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forte II w/ A-55G Mids?


jjptkd

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9 hours ago, BEC said:

The K-52H was built by Heppner.  Klipsch bought the company or perhaps just their driver tooling and sent the tooling to China to be used for driver production.  The also did a large mod to the diaphragm that combined diaphragm and phase plug into one single plastic unit.  With Heppner, the phase plug (witches hat) is a separate metal unit that just fits up against the diaphragm.  Also, the driver was changed from a thread on to a bolt on and the plastic horns for front mount were made to match the modified driver.

So do you know the motivation behind the change? 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/9/2018 at 7:21 PM, Deang said:

 

Everything in the first paragraph is wrong. A lot of time and effort went into developing that driver and diaphragm.

 

One or two were sent to Al for testing. This testing was for Bob, not for John (Allen) - who already knew everything there was to know about it.

 

The PD5-VH is not a "clone" of the WE 555, but it is based off of it.

 

 

Were you a part of the development team for this driver? If you were then I feel like that should be noted as it could present a potential bias. If you weren't then I'm not sure how you can speak with such certainty about the time and/or money that went into the development of the driver?

 

I should clarify that it's not that I believe a product like this doesn't take time and money, I know for a fact that is does but I do feel that the numbers are stated in a way to express or imbue a sense of quality. Ad speak.

 

John Allen also very much owns/runs a company that produces a line of Klipsch Heritage knock offs so producing his own driver could absolutely save him some money in the long run? Especially if he also sells the driver in the aftermarket as a Klipsch upgrade, further offsetting the development cost.  

 

And thank you for the information on the data collection. 

 

 

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On 2/23/2018 at 9:22 AM, jjptkd said:

It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see what happened here and cost certainly seems to be the driving factor. If the k-52 / 53 / 57 / 61 1.5" driver was "better" than the k-55 the Klipschorn and La Scala would have seen the same change. If performance was the same and cost the same why change? Best case scenario is performance was the same or within an acceptable level at the specified frequency range >600hz at a lower cost otherwise again, why change?

 

What makes sense to me here (and I'm speculating) was Klipsch probably pays a premium for the k-55 because of its ability to play down low (400hz needed in the k-horn and la scala) and since the Heresy and Cornwall do not need a mid driver that plays that low they were able to come up with a less expensive alternative that met the design goals of those speakers, actually a wise responsible thing to do if you're in the business of selling speakers for profit. 

 

Now it is amazing to me that Klipsch was able to cut so many costs on the Cornwall and Heresy; cabinet materials (MDF) Crossovers (PCB's) Horn lenses (ABS) and horn drivers and still have them perform (arguably) at or near the level of their predecessors. Considering prices for the new models likely went up and costs went down these changes worked out nicely for the bottom line at Klipsch. I wonder who was responsible for the transition from the Heresy and Cornwall in the early to mid '80's to the "II" versions and how big their bonus was? 

 

I would absolutely agree that the switch to the Heppner driver appears to have happened as a cost cutting measure? The Heresy and Cornwall do not command the same $$$ as the La Scala or Klipschorn so keeping the cost down would definitely help them stay competitive in the market place. The K52 is also a VERY good driver, so I do not consider this change a degradation of quality.

 

On 2/24/2018 at 10:00 AM, jjptkd said:

I think the Cornwall 1.5 and Heresy 1.5 demonstrate the fact that these two mid drivers are some what interchangeable, whether or not one would prefer one driver over the other in any set of speakers crossover adjustment or not (not convinced at this point changes to the crossover are needed) is going to be purely subjective. As I've stated before I like the k-55 variants better than the k-52 variants, the sound has a lower / deeper tone and presentation sound stage is some what larger depending on the horn its bolted to.  

 

It is important to remember that the move to the Heppner driver came with some important changes to the network (E2 & B3). Yes, the K55 has better response below 600hz and you can here that difference which means that the way that driver integrates with the woofer is different. This is not just an SPL issue. A lot of those older networks were deceptively simple but that does not mean that they were just thrown together without careful consideration of their implementation.

 

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19 hours ago, CANT said:

 

... If you weren't then I'm not sure how you can speak with such certainty about the time and/or money that went into the development of the driver?

 

... but I do feel that the numbers are stated in a way to express or imbue a sense of quality. Ad speak.

 

I spoke to him on the phone for several hours, he just didn't come off as the embellishing type (or a liar).

 

Sure, of course, it's all "Ad speak". Simple solution: Don't buy the driver.

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  • 1 year later...
On 11/3/2016 at 5:14 PM, cincymat said:

If you have the chance and can find the part number for the horns, I'd like to know. I have a pair of Forte II's stored away and would like to try this mod. I'm thinking it would really make the midrange much better. 

 

And it it would give me an excuse to try the new K55G from BC in my La Scalas. 

 

Mark

Did anyone ever supply part numbers for the horns to do this A-55G mod to a forte?

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  • 3 years later...
On 1/28/2017 at 12:31 PM, pbvideo said:

Inspired by this Forte thread (thanks Jesse), I decided to give the A55-G drivers a go in my Chorus II setup. I consulted with Mr Crites and found a way to mount the driver directly to the stock horn in the Chorus (the trick was having enough depth in the cabinet and I ultimately had 1/2" to spare). After more than a month of listening to the A55-G installed in my Chorus II speakers, I've had some time to process the differences over the stock K61 mid driver and there's really no comparison. The overall midrange sound is much better - smoother with more detail and range.  I'm very happy with the change over from the k61!  Thanks to Jesse and Bob for the help!

 

k61 with horn.JPGk61.JPGadaptor.JPGA55 mounted 2.JPGA55 mounted.JPG

Hi there, I'd love to learn more and chat about this. I too would love to go from the K61K in my C2 to say the K-55 M or so, similar to you. Did you also have to mod the crossovers to match the output level, etc.? where did yo get the adapter?

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