Mighty Favog Posted February 25, 2001 Share Posted February 25, 2001 I'm pretty sure my KLF-20's are breaking, if not broken, in. I've only played them for about 15-20 hours. It's just that now the high end sounds rather flat. All the drivers work and everything is in phase, it's just not that (overly)-bright tone that came through last week when I got them. I'm open for suggestions! Should I replace the bridging straps on the binding posts to...??? Right now both the eq and the receiver's tone controls are just about maxed and it doesn't come close to what they were. Granted, I thought that the brightness when they first arrived was too much and could be toned down but now it's straining to keep up. Any hints BobG?? Thanks, BTW, Is there such thing as a beefed-up passive cross-over for a set of 20's?? AL maybe? ------------------ Tom KLF-20 Mahogony Carver Receiver MXR-150 Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge Carver TL-3100 CD Yamaha K-1020 Cassette dbx 1231 EQ dbx 3bx Series Two H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer Monster Interlink 300 mk II Original Monster Cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossVTaylor Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 Tblasing, Did I read correctly that both your tone control and your equalizer are set to their highest levels? I'm assuming this is for the upper frequencies? It seems that you could have easily blown a tweeter with this setup and that could be your trouble. Leave those settings flat, or near flat, and only use the eq as a last resort to fix what room acoustic problems you might have. Double check those drivers and let us know if they're really all working, Ross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPonder Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 I agree with Ross. Flat is the way KLIPSCH should be atoned to. My brother has horrible room accoustics in the lower frequences. So instead of boosting the bass he bought a KSW-15 and it cured it. Usually you should have no problem making the brights come out with a flat setting. You may have blown a horn mid or tweeter. I would remove the clips in back and just run the horns and see how they are performing...i.e. are they breaking up, do they sound "dead" etc. A blown driver doesn't always jump right out at you. I have heard drivers that were blown and you could only catch it at certain frequencies. Hope this helps you out. P.S. You might want to lose the EQ. just my opinion ------------------ Onkyo TX8511 ADCOM GCD-700 KLIPSCH CF3,s KLIPSCH KLF20 KSW-300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 26, 2001 Author Share Posted February 26, 2001 As far as I can tell the drivers do have sound coming from them. It's not crackling but they do sound weak comparatively. Should I try the "battery on the terminals" test or is that only if it is a totally dead driver? BTW- Yes, both the Receiver and the eq are at near max (+6db and what ever the Receiver can deliver). Fortunately I did find a good bass tone with a good placement. The deadness I'm hearing could explain why the left channel (A) is not as loud as the right. I just got the Receiver back from Everett Audio (Carver's people) for a tune up and when I set it up it sounded a lot better than before (both channels playing pretty much equal). Reading other posts on the BB there has been mention of the highs being very bright in the beginning. I assumed (go ahead "When you assume.....") that what I was hearing was normal. Also I didn't yet find that proper spot for the bass to come alive. I'm hoping this is covered . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shock-Late Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 quote: Originally posted by tblasing: As far as I can tell the drivers do have sound coming from them. It's not crackling but they do sound weak comparatively. Should I try the "battery on the terminals" test or is that only if it is a totally dead driver? BTW- Yes, both the Receiver and the eq are at near max (+6db and what ever the Receiver can deliver). Fortunately I did find a good bass tone with a good placement. The deadness I'm hearing could explain why the left channel (A) is not as loud as the right. I just got the Receiver back from Everett Audio (Carver's people) for a tune up and when I set it up it sounded a lot better than before (both channels playing pretty much equal). Reading other posts on the BB there has been mention of the highs being very bright in the beginning. I assumed (go ahead "When you assume.....") that what I was hearing was normal. Also I didn't yet find that proper spot for the bass to come alive. I'm hoping this is covered . I'm quite amazed you had to boost the treble with Klipsch loudspeakers! a lot of listeners find them already quite painful and need some "break-up" period to accomodate for