KhornKerry

There were at least 2 types of Rosewood veneers used at Klipsch over the years, Honduran Rosewood, and Brazilian rosewood. The Brazilian veneers generally sell for a higher price. Check the Type number on the paper tag on the back of the bass horn. See Jim Cornells post "Small speaker chart"<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=34885&forumID=71&catID=19&search=1&searchstring=&sessionID={9555934F-8C6E-4DB7-B02B-DD8732E417FE} K-B-RL would be Rosewood with a lacquer finish. K-B-RO Rosewood with an oil finish. K-B-BRL Brazilian rosewood with a lacquer finish. K-B-BRO Brazilian rosewood with an oil finish. I paid $2700 for a Pair of 1975 type K-B-RO Rosewood with an oil finish and drove 1300 miles one-way to pick them up my self. About a year ago a pair of Brazilian Rosewood Klipschorns signed by PWK sold for $5655.00 on Ebay. The thread title said Mahogany but that was in error. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=29849&forumID=68&catID=19&search=1&searchstring=&sessionID={9555934F-8C6E-4DB7-B02B-DD8732E417FE} Kerry

I too would like to thank DaddyDee and Tony Reed for hosting the gathering. I enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone. Also would like to thank Trey for the photo CD he made for me at the meeting, he is an excellent Rep. for the Klipsch. I enjoyed a lot of the SACDs SSH brought and hope to swap a favorites list with him soon. I very much enjoyed talking with Arkytype and HDBRBuilder. Arkytype you should post more I found your comments interesting. Kerry

HDBRbuilder <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Mr. Shinall told me the same story about the Belle. He seems like an OK guy.

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I called Gary Shinall and made arrangements to see his shop. Spring Texas is about 8 to 10 miles from my work place so I went up there at lunch. We walked through the woodworking shop to get to the Showroom. He had 14 of the Khorn clones (KKS-1) in the room 2 real Khorns one with the old wooden squawker, about 8 of his XT-200, about 4 XA-15 and 4 XA-12 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> His KKS-1 all had fine wood veneers mostly walnut but 2 pair were oak and 1 mahogany. All of the models had a hardwood veneer most had an oil finish. The Speakers were of 3/4 inch plywood and the build quality looked to be high. He made the mid range horn himself out of aluminum the driver was a University. Some of the KKS-1 had 2 tweeters, can't remember the brand names. Some of the tweeters looked like a bullet in the center. He played all of the speaker types for me. The Corner horns sounded good, I was not familiar with the music but it sounded OK in the short test. The Heresy look-alike speaker sounded good also. The dual woofer his XT-200 did not sound as clean at higher volume as his other speakers. I could not say his corner horn speaker was better are worse than the Khorn in that short of time but it obviously was in the same class. The music source was a CD and run with McIntosh amps. I have gotten use to listing to SACDs and DVDAs and CDs don't sound that good to me anymore. The woodworking shop was large and the equipment looked first rate. Gary was very friendly. His add on Audiogon. "New Corner horn speaker systems sold in pairs. Available in walnut, oak and mahogany. Our speaker systems are no compromise when compared to the "Klipschorn". See our web site at http:www.shinallandcompany.com

Popbumper <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Here is my old post with pictures. Magnet shield for Cornwall speaker I shielded the magnets in a Cornwall what was causing big color distortion problems.

The Khorn in the photo looks like Oil on Walnut to me. Ask the seller for the Type # on the paper tag behind the speaker, If walnut oil should be KB-WO or KB-WL for lacquer finish. Also get the serial # on both.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I went to Maryland from Houston (1600 miles one way) and picked up a pair of Klipschorns in my 1998 Chevy 1/2 ton truck. I wrapped each speaker in 4 layers of 4 mil plastic to keep the water off. Also built a palette to keep the speaker bottom about 2 inches off the truck bed. I placed the Klipschorns facing each other and separated them by 3 inches of dense foam, using ratchet straps to hold together and to hold to the truck. The side of the speakers were against the cab with some foam for protection. I got the speakers back to Houston with no problems. I have a picture of my truck with the speakers on it, I was taking a picture of the house so the image of the truck is small. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/download.asp?fileID=26940&topicID=33537&forumID=74&catID=19&sessionID={15F9852B-CCE2-42CD-9849-EDF5778BB277 }

I have had no problems with my Denon AVR-3801 receiver and it sounds great.

I would like to see the old Klipsch factory also would like to meet some of the people on the forum. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Kerry

Hoggy <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I looked at both of you Belles and they look very nice to me. As you said the wood grain is close and most people don't care about being matched . You could buy a matched set on Ebay and then sell your speakers if you wanted a matched pair.

In my opinion matching wood veneer patterns is important especially with the Khorn and the Belle where the wood grain is most visible it adds extra resell value and shows attention to detail by the manufacture. I have a pair of Walnut Khorns that did not match and it bothered me. I had the chance to purchase a matched pair of Rosewood Khorns and jumped on it.

Question for John Albright and Frnzinvt. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> In what way will an AK-3 or -4 crossover sound better than an AK-2? I have 1984 Khorns and I believe it has AK-2. Also how would you rate the AA crossover?

I think the speaker on the geocities link is a different serial number speaker. The cabinet knobs are different white verses bark and the crossover looks different. The base board is a different shape and the crossover components look different. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> P S. Thanks David for sharing the pictures. Do you have a price range you are looking for?

