it a small one. A smaller antenna has a lower Q, and will be de tuned less then a higher Q antenna. Of course, outdoors is always best, and a small yagi mounted higher will always outperform a larger one mounted closer to ground. I like to use trees as supports by using a fishing pole to throw a sinker over the top most limb. Then, tie a rope to the fishing line, and reel it up the tree. Nylon ski rope works great. Then, make you a wire dipole, and pull it up the tree! If you only have one tree for support, the dipole can simply be made to hang vertical, or at a 45 degree angle. A tree mounted dipole will simply amaze you! And, you will be amazes at how many new stations are availiable once you get up about 50 feet! Even more, if you go higher! Multi path is also cut down, because your antenna is now free of ground clutter. This guy http://thewireman.com/index.shtml has everything you need, and will even assemble the dipole, cheap! Just tell him what you want to do, and he will fix you right up! I would use coaxial cable instead of twin lead to minimize noise P/U on the line. And yes, Ka7niq is my ham radio callsign!

That looks pretty cool, is it Try Path chip based ? The reason I asked is I had the little Panasonic because a lot of people over at Audio Asylum were raving about it. I tried it on 5 different speakers, including my CF 4's and CF 3's. It did sound pretty good on some Von Schweikert VR 2's I had at the time. It sucked on the CF series horns, hard and mechanical sounding. That pretty much soured me on Digital amps, until I came to this Klipsch forum. I started reading old posts, and I saw Tom Brennan's comments on Try Path digital amps. Then, people started takling TEAC ! I remembered that "thing" in the bedroom was a TEAC, and it had a digital amp in it! So, I hooked it up, and WOW ! That was 4 hours ago! I listened as I watched our Florida Gators kick Tennessee's *** pretty good. I have absolutely no listening fatigue, and I want to go listen more! Now I see the magick these speakers are capable of. They are even imaging now, imagine that ? I am convinced that the Try Path digital chip is a true advance in audio. In my other hobby, Ham Radio, Digital signal processing has greatly improved reception. DSP works by converting the analog signal to digital, then removes the noise. This allows us Hams to converse with very weak signals that are impossible to hear in the analog domain because they are below the noise floor! I wonder if in audio, the chip filters out distortion, because I must say I dont think I have ever heard a cleaner sounding amp ? I am hearing stuff regularly I didnt even know was there! I have never heard SET on the Horns yet, but any amp is going to have its work cut out for it to beat the sound of the TEAC amp. At least on my KHorns. And, I dont even have my Tube DAC hooked up! I was so blown away by the sound, I just parked my *** and listened! I am going back for another round of listening, this time, I am going to hook up the marvelous Lite Dac 72 . I cant wait! Bye!

Holy Cow, All the "problems" have mostly disappeared ! I went in the bedroom, and removed a little TEAC PL d100v POS combo VCR DVD/CD surround unit. All 25WPC of it, and threw it on the Horns.' My Gawd, I was totally unprepared for what I am hearing! The spitty, flat, dimensionless sound has been replaced with an almost tube like sound! The center image has firmed up, and there is now some Imaging too. I can live with this sound! And I thought the CF 4's were touchy> The little Panasonic digital receiver sucks, it sounds NOTHING like this! I believe this TEAC has a Try Path digital amp in it ? The Panasonic has a Texas Instruments chip, and it is very different, almost "mechanical" sounding by comparasion. For the first time, the KHorns put a big grin on my face. Tom Brennan is right! Its got to be the next best thing to tubes. The little TEAC POS has freaking spring terminals for speaker wire, YUK ! I need one of these Try Paths with a bit more power. I like this one though, it has remote control bass/midrange/treble controls! Yes, I said TONE Controls ! I seldom use them, very very seldom. But, I am into musical performances that arent always recorded as well as I would like. Now, I have to listen some more to you guys, and get these as good as I can within reason ? But, I no longer want to dump them, not now! Thank you Tom Brennan!

