tomlinmgt Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I'm new to the forum and am slowly easing back into the hobby after an eighteen month hiatus from five years of maniacally climbing the ladder. I kind of burned out and just had walk away from it all, not sure if I'd even ever return. I'm a drummer and practically stopped playing once I was bitten by the audio bug, but reached a point where I really started to miss making music, so I got back in a band and now my once dedicated and acoustically treated listening space is where the band rehearses. I've decided to set up a nice listening rig in the living room and chose Chorus II's because they seem the best candidate with regard to approaching the type of performance I enjoyed from my Altec 19's (without eating up as much real estate as the Altecs), are a high-ish sensitivity horn design and also satisfy my placement restrictions. I had my first listen last night with a Pioneer Elite (VSX series) AVR and felt like they offered an excellent starting point from where I can systematically improve them, the upstream electronics and the room's acoustic response. Compared to KG 5.5's they're replacing I found them to have improved mid range body and presence and a generally larger sense of scale with regard to the sonic presentation. Detail was noticeably improved and imaging a bit better defined than what the KG's offered. The top end of the KG's is a bit smoother, but they've had Crites tweeter diaphragms swapped into them (at some point I'll take them out of the 5.5's and stick them in the Chorus II's). I have an interesting variety of tube and SS pieces to try out with them and am capable of and wiling to molest those stock networks. I'm very curious to see what I can get the Chorus II's to do. They follow some pretty impressive speakers I've had in the collection before so the bar is pretty high! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 My Chorus II's really shine at mid-high to higher listening levels, not so much at lower levels. I have a pretty decent room, and great amps. What would you estimate your SPL listening level to be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I recommend getting the Bob Crites replacement crossovers if you're trying to get the most out of those speakers. Also, if you're looking for live playback volumes a quality, high powered amplifier really makes the Chorus II shine. I believe an amplifier with no less than 300 watts per channel is required to fully drive them to their limits. You certainly picked a nice pair of Klipsches to get back into the hobby! Post some pictures if you get the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 11 minutes ago, jjptkd said: I believe an amplifier with no less than 300 watts per channel is required to fully drive them to their limits. I drive my Chorus II's with MC30's (30 watts), MC240 (40 watts), Scott LK150 (130 watts), and all of them can drive the Chorus to very, very satisfying levels. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 27 minutes ago, jimjimbo said: I drive my Chorus II's with MC30's (30 watts), MC240 (40 watts), Scott LK150 (130 watts), and all of them can drive the Chorus to very, very satisfying levels. Sure! I've driven mine with the Bob Carver 20 watt tube amp before and the little Jolida 102, another 20 watter and both made the Chorus sing! I've also had many a drunken nights with lots of friends over where we pumped 600 watts a channel into them for hours on end and they sounded great then too. That's one of the nice things about the Chorus speakers, they sound great with pretty much whatever you feed them. There is also a difference between "fully driving" a speaker referring to max output and "satisfying" levels. One is kind of subjective and varies per individual circumstance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 OK, I really don't want to get snippy about this, but let's be realistic. You did not feed the speakers 600 watts. You may have had an amp that was capable of 600 watts, but if you were to feed them that much, you would have busted your eardrums, and that of your friends as well.....Their sensitivity is 101dB at 1 watt.... Satisfying levels to me (depending on the music choice) is 80-95 db SPL. "Fully driving" them to "max output" would be somewhat foolish, in my estimation, living on the edge of distortion, clipping, etc. Unless of course you're listening to electronic music, hip hop, or similar where I guess it really doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Yes, true. I'm sure they weren't seeing all 600 watts all of the time but I use to crank them up in the main room then people would not stay in the same room, they would gather in the kitchen or out on the deck next to the main room or in the back yard next to the bonfire. The music played uncomfortably loud right in front of the speakers but added good background music pretty much anywhere on the 2 acre lot you might be. And then there are the times when people just want to see how loud it will get. You know how drunk people get, or maybe you don't? Anyway, point is I have experimented around several times trying to figure my speakers out and how they respond to different amounts of power. Not because I want to sit there in front of them full throttle all of time but just to see what happens, I mean why not? After playing around for a few years with several different amps I came to the conclusions stated above. 300 watts of good clean power will drive them to max output. They will certainly take a lot more power than that, I have proven it several times over, and they will certainly get loud with less than that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPower Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I will agree with both "jjs", and congratulate Tom on his Chorus2s. The Chorus2 is a Great allrounder! I live on the low powered SET side of town and even with my 4-5wpc 2A3 amp, Cornscalas in the basement, I find that like all the Heritage models that I have had, they fill the whole house with very pleasing music! At those levels, even with, a handful of watts, I am not sure I would enjoy sitting in the sweet spot for any length of time. it is impressive for small sperts though!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomlinmgt Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 I'm a drummer and have been in and out of rock bands most of my life. I've had my fair share of ear shattering volume levels and am lucky as hell I don't suffer moderate or even severe tinnitus (I do have a little, but it's not even enough to be a distraction), so high output levels from my system are not a priority (but I do like having the capability). My goal is clarity (low to no distortion or strain), a tactile and physical reproduction of sonic content without having to push output levels beyond 85-95 db, clear and discernible image and sound stage resolution with noticeable dimensionality and life like scale, and a reasonably flat response curve down into the 30's. I have a TAD-60 that uses KT-88's that have a good bit of grunt and also a White Oak modded Phase Linear 700B that probably qualifies to be in the "monster amp" category. I also have some 300B SET mono blocks and Pass First Watt F5 clone that's a little over 30wpc of pure class A. I'm very curious to hear what the Chorus II's do with all those different flavors of amplification. