Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hi Folks, New member, first post. Please see my System Profile for a sense of my living room 2 channel system. Been reading about Heritage especially Khorns and La Scala here, on the 'Gon and AudioAsylum. Last week Khorns fell into my lap (ouch) when a guy next town over put an ad in Craigslist for a beautifully cared for 1990 vintage pair. They are playing right now in my living room! My audio journey since 1975 or so has included some pretty good speakers including Magnepan MGIII, Acarian Alon IVs and Lotus Elites and even original Quad ESL 57s. None of these prepared me for the huge dynamic sound of Khorns! Its like having an orchesrta in my living room. The drums! The brass! I'm in heaven! My longtime local audio dealer used to sell Linn and I can remember being impressed by his demo in the 80's of the importance of the source where he would switch among turntables. Now I'm impressed with the importance of the speaker. Klipsch Klipschorns Rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4tay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Welcome!, There is nothing wrong with the fine selection of speakers you have enjoyed in the past, nice stuff indeed! With every design I have listened to, they all have compromises and thier own musical "opinion" on the program material played on them. I find that much of the overhyped esoterica in the high end totally lacks a realistic impact. To me, impact= truth. I want to hear and feel drums that sound like drums, not a smoothed-out, edited/compressed or etherial version of drums---drums have REAL impact. I am envious of your Klipschorns, one of these days I will have some. They represent to me more "realism" than most of what's out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks for the welcome 4tay! I know what you mean about drums. The famous Telarc bass drum is used to good effect on many of the SoundStream re-releases on SACD. Its never sounded tighter or more impactful to me. Also, I put on the SACD Goodbye Yellow Brick Road when auditioning the Khorns saturday night. When the band gets rockin at the end of Funeral For A Friend there's some fine kickdrum - the Khorns do kick drum like I've never had in my home before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4tay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks for the welcome 4tay! I know what you mean about drums. The famous Telarc bass drum is used to good effect on many of the SoundStream re-releases on SACD. Its never sounded tighter or more impactful to me. Also, I put on the SACD Goodbye Yellow Brick Road when auditioning the Khorns saturday night. When the band gets rockin at the end of Funeral For A Friend there's some fine kickdrum - the Khorns do kick drum like I've never had in my home before. Like the good ole' Dalfos drum whack... The impact also manifests itself across the board. Listening to Anner Blysma play Bach on his bass, or Victor Wooten plucking--you get transported. Dire straits and Pink Floyd sound best on Klipschorns. The anvil of crom by Basil Pouldaris makes you feel like you are going to get hammered by Conan himself. Resolution? I can tell when my favorite drummer is using coated or clear drumheads. I can hear the difference between snare drums, and even the warmth of the wood shells, or the copper in Bonham's tympani's. I know Klipsch gets the big down-the-nose from the high end community, but I have always disagreed with that attitude. Klipsch=REALISM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 4tay, didn't see a system profile for u. What are you running? I'm interested in your tagline as well "better parts = better speakers" In thinking about next steps to improve my system I'm soliciting opinions about what would give biggest bang for the buck. Clearly my "collection of parts" (can't really call it a system as I now want to build some synergy around the Khorns) is sorely lacking in interconnect and speaker cable quality but I'm not sure that the degree of difference that these can make would be noticeable if the real drawback at the moment is the mediocre SS Parasound preamp or the only ok Marantz SACD player. I think the VTL monoblocks are a good match with the Khorns. They certainly sound sweeter than the Revox SS the former owner was driving them with. Then again if better parts = better speakers maybe I should be looking to replace some caps in the 20 year old crossover... For now of course I'm just marveling at the mighty Khorns "in da house"But down the road what could be my next move??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cut-Throat Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 I would agree to focus on the crossovers.I like the simple type "A" Klipsch Crossover with quality parts. I also agree to forget messing with cables. You can always improve electronics - tube pre-amp etc. The biggest iomprovement in my Khorns was when I swapped out the midrange for an Altec horn and Driver. HUGE improvement as the mIdrange is the Khorn weak-link. - Other options exist for the midrange as well. Tractix horn etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4tay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 The biggest iomprovement in my Khorns was when I swapped out the midrange for an Altec horn and Driver. HUGE improvement as the mIdrange is the Khorn weak-link. - Other options exist for the midrange as well. Tractix horn etc. Perfect example. And to delicious: yes, 20 year old caps do not perform very well. Replace them with better caps (low ESR whatever you choose. I don't subscribe to paper in oil caps.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 I would agree to focus on the crossovers.I like the simple type "A" Klipsch Crossover with quality parts. I also agree to forget messing with cables. You can always improve electronics - tube pre-amp etc. The biggest iomprovement in my Khorns was when I swapped out the midrange for an Altec horn and Driver. HUGE improvement as the mIdrange is the Khorn weak-link. - Other options exist for the midrange as well. Tractix horn etc. Thanks for the reply Cut-Throat. I'll check and see what crossover mine have and start reading here about what folks do to them and how rather than ask you to run all that out. I have been reading some about horn and driver replacement especially Gregs products at voltiaudio. If I may ask why did you choose the Altecs? - just link me to your thead if this is old news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 And to delicious: yes, 20 year old caps do not perform very well. Replace them with better caps (low ESR whatever you choose. I don't