The tweeter sounds "spitty" to me. Perhaps its the amp ? i am going to change some things around, and see. The Klipschorns are 15 feet apart, and I am 15 feet 7 inches away. They dont seem to be pulling together, and I can clearly localize sounds in the right and left channels. I am getting a resonant coloration in the lower mids that I got in the Belle's. Honestly, at this point, I am far less then impressed. Fortunately, I bought em cheap, so if I have to bail, I can. I REALLY like em for watching TV though ? I also like the fact that they sit in the corners, out of the way. Makes the room seem bigger. I dont "hate" them in the way I hated the LaScala's and the Belle's. But, if my memory serves correctly, they are no match for my old Altec 19's , and ESPECIALLY no match for my beloved old EV Interface D's! But, this can change, I am told, by changing amps, crossovers, etc ? I do NOT care for their Imaging so far. There aint any, just a wall of sound, and the speakers call attention to themselves far too often. Perhaps I am not far enough away ? I am going to give them every chance to "make my team" but so far, it aint looking real good for them! I also own Von Schweikert Vortex Screens, B&W 801's, Klipsch CF 3's, Von Schweikert VR 4JR's and Yamaha NS 200M's. I have some old Forte;s coming. DJK reccommended them, and Cornwall 2's. I just missed some Corn 2's, dam it! Actually, and i hate to say this, Especially here, but I have built Altec 604 speakers that sounded better then these, at least so far But, as we all know, it may be my amp ?? I really wish I hadnt sold my CF 4's ! Now I know why Roy Delgado liked them so much! Tom, let me ask you something ? Do you hear the problems with the K Horns I do ? Will they ever "go away", or should I sell em ?

I just had my tweeter diapraghms replaced in my Klipschorns. I had one blown tweeter, but I replaced both, as suggested by DJK and others. Is there a break in period for them, or am I just hearing how awful my amp really sounds , LOL My gut instinct is to turn the tuner in between stations and play em fairly loud.Is there a break in period where they will "mellow" out, or should I just shit can this particular amp ? I have 4 others to try, including a Teac tri path one that I use in my bedroom. This amp actually sounded "Ok", but that was with one blown tweeter. I just listened to the one good speaker, and now I have tried it with the replacement diapraghm, and the highs have a harshness to them that wasnt there before!

Thanks for the link to the ALK guy's web site! I see he is using computer design! Good for him! and, this BEC guy is using very high quality parts in his clone crossovers, good for him too! Now, if I were this BEC guy, and in the business of selling crossovers, I would either computer design my own "computer crossover" , or get someone to do it for me ? Yes, just what the world needs, a high quality BEC Leap optimized crossover ! Of course, with a "Buy it Now" price of about 250 dollars, since potentially, it can use less parts ? I want my 'BEC Leap" crossover to use those cool "Honey, I robbed the A/c Capacitors" too! Hey, BTW, I got my tweeters fixed, and now I can hear just how bad my amp sounds, LOL ! I dont know if I will be staying with the Klipschorns! Unfortunately, my corners are VERY wide apart, compared to my distance away from them! I think I need a center, but have no room for one since the widescreen is there! The Original Forte's are coming, and I may go to Cornwall 2's ? However, I think its great that we have this BEC and ALK guy doing crossovers for us!

I notice it big time on my Khorns, and it was there on the Belles, even worse! I definately couldnt live with it on the Belle's, although they were beautiful and the wife liked em looks wise. I really want the KHorns to work, threy sit in the corners, and i like that. The coloration isnt as bad as the Belle's, and maybe some mods will take care of it ? You can really hear it in speech! I am used to very high quality speakers w/o coloration. 801's, Harbeths, Quads Maggies, Von Schweikerts, etc. I am very suprised that i havent found very many other posts addressing this problem ? Maybe I just need a rubber gasket ?

