DTLongo

(continued) The Khorns don't get much below 35 hz as compared with my home theater Velodyne 1500 servo sub which goes way down, nor are they designed to. But the Klipschorns have so much sonic energy in the 30-50 hz range that one doesn't miss the bottom half-octave. I am using the Khorns in a straight stereo separate music room. They'd be overkill in a home theater, I think, where the picture would draw attention away from the sound. One of you mentioned WAMM $100,000 loudspeakers. I vaguely recall reading about those years ago in Stereophile but I don't remember any details. Just for curiosity, what are they?

Thank you Al Klappenberger for posting the pic of the Khorn crossover. Wow. Attached is the "amusing pic" I mentioned in the earlier string. For some reason it didn't post there. It shows my new Khorns arriving in their crates on the dealer's truck. Big crates, tall in the breeze. I'm glad they didn't fall off! Or that that truck wasn't hijacked (grin). As I've gotten more familiar with these speakers I am impressed by their ability to whisper as well as roar. Yeah, that's a cliche, but true. They are the clearest and best IMAGING speakers I have ever heard. On a good symphonic recording, for instance, you sense that you are hearing an ensemble of individual violins rather than a undifferentiated violin sound. The orchestra "inner voices" come through with a - to me - unprecedented clarity. And for a three minute demo, try the "Star Spangled Banner" on the Keith Lockhart Boston Pops "Splash" CD. That large chorale vocal accompanied by the oprchestra starts off very softly...but just wait.

Last pic - my right-channel Khorn. The finish is Medium Oak. As earlier mentioned on the General board, acquiring a pair of Klipschorns was a life-long audio dream for me, now at last fulfilled at the age of going-on-61. I hope those of you who have a similar dream or are just curious have enjoyed the pics. If any of you have descriptions of how these new Klipschorns may differ from ones in the past, I'd be curious to know. Allbests, /s/ Thomas Longo in Ocean Pines, MD

Closeup of the binding post and crossover areas in one of the lower cabinets. The crossover itself is not visible, it is on the other side of the panel bearing the binding posts. The internal speaker wiring is labeled Monster Cable. There are four pairs of binding posts. The main amplifier inputs are on the left. They are jumped to an adjacent pair of terminals. Those jumpers may be removed for bi-wiring. The next pair of terminals to the right is outputs to the midrange horn and the last pair on the right are outputs to the treble horn. The factory labeling is hard to see so I added white labels visible above the binding posts. The speakers are (of course) very heavy and well made. They are not factory peapods though. Hand labor is evident. If you interchange the upper cabinets from how they were originally mated to their bass units, they are ever so slightly out of line. And there is some glue-smearing around the Klipsch nameplate on one of the speakers.

View of the midrange and treble horns from the back. Both horns have a stylized "PWK" on the backs of the driver units - Paul W. Klipsch. The midrange horn shows an apparent model number of "K-55-X." I saw no such number on the much smaller treble horn.

An assembled Klipschorn, from the rear.

One of the upper midrange-and-treble cabinets being unpacked.

View of one of the bass units, just unpacked.

This rather amusing pic shows the Khorns as they arrived at my house April 6 on the dealer's truck. He and his assistant are also pictured. Big boxes. I'm glad that truck wasn't hijacked (grin).

Am attaching a pic of one of my new 2003 Klipschorns, delivered April 6, 2003 after a six-month wait. If this pic succeeds I will post a couple of more pics of their innards. My initial comments on these speakers are on the General forum, which apparently is temporarily closed for new stuff but you can still read recent postings.

I do have a digital cam and took pics, including of the back of the bass cabinet and interior of the horns enclosure, as the new Khorns were being unpacked and set up. Would be glad to post a few if someone will tell me how. The BB instructions say to attach pics before entering text. I tried but somehow or another got hung up and couldn't get back to the text screen. Advice, please?

My new Klipschorn megaspeakers arrived yesterday after a wait of six months. First impressions? Here's a copy of an email to my two grown sons. Son Mark is a rock musician, among other things. (begin excerpt) One word: they are A W E S O M E. Stonehenge-like. You want to genuflect. These puppies are big, they stand almost chin-high and each weighs about 160 lbs. They project a BIG, effortless, titanic sound, perfectly smooth, awesomely loud if you want that and without a hint of effort or strain. Listening to them is more than a sonic feat, it is an enveloping EXPERIENCE. They have incredible impact. They literally sweep you up and carry you away. You guys are in for an experience when you come hear these. Mark, think of the best and most powerful rock sound-reinforcement speakers you have ever heard. These are better. These speakers are a 50-year-old design. Klipsch has a slogan, "A Legend in Sound." For these speakers, that's true. They're also known as "The Mighty Klipschorn." I can see why. They are among the very best speakers in the world, arguably THE best. Qute a dream come true for yours truly. (end excerpt) Hey, I first heard of KHorns as a kid in Boston in the 1950's. I turn 61 next month. They ARE a liftetime audio dream come true. I feel very fortunate.

