Encouragement or Caution for late 80's KHorns?

[psg]

Man those are nice! Stick one of those beat-up La Scala in the center! Please!

[artarama]

Man those are nice! Stick one of those beat-up La Scala in the center! Please!

Patience now, I want to draw this experiance out as long as possible . But your right, I am pretty sure that is their destiny, at least for one of them. So far I am trying to only listen to just the two KHorns alone to get a good understanding of their sound first.

[artarama]

Worth the $2,000

YUP! Really worth a lot more! How many movie tickets make up a pair of KHorns, how much are tickets for the hockey game?? If I live long enough these will cost pennies per hour of real high level enjoyment.

[artarama]

Glad you like them! I had a quite different experience with my first pair.

I was accoustomed to Cornwalls so when I got mine home and tucked into their corners, I was extremely disappointed. It took new crossovers and amplification to make them "amazing" to my ears but since I did that, there's no going back. I also have a room with mediocre acoustics (at best). There's no doubt they can be improved tremendously for a relatively small investment but if they sound great as-is, just enjoy for a while.

Congrats!

I know I have alot of work to do to figure out just what will make these sound their very best. But I will enjoy every minute of that process. I am convinced with the very little time I have had with them that they will be the cornerstone of my system. And I am a huge, HUGE fan of my really beat up LaScala's.

[artarama]

Is that a set of La Scalas in the foreground.....the black beat up looking boxes....?

W. C.

YUP, those are probably some of the roughest looking LaScala's you will see still alive. I love them a whole lot, and I don't have to oil them. The previous owner bought them new and was a pretty good DJ for a number of years and had them in the Salon he owned until just recently. In this case you really can't judge a book by it's cover because they will give these KHorns a run for their money when set up right.

[Ironsave]

I just caught this thread......

WOW. They cleaned up beautifully. Some Watco oil and they will be better than new.........

The nick can be patched with wood putty, sanded, then use a walnut stain pen to seal the deal....

I am envious..... Nice score. I hope they provide many years of audio bliss.....

As mentioned; I also am looking forward to "before and after" comparisons........

Good Luck!

[DTLongo]

Don't forget, if you have other amps/receivers lying around, swap them out and see how they sound respectively through your Klipschorns. You may be surprised at the differences between amps those speakers will show.

[artarama]

It looks like you have a very adequate room for your beautiful new babies. Do you have a sense, unlike other speakers, of their energizing the very air in that room? After you've settled in with them for a while plse. give us your listening impressions. Say, "before and after" impressions of recordings you knew well prior to getting your Khorns.

P.S. I have a Belle center. But I've found I need to run the center channel a few db down relative to the mains, otherwise the center image tends to overpower the left-right stereo spread. But even down a few db the center does anchor sound there. This is to say that, if run a few db down, the center sonic quality does not have to be that close a match for the Klipschorns'.

DT,

Thanks for all the advice during this venture. I definately need some time to figure out how to make these sound their very best in my room. These fill this room(19.5' X 31.5' X 7.5') easier alone than any other set I have for sure. My best combination prior to this I felt was the two LaScala's with a Cornwall center. I had to have them all pulled out into the room about five or six feet from the back wall and I could really adjust the tow in to get a great sound anywhere in the room. Right now my first impression is that the sweet spot for the Khorns is much closer to the speaker than what I had before.

Another first impression is that my digital music sounds better than it ever has and some of my records sound worse. I am really going to have to get to the bottom of that.!!

[artarama]

Don't forget, if you have other amps/receivers lying around, swap them out and see how they sound respectively through your Klipschorns. You may be surprised at the differences between amps those speakers will show.

I am very curious to see what that does. Look at my system profile and you'll see the choices I have. It is kind of fun to anticipate what each one will bring to the table. Common wisdom would lean toward the Scott but who knows. I am going to leave that one for this week end. Right now I am using the C28 and M2.

[fini]

The nick can be patched with wood putty, sanded, then use a walnut stain pen to seal the deal....

A good technique for a little spot like that is to get a chunk of walnut, and sand it with whatever sander you have: belt, random orbit, etc. Keep your face close to the surface as you sand, but don't wear a dust mask. By the end of the day you'll have quite a few boogers with the perfect color match. Pry one out with a putty knife, making sure there are no stray hairs in it, then press it into the nicked area with the putty knife. When dry, give it a quick hand sand, then add a tiny drop of whatever Minwax stain seems to match, followed by BLO (boiled linseed oil), etc. This is indeed where the phrase "blo your nose" was coined.

[artarama]

Congrats on the new additions, they look awesome. The veneer has a nice grain, and they look to be in excellent shape. What do you run for amp and pre?

Have a look at my system profile and you can see the choice I have, and I am going to try them all out. Right now I am using the Kenwood Basic M2 main amp, Marantz MA700 for the center channel and a McIntosh C28 pre.

[Panacea Engineering]

Another first impression is that my digital music sounds better than it ever has and some of my records sound worse. I am really going to have to get to the bottom of that.!!

K Horns are so clean and efficient that they will bring out the true quality of any recording, Kind of "bad in bad out", as they will bring out every screech of a finger on a Fret board or the breathing breaks of the Artist. They pretty much demand quality equipment to compliment them along with quality sources! The majority of the time, if it sounds bad, it is the quality of the recording, not the speakers.