I havent even seen an ALK yet. I have been eyeballing that BEC guys crossover that you told me about. It does appear to use quality parts! I found some diapraghms here Locally for 28 dollars, installed too. I will be pulling the tweeters soon. The Klipsch Forte's are on their way, and the Von Schweikert Vortex Screens have to have their crossovers pulled! I was breaking them in on a bass CD, and came out into the room and smoke was coming from the port! I put my hand into the port to feel the crossover, and burned the heck out of my finger! I have to pull, and see what I did to the crossover ? Of course, Albert wants to know what failed. Of all my 8 pairs of speakers, I have to admit that I favor the corner horns. Not because they sound the best, but because they "give me back" my room! They are out of the way in the corners, and I like that! The Vortex Screens are a VERY nice sounding speaker! fairly efficient too, about 95 to 96 db. Albert and I are going round and round about the very low midrange crossover point! Its at 150 hz! WAY too low, in my opinion ? The design is a huge wide baffle. It uses two Audax Carbon Fiber mids in D'Appolito crossing to Morel Horn loaded dome tweeter. Its all 24 DB, and it uses the Eminence 15 inch woofer. Its a ported alignment. So, as you can see, I have 3 "projects" going right now, but my heart is with the K Horns. Now watch the Forte's arrive, and kick all the other speakers asses, LOL Isnt that the way it always goes ? BTW, the Klipschorns are a much warmer, easy to listen to speaker, compared to the CF 4's ! And, they dont gurgle either. I like them better, EVEN with one blown tweeter. The Klipschorns have a "woody" sound on some male voice/ I am HOPING this can be reduced somehow ? Do you hear it ? The old Belle Klipsch had this sound too. Perhaps its from the folded horn itself ? I have no rubber gasket, should I get one ? It was suggested to me that the fastest upgrade path would be to modify the AK 2 crossover to AK 3 ? So, is there anywhere to get instructions to do this ? That way, I would have the AK 3 LP section in place for when I upgrade to the ALK ?

I have located some locally, for 28 dollars, INSTALLED ! Ev had some for sale too, I called them in Minnesota, they were 21 dollars each, and they have plenty. I am sure plenty of the Pro Sound guys have em too ? Hey Gil, to the best of your knowledge, has anyone come up with a LEAP assisted crossover for the K Horns yet ? LEAP is a marvelous tool, in the hands of someone who knows what he is doing ? I like to design Yagi's and other antennas. I try and get W4RNL to model my stuff, he really knows his shit! He is using ELENEC and the MOM's method from the National Bureau of Standards.' Computer Modeling has totally replaced cut and try, and has made it possible to design and build a Yagi within a 1/4 db of predicted performance. Someone, if they havent already, is going to design a LEAP optimized crossover for the Klipschorns, and OWN the replacement crossover market. Why does everyone just copy old Klipsch designs ? Just because they were designed in an Anechoic chamber ? If you remember Telrex antennas, they were designed and tested on a government certified antenna range by the best Electricial Engineers of their time. And, for their time, they were the best. However, computer modeling has VASTLY improved these old designs, and several Telrex owners not only enjoy an extra db or so of gain, but also better bandwith and front to back ratio too. This is because the computer "tries" zillions of combinations in seconds! B&W 801 Matrix series 3's are far better then series two's. Why, because the computer came up with a far better crossover using way fewer parts too! To your knowledge, is either this ALK guy, or this BEC guy using LEAP ? And if not, why ? Someone on Ebay is advertising their crossover is verified with a spectrum analyzer. So what ? Verified to what, a stock Klipsch crossover ? That assumes a lot. That assumes the stock Klipsch crossover is the best possible crossover for these drivers. Highly unlikely, since PWK didnt have access to the tools we have today. Anechoic chamber, persistance and good ears nonewithstanding, it must be remembered that LEAP can do in minutes what it would take an engineer using "cut and try" a lifetime to do. I wonder what LEAP has to say about these old crossovers ? If it hasnt already happened, it will. Someone will design a LEAP optimized crossover for the K Horn. Until then, I am seriously eyeballing these BEC crossovers, perhaps going to an AA to replace my AK 2's ? They are priced fairly, just a couple hundred bucks or so. Shit, I could spend that on NOS tubes alone! Or, maybe I will just upgrade the AK 2 to an Ak 3 ? But when a true LEAP crossover becomes availiable, I will buy it, because i believe in it. What one can do with LEAP is truly amazing! Instead of AA and A crossovers, there will be type RR and WC crossovers! RR will be "rising response" for all of us deaf old men out there who are unable to hear high frequencies anymore, LOL! The WC will be a "warmth curve" for a more audiophile type of voicing. You can actulaly specify the response curve you wish, and watch Leap go to work! Gil, being a Ham, I was a die hard. No freaking "Computer designed antenna" was going to beat my Telrex Monobanders! After all, My Telrex Yagi's were designed by America's top antenna engineer, and verified on the best antenna range in the world! But, I was forced to change my opinions, after getting my *** stomped in the contests! Reluctantly, i had a "computer antenna guru" run Yagi Optimizer on my Telrex, and I followed the new, computer aided dimensions. All three parameters of the Yagi were improved, Gain, Bandwith, and Front to Back ratio. I even got side nulls that were 40 db down from the main lobe! And, remember, on a Telrex, the elements go right through the boom! That means, the element spacings are not adjustable! All I had to play with were element length! A computer simulation clearly showed that for the length of boom I had, even MORE performance was possible if I were able to vary the element spacing! I left it alone, because it was so much better then what I had. LEAP is a wonderful thing, to your knowledge, is anyone offering a LEAP optimozed crossober for our K Horns, YET ? Ka7niq

