ClaudeJ1 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 For those of you wondering how I fit an MWMs "Stack" into a 7-foot ceiling basement, here's the anwer. Complete with a projection of the Gary Gillum/Paul W. Klipsch patent drawing of the MWM on my old screen. I call it "the 160 inch. wall of sound" and it's simply amazing in it's detail, dynamics and emotional impact with good recordings. Money notwithstanding (all used stuff, only the tweeters are new), I throw my hat into the ring for the Highest All-Horn Sound to UGLIEST system ratio competition, if there is one. It's not pure Klipsch but a total "MUTT" system if you include the center, which is only on for movies, otherwise it's direct 2-ch. It has 5 tweeters, 3 midranges, 2 midbass, and 5 woofers, all 15" and all horns. All of the voice coils of the 2 stacks are jammed into the corner, roughly in the same start point for all drivers. You can not see the Direct Radiator twin VMPS large subs behind each of the stacks (for movies only), and I like it that way (shame, shame for using DR's, I know) with 2 12's 2 15's 2 15 passives in ported boxe. Side (not shown) channels look more like the middle one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 WOW............... What are you running those puppies with? Thought I'd seen it all..................Congrats ![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I assume you must have a walkout basement. Wow!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 No walkout basement, just a littlo old house build in the late 40's. The right edge of the image is the moulding for the laundry/furnace room door. The wall is 13.3 feet. I'm only using about 21 feet back for the side channels and the rear Khorn clones. It's "cozy" to say the least. The shot was done from EXACTLY where is sit with a full frame 35mm digital SLR and a 17mm lens (hence the distortion on the edges of the MWMs). The horns are pointed downward more and more as we approach the full 7 feet height, basically aimed across the coffee table (which I removed for the shot) so the centers cross a about 2-3 feet in front of me or more. I get a more focused center image that way. My eyes are at about 36 inches up in the small couch because you can barely see the top of the MWMs' cabs, which are at 34." My screen is 81 inches wide, so almost 8 feet diagonal. As to what I drive them with, the midbass, midhorn, and tweeters are driven directly from my Onkyo speaker outputs to a passive network of my own design. I have to pad down the EV mids by 2 db to match the rest. Every driver is balanced using pink noise with a Radio Shack meter and/or a 1/12th octave RTA when I can borrow one. Those same speaker outputs feed two of the smallest/cheapest subwoofer plate amplifiers from Parts Express (on sale for $33 ea. before Xmas), which were cheaper than a toroidal choke. LOL. They have a 60-180 Hz. lowpass range, so I use them at 180, which is where I put the 100 microfarads Jantzen caps for the midbass horns. The gains are turned almost all the way down. So the Xover for the top ends are all first order passive at 180, 1Khz., and 6Khz.. The voice coils of all the horns are all jammed into the corners, which means the MWM's are 2 feet forward because it's a folded horn with 2 paths. This extra 2 feet x 34 inch air space in the corners give me just enough room for the VMPV "sub-subs". LOL. I find that the "almost" phase coherent physical alignment and gentle Xover slopes, in the mids and highs, give me tons of ambience recovery from good CD's when I use the Onkyo in "direct" mode, IOW, very minimal signal processing...............straight wire with gain. It's also incredible on DVD movies as you can imagine. I'm using all the horns in the flattest portion of their curve, so there is no EQ. My peak meter says I only use about 1-2 watt peaks on music and may 10-20 peaks on movies in the MWM's so, I'm good to go with the cheap, small amps that never even get warm. Most of the time, I'm listening to about 100 milliwatts/channel. With 109-110 db effeciency on the top end, that's pretty loud for a guy who like to save his hearing and keep the average below 90 db at the chair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 What is the WAF on these little guys? Do you see them when you have the room dark for a movie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 What is the WAF on these little guys? Do you see them when you have the room dark for a movie? She has had the Oiled Oak Heresy's upstairs (the pretty ones) since 1983, the year she got me a Sony CD player when the kids were small. She has no problem with me having the ugly ones downstairs since it's my domain. Heck she's the one that arranged a suprise trip to Hope for my birthday in 1985, where we met and spent the day with PWK in the lab, his home, and private eating estabilishments. She is not into serious musical listning at all, but she does enjoy my setup for movies. She knows I enjoy it very much, so it's just fine by her. She comments on how ugly they are once in a while but says she doesn't really care as long as I'm happy. True Love indeed. Everyone else in the family (except my son, he has Heresy's and small Klipsch surrounds) thinks I'm nuts but I'm in good company here, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I can't imagine the planning that must have gone into that 1985 trip!!! [^] Count your blessings!!! [] I am glad you are protecting your hearing also a blessing from Your Maker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 OMG!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Holy ****! Nice rig!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 awesome! Now I can show my wife and explain to her just how nice she has it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 awesome! Now I can show my wife and explain to her just how nice she has it! I did the shot just for you, buddy. I was hoping you'd poke your head into this thread, so there you go. Maybe we need to get our wives together for an attitude reajustment while we to listen to some seriously good sound at either place, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 After all these years of owning Klipschorns and now having just the bass section, I finally understand what PWK meant in his paper "A loudspeaker of small dimensions." The corner horn really is SMALL for a horn, but it takes time to wrap your head around the idea of wavelengths ranging from less than 3/4 inch to 675 inches (0.06 feet to 56 feet) wavelengths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Oh Master!!! We at the Wall of Voodoo will now bow down in homage to the Supreme Wall of Nirvana, and can only grovel at Your feet in sheer awe at the majesty unfolded before us!!! [H] Seriously, stunning and very well done!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPower Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 "Everyone else thinks I'm nuts but I'm in good company here, eh?" I have had the pleasure to meet Claude several times and own 3 of his speakers that I was fortunate to get when he started make room in his laboratory (Man Cave) for this CRAZY project. I even have a photo of Claude from one of my visits that does give some credibility to some thinking he is nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPower Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Then Claude found himself on the couch discussing his situation with a professional... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPower Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 All kidding aside Claude, I hope that I have the chance to get back down to Claude's place some day and hear the new set-up. When I was down last summer to pick- up that hot, single blonde... I mean La Scalla, I got a quick demo down in the man cave and it was VERY impressive! And that was still while it was a "work in progress" Congratulations Doctor, on another successful operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Claude, Very nice looking set up. Very nice indeed! I can only imagine what a wonderful & big sound you get. I like to show these photos to my GF, My strategy is that afterwards the proposed Jubilees will look small and relatively tame. Good Luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 It is a good stategy to look bigger horn freaks than one's self to provide practical contrast to ones wife. I hope the photos of my personal quest for detail, impact, and dynamic nirvana with low watts can serve you all well in this regard. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying a lot of music and movies. Peace to all my brothers out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 All kidding aside Claude, I hope that I have the chance to get back down to Claude's place some day and hear the new set-up. When I was down last summer to pick- up that hot, single blonde... I mean La Scalla, I got a quick demo down in the man cave and it was VERY impressive! And that was still while it was a "work in progress" Congratulations Doctor, on another successful operation. Thanks Tom, and thanks for the Shelby Lynne CD, that recording is one of my favorites for "speaker test" material. It has been work in prgress for about a year. The only thing the same as a year ago is the lumber in the MWMs, otherwise all other things have evolved way beyond this sonically, I promise you. You are welcome anytime with resonable notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPower Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hey Claude, Ya, that Shelby Lynne has some spooky good sound to it... glad you are enjoying it. If I find myself down in your neck of the woods I will make sure I try to drop in for a listen. Great work on your system... [Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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