I recall from Bose literature and other reviews from many years ago that the 901 speaker drivers are specially designed with a heavy magnet and "elliptical" voice coil wire, and that each driver has an impedance of around 1 ohm. Nine drivers in series in each enclosure = ca. 8 ohms. The drivers are solid and heavy little fellas. The 901 has no crossover, the outboard equalizer is required, which makes the speakers somewhat inconvenient to hook up. Bose doesn't publish the equalizer or speaker specs. Without the equalizer the speakers have no low bass or treble. With it, they have honest bass down to ca. 35 hz. and decent treble. Like other Bose products they have been hyped and overmarketed to the nines, though not so much nowadays as Bose has pushed its other product lines especially home theater systems. Unlike other Bose products, the 901 Series VI speakers are not grotesquely overpriced. They are actually rather good sounding, though purists and Bose-bashers, of course, vehemently disagree. Still, there's only so much a 4" driver can do, however grouped and equalized. Nonetheless, my 901 VI's are fairly efficient and can play fairly loudly. I have had them since around 1988 and have really enjoyed them. On the other hand, my new Klipschorns, ordered six months ago, have just arrived at my dealer's and are due to be delivered in a couple of days! Fulfillment at the age of 60 of my life-long speaker dream. I'm looking forward to THOSE babies.

Thank you all who have replied to this string so far especially JMSLAW, James D. McCall and Colin. Yes, my large Advents have a "laid-back" sound. Back in the Seventies commentators described Advents as having a reserved "New England" sound as compared to more up-front "California sound" speakers such as JBL. For not too critical listening, though, they still favorably impress even today. Rather remarkable clean bass, too. As to the Bose 901's, in the 70's I owned a pair of 901 Series III's. They WERE flawed. Nice bass but sloppy and flawed midrange and highs. Years later I had occasion to try the 901 Series VI's and was much more impressed. I don't know what tricks Bose did with a new equalizer and other factors, but the Series III problems were gone. I still have my VI's purchased in 1988. They are quick, clear and fill the room with excellent dispersion. You can walk directly across the face of the speakers from one front corner of the room to the other and the sound quality does not change one whit. My new Klipschorns, of course, will blow away the Advents in terms of clarity, attack, presence and dynamics. But I am really interested in how they will compare, to my ear, to the 901 VI's. It will be fun. But I will at last have my "dream" Klipschorns, and my two grown sons are already twitting each other over who will inherit 'em.

Hello all. Klipsch has advised my dealer that my new pair of Klipschorns are due to be produced o/a February 21. Ordered with a 1/3 down payment way back last October 25, maybe these speakers will actually reach me here in Maryland in early March. Fingers crossed. A totally irrational splurge, these speakers cost as much as a baby grand piano. But, they have been my "dream" speakers since audiophile teeenagerhood in Boston (I am now 60). Go for it. In a straight-stereo listening room the K-horns will be replacing a nice sounding pair of Bose 901 Series VI speakers and, more recetnly (temporarily,) a pair of classic Large Advents. Any of you with experience of direct comparison of the K-Horns with those speakers or with AR-3A-type classic speakers, please post your views. I hope the K-Horns will not disappoint! I will post my impressions after I've gotten and lived with them for a while. Regard, /s/ Thomas Longo in Ocean Pines, MD.

Someone posted here about RadioShack. Here's my sea story about them, a disappointment. I grew up with Radio Shack (as it was known then) and frequented one of their first stores, if not THE first store, on Washington Street in Boston as a teenager in the 1950's while I was building Heathkits and such. Then RS became taken over by first who knows whom then by Tandy. Now they're "RadioShack" (one word) and, under their current CEO at least, have lost sight of what they should be. Radio Shack USED to be a friendly place and RS still has a role in providing that cable or connector that you just have to have and can't readily find elsewhere. But watch out for their marketing. They are not competitive on anything major they sell such as home theaters, amps, DVD/VHS players, UNLESS you wait for a sale and even then they are barely competitive. And if you run afoul of their rigid marketing, tough luck. Case in point: last August I purchaesed a DVD/VHS player from them on sale at $249.00. The come-on was their credit card promotion, sign up for their card and get 10% off on that day's purchses. I needed their card like a hole in the head but I bit for the 10%. But in these days of consumer identity theft, I declined to provide my Social Security number, given that I have a very well established credit rating overall and given that the RS store manager told me providing my SSN was optional not mandatory. To the great embarrassment of their store staff, who COULD NOT reach a live human being at Citibank (RS's credit card operator), and myself, I was declined. Fortunately, there were not people waiting in line since this little opera took about 25 minutes. I subsequently joined the issue first by email with RS headquarters in Texas and then directly with their CEO, one Leonard Roberts. No joy. Roberts' minions were hidebound and arrogantly negative throughout. Excuse: "Citibank owns our credit operation and you have to proceed through them", and "We will not change our position." Baloney. As I told CEO Roberts, Citibank is trading on RADIOSHACK's good name, and it behooves RadioShack to sit on them when they screw up, not I. But no, enlightnment eluded him and his worthies. They declined on direct request to offer even a 10% or $50 or $100 store certificate for my time and trouble and significant postal (certified mail) expense in bringing this screwup to their attention. And, they thereby lost a customer friend for life. Ergo, take heed. If RadioShack has exactly the widget that you want at the moment you want it at a price you want to pay, go for it. Otherwise don't waste your time. They have sunk into craven corporate short-term bottom-linism while giving their store staffs the short end of the stick. Even while their brass, I am sure, continue to enjoy the pleasures of CEOish perks. /s/ Thomas Longo, Ocean Pines, Md