My AK 2 Klipschorns have blown tweeter, and I found a place here locally that has T 350/T 35 replacement diapraghms, the phenolic ones in stock. My question is, Do the t 35 and t 350 share the same diapraghms ? The place said they are the same, just wanted to be sure ? Thanks Everyone ! Chris ka7niq

Yes, its a psychedellic lava lamp, lol

Well, they are totally different animals. The Von Schweikert Vortex Screens that I aslo own are much "audiophile" sounding. They, of course, image much better then the horns, way more 3 dimensional. But, remember, i have a blown tweeter in the Horns! They have much deeper bass, and are more forgiving then the Horns. Its a very different sound, and I like them both. I favor the Horns though because they are out of the way in corners. I have a 55 inch widescreen, and when the vortex Screens are next to it, it makes the room seem cluttered. Also, the Horns are much :livelier" sounding, faster. Again, its a totally different sound. The Screens sound a lot like my friends Vandersteen 5A's, very pleasant. They make everything sound good, whereas the Horns are much more differences in Recordings. If its a bad recording, you really hear it on the Horns. The Screens never "show their ***" so to speak like the k Horns can. I own 5 amps, and the Screens never sound bad with any of them. The Horns are super fussy. Hey, guess what ? I happen to own a Teac "all in one" CD tuner DVD and VCR player I bought for my bedroom . I just found out it has a Tri Path digital amp in it ! I paid 99 dollars at Overstock.com for it, and only planned to have it in the bedroom. Hows that for luck ? I plan to hook it up once the tweeter is fixed.

I see you are a Ham, so you will excuse me for getting long winded, Hi Hi ! CQ, De Ka7niq, rig here is a Kenwood Ts 850s and the Amp is a Henry 2K Ultra. Well, I still have the kenwood at least! Regarding Roy Delgado, I accidentally got through to him. I found out from Trey Cannon he designed my beloved CF 3's, and I wanted to talk with him. So, I simply called, asked for Roy, and said it was Chris. He was quite nice, and told me the story of the CF series speakers. He suggested I get hold of an ORIGINAL CF 4, the one with the 6 inch ports. It seemed the powers that be at Klipsch compromised Roys original design in the name of efficiency by raising the bass tuning for more efficiency and warmth. I really loved my CF 4's, but the voicing was such that tone correction was often required , unless the recording was really good. I shamlessy used them with a highly modified old Pioneer receiver that had tone memories you could remotely switch through until you got the sound you wanted. Used this way, the CF 4 was one of my all time favorite speakers in 30 plus years of audio! But, I let my "audiofool training" get the best of me! After all, REAL audiophiles use tubes, analog, and eschew tone controls, right ? So, feeling guilty about using tone controls, and not trusting my own ears, I stupidly sold them! Big Mistake! Roy told me he felt, and so far I agree, that a CF 4 would more then compete with ANY Klipsch product ever made, except possibly a Jubilee thing he spoke about. But, enough on the CF 4's, they are gone, and I must concentrate on getting the best out of these K's now. You said you did the review in Audio, is that correct ? I thought I read a review in Audio on the K's, and in it, If I recall, they said that despite a slightly ragged midrange, the K's could still hold their own. What will the seal do for me ? Will anything ever get rid of the woody sound in the lower mids ? I had Belle's, hated em too, sorry guys. They had this same woody sound, only much worse then the K's do. Is this a problem with the AK 2 crossover ? I am getting great bass from my K's ! Quick, punchy, not real deep, but i have no shortage of it. I plan on going to the Ak 3 crossover conversion, and contacted BEC to get new tweeters/diapraghns ? Is there ever going to be a way to minimise this woody sound ?

