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Found 5 results

  1. I have a pair of 1984 first gen KG4's (even though they are listed as starting production in 1985, the labels on the back say 1984). I never liked these speakers! They sounded very harsh and edgy, yet yielded a very good sound stage, but they just fatigued my ears. Five years ago I read on one of the Klipsch forums about Bob Crites having designed and contracted a fabricator to make a titanium replacement for the phenolic horn drivers showing scope readings of a virtually, very flat response on supposedly sounding much smoother and liquid. For about $50 I ordered the pair and swapped them in and everything that people were saying was true. Very smooth, open, and airy, but without the jagged harshness. It was like listening to a completely different speaker -- one I fell in love with and became my main speakers. A couple of weeks ago, I read about the capacitors loosing their life around the 20 year mark and it hit me that the caps in my 1984 KG4's are now 31 years old. When back to Bob Crites' website and for $100 I could send him the original networks for a cap replacement, or for $200 I could receive new networks with all upgraded materials including new chokes, etc. -- I opted for the latter. I ended up removing all of the old “stacked-up” networks of this first gen that had everything glued up in a pile on the back of the input panel – turns out that the choke and transformer? (coiled bobbin) just popped off the plastic input back panel by prying a flat head underneath them and giving a little twist, removed the 3 screws, popped off the one cap that was glued, and cut the wires to the terminals. Then new network board fits on the wood floor of the bottom of the cabinet attached with velcro. After I finished wiring the first cab, I decided to do an A/B comparison between your network and the original 31 year old network. I conducted a very good test condition by putting on a mono LP, The Kingston Trio, and threw the balance knob Left/Right to compare them back and forth… let me tell you something, it was a dramatic difference! The old network sounded like the banjo was being played underneath a quilt. So, even though the speaker cab with the new network sounded brighter, and more open and airy, I would say it wasn’t adding anything, but simply allowing what was naturally in the recording to come through, whereas, the 31 year old network was not allowing all the highs to pass through to the horn. When I listened to the speaker cab that still had the original network, it was a kin to turning the treble control about 3/4’s the way down. As far as the bass, I’m not sure if it’s in my head or not, but it sounded a little tighter – just as strong as before, but with a little less resonance. Once again, Bob Crites has amazed me with his quality designs and engineering. I now have the ultimate KG4’s with Crites’ titanium horn drivers and upgraded, new networks! BTW, they are works of art just to look at (see before and after pics). And because the new networks are mounted on new cedar boards, they smell good too! I’ll never have to worry about moths in my speaker cabs I'm sure all of you know about Bob's Klipsch upgrades and maintenance services, but just in case you don't: www.critesspeakers.com Original 1984 network: New Bob Crites network:
  2. This is long so please bear with me. I’m tackling a big project in salvaging my Klipschorns from top to bottom. I wrote two people that I have come to find out produce crossover upgrades. I will start with my email to them and follow with an answer from each. What I’m looking for, is I have NO experience with either of these two shops and hope to run into those who have who can shed some light in which way to go. I sent this to ALK Engineering and Critesspeakers.com. They were both nice enough to reply the following day. Again, I know it’s long and really appreciate your help! ------------- Hello, In searching out new crossovers for my Klipschorns I ran across your website. I bought my speakers in 1977 and have moved them around the country with me. In 1987 I updated the crossovers from Klipsch and have done nothing with them since. Five years ago I moved into a new home where there was no place to place them. I was going to build a room in an outbuilding but that has yet to materialize until now. As you can see from the picture, everything is a mess. The storage garage they were in had a flood and while they were untouched by the water themselves, the humidity did a number on them. And there were rats. I love these speakers and they have served me well and when I put them in storage five years ago they, in my ears, were flawless. Now, about me. I’ve been in radio / audio all my life. I do voiceover work and I deal with sound all day, every day. At 60+ years old, I don’t know how much of my hearing is diminished. I do know that I love audio, clear, clean audio and I get a great deal of enjoyment out of reproduction as close to the source as possible. With that being said, I am going to go