DTLongo

Please do a search on the Klipsch 2-Channel, Home Theater, and Upgrades and Mods forums on my love- and not-so-love-saga with my 2003 Klipschorns. In still-absolutely mint condition and with ALK-top of the line crossover upgrades, they are perhaps the best such pair of speakers in the world today. Without going into detail here on those numerous past postings, you will find in them as objective an account as exists anywhere on Klipshcorn pros and cons. When everything clicks including amplification, migawd they are awesome. Anything less and they collapse in the bass. The solution (for me): Klipschorns together with high-quality powered subwoofers. The best of both worlds though there's no way that you can get around the fact that the big Khorns still need their good corners. At lower volumes they never disappoint. But the rubber really hits the road when you occasionally want to crank them LOUD and they come through still with absolutely clear, unstrained fidelity. They're the nearest thing to full-bore live symphonic performance I've EVER heard after 55+ years of playing with this hobby starting around age 13 (I'm turning 69 y.o.).

And another.

I couldn't resist. Rodrigues still rules.

For the last four years I have been making archival videos of a local symphony orchestra on whose Board of Directors I am (www.midatlanticsymphony.org). My camcorder is a standard-def, 30 mb. hard-disc Sony DCR-SR100. It produces VHS-quality video and with its own microphone pretty good audio for archival purposes albeit with some backgrond noise, hard-disc mechanism background noise I think. Question: if I upgrade to one of the newer high-def comcorders, one perhaps with flash storage, would those videos be compatible with and playable on standard-DVD equipment? Also, can they produce better (quieter) full-range stereo audio with their own microphone? Thank you in advance for your feedbacks.

Congrats on your new Klipschorns and welcome to the Khorn priesthood. Based on my own experience, a couple of things to anticipate. Yes, they will play very very loud with no strain. But Khorns are very amplifer-sensitive. They can sound anemic in the bass with one amp and great with another. Especially for home theater, don't rule out wanting to use them with one or preferably two good subwoofers. Also, again in my experience, I found Klipschorns "wasted" on home theater. One's eyes and ears tend to follow the action on the screen and the sound becomes secondary, albeit exciting for booms, gunshots, explosions and the like. My Khorns are now in a basically audio-only setup (see signature) where they can really shine in their own right. Have fun and plse. give us your impressions of your new babies after you get them set up.

"I truly did believe that the right application of reproductive materials and proper instrumentation will result in a faithful and accurate replication of music. Well, it appears I am truly an AS*, for it is now clear that I was completely wrong and it can only be concluded perfection in musical reproduction is little more than a chimera." Dear Herr Professor Thebes: Wilkommen in der aktuel Welt. Welcome to the real world [8-|]. The wondrous thing about modern electronics and even Klipsch Heritage is that they can come fairly close to approximating the real thing. "Approximating" is the key word. My forte is symphonic and I have close experience with pure unamplified symphonic performances versus superb reproduction through even ALK-enhanced Klipschorns. Result: close but no cigar! That's just the way it is. Seriously, the real challenge in reproducing live symphonic or acoustic music is that there are just so many infinite variables in the path from transducing the acoustic signal into an electronic one, manipulating and amplifying that, and then re-transducing it via loudspeakers into atmosphere-sound pressure for our ears. Anything through electronic guitars, keyboards and other such is already degraded (in the pure sense) even if it can sound great. I suspect Nirvana will always elude. But dang, we can come darn close if everything along the chain is just right, so, hey, count our blessings.

"At this point I am happy to report that I am thrilled more than ever with the KHorns." Very glad to hear that you're happier with them. What particular amp-Khorn combo finally did the trick for you?

Trust your ears! It is no venial much less a mortal sin to use tone and/or EQ controls to adjust the sound to your liking. Even with Klipschorns "flat" can sound pretty listless at low to medium volumes because of the way the low- and high-frequencies fall off to our human ears at less than quite high volumes. Plus, we all do hear differently depending on age, genetics and other uncontrollable factors. Have fun, don't overdo it on the bass and treble and, again, trust your own ears.

"These things are definitely not for the inexperienced or faint of heart, kind of like giving a Hayabusa to a sixteen year old. The mighty KHorns will simply not tolerate dirty vinyl or poor recordings. They are very picky about just what electronics they will mate with." Boy I can really relate to that! Around 2004 when my Klipschorns were new GaryMD came to my previous home in Ocean Pines MD and hooked up a little 10 wpc Fisher tube amp to them and they really soared on pop/rock/popular. Less of a difference on classical but that's in the natrure of things I guess. It turned out that the SS amp I had then was really crappy. I bought and ran them for a while with a Jolida tube amp but that didn't do much for them.. For the present I'm happy with a ca. 1999 Yamaha RX-V2095 receiver bought from my son for $75.00. I guess vintage - SS or tubes - is the way to go with these babies. Still....when you want to crank them up and let them out to run, you gotta believe that like 1950's cars, "you can't beat cubic inches." The Klipschorns can put out just such huge, prodigious sound yet so precisely, without breakup and without strain. Nice. Plus, deep down inside in our reptilian brains there's the atavistic satisfaction of knowing that you've got a pair of world-class speakers that can give a good competitive run against any of even much more expensive esoterica out there. That psychological aspect counts for something too.

Don't forget, if you have other amps/receivers lying around, swap them out and see how they sound respectively through your Klipschorns. You may be surprised at the differences between amps those speakers will show.

It looks like you have a very adequate room for your beautiful new babies. Do you have a sense, unlike other speakers, of their energizing the very air in that room? After you've settled in with them for a while plse. give us your listening impressions. Say, "before and after" impressions of recordings you knew well prior to getting your Khorns. P.S. I have a Belle center. But I've found I need to run the center channel a few db down relative to the mains, otherwise the center image tends to overpower the left-right stereo spread. But even down a few db the center does anchor sound there. This is to say that, if run a few db down, the center sonic quality does not have to be that close a match for the Klipschorns'.

Good show! Looking forward to the pictures.

Keep us posted please including with photos if you can.

I likewise have 7.5 foot ceilings in an approx. 16' x 19' room with the Khorns in good corners across the short end and they sound fine. Although, those powerful speakers would be as happy or happier in a larger room.

Bear in mind that if you acquire a pair of Klipschorns you are getting a set of speakers that can run with any of the allegedly "world's best" speakers costing into the $100K range new if not even more. In that context even brand new Klipschorns are a bargain at their price. Klipschorns are a challenge and they definitely have their quirks and sonic personalities and they're a chore to set up and to settle into with amplification to bring out their best. But - no pun intended - you are buying a legend, heritage, heirloom. Mine were the audiophile purchase of a lifetime and I hope to pass them on to family some day.