KP 362 / KP 682 system

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We've written a lot here about the mighty MCM1900 and the KP600 systems. Here's the more modern Klipsch Pro setup that is easily transportable and has small footprint (for use in crowded pubs). Plus I kinda missed documenting stuff like this for you guys. Enjoy!

I started with two of the KI (I = Installed) 362 systems and KP682 (subs similar to cinema KPT684, but in 'battle dress' with metal grilles, handles, NL4 and wheels). I bought another pair of KI362s later.

Before I could build a system of them, I exchanged all four tops with Bill Hendrix for four KP (Portable) 362 systems. Sure, they were bigger, but they were fuse protected and had NL4 connectors and handles and rated to go down a bit lower. Bill needed the smaller KI for his church installation and I needed the KP series. Photos of both these series on page 2 of this thread.

Had a question on the wheels for the KP682's and it was a sunny day, so thought I'd roll a stack out and show you guys what I'd configured.

First here's some photos of the KP682 dual 18" sub.

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Wheels on the 45 degree cutoffs on the back of cabinet. On the top are two handles, you simply tip it back and it becomes it's own dolly.

CAUTION, woofer magnets are heavy and don't like sudden jolts across the plane of their plates, DO NOT DROP the sub cabinet down on its rubber footies, tip it downward gently. Dropping a cabinet is a surefire way to cause the magnet pack to slip, seizing the voice coil and ruining an expensive woofer.

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Before I got my trailer, I had to haul these in my Pickup truck a couple times. Sliding them in and out was causing a lot of wear to the cabinets so I got some material from a local plastics dealer that I think is called Delrin. It cuts and drills easily and is very slippery. Simple to tip them up and slide into the nose of pickup.

A buddy has a similar system but he used bar stock aluminum about 1/8" x 1/2" and bent it around the lower 45 degree angled portion so he can easily drag the speaker up staircases without damaging the wood.

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chamfered the ends with utility knife and countersunk the screws.

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There is a handle on the BOTTOM of the cabinet which is really useful in extricating the cabinet from it's back-down position on the bed of truck. I suppose this plastic stuff is available in black, but they had cheap scraps of the white available so I used that.

Next is transport. These tops are about 90 pounds each and you don't want to lift them more than you have to. Having everything in the trailer on wheel boards really simplifies load in. Here's what on pair of the KP362's look like ratchet-strapped to their wheel board. I made it by drilling holes for the Penn-Elcon footies in a 3/8" board and fastening that to some oak dollies I already had. A eye bolt fastened to the bottom catches the strap ends and I route them through the cabinets handles to help keep it all together on the way up and down the ramp.

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wheel board without speakers. What I did was create a template for the bottom of the cabinet so all the footies would be precisely placed. That made it easier to create the wheel board and the next piece you'll see.

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Penn-Elcon footies from Parts Express and #10x 1 round head screws used to fasten to cabinets. Bag has proper part number to order.

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I was going to be drilling 32 holes (for starters) to build the wheel boards and speaker mounting plates so I went ahead and bought a really nice bit- about $20. Big enough so there's a little slop once the footie is in the recessed hole.

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footie on the end of drill bit, showing slight amount of oversize to the bored hole. We're just trying to keep the speakers from jumping around, no need for too tight of fit.

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KI362 has 90 degree horns KP362 is a narrower 60 degree horizontal
dispersion, a longer 'throw' if you will good for some rooms, but
sometimes you fire into the short dimension of a room/space and need
wider dispersion - what to do? Double up!

Here's a speaker mounting board that allows me to 'tight pack' two of the cabinets for an approximate 100 degree dispersion. There is a slight overlap, sure some comb filtering etc, but this gives a bit more 'throw' in the middle of the sound field, where distance or crowd density is sometimes an issue.

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Stacked.

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This is pushed by a rack of 3 Crown K2's. Each sub gets a K2 bridged to mono and a third is run in stereo to a pair of tops. To make the wiring simpler, I used all NL4FX connectors (Camel Traders has best price) and some 11ga x 4 Dayton speaker cable (from Parts Express). In order to make this all work, I borrowed from Crown's standard of using pins 1+/- for subwoofer and 2+/- for top cabinets. This required cutting some jumpers inside the jack panels of the speakers. Bascially on the subs I clipped the inputs to 2+/- so the MF/HF would flow through but not connect to the 18" woofers. Do the opposite inside the top cabinets and you have a system that works with standard wiring NL4 connectors. I get the NL4FX because it's an easy matter of backing out the set screws and wire keepers and soldering all the wires into place. SOLID baby!

Using a 100' spool I first cut a 50' and 20' main, leaving 30 feet for spare. Later realizing that more cables were necessary, I made two 12' interconnects from sub to top cabinet, and two 3' interconnects to link the top cabinets. 6 speaker cables wires this whole system and it looks neat when you get done.

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Wired, neat no?

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Big velcro wire keepers are expensive at the guitar store. I make my own. Get a roll of the dual sided heavy duty velcro strapping material. Cut lengths to encircle each wire bundle +2". Fold the strap lengthwise and make two small nips with diagonal cutters. Thread medium ty-rap through the slots, wrap twice around the cable, cinch down, and nip off excess ty-rap. Voila, custom heavy duty velcro straps!

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Here's the cable. I bought this on sale for like $88! 4x11 is very heavy, but the outer case of this will just go inside the NL4FX headshell, and you can still use the mechanical strain relief. I found that I had to nip off a few of the conductor wires to get it inside the Neutrik connectors, but this does not negate the effect you get from using the heaviest speaker wire you can find.

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A little bit extra on the sub-mains cable allows for situations when the sub is on the dance floor (or lying flat) and the mains are up on the stage or other riser.

I make one side of the mains run much longer than the other, usually the amps are off to one side of the stage, where I can see the blinky lights. So having one run much longer than the other makes sense.

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On all my wheel boards and accessories, I round over the edges to make it easier to paint and more splinter-resistant. I just keep this cheap 3/8" bit on an old router for such work. It feels like forever drilling, rounding over, sanding and painting all those holes in the boards but then you have a system that's simple to pack and set up.

[bhendrix]

Hey, I recognize those 362's!!

Nice write-up, Michael. You are absolutely correct. That is a dandy setup.

[BLSamuel]

Hey, I recognize those 362's!!

Nice write-up, Michael. You are absolutely correct. That is a dandy setup.

It kicks some SERIOUS booty and I can attest to it being surprisigly easy to roll around. Sure beats lugging. Pretty much can blow the roof off the venues I've tagged along. I'm having a brain infarction and can't remember... did you have the double tops when I was with. I've slept since then. And worse. Not slept since then.

And the second place turned on the little (rhymes with hose) house background speakrs. Playing Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle" a song and artist I'm very familiar with. Didn't even sound like Harry. Of course following Roadie's Rock'n 'n a Rollin' "small system" I expected to be disapointed but not that severe.

And is there a rumor you're looking for another pair of KP 682's? Or am I just hallucinating.

[Panacea Engineering]

Michael,

EXCELLENT thread........I really like the way that you did your cables......! Also the boards and dollies are an inspiration....

Bill: Are you looking to trade any more KP 362's. I have six KI 362's....?

W. C.