[emmvette]

How does your Beogram compare to your other TT's?

[Tom Mobley]

after all these years fini is as sick as ever....

Don't ask what to use to darken the stain a little.

[artarama]

I wanted to post some of my first impressions while they are fresh and my experience with these icons is still developing. Sorry for the long read to all you ADD metelheads (oops, stereotyping!

I have listened to the KHorns now for about twenty hours over the last five days. During that time, I have made four amp configuration changes and alternated between no third channel, a Cornwall center and a LaScala center. I used CD’s, an iphone and records for sources. Primarily I rotated tracks from about fifteen various musical styles of recordings. I chose Stevie Ray Vaughan-Couldn’t Stand The Weather, Dire Straits-Self Titled and Johnny Mathis-Wonderful to be the three I was sure to play with all set ups. These records are all in pristine condition and original pressings.

My very first impression once the KHorns had been set up in my corners with my equipment was “that is great”; I had put on Tin Pan Alley first so I started out with a very good “impress me” recording. After that record, I played a few other random selections and started to get a bit of a gnawing feeling in my gut about how garymd was disappointed when he first got his.

On many recordings that I thought were clean and decent 8/10 condition they sounded very “dirty”. I would clean them again and it would get better but still noisy. On some, the bass sounded boomy. On others, the high’s sounded tinny. On many, I would reach for the tone controls being sure they were not set to flat but yes, they were. I had better consistency with my digital recordings but no comparison to what my vinyl used to sound like.

I still felt that all this finicky behavior (not to be confused with “fini type behavior”) was somehow a strength and hidden potential for these speakers. How could you not like them, you lusted over them for soo long, you laid down some serious coin, you bragged them up to your wife and kids and hey they are just too beautiful to be bad.

Taking DT’s recommendations, I started to change out the electronics and things started downhill fast. Remember that the C28 and M2 were my first string for this room. I started to panic…!

At 10:30P I decided it was time to face reality. I would pull down the Scott 299 (that tubefanatic helped encourage me to buy) from the upstairs system. If the tubes did not tame these beasts, I was in trouble. I would really have a hard time convincing my significant other that my new big purchase would require me to buy some more really expensive sources and of course better records.

Well as you all probably guessed the Scott was magical and I was back to getting the sweet sounds I was used to. However, wait, now the sound stage seemed even wider and deeper, hey, there are a few more instruments in that recording, and wow, I could hear her take a breath! Now I started to get tears in my eyes.

I would use the third/center channel on and off and can say that it is not as necessary as it used to be with the LS and Cornwalls. The soundstage with the KHorns seems to be very plainer in the sense that it creates that “wall of sound”. The third channel seems to push that wall farther into the room.

I can stand very close to one speaker and still hear detail from the opposite channel. The sound seems to be“omnipresent”, surprisingly less directional than with previous set ups. Many times during listening the sounds would all seem to come together directly in the center. I would go to turn the center channel down and find that it was not even on.

These things are definitely not for the inexperienced or faint of heart, kind of like giving a Hayabusa to a sixteen year old. The mighty KHorns will simply not tolerate dirty vinyl or poor recordings. They are very picky about just what electronics they will mate with. (Some people are picky that way too).

Luckily I had pretty much sorted things out by the time one of my daughters had a chance to sit down and audition them. Her innocent observations made it all worthwhile. She sat there for several minutes listening and then simply said, “That is really cool, I’ve never heard anything sound like that.” (She has a two-year degree in audio and visual media!)

[artarama]

They pretty much demand quality equipment to compliment them along with quality sources! The majority of the time, if it sounds bad, it is the quality of the recording, not the speakers.

Heli, I agree 100%! It is really too bad the studios make so many mediocre to poor recordings. You obviously do not believe that "thinning the herd" is nescessary. Your my new hero!

[artarama]

How does your Beogram compare to your other TT's?

The Beogram is a nice table and has a great sound. Not the same quality of sound as the Thorens or Kenwood primarily because they have better cartridges. The Beogram build quality is actually very good even though it seems kind of light weight. It is precise, very convienient to use and I like the looks. A great fully automatic table for everyday use. The cartridges are available but expensive.

[colterphoto1]

Nothing energizes a room like Klipschorns.

Sheltie Dave, I have that exact same paneling in my HT room and same Lane table. There is something magical sounding about having wood walls.

[colterphoto1]

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!!

Yep, that's pretty much how it always goes with a Klipschorn exchange. Great descriptions, glad you played a little Neil. Whenever you play Neil now you can thank the previous owner for taking such good care of them. For me it's Mahler, a symphony cellist owned my Khorns since new and every once in a while I give them a blast just for him.

Welcome to the club mang!

Michael

[colterphoto1]

Here we have the Input Block for the Left Speaker. I did not realize they were advertising and tagging the speakers as haveing monster cable inside clear back then. I thought that was a more recent marketing campain.

WOW I have never seen that jack cup used on Klipschorns. Do some of you other guys have these? Very nice job cleaning them up, didn't catch the products used, was it Murphy's Oil Soap followed by Watco Rejuvenating Oil?