through these speakers meticulously, wet sanding the walnut, cleaning out the insides and replacing what needs to be replaced. Some guys are audiophiles beyond what I think they can actually hear and I don’t want to go that route, but I do want to get the most accurate and homogenous sound that I am able to appreciate with these speakers. I know this is a long email. Short answers are fine. With what I’ve described both with what you see and my personal information, what would you recommend. Thanks! Rick Riley ------- Reply from ALK: I am not sure what effect humidity has on a speaker, but it certainly isn't good! In any case, the crossover needs to be upgraded since all Klipsch crossover are poor designs to begin with! The AP12-AK3 and ES5800 is a good choice. You might pop the woofer hatch to see the condition of the woofer driver cone. Humidity might not be so good for a paper cone. I doubt any serious damage to the K55 or K77 though. -------- Reply from Critespeakers.com: Rick, The upgrade you did in 1987 actually created some future problems you would not have had without the upgrade. The upgrade to the AK-3 also made the Khorn essentially non-user serviceable with all connections soldered and with part of the crossover inside the bass bin and the rest visible on the shelf. Originally, the Khorn was made with consideration for easy service with a terminal strip on the crossover and easy to connect terminals on all the drivers. Some of the problems created in the upgrade are not really the fault of Klipsch. They did not know the monster cable they used was poor quality and often after a few years you can see the wires turning green inside the clear insulation. They also did not know that the supplier of the midrange drivers would go bankrupt and no longer supply the drivers or any spare parts like diaphragms to repair them. When that bankruptcy happened, Klipsch went back to the exact same driver you replaced and still uses it even today in the new Khorns. And the AA crossovers you replaced with the AK-3 are still considered by many the best crossovers Klipsch ever built. My recommendations to you would be that you put them back to a condition where any future maintenance is easy again with the following parts. Pair of CT120 tweeters. These new tweeters go all the way to 20khz and are a lot smoother and cleaner sounding than the K-77. The best if the K-77 tweeters can only go up to around 15khz. Pair of Type A crossovers. The type A is a very simple crossover but many consider it the best sounding crossover. It has no tweeter protection and none is needed if you go to the CT120 tweeters. You can read about them here: https://critesspeakers.com/new-tweeter-replacement-for.html Pair of A-55G midrange drivers. These have only about half the distortion of the K-55 drivers and have a smoother frequency response. You can read about this new midrange driver here: https://critesspeakers.com/k-55-replacement-the-new-a.html You could continue to use the K-33E woofers you have if they are working well. If you do want to change them, we have our CW1526C woofers. These have a nice heavy cast aluminum frame and that frame does not drain off any magnet power like the steel frame you have now does and the effect is slightly better performance at the lowest frequencies. Prices would be: Pair of CT120 tweeters $225.00 Pair of Type A crossovers $210.00 Pair of A-55G midrange drivers $350.00 Pair of midrange horn to driver gaskets $2.00 Pair of CW1526C woofers $295.00.
  3. I have a pair of Klipschorns I purchased in 1977. In 1989 I updated the crossovers, drivers and such. Don’t know the specifics but just ordered an update ‘kit’ from Klipsch. Question: I moved, haven’t used them in two years and want to put them into a new, custom built room. I’m an audiophile in ears only and don’t get into the mechanics of using electronics like the new Xbang z1v0059 crossover with the latest Blastophere ST50009s3’s (fictitious of course). The speakers sounded great when I put them in storage two years ago and hoping they will when I hook them up again. BUT, is there an update issued since 1989 that would be worth the cost and effort for my new application?
  4. So I saw a listing this morning for replica Klipschorn cabinets, made to PWK specs. No drivers or crossovers. The owner recommends re-veneering since they were built 30 years ago. Would you go for it? If so, what would be your total budget for the cabs, drivers and crossovers? How much work would it take to do it right?
  5. A very basic question here but one that I think would be immensely help to understand. One speaker has say 1 8" driver and a tweeter. Another has 2, 3 or 4 8" drivers and a tweeter. Why? When you decide what to purchase for a particular purpose, how do you decide what size drivers to purchase. An example say is the Klipsch RP series....you can get the 250, 260 or 280 series. How and why would you choose between them? Yes it's a newbie question. Thanks in advance for any information shared. Respectfully, RK
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