False Corners Or Backs For Our Klipschorns?

[KdAgain]

Within a couple of months I'm going to build one or the other for our 1958 Khorns but am having trouble deciding which way to go.

Aesthetically and space wise the enclosed backs are certainly the winner, but wondering what other tradeoffs there may be in the two options?

In our 5.1 system we would like to have the back corners about 2 feet out from the room corners and somewhat toed in. Think I may have read that with the enclosed backs the Khorns should be closer than that. They are on the long wall in our 19' x 13' HT room.

Not sure this will have an effect on the choice but I will also be converting the Khorns to 2 way active EQ with the Goldwood GM-450PB 2" CD Horns (similar to the PAudio PH-4525) with BMD-750 drivers.

We have a Danley DTS-10 sub so if we lose a little bit of the low end it's not a disaster. But what I would not like to lose is the wonderful way that the Khorns load a room with sound.

Any ideas would sure be appreciated.

Happy New Year!

Thanks,

Rod

[Panacea Engineering]

Rod,

I would suggest building the false corners as opposed to adding the backs. The older K Horns used 1/2 ply for the cabinet and with age it has more than likely become somewhat brittle and flakey (delaminated). it is almost like dry rot on a lot of the older cabinets that i have seen. Trying to screw into it may become cumbersome and do damage that would be tough to repair. You would probably have a tough time getting it sealed properly, without adding a lotof filler, glue and screws. The false corners do not impact the speaker cabinet at all and would probably give you a better seal in the long run.

JMHO,

W. C

[garyeanderson]

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/142576.aspx?PageIndex=2

Hi Rod

I built these enclosures for some budget/distressed

Khorns that I got off of ebay. These clearly aren’t for everyone, but they do

work for me. The mouth braces on the back side of the enclosure have been

removed now and I can slide them deep into a corner or pull it away from the

wall and still work ok. My guess is they work better shoved into the corners as

far as possible. I removed the backboard reflector from the Khorns for them to

fit with the front of the khorn flush with the front of the enclosure. If you

left the rear reflector on, them a 1/2 inch trim around the perimeter of the

mouth would bring them flush. They are modeled after the Klipsch TSCM theater

bass bins.

[KdAgain]

Rod,

I would suggest building the false corners as opposed to adding the backs. The older K Horns used 1/2 ply for the cabinet and with age it has more than likely become somewhat brittle and flakey (delaminated). it is almost like dry rot on a lot of the older cabinets that i have seen. Trying to screw into it may become cumbersome and do damage that would be tough to repair. You would probably have a tough time getting it sealed properly, without adding a lotof filler, glue and screws. The false corners do not impact the speaker cabinet at all and would probably give you a better seal in the long run.

JMHO,

W. C

W. C.

Thanks very much for your warnings on the possible delamination of the old plywood. Nothing shows on the visible edges, but that may not be at all indicitave of the hidden inner layers. This possibility certainly argues for false corners.

Rod

[KdAgain]

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/142576.aspx?PageIndex=2

Hi Rod

I built these enclosures for some budget/distressed
Khorns that I got off of ebay. These clearly aren’t for everyone, but they do
work for me. The mouth braces on the back side of the enclosure have been
removed now and I can slide them deep into a corner or pull it away from the
wall and still work ok. My guess is they work better shoved into the corners as
far as possible. I removed the backboard reflector from the Khorns for them to
fit with the front of the khorn flush with the front of the enclosure. If you
left the rear reflector on, them a 1/2 inch trim around the perimeter of the
mouth would bring them flush. They are modeled after the Klipsch TSCM theater
bass bins.

Thanks for showing your handywork. Your build appears to be straight across in the front, in other words not angled at all from the front plane of the bass bin. I just took a tape measure to determine how far out from the corner the sides would be and it's about 36".

My understanding of true false corners is that they should be minimum of 48' from the corner. Perhaps this is why you suggest that they may perform better close to the corner.

It seems to me that false corners should perform better than this approach or the enclosed backs especially with the Khorns well out from the corner, but that may not be the case. I guess there probably is no one who has built both that could comment?

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rod

[garyeanderson]

I dunno, I had ok corner, not a great seal though. I built them as a budget system and have about $700 into Klipschorns and enclosures. For my purpose with some coner gain to begin with they do what I want. The 48 inch dimension is a consequence of a sheet of plywood being 4 x 8 feet from what I have read. Look at the TSCM that Klipsch engineered

http://forums.klipsch.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=tscm&o=Relevance

for further info. My sides are effectively 40.25 inches long (see diagram), corner to end of mouth.

[soundbound]

Here is what I did.

 

[KdAgain]

I dunno, I had ok corner, not a great seal though. I built them as a budget system and have about $700 into Klipschorns and enclosures. For my purpose with some coner gain to begin with they do what I want. The 48 inch dimension is a consequence of a sheet of plywood being 4 x 8 feet from what I have read. Look at the TSCM that Klipsch engineered

http://forums.klipsch.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=tscm&o=Relevance

for further info. My sides are effectively 40.25 inches long (see diagram), corner to end of mouth.

Thanks for your further explanation. I think I read the same thing somewhere about 48" being handy as it is a plywood sheet. So no magic calculations went in that I guess.

Thanks for the link on the TSCM - interesting stuff!

Rod

[KdAgain]

Here is what I did.

Thanks for showing it. Interesting way you integrated the old bass bin. It's a little difficult to see much detail though - Do you have a thread showing more on it?

Looks like you have the tweeter and squawker aimed down a bit. Do you notice much difference doing that?

Rod

[soundbound]

Quote

Quote

Here is what I did.

Thanks for showing it. Interesting way you integrated the old bass bin. It's a little difficult to see much detail though - Do you have a thread showing more on it?

Looks like you have the tweeter and squawker aimed down a bit. Do you notice much difference doing that?

Rod

 

You're welcome.

 

I noticed some differnce, but audio varies with different people and situations.

 

Here is the thread explaining:

Clicking on photos enlarges them.

 

 

[JBryan]

I put these together a while back before I replaced the top horn. I used the standard design (4' x 8') hardwood ply but to keep the footprint small, I backed that with a 1" sheet of high density MDA and sandwiched a sound absorption mat in between. My room didn't allow the Khorns to fit in the corners and I wanted to move them around for better imagining and soundstage. My initial impression was very positive - the bass became more defined, articulate and slightly deeper than w/o the FC's. All n' all, a very good tweak when corner loading is not practical for both speaks.

[JBryan]

I'll also add that the braces are screwed into the false corner walls but utilize the bass bin's' existing bracket and wing nut assembly (formally used to attach the wings). This keeps the bass bins original and allows easy access if I need to pull the speaker away from the FC's.

[KdAgain]

Soundbound - Thanks for the link to more info on your build.

JBryan - Thanks for showing what you did. I like keeping the Khorns as original as possible. And after the warnings from heli001 on possible delamination in my old bass bins not having to put fasteners in it has some appeal.

Did you find the braces and the top necessary? Seems like I've seen some old threads where the false corners are free standing. Or perhaps that requires more structure such as internal 2 x 4 bracing that I believe PWK used.

Love those Oris horns!

Rod

[JBryan]

No tops needed if you're keeping the top hats.. I started w/o the top or bottom plates but the Oris horns needed somewhere to sit and I needed to seal the now-opened top area so I made the tops and bottoms out of walnut. It added rigidity and the bass sounded a bit tighter but its not necessary.