Klipsch Epic Owners Group

[Micklipsch]

1 minute ago, EpicKlipschFan said:

 

you or the owner, if you/they know how to solder, can just resolder the cap back in place if its not physically damaged.  dont need to have them rebuilt. 

Solid point. Probably good practice to just send them out regardless given age, but maybe the current owner would be ok with doing that so I could audition and possibly buy. 

[billybob]

Nice pair of 3s in garage sale...

[001]

4 minutes ago, Micklipsch said:

Solid point. Probably good practice to just send them out regardless given age, but maybe the current owner would be ok with doing that so I could audition and possibly buy. 

 

nothing wrong with "sending them out"... im still a supporter of recapping yourself if you can solder, changing out a few caps is very basic & you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself plus saving quite a bit of money.  & dont forget, the sonicaps that crites uses are 250v & are HUGE caps that usually require manipulating how they fit on the board... if they will fit at all on some models.

 

there's nothing really special about sonicaps compared to other similar or lower priced caps out there.  in fact i'd bet that 99%+ of people cant tell the difference between a sonicap or a dayton 1% or even a solen or ERSE brand cap in a blind A/B test.  FWIW, bob recommended the ERSE caps to me & said he uses them for people on a budget & tested them to be excellent caps with very low ESR.  i've been using ERSE in many speakers as well as my recent chorus2 & forte2, they sound great & fixed a bad cap issue in my chorus2 when i bought them where they sounded like a towel was covering the fronts, sound excellent now.  

[Micklipsch]

17 minutes ago, EpicKlipschFan said:

 

nothing wrong with "sending them out"... im still a supporter of recapping yourself if you can solder, changing out a few caps is very basic & you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself plus saving quite a bit of money.  & dont forget, the sonicaps that crites uses are 250v & are HUGE caps that usually require manipulating how they fit on the board... if they will fit at all on some models.

 

there's nothing really special about sonicaps compared to other similar or lower priced caps out there.  in fact i'd bet that 99%+ of people cant tell the difference between a sonicap or a dayton 1% or even a solen or ERSE brand cap in a blind A/B test.  FWIW, bob recommended the ERSE caps to me & said he uses them for people on a budget & tested them to be excellent caps with very low ESR.  i've been using ERSE in many speakers as well as my recent chorus2 & forte2, they sound great & fixed a bad cap issue in my chorus2 when i bought them where they sounded like a towel was covering the fronts, sound excellent now.  

Yep. I’ve read a bit about this fiasco.
 

Interesting... I’m definitely not the best at soldering. Watched a friend make it look easy when re-wiring a sound system in one of my older cars. Then I grabbed the “pen” and proceeded to make a sloppy mess of things. Humbling... 
 

On the other hand, isn’t Crites still a decent value since they assure factory spec and also replace resisters and anything else they may find along the way, if necessary? Or are you basically guaranteed +\- factory spec if the proper caps are used and soldered well?

[Micklipsch]

37 minutes ago, billybob said:

Nice pair of 3s in garage sale...

I imagine in my next home where I’ll have gracious theater space, I’ll have an Epic surround system, with some 3s flanking the seating area 😁

[Shiva]

At the very least, 3 Epics across the front.  For a time I had a KV-4 and KLF C-7 in house and set them up as rear speakers.  They acquitted themselves quite nicely and are as big a I would go for rear surround duty.   

 

[Micklipsch]

11 minutes ago, Shiva said:

At the very least, 3 Epics across the front.  For a time I had a KV-4 and KLF C-7 in house and set them up as rear speakers.  They acquitted themselves quite nicely and are as big a I would go for rear surround duty.   

 

🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

[Micklipsch]

29 minutes ago, Shiva said:

At the very least, 3 Epics across the front.  For a time I had a KV-4 and KLF C-7 in house and set them up as rear speakers.  They acquitted themselves quite nicely and are as big a I would go for rear surround duty.   

 

So you had one each of those as your surround left/right, asymmetrically?

[Shiva]

I had them on 3 foot high stands in an upright position,  just behind and on either side of the couch. Also set them up that way to try as left right speakers. They sounded great that  way too. 

[Micklipsch]

15 minutes ago, Shiva said:

I had them on 3 foot high stands in an upright position,  just behind and on either side of the couch. Also set them up that way to try as left right speakers. They sounded great that  way too. 

That's pretty cool. Might upset my OCD a little bit lol. The C7 is a 1" tweeter vs KV4's 2" correct?

[billybob]

K-64-KN 2" (5.08cm) Aluminum diaphragm compression driver  

KV-4 speaker tweeter

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by billybob

[Shiva]

I was just testing them out to pick one over the other for center duty and to see if I wanted to devote the real estate to a matched pair as surrounds. I sold off the KV, preferring my Mahogany C-7. 

[Micklipsch]

9 minutes ago, Shiva said:

I was just testing them out to pick one over the other for center duty and to see if I wanted to devote the real estate to a matched pair as surrounds. I sold off the KV, preferring my Mahogany C-7. 

Nice. Would've been nice if they gave KV4 wood options. Not sure why they didn't yet the 1-3s did. At any rate, small qualm as my CF4s are satin black anyway.

[Micklipsch]

21 minutes ago, billybob said:

K-64-KN 2" (5.08cm) Aluminum diaphragm compression driver  

KV-4 speaker tweeter

 

Yup, knew that, just wondering if the C7 did as well. But I believe it was/ is a 1"?