Found this link on the web might be the same. http://www.geocities.com/frleand/ClassicAudio/Pages/KlipschPictures.html

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> If you are handy with a jigsaw you can make your own shield out of sheet steel and cardboard. I did it for my Cornwall. See my post " Magnet shield for Cornwall speaker"

Walnut Khorns sell on Ebay anywhere from $1600 to $2500. Even twice the price of $2400 is not unreasonable. I bought one pair walnut oil for $2000 and another pair walnut lacquer $2200. Also you can buy complete crossovers on Ebay.

I have both the Cornwall and Klischorn. I have owned the Cornwalls for 20 years before I got the Khorns. I got accustom the sound of the Cornwalls and it took about 1 to 3 years before some of the music that I was familiar with started to sound right on the Khorns. Don't get me wrong I like the Khorn the best, but the heaver bass of the Cornwall is burned into my memory. The Cornwall bass seems to have a stronger bass but is not as clean as the Khorn . The Khorn sounded better on new music that I had never heard. The bass on the Cornwalls for lack of a better word "is flabby" on some notes. This is just a word of Caution, if you get the Khorns I would recommend you listen to some new music first. If you start with familiar music you may be a little disappointed in the bass, this happen to me. Bass is addictive. Kerry

Jim Actually I have 6 Khorns now (4 walnut and 2 rosewood) 4 are in service and 2 are not. I got the Rosewood pair in March 2003. I think I would like to sell one pair(Walnut). This brings up another question is anyone out there using a Khorn as a center channel?

The response of the human ear is not flat, the ear is most sensitive to frequencies between 1000 to 5000 Hz. The threshold of hearing for say 50 Hz may need to be 50 dB louder than for 3000 Hz. The same is true for higher tones 15,000 Hz may need to be 30 dB louder just to hear it. So if you are listing to music at low volume the lower and higher tones are not even loud enough to reach your threshold of hearing. By turning up the volume you are now able to hear more of the lower and higher tones, in effect you have widen the frequency spectrum you are hearing. Stated another way, at very low volume the only frequencies you can hear is from about 1000 to 5000 Hz. By turning up the volume this can increase to 30 Hz to 17,500 Hz.

I have never heard a system with SUBs that sounded right. I recently saw a few Scenes of Lord of the Ring at Tweeter on there best system, it had a lot of bass but did not sound natural. I rented the movie and listened to it on my 4 Khorns and it sounded much better. To me the sound of a Khorn is like clear water. Why mix in muddy water of a SUB? Think about this, in real life you don't here over emphasized bass so why do you want your home system to sound boomy or unnatural. I think one can get addicted to over emphasized bass. Withdrawal may take years.

Gill Does "normal polarity" mean that if you put the + of a 1.5V AAA battery on the + speaker terminal and the - to the - that the woofer cone would move away from the magnet? Kerry

Artto: I do not have 2 Cornwalls for a front center. One Cornwall is the front center the other is the rear center, one in front of me the other is behind me as I sit in the middle of the room. I have not changed any of the speakers wiring, they are exactly as Klipsch sold them. I only reversed the speaker leads going to the Cornwall. I also compared the signal from the mic to the signal generator. All 4 Khorns were all of the same phase but the Cornwalls 180 out of phase at low frequencies 40 to 60 Hz. The lissajous pattern did move and twist as I swept through the frequencies but generally were around 45 deg for the Khorn and 270 deg for the Cornwall. I kept the mics as close as possible to the bass drivers to reduce the room reflections

First let me make it clear that I did not change any wiring in or on the Cornwall or Khorn speakers, all I did was reverse the speaker wires at the Amp. The wall with the Cornwall center which is flanked by Khorns is 16 feet corner to corner. I guess my question is this, should I reverse the leads going to the Cornwall? With it reversed it seems to have a little more low end bass. The wave length at 40Hz is about 22.5 feet so 5 feet of travel in the Khorn is about 90 degrees. I would like to see the phase relationship of a La scale verses a Cornwall both microphones at the front plane of each speaker. I also listen to SACD multichannel, the inserts in some of the Sony disk suggest that the best configuration is for all 5 speakers be of the same type. So if the speakers were all the same they would have to be in phase with each other.

Artto: Were your microphones the same distance apart as you Khorns? I made a recording in stereo a few years back and had the microphones the same distance as my home speakers. The recording was made in the woods no loud sounds it was a real experience hearing nature just as it happened. A passing airplane miles away and a car on the highway which was about 1/2 mile sounded so real. Also I would like you comments on my post today about the phase difference between the Khorn and the Cornwall." Cornwall 180deg out of phase with Khorn"

A few months back I was testing the low frequency phase relationship of my home entertainment system to make sure that I didn't have any of my 6 speaker wires accidentally reversed. I was using 2 identical microphones and a dual-trace oscilloscope. I applied the same sine waves to the speakers in the frequency range of 50 to 200 Hz. I first placed both microphones next to each other and at the side of one of the Khorns bass bin, and used lissajous pattern to ensure that both microphones and scope channels gave the correct response ( a 45 deg line increasing from left to right / ). My system has 4 Khorns and 2 Cornwalls used as the center channel. All 4 of the Khorns showed to be in phase with each other but the Cornwalls were 180 deg. out compared to the Khorns. The Cornwalls were in phase with each other. The Khorns are 1984 and 1978 models the Cornwalls are 1981. I very carefully checked my speaker polarity wiring and everything was correct. I ended up reversing the speaker wires to the Cornwalls so all speakers would be in phase. I was wondering if this was done intentionally by Paul for the 3 speaker wiring as seen in the 1975 sales brochure showing 2 Khorns and a Cornwall center, or not important back in the days of just stereo. I would also like to know if the La Scala, Belle and Heresy speakers are our of phase with respect to the Klipschorn.