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Encouragement or Caution for late 80's KHorns?


artarama

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I have the opportunity to get a pair of "late eighties" KHorn's and would appreciate any input on "deal breakers" (thanks Tina Fey) to look out for.

I have only seen cell phone quality pictures but they look great. One owner, bone stock, walnut oiled, black grills and lightly used. The current owner had them delivered, set in place and is physically unable to move them to give me label/SN data. I will verify all that when I go to look at them. I feel comfortable they are as stated and in wonderful condition.

The asking price seems fair at $2K and they are local so I can transport them myself. I am a dedicated two channel (three speaker) guy with no interest in HT for these. I have perfect corners 19.5 feet apart but my ceiling is a bit low at 7.5' My main concern is having to "thin the heard" to make this happen as I love every speaker I have. I guess I am looking for a few words of encouragement or caution to help with this decision. Thanks!

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since they are currently setup you get a chance to hear them as well as inspect them............Great.

Price is good for that year range

Local pickup is a wonderful blessing to you !

Listen to them for a month before you decide to do any "Mods" to them...............

Get them and enjoy..............Post pictures when you can........Win Win situation !

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The price and the deal sound reasonable especially if the speakers really are mint-ish with no significant scars, scratches or bruises. When you go over to look at them be sure to put your ear close to the top grilles to be sure the squawkers and tweeters are all operating. Then, live with them a while before attempting any mods, ALK crossovers or whatever. Bear in mind that Klipschorns are very amplifier-sensitive so if you have mutliple amps/receivers, swap them out to determine which one sounds fullest and most statisfying to you. Do a search on this forum under my handle for my own Klipschorn saga. Allbests.

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Be prepared to makean offer; while $2k is reasonable, you may be able to make an offer for $1800 and get lucky. By the late 70's, the walnut K'horns were the most common, probably more than the "BR" (raw birch).

Late 80's should have the AK-2 crossover. If... they are 89's they should have the more desirable AK-3.

Look at this thread before you head over to look at them. It has what you will need to know regarding serial numbers (for dates), finish coding, etc.

Best of luck and let us know what you find.
[H]
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Sounds interesting.

A couple of years ago that price would have been typical. However, with the current economy you could probably get them for less. Personally, I think K-Horns are worth $2K, regardless. The price is also impacted by the cosmetics of the cabinet (to a surprising degree).

The biggest variation across those years is the crossover type. Personally, I would not worry about it. All of them will have that "Klipschorn sound". Which brings me to my last point. Have you ever heard Klipschorns before (not just in a casual setting, but serious listening)? If you have not, then you are in for a real treat.

The best advice given above is to not get started worrying about mods. Buy them, set them up properly (tight in corners etc), listen, listen, listen, and enjoy them.

Good luck and I hope the deal works out for you.

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I think people here make WAY to big a deal out of the XOvers. If you get pizza from a pizza shop YOU like (i.e. Klipsch speakers in general) sure there will be toppings (XOvers) that make one pizza more likable to you than some other combinations. But you won't ever have one pizza you love and one you totally hate. By now I think I have heard most variants of the Klipsh XOs in Khorns as well as some after market ones. You can tell a difference, none suck, and it is simply personal preference which you like better.

I have a pair of Khorns much like you discribe. 1987 AK-2 XOs. Single owner, never moved from original delivery date, they even painted around the speakers when the room was painted...did not move them. One top was "grooved" from something sitting on top of it, but very, very good shape. Sounds like yours are probably nicer then mine. I talked the guy down from 2,500 to 2,300 and it was one of the best purchases in my life - EVER. I "survived" just fine with the AK-2 XOs for years, eventually forked out 400-500ish dollars for custom XOs and to be honest there are things I like better about them and things I don't. If I had it to do over I probably would have recapped what I have, or possibly changed them a bit to be AK-3 XOs which I undersand is pretty simple to do. If you start modding them keep all the original parts so you can go back.

Local pick up is key, $2K is very reasonable. If you get them for less great, but don't screw yourself out of Khorns for a hundred bucks or so. Sure the economy sucks but where you going to get speakers of that quality for drastically less money?

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Go for it, $2,000 seems like a good price. All the above comments are spot on, esp. the one about amplification. When I first got my K-horns I was using Adcom gear. I really liked it with my Tannoy System 12s but it it really sounded bright with the K-horns. I now use tubes and vintage Yamaha SS and all is bliss. AS far as "thinning the herd," isn't that what basements are for?

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Bear in mind that if you acquire a pair of Klipschorns you are getting a set of speakers that can run with any of the allegedly "world's best" speakers costing into the $100K range new if not even more. In that context even brand new Klipschorns are a bargain at their price. Klipschorns are a challenge and they definitely have their quirks and sonic personalities and they're a chore to set up and to settle into with amplification to bring out their best. But - no pun intended - you are buying a legend, heritage, heirloom. Mine were the audiophile purchase of a lifetime and I hope to pass them on to family some day.