Yes , Its Chris! I only paid 1500 form then speakers, and this is all thats wrong! They are beautiful walnut, and missing the rubber gasket too. I was told that the AK 2 is NOT a good crossover, and to upgrade to an AA or an ALK ? I also have a Behringer digital electronic tri amp crossover to use, but really dont want to do that, since i would be "stuck" to only digital sources ? What is the truth about the K horns crossovers, the advantages, and disadvantages of each ? Sure, i would have liked oil filles caps, etc, and Alnico magnets, but these fell from heaven to me, cheap and local! I must make the best of what God has provided ? Could someone please bring me up to speed on the Khorns, the changes, etc ? I have come from the world of the Epic series, and, thanks to MANY conversations with Roy Delgado, I know his babies inside and out. But, the K's have evaded me, until now. What would some of you do, after you fixed the tweeters ? What, besides Rope Caulk, which did NOT work on the Tractrix CF series, would one do ? Are there better crossovers availiable, or should I just Poly cap this one ? What would you guys do, if you were "stuck" with an ak 2 equipped speaker ?

I just bought some used 1989 Walnut KHorns that I believe have one blown tweeter. I was unable to check the fuse as I was in a "take it or leave it" buying situation. The price was right, so I took it. The speakers have a crossover that says AK - 2 on it , and the tweeter has a 533 number on it, as best as we could make out. What are my options ? If I go on Ebay, what tweeters will work, etc ? What does AK 2 mean ? What used tweeters do i look for, or is it better to just replace the diapraghm's ? Thank you, I got the speakers for only 1500 dollars!

There appear to be 3 vertical resistors in the High Pass. Its hard top tell w/o pulling it apart. Did you say LOWER the resistor ? Wouldnt lower value increase the horn level ? I am not so sure the horn LEVEL is the problem ? I passively bi amped em once, and simply reduced the amps level driving the tweeter. That helped, but the harshness on upper range of some female voices was still there. I think the driver/horn combo is the culprit ? It needs more passive eq to suck it out a little ? But, on great recordings, its stunning. Unfortunately, all the **** I listen to isnt great. I wunder how to play with the EQ of the crossover ?

I wish i knew where to start ! I have never seen a crossover like this ! I dont know if there is EQ going on, or what ? I really havent had much experience with horn crossovers ! I have been told that some horn X Overs have EQ going on ? I really would like to induce some BBC DIP to make bright recordings more tolerable ? Perhaps i could add some more inductance to the tweeter coil, broaden the Q, create some suck out ? Klipsch hasnt been of much help, they almost treat the CF series as a step child ! No one knows jack about them really, but they pretend they do. Even Roy Delgado, the creator of them wasnt much help when I finally got through to him. He really didnt remember too much about them, but he was nice to me, as was TRey Cannon, who didnt know much either. To top it all off, there were 3 versions made of these speakers. On good recordings, they can be stunning. But the voicing is too aggressive for most stuff, in a small room, in my opinion.

The Constitution of the United States provides for "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" For ALL Americans, even Queers. While I am straight, and cant stand Ms Rosie O Donnell, she is an American, and entitled to her pursuit of happiness. She pays taxes too, and should be afforded equal rights to social security survivor benefits, etc, as any married couple should. Sometimes, I wish i wasnt so ultra right wing ? While I personally hate Rosie, I hate even more my government putting its business into peoples private life. What two people do is between them, and its nobodys business to legislate them.