Hornloaded Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hello, I am very new to this community, starting just today. I am the original owner of a pair of 1981 Belle Klipsches. A while back I had occasion to email back and forth with a tech at Klipsch about whether my speakers needed anything to keep them sounding good. He recommended buying crossover kits. Since I am not the best with a soldering iron, I sort of dismissed the idea. However, in discussing the issue with a learned colleague, I am reconsidering the change. My speakers are in mint condition and they still sound great to me. However, if a crossover kit will help make them sound even better, I am for it and I will figure out how to get the updates installed. Can anyone tell me: Are the kits worth the money and time it takes to install them? What changes can I expect to hear in the sound with the new mods? How difficult are they to install? What is included in a kit? How expensive are the kits and where do I get them> Anything else I should know about the kits? I also have a pair of mint 1978 Heresys. Should I upgrade these in any way? These are used as the main front speakers in my basement home theater while the Belles are my "high end" system speakers. Thank you! Scott in Minneapolis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Rebuilt crossovers will makt them sound like new again. You can look around and have them updated locally. Repair them yourself getting your new capacitors from Parts Express or buy parts from Bob Crites. You can also have Bob repair things himself if you don't feel up to the task. There are others here on the forum including myself who would be happy to help you if needed. Schematics can be found with the search feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkwa1959 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 My Belles have the AB crossovers,so I replaced them with ALK Corn Scalla Universal crossovers and I am very happy with the results,top end not as harsh and better detail.I also replaced tweeters with DE -120 with trachorn also from ALK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kg4guy Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hello, I am very new to this community, starting just today. I am the original owner of a pair of 1981 Belle Klipsches. A while back I had occasion to email back and forth with a tech at Klipsch about whether my speakers needed anything to keep them sounding good. He recommended buying crossover kits. Since I am not the best with a soldering iron, I sort of dismissed the idea. However, in discussing the issue with a learned colleague, I am reconsidering the change. My speakers are in mint condition and they still sound great to me. However, if a crossover kit will help make them sound even better, I am for it and I will figure out how to get the updates installed. Can anyone tell me: Are the kits worth the money and time it takes to install them? What changes can I expect to hear in the sound with the new mods? How difficult are they to install? What is included in a kit? How expensive are the kits and where do I get them> Anything else I should know about the kits? I also have a pair of mint 1978 Heresys. Should I upgrade these in any way? These are used as the main front speakers in my basement home theater while the Belles are my "high end" system speakers. Thank you! Scott in Minneapolis Hi Scott if you don't have some soldering experience I would recommend sending them to Bob Crites to rebuild them it is not a lot of money and well worth it not only changing out the caps but having it done by a professional . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Welcome to the forum Scott I would think you have AA crossovers, so here is your schematic. https://community.klipsch.com/uploads/monthly_01_2014/post-30216-0-34180000-1390167998.jpg Seeing as how you think they sound great now, my personal opinion would be to order replacement capacitors from Parts Express (Dayton Precision Audio 1%) in the values you need, and leave it at that. Minimal investment, minimal labor involved, and they will still sound great (if not a bit better) after completion. Have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfbane Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Welcome to the forum Scott I would think you have AA crossovers, so here is your schematic. https://community.klipsch.com/uploads/monthly_01_2014/post-30216-0-34180000-1390167998.jpg Seeing as how you think they sound great now, my personal opinion would be to order replacement capacitors from Parts Express (Dayton Precision Audio 1%) in the values you need, and leave it at that. Minimal investment, minimal labor involved, and they will still sound great (if not a bit better) after completion. Have fun. I have a pair of 1982 Belles. Two plus years ago they replaced the 1979 Cornwalls I used to rock with at high volumes (now listening to mostly blues, jazz and a lot less RnR). I asked essentially the same question as you here a couple of years back. What I ended doing was purchase new CT-125 tweeters and Type A/4500 XO's from BEC ran those happily for a couple of years until yesterday when I replaced Bob's XO's with Type AA XO's that were built by Dean G (got them 2nd Hand off the EE here). You can't go wrong with either Bob's or Dean's XO's IMHO. Bob's are true to the original Klipsch XO's designed by PWK. I'll will be able to speak with more of an informed opinion on Dean's XO's after I've got in more listening time (in a couple of weeks) but the sound so far is certainly good to my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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