j-malotky Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Hi All About a month ago, I purchased a set of 3 matched ALK's to use in the front of my new all Heritage HT in the house I just built. Been so busy unboxing etc, to finish my project. But - Today I installed them in my vintage Khorns and they are WONDERFULL!!!!! First a little history... My Khorns are '83 and originally had a AK network in them. The K400's are dampened the K77's are not. When Al shipped me the networks he had them set using X - 4, that is the setting I am using currently. After I installed the new ALK in my right channel, I did a comparison by running in Mono with the old AK still running in the left channel. What I imediately noticed panning from left to right was the bass was more boomey in the old AK side. The ALK sounded much smoother and more ballanced and more pleasing. The next important thing I noticed was the speaker using the AK network - the midrange sounded like the singer was singing through a megaphone compared to the ALK. The ALK really smoothed out the K400 squawker. This pleased me very much. I immediately gutted my left channel and installed the remaining ALK. Now - A little more history. My sweet spot is 16 feet from the front wall, but my wife finds that too close to the 65 x 119 HT screen so the couch is normally located 18', so I usually move the couch, or sit on the automan if I am lazy, to listen to 2 Channel music. So now I am ready to fire up both L + R using the new ALKs. I sit on the couch at 18' and the imaging is perfect. This is NEW....The ALK has given me a broader sweet spot. Very nice. Next I power up all my Lexicon, the other 4 amps and speakers in the HT and put on some music DVD's. The sound is very much improved now having perfectly matched squawkers, tweeters and networks accross the front of the HT. Makes me wonder if I should replace the fortes on the sides with LaScalla's with ALKs.... AHH the burden of continuous improvements - Always something more to try..... Overall - Very Very Happy with the ALK networks. Thank you Al Klappenberger. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdnfay Posted August 13, 2002 Share Posted August 13, 2002 Welcome to the wonderful world of K-horns with ALKs. It sounds like your experience was as good as mine. Your ears will love you for it. AL IS THE MAN Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Thanks JM! AL K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 JM, When Q-Man and I did our comparison of the AL and ALK, I came to the same conclusions as you. Now I can't wait to get mine! BTW, Congratulations!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Hi, When you did the mono and panning test did you try this prior to changing out the x-overs? Room acoustics may be causing the boominess in the one channel. I did a similar test with white noise (with my cornwalls in their normal positions) and noticed the right side always sounded thinner than the left. I swapped the speakers and the thin sound still remained in the right channel. Hence, the room acoustics was messing with the balanced sound of the two speakers (the speakers were fine). It sounds like overall you noticed a big improvement in imaging, smoothness and such with Klappenberger's x-overs, in addition to less boomy bass. So, it appears regardless of room acoustics you got a nice benefit. I wish I could just try some out in my corns without dropping $550. Thanks for the report, Mace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted August 14, 2002 Share Posted August 14, 2002 Mace, What crossovers do you have in them now? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mace Posted August 15, 2002 Share Posted August 15, 2002 Mike, I've got type B crossover in the Cornwalls. I did the pink noise (or is it white noise) test with my KLF-30's as well with same results. Speaker placement / room acoustics makes the difference for tonality changes L to R with my set up. Mace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted August 17, 2002 Author Share Posted August 17, 2002 Mace Yes, I did listen to each channel separately before replacing the crossover. The bass boomyness was not my room accoustics. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted August 22, 2002 Author Share Posted August 22, 2002 Hi All Well its been a week. I am still very HAPPY with my new ALK's. They were a very nice upgrade to my system and I feel well worth the money. Looking at big D's homebuilt khorns in another thread, he compares his 2 sets of Khorns one with ALK's and the other with AA's. He also notices a nice improvement. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShapeShifter Posted August 22, 2002 Share Posted August 22, 2002 J, Congratulations on your ALK's!! Did you originally have AK-3 crossovers? If so, what are your plans for them? Wes ------------------ KLIPSCH IS MUSICf> My Systems f>s>c> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted August 22, 2002 Author Share Posted August 22, 2002 Wes No they were not AK-3. They were AK. If mine were originally the 3's I probably would not have changed them. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShapeShifter Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 JM, Thanks for the reply. Understand, would like to have a pair myself. Wes ------------------ KLIPSCH IS MUSICf> My Systems f>s>c> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKubicki Posted August 23, 2002 Share Posted August 23, 2002 Congrats, JM! Al is sending mine out Monday, so I can't wait to get them in!!! ------------------ Andy 78 Khorns (20' apart!) Audire Difet 3 Preamp Adcom GFA 535 II NAD 4130 Tuner Marantz CD 63SE Pioneer DV 434s>c> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InventiveAudio.com Posted August 26, 2002 Share Posted August 26, 2002 I just finished my ALK clones and installed them today. I used Clarity caps, removed the fuse from the design and didn't install the terminals for bi-wiring. Overall I thought that the new crossovers are an improvement. I had a 500-5000 crossover in one speaker and a Type A crossover in my other speaker. I think the ability to change the output of the squawker is worth my investment. I'm using the tap settings, 5 and 1 for the squawker. This makes the midrange a bit hotter which is a sound I prefer. I've uploaded a pic of the crossovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weiming Posted August 26, 2002 Share Posted August 26, 2002 Very nice work done on the crossovers! Good, neat and tidy layout. ------------------ Solstice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted August 27, 2002 Share Posted August 27, 2002 Trader, I have one suggestion on the crossover clone. You seem to have the 10 Ohm swamping resistor glued to the 2.2 uF cap or to the board. If you turn up the volume it will get hot. It could even melt the cap! It should be up in mid-air to keep it cool. AL K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InventiveAudio.com Posted August 27, 2002 Share Posted August 27, 2002 Thanks Al. I'll take your suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubelion Posted August 28, 2002 Share Posted August 28, 2002 Textf>Textf>Textf>Textf> Hi, would like to ask using oil caps in the alk crossover. I also want to use silver coil and silver transformer from audio-consulting.ch mine is a belle with Jadis 300b. type A is very tempting because of its simpicity, would like to hear your comment. anyone try wooden horn before. It is wonderful to hear from you guys before I start my project. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted August 28, 2002 Share Posted August 28, 2002 tubelion, I say.. do NOT use oil caps. They are high loss compared to polypropylene caps. Silver wire reduces loss but not nearly enough to justify the cost! Why spend big money on silver to reduce loss by an insignificant amount and then spend more big money to increase the loss again with oil caps! Al K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubelion Posted August 28, 2002 Share Posted August 28, 2002 Hi, thanks for your advice. My belle croseeover is AB2, not A or AA you guy mentioned, is it the same that I can buy a alk crossover and enjoy. for the alk, I want to omit the fuse, use all air coil and may need a usual size speaker connector. Is it worth to try type A that using the best parts would be too expensive? Thanks from the bottom of my heart, as my belle sound not very good for 6 years now, I really want to improve it. tubelion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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