the bright sound. Not that klipsch are SO overly bright, but other speakers are so dull... I'm speaking seriously: maybe you should check your earing. Don't take it bad, but... that's what i would do... regards, Frans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Blorry Posted February 26, 2001 Share Posted February 26, 2001 I'm pretty amazed as well. My 20s are just under two months old, and the highs just now starting to settle down. I don't believe in EQs except for live music; IMHO, home EQs are band-aids that temporarily fix crappy speakers. I keep the treble on my Denon dead flat, and there's more than enough high end coming out of the 20s! I know they're heavy as a Moose, but try flip-flopping the speakers; or just try exchanging the wires, left for right. Make sure they're in phase too. Out of phase speakers can yield unpredictable results. Try a different amp with the same music and see. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted February 26, 2001 Author Share Posted February 26, 2001 First, I want to thank you guys for a push in the right direction. Next, I'm pretty sure I've found the problem. I made a call to Klipsch's tech support and the gentleman asked me if the volume was pushed past twelve o'clock. Said to myself "My God! At that level I wouldn't be able to be in the house mush less the room!!" So something was definitely NOT consistent with the status-quo of how to listen to these. I did the "battery on the driver terminals" test and all the drivers passed. I even compared each driver side-by side to make sure I was getting the same amount crackle (sounds weird but I was trying to be thorough). After all this, things are pointing to me and some very old habits from having crappy speakers and thinking something sounds better if the tone controls are turned up. I'm concluding that the treble has always been there it was just being downed out (or clipped) by overmodulating the bass and lower mids. Could it be that playing them at this insane high level have broken the tweeters in sooner? The new settings have the receiver set flat (taking off 8db treble, 8db bass and 6db bass), the loudness control still engaged and then setting the eq to half of what it was, now at about +2db or less. The eq has two settings +/-6db and +/-15db and is set on the former. The treble is now prominent once more. The other problem I had before, and I think it should have been a dead give away, was that it was almost impossible to find a comfortable listening level at lower volumes. The signal was so strong that it was either not enough or just shy of annoying for the moment. Nothing in between. So now I have greater range of fine adjustment with attenuation and a more civilized higher end. I'm gonna leave it this way to make sure I get used to it and let the ears adjust. Of course this is all going to change soon, the girlfriend wants to re-arrange the furniture next month. great. On the subject about my hearing; I do appreciate everyone's concern to seek a professional opinion. My hearing contrarily has been more than excellent most of my life. My last test was four years ago and the doc said it is 10-15% more sensitive than average in attenuation and 5% above for tonal differentiations. This was realized and first tested for rather early in life when I went for a physical to enter into the world of professional skateboarding (now retired; I'm 35). This afforded me great balance as well. Thanks again! BTW-I ordered two replacement baffles today just to be sure. ------------------ Tom KLF-20 Mahogany Carver Receiver MXR-150 Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge Carver TL-3100 CD Yamaha K-1020 Cassette dbx 1231 EQ dbx 3bx Series Two H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer Monster Interlink 300 mk II Original Monster Cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 2, 2001 Author Share Posted March 2, 2001 Just put in the new tweeter baffles. Definitely a big difference. They're toned down a lot. Guess I'm still used to wide dispersion drivers instead of horns. Oh well, back to the beginning with the break in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 3, 2001 Author Share Posted March 3, 2001 Believe me. It's at almost no boost now (+/-1.5). All is not lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPonder Posted March 3, 2001 Share Posted March 3, 2001 I've heard the EPICS and the LEGENDS side by side and the LEGENDS are much brighter. The EPICS are warm and smooth, I'm supprised not more people on this BB like the EPICS or maybe have not heard them. I like both speakers, they both have good points and...I wouldn't say bad just different. ------------------ Onkyo TX8511 ADCOM GCD-700 KLIPSCH CF3,s KLIPSCH CF4's KSW-300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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