---------------- On 12/16/2002 7:53:08 PM prodj101 wrote: whats the deal on these? how do they sound? ---------------- Boomy! Mid-bass teenybopper one-note boom. Shame because the Bazooka actually can go lower but unless you have an equalizer that can dampen the midbass boom, you won't hear the lower true bass. Classical music listener that I am, I would not buy another Bazooka.

IMHO, Bose makes only two price-worthy products, the model 301 bookshelf speakers and the 901 Series VI's, both of which I own. Maybe their Quiet Comfort noise-cancelling headphones also qualify, they do sound very nice though the dangling little outboard control & battery box is a pain. Bose's Wave Radio is a rather nice sounding little clock radio but overpriced. Bose's acoustimass line including their Lifestyle series home theaters are wayyyy overpriced for what you get -- nil bass below 40 hz (if even that) and a shrill sound. But except maybe for the 901 VI's, Bose is not marketing to audiophiles but to a mass public that wants loud sound out of small components. Bose's philosphy is to produce products that are cheap for them to make, price them grotesquely high, and then market, market, market the heck out of them. (I think Oreck vacuums does similarly.) Withall, I have very much enjoyed my 901 VI's that I've had since around 1988. And I am surely going to enjoy replacing them in the near future with a pair of new Khorns. They will arrive maybe in January... Thomas Longo, Ocean Pines, MD

I ordered a pair of new Khorns on October 25. In late November the dealer advised that Klipsch has the speakers scheduled for production in early January and they should arrive here in Maryland around mid-month. We shall see. I look forward to posting my impressiopns of them after living with them for a while. At age 60 audio has been a hobby of mine since teenagerhood in Boston and I've heard and owned lots of speakers. Favorites were large Advents, now serving as front speakers in my home theater bolstered by a Velodyne servo 15" subwoofer, and Bose 901 VI's in a separate stereo music room. Khorns have been my lifetime dream speaker. They will replace the Boses, which are no slouch in their own right. It will be interesting to see THAT difference. Regards, Thomas Longo in Ocean Pines, MD

Thank you Edster00 and others for your very encouraging replies. Edster, your link worked fine and the photo is a real help in visualizing those Khorns in my actual room. Re amplification, for the moment I would use the Khorns with an older Pioneer Dolby Pro-Logic receiver run in stereo-only mode, a good faithful tank I've had since around 1990. I quite understand that might not be ideal but I can upgrade to something purer later. I would also buy and use a graphic equalizer. (The receiver has pre-out, main-in connections.) I am strongly inclined to chase this dream but, ah, the price. The dealer I'm working with says he can special-order them from Klipsch for list $7,500. He's offering them to me for $6,500, and I may get him to throw in some Monster-cable-such wire. I had thought that a pair of basic walnut Klipschorns these days were on the order of $5,000. What do you all think of the $6,500 price? Again, sincere thanks in advance. /s/ Thomas Longo in Ocean Pines, Maryland

At the age of 60, I have recently moved into a house possibly able to accommodate a pair of my "dream speakers" from even teenage years, the Mighty Klipschorn. I have two corners begging for such, along the long wall of a cathedral ceilinged sitting and music listening room, 15' x 12', with a 7' x 6' opening into the rest of the house in the middle of that wall. I realize that room is still smallish for these speakers, but at this stage of life I am more interested in crystal clear imaging and symphonic instrument separation than in titanic low bass. (Such bass I have in another Velodyne 15" servo-subwoofered home theater area). Plus, the Klipschorns are classic, heirloom speakers and beautiful pieces of furniture to boot. My question: Is this room simply too small for my dream Klipschorns? Or should I go for it? Genuinely, thank you in advance. /s/ Thomas Longo, Ocean Pines, MD