subscribe to paper in oil caps.). Thanks 4tay. I'll start reading up on this. What system are you running again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cut-Throat Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks for the reply Cut-Throat. I'll check and see what crossover mine have and start reading here about what folks do to them and how rather than ask you to run all that out. I have been reading some about horn and driver replacement especially Gregs products at voltiaudio. If I may ask why did you choose the Altecs? - just link me to your thead if this is old news. I chose the Altecs because a friend of mine locally had them on his Khorns and I very much liked what I heard. The first evening that I auditioned them, I was on E-bay shopping for them. that was about 5 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Hi Folks, New member, first post. Please see my System Profile for a sense of my living room 2 channel system. Been reading about Heritage especially Khorns and La Scala here, on the 'Gon and AudioAsylum. Last week Khorns fell into my lap (ouch) when a guy next town over put an ad in Craigslist for a beautifully cared for 1990 vintage pair. They are playing right now in my living room! My audio journey since 1975 or so has included some pretty good speakers including Magnepan MGIII, Acarian Alon IVs and Lotus Elites and even original Quad ESL 57s. None of these prepared me for the huge dynamic sound of Khorns! Its like having an orchesrta in my living room. The drums! The brass! I'm in heaven! My longtime local audio dealer used to sell Linn and I can remember being impressed by his demo in the 80's of the importance of the source where he would switch among turntables. Now I'm impressed with the importance of the speaker. Klipsch Klipschorns Rock! I'd like to have a pair of Quad ESL 57's. They wouldn't replace any of my horns but I've always wanted a pair. If your interested in reading the case for horns and how klipschorns got to where they are read the Dope From Hope articles. Gil posted them here a while back http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/51635/492632.aspx Congrats on a great score! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4tay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks 4tay. I'll start reading up on this. What system are you running again? Windows 7 on my desktop and linux on my netbook*. *There is a polite hint embedded in this statement. Please take the hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 I'd like to have a pair of Quad ESL 57's. They wouldn't replace any of my horns but I've always wanted a pair. If your interested in reading the case for horns and how klipschorns got to where they are read the Dope From Hope articles. Gil posted them here a while back http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/51635/492632.aspx Congrats on a great score! Thanks for the link seti You remind me to get the Quads outta the basement soon for comparison with the Khorns. They are driven nicely by the Tiny Triodes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Windows 7 on my desktop and linux on my netbook*. SmartAss...[] *There is a polite hint embedded in this statement. Please take the hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4tay Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 I chose the Altecs because a friend of mine locally had them on his Khorns and I very much liked what I heard. The first evening that I auditioned them, I was on E-bay shopping for them. that was about 5 years ago. When I went to buy my 1st Forte's in 1986, I talked with a chap that was adamant that Altec horn speakers weren't just better sounding, but that the horn and cone drivers were integrated better than on Klipsch speakers. I liked a set of Altec Lansings he had... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cut-Throat Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 I chose the Altecs because a friend of mine locally had them on his Khorns and I very much liked what I heard. The first evening that I auditioned them, I was on E-bay shopping for them. that was about 5 years ago. When I went to buy my 1st Forte's in 1986, I talked with a chap that was adamant that Altec horn speakers weren't just better sounding, but that the horn and cone drivers were integrated better than on Klipsch speakers. I liked a set of Altec Lansings he had... The turnkey Altec speakers that I have heard like the Model 19 are two ways.The Klipschorn has a much better Bass Bin IMHO. I have not heard a Turnkey Altec Speaker that I cared for. With that said the Altecs out of the gate probably have a better midrange, but it's not that expensive to replace the Khorn Midranges. I very much like the Big Altec Compression (288) Drivers and the Multicell 805B, 1005B Horns that Altec Have though. Since the Bass Bins are the largest and the most expensive part of the equation, it makes sense to me to start with the Khorn and start modding from there. A used pair of Khorns are probably the Best Audio bargain of the Century. Buy them and enjoy. And then modify them to beat about 98% of the speakers on the planet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Congrats on the Khorns. Those should have the AK-3 networks which have a good reputation (I personally like the AK-3 networks in my Khorns). Ditto on the Altec mid horns (if you are in to tweeking). I replaced the K401 horns with Altec 511B horns and there is no way I would go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Mark, I have owned and loved Klipsch Fortes for over 20 years; I had the good fortune to hear a pair of K-Horns at the last store in my city that had them available for audition a few years back, and I have been haunted by the clarity and realism I heard ever since. The brass, as you mentioned in your OP, is amazing; the most realistic reproduction of insturments I have ever heard. Congratulations on your purchase! You're right - the speaker is probably the most important component in audio reproduction (not to minimilize the source, control, and amplification sections, by any means...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted May 13, 2010 Moderators Share Posted May 13, 2010 Welcome to the forum, looking at your avatar you look a little young for Klipschorns. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious2 Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Thanks Seadog! Yes they do have the AK-3s What do you think about Altec mid horns vs. tractix such as Greg's? What about 2" drivers vs. 1"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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