[wvu80]

3 hours ago, Micklipsch said:

With all that said, I’d think an 8/10 V1 with Crites XOs for a total cost of ~$1,350 is in fair range. 

I track CF-4 prices.  The Average is $1100 so your estimate of $1350 for a v1 is well within the range for fair market value.

[Micklipsch]

6 minutes ago, wvu80 said:

I track CF-4 prices.  The Average is $1100 so your estimate of $1350 for a v1 is well within the range for fair market value.

Yep, I leveraged your XML recently to come to this conclusion. Thanks for creating and maintaining it. 

[Micklipsch]

1 hour ago, Shiva said:

I had them on 3 foot high stands in an upright position,  just behind and on either side of the couch. Also set them up that way to try as left right speakers. They sounded great that  way too. 

The KV4 alone strikes me as an Epic CF2 in an enclosed, compact cabinet!

[001]

3 hours ago, Micklipsch said:

Yep. I’ve read a bit about this fiasco.
 

Interesting... I’m definitely not the best at soldering. Watched a friend make it look easy when re-wiring a sound system in one of my older cars. Then I grabbed the “pen” and proceeded to make a sloppy mess of things. Humbling... 
 

On the other hand, isn’t Crites still a decent value since they assure factory spec and also replace resisters and anything else they may find along the way, if necessary? Or are you basically guaranteed +\- factory spec if the proper caps are used and soldered well?

 

like anything soldering takes practice.  if you dont have one buy a cheap used solder gun like a weller or a cheaper pen type & practice soldering stuff like wires together, tinning, or get a junk old circuit board & practice removing & replacing the caps on it.  most of these non heritage models of klipsch have printed circuit boards the caps are on.  lots of youtube vids showing how to solder too. i dont suggest experimenting on expensive things like speakers until you are comfortable with it,  but each cap is really just 2 dots of solder on the underside of the board, dont over heat it & it should be fine... or have your friend do them for you?

 

crites is definitely a good value, especially for those that cant or dont want to replace the caps themselves. they will replace caps on your original boards or sell the complete unit.  yes crites uses factory specs for the caps so it doesnt change value of the originals. & the same would apply for DIY, you buy the same value cap as original so it doesnt change the freq specs of the original design... that is, aside from things recently mentioned on here that ANY cap that is not the original factory type & brand will change the "voltage curve" or something like that... way beyond my pay grade to comment on that.  but just using the same micro farad value as the originals is what people have been doing for decades, the benefit is modern poly & other more expensive caps are usually of better quality than what klipsch used in non heritage models from this era, then factor in age & theres usually room for improvement over stock caps.

 

if the speakers sound good once you replace the cap that fell out, i would probably leave them as is for awhile unless you really feel an upgrade is needed.  my V2 cf4's sounded amazing in stock form, even on a average 100 watt onkyo AVR,  but when hooked up to a separate amp at 200 wpc they really come to life, at all volume levels.  epics like power, low power tubes are great & have their place, but if you like to listen loud with bass heavy music its hard to beat a good quality SS amp on power hungry klipsch like these.  

 

& as an FYI: Bob told me that there is no sound improvement from the stock resistors, only reason to replace them is if they are bad or out of spec.     

[Micklipsch]

25 minutes ago, EpicKlipschFan said:

 

like anything soldering takes practice.  if you dont have one buy a cheap used solder gun like a weller or a cheaper pen type & practice soldering stuff like wires together, tinning, or get a junk old circuit board & practice removing & replacing the caps on it.  most of these non heritage models of klipsch have printed circuit boards the caps are on.  lots of youtube vids showing how to solder too. i dont suggest experimenting on expensive things like speakers until you are comfortable with it,  but each cap is really just 2 dots of solder on the underside of the board, dont over heat it & it should be fine... or have your friend do them for you?

 

crites is definitely a good value, especially for those that cant or dont want to replace the caps themselves. they will replace caps on your original boards or sell the complete unit.  yes crites uses factory specs for the caps so it doesnt change value of the originals. & the same would apply for DIY, you buy the same value cap as original so it doesnt change the freq specs of the original design... that is, aside from things recently mentioned on here that ANY cap that is not the original factory type & brand will change the "voltage curve" or something like that... way beyond my pay grade to comment on that.  but just using the same micro farad value as the originals is what people have been doing for decades, the benefit is modern poly & other more expensive caps are usually of better quality than what klipsch used in non heritage models from this era, then factor in age & theres usually room for improvement over stock caps.

 

if the speakers sound good once you replace the cap that fell out, i would probably leave them as is for awhile unless you really feel an upgrade is needed.  my V2 cf4's sounded amazing in stock form, even on a average 100 watt onkyo AVR,  but when hooked up to a separate amp at 200 wpc they really come to life, at all volume levels.  epics like power, low power tubes are great & have their place, but if you like to listen loud with bass heavy music its hard to beat a good quality SS amp on power hungry klipsch like these.  

 

& as an FYI: Bob told me that there is no sound improvement from the stock resistors, only reason to replace them is if they are bad or out of spec.     

Thanks very much for this. Exactly the info I was looking for, and then some^^

[bpplaysguitar]

Can anyone PM me to help with decoding a sn? Fall of 95 was the switch to v2?