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Thanks guy's for all the input. I have never heard KHorns but know I am in for a real treat. I just marvel at how nice every model of Klipsch sounds. They all seem to have their place in space and purpose. I currently switch between two Cornwalls with a LaScala center and two LaScala's with a Cornwall center. Hard to imagine it can get a lot better than that, but I am pretty sure it will [:D].

I like the pizza analogy for crossovers, although I am hoping Klipsch never offered any anchovies. I will definately get very familiar with thier sound before I think about changing anything. I am sure I could work the guy over a bit given the economy and situation but I don't think I will do that. If they are what I think they are it's a square deal.

Does anyone feel the 7.5' ceiling is much of an issue? That seems to be the only limiting factor I have that I cannot deal with.

Thanks again for all the valuable input.

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Does anyone feel the 7.5' ceiling is much of an issue? That seems to be the only limiting factor I have that I cannot deal with.

Heyser (sp?), of Audio magazine, in his mostly good to excelent review of Klipschorns (c.1986) said that Khorns would be expected to sound best in a room with a thick rug and a high ceiling.

Others have said similar things, and Klipsch, in one of their manuals, said that Klipschorns tend to sound best with a ceiling 8.5 feet high or more.

My Klipschorns used to be in a room with an average height of about 10 or 11 feet, and they sounded great. I've been living with them in a room that had a 7' 8" ceiling for a few years now, and they did NOT sound as good, BUT there are many other characteristics of this room that were unfavorable. We are just finishing up giving it a higher ceiling, and also giving it firmer walls and floor. We would not have gone this far as raising the ceiling if I hadn't needed to redo the floppy walls and floor anyway. I did NOT try a simplier possible remedy to the low ceiling problem, which would have beento put a few good absorbant pads on the ceiling at the first overhead reflection points (only). Heyser thought that an early reflection from a low ceiling would make the reflected wave from the tweeter arrive before the initial wave from either the midrange or the woofer -- I don't remember which. The problem is a bit larger with Khorns and other speakers that are not time aligned, than with those that are. I don't pretend to know a lot about phase and reflections. PWK maintained that the amount the Khorn was de-aligned was not audible. Some modern folk say they can hear an improvement in Khorns with a device that uses delay to electronically align Khorns. I don't know if the comparisons were double blind. Heyser seemed to be saying that a low ceiling would be expected to make the problem a little more audible, but I don't think he compared (listened to) Khorns in otherwise similar rooms of different ceiling heights. I'm confused by several things: 1) People marketed aural converters in the '70s and '80s to deliberately throw normal speakers (i.e., not Khorns) out of phase to a degree (or many degrees), claiming that that increased spatiality and 2). A famous late '70s recording studio in San Francisco that will remain nameless reported than one of their Altec 604Es sounded much better and "airier" than the rest. Upon investigating, they found that the woofer and tweeter had been unintentionally wired out of phase.

Despite all of these reservations, I loved Khorns in every room in which I heard them. They sound very up front (too much for some people), are low in some kinds of distortion (I never saw such low IM figures for a given SPL in any of Heyser's other speaker reviews), and are potentially very dynamic. THey need to be pushed into good corners, with some kind of gasket sealing them in. As the crusty old founder of Stereophile once said, they trigger the musical Gestalt of musicians. They sound more like the orchestras I've played in than most other speakers.

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Well, I get to go see them tomorrow, the fellow just got back in town. I have a small trailer hooked up to my pick up just in case. Wink It's snowing and 40 degrees here, but I think we will see some sunshine tomorrow. (In more ways than one.)

Keep us posted please including with photos if you can.

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Well.........they are sitting right beside me in their new home!! Just took the trailer back and I can't wait to set them up.

Turns out they are 1983 versions consecutive numbers with AK crossovers. Perfect condition!

I took an amp with to check them out and verified all the drivers. Now I have heard a lot of speakers and a lot of Klipsch speakers but was honestly not prepared for what I heard. Pulled out of the corners set all askew and in a room full of boxes and stuff waiting for the movers and ......... well you guy's know, you have heard it("the Phenomenon") but I was stunned. Seriously in awe! My first impression was simply WOW! and then about 5 or 10 explicatives went through my head but luckily not out my mouth. My wife was smilin' and the guy was tearing up. It had been over a year since the guy had them hooked up. He really was welling up and getting red and puffy. I felt bad for the guy. We played a little Neil Young as a fond farewell and a toast to a new beginning.

I'll tell you all more about it and send some pictures soon. I gotta get them hooked up! Life is good!!

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Congrats! Just wait until you get them pushed up in the corners at your own house... it is an amazing feeling. Test it out a bunch, but if they are not spread too far apart, you may not need that 3rd middle speaker to fill in the "dead" space any more. If you do need a 3rd speaker, maybe you could pair up your less efficient La Scalas in the middle and adjust up and down to fill in. Worth the $2,000? haha.

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