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 28 minutes ago, tomlinmgt said: I'm a drummer and have been in and out of rock bands most of my life. I've had my fair share of ear shattering volume levels and am lucky as hell I don't suffer moderate or even severe tinnitus (I do have a little, but it's not even enough to be a distraction), so high output levels from my system are not a priority (but I do like having the capability). My goal is clarity (low to no distortion or strain), a tactile and physical reproduction of sonic content without having to push output levels beyond 85-95 db, clear and discernible image and sound stage resolution with noticeable dimensionality and life like scale, and a reasonably flat response curve down into the 30's. I have a TAD-60 that uses KT-88's that have a good bit of grunt and also a White Oak modded Phase Linear 700B that probably qualifies to be in the "monster amp" category. I also have some 300B SET mono blocks and Pass First Watt F5 clone that's a little over 30wpc of pure class A. I'm very curious to hear what the Chorus II's do with all those different flavors of amplification. What you need are La Scala's and a sub.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWL Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Your ears sound similar to mine and I think you're on the right track with the Chorus ll"s. I settled on KLF -30'S. Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 8 hours ago, jjptkd said: I recommend getting the Bob Crites replacement crossovers if you're trying to get the most out of those speakers. Also, if you're looking for live playback volumes a quality, high powered amplifier really makes the Chorus II shine. I believe an amplifier with no less than 300 watts per channel is required to fully drive them to their limits. You certainly picked a nice pair of Klipsches to get back into the hobby! Post some pictures if you get the chance. Oh the sarcasm or a missed decimal place on the watts. LMAO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 41 minutes ago, tomlinmgt said: I'm a drummer and have been in and out of rock bands most of my life. I've had my fair share of ear shattering volume levels and am lucky as hell I don't suffer moderate or even severe tinnitus (I do have a little, but it's not even enough to be a distraction), so high output levels from my system are not a priority (but I do like having the capability). My goal is clarity (low to no distortion or strain), a tactile and physical reproduction of sonic content without having to push output levels beyond 85-95 db, clear and discernible image and sound stage resolution with noticeable dimensionality and life like scale, and a reasonably flat response curve down into the 30's. I have a TAD-60 that uses KT-88's that have a good bit of grunt and also a White Oak modded Phase Linear 700B that probably qualifies to be in the "monster amp" category. I also have some 300B SET mono blocks and Pass First Watt F5 clone that's a little over 30wpc of pure class A. I'm very curious to hear what the Chorus II's do with all those different flavors of amplification. Plenty of cool amps to try. Room placment is fun. Diameter of the passive radiator away from the rear wall. Put them on the long wall when ever you can. My Chorus IIs always got rave reviews at the Audio Karma enthusiast shows with NOS Valves amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomlinmgt Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 10 minutes ago, jimjimbo said: What you need are La Scala's and a sub.... LaScalas won't fit where I'm forced to locate the speakers. Even the 18" baffle width of the Chorus II's is pushing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomlinmgt Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 15 minutes ago, SWL said: Your ears sound similar to mine and I think you're on the right track with the Chorus ll"s. I settled on KLF -30'S. Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk KLF-30's and the larger Epic models were candidates, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWL Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 KLF-30's and the larger Epic models were candidates, as well. Fix em up a little and then you've really got something.Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 1 minute ago, tomlinmgt said: KLF-30's and the larger Epic models were candidates, as well. I liked the fact Chorus IIs were the last speaker PWK was intimately involved in the details of design. I think the cabinet construction of the KLF series was not as robust as Chorus or Forte. Know a person that had cabinet issues on KLF 30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWL Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I think the cabinet construction of the KLF series was not as robust as Chorus or Forte. Know a person that had cabinet issues on KLF 30.Like I said, fix em up a little and then you've really got something. I've heard 30's sound like crap more times than I've heard them sound good.....but when they are right...they're hard to beat.Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjptkd Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 3 hours ago, Audio Flynn said: Oh the sarcasm or a missed decimal place on the watts. LMAO I think people may be missing the point of my post. I've said many times before that 95% of my listening levels are less than 4 watts. Lately they've been less than 1 watt with less sensitive speakers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Chorus II's will keep getting louder and stay sounding good up to 300 watts of input power, that is where they seem to peak in output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 I think people may be missing the point of my post. I've said many times before that 95% of my listening levels are less than 4 watts. Lately they've been less than 1 watt with less sensitive speakers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Chorus II's will keep getting louder and stay sounding good up to 300 watts of input power, that is where they seem to peak in output.I would love to hear Roy's thoughts on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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