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KLF Owner's Using k-55 for Mids?


jjptkd

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So, I've been talking with Bob Crites this morning about a few things, one of them being mid drivers. He has informed me that swapping out the stock mid drivers in the KLF 20 / 30 with the k-55v is a common practice and has been going on for years-- has anyone here done this or heard of such a thing?

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From what I've read, and it's even mentioned on Bob's site in regards to his Type A/4500 crossover, is that the K-55 is starting to seriously drop off by 5.5-6 KHz.

 

The KLF 20/30 mid to tweeter crossover is 7 KHz. Seems like that wouldn't be a good match, unless there is a change to the KLF crossover.

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I believe impedance and level matching are the same across these two drivers, the only thing that has me concerned is the crossover points. Looking at the specs for the Heritage speakers that use the k-55 it seems they all have upper crossover points at 4500hz. The dual phase plug version is suppose to have usable range up to 6000hz but I'm not sure if that is limited by the driver itself or the k-401 horn that the measurements were taken in?  

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Don't really want to bother the guy too much. I ran my own frequency response test today with the A-55g drivers and they had no problem playing up to 8000hz in my KP-601 horn. The only real concern I guess is that the mid plays into the tweeter band but it just so happens to fit inline with the equal loudness contour so it doesn't actually seem to matter. Going by Bob Crites recommendation on his website and what I found today I'd say the A-55g and probably the k-55 would work just fine in the KLF line.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 7:11 PM, jjptkd said:

I ran my own frequency response test today with the A-55g drivers and they had no problem playing up to 8000hz in my KP-601 horn.

 

Turns out I was doing this test wrong but got it straightened out. My official test results showed a relatively flat response from about 520hz-6300hz in my KP-601 horn compared to a 620hz-6700hz response from the stock k-61 horn and mid driver. Using the stock forte II crossover output seemed about 3db less with the A-55g across the range than the stock driver. The a-55g's mids did seem slightly recessed and not as prominent as the stock drivers, especially when comparing side by side. I never noticed the gap in response between the mid and tweeter 6300 / 7000 and I played around with a lot of different music that I'm very familiar with.

 

The k-75 / k-79 tweeters are capable of playing down to 5000hz so I think with a few minor adjustments to the crossovers these drivers could be implemented into the KLF line or even the forte II / Chorus II models with the KP-601 horns. The original forte has crossover points at 700hz and 6000hz, the Chorus II crossover points are 600hz and 5000hz. I've been thinking about commissioning Mr Crites for a pair of custom crossovers mixing parts from the different crossovers to come up with crossover points at 600 & 6000 with a 3db increase on the mid section for my forte II's but I haven't asked him yet.

 

 

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So I emailed Mr Crites yesterday and his response was pretty much in disagreement with my position for the need for any changes to the crossover. He claims to have tested both of the drivers in question (stock k-61 vs k-55) several times and says they have basically the same level of output. He cites the transition in the Cornwall I to the II where Klipsch changed mid drivers from the k-55v in the original to the K-52 in the II without changing the setting in the crossover. 

 

Edit: Mr Crites has just informed me that the driver change in the Cornwall as mentioned above was done in the original Cornwall at some point, not the Cornwall II. 

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  • 1 month later...


I tired it once for fun on a pair of KLF20's and did not like it... also tried a University SAHF... over all I wouldn't really consider these drivers generically swap-able 


What didn't you like about it?

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

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I've known Bob personally for a very long time - and the man is meticulous with his measurements. Seems hard to believe that he would recommend a driver that wouldn't work where it can work. He may be a little hard of hearing - but he does have a $20,000 spectrum analyzer to keep him straight. 

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On 1/9/2017 at 1:26 PM, SWL said:


What didn't you like about it?
 

 

It's honestly been too long now for me to remember and I don't think I took notes or anything... I just remember looking at the fairly straightforward crossover of the KLF20 and the parts I had lying around and thinking "why not give it a go"? I also remember being somewhat surprised by how poorly the experiment came out and wondering if it had anything to do with the rather drastic difference between the exit of the driver (0.7" if I remember correctly) and the beginning of the horn throat (1") and the rather short/shallow design of the K703? 

 

To be fair I should also mention that I didn't really care all that much for the KLF20's in general. I heard many good things and I am glad I got a chance to own/play with a pair but  in the end I wasn't exactly sad to see them go... 

 

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On 11/30/2016 at 9:32 AM, jjptkd said:

So I emailed Mr Crites yesterday and his response was pretty much in disagreement with my position for the need for any changes to the crossover. He claims to have tested both of the drivers in question (stock k-61 vs k-55) several times and says they have basically the same level of output. He cites the transition in the Cornwall I to the II where Klipsch changed mid drivers from the k-55v in the original to the K-52 in the II without changing the setting in the crossover. 

 

Edit: Mr Crites has just informed me that the driver change in the Cornwall as mentioned above was done in the original Cornwall at some point, not the Cornwall II. 

 

I have actually also played with driver/network variation in a Cornwall cab and would add that, in said application, one should also be careful about assumptions...

 

If you searching the forum for other posts related to swapping/changing various drivers in Cornwalls you will see what I am talking about.

 

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This was just a little experiment of mine to pass the time until I found my HIP's, which I have and now the forte II's are down the road sitting in someone else's house. I think once I have the room again for larger speakers I may end up building my own Cornscala's in a Chorus size / shaped cabinet.

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  • 1 month later...
On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 11:23 AM, CANT said:

 

I have actually also played with driver/network variation in a Cornwall cab and would add that, in said application, one should also be careful about assumptions...

 

If you searching the forum for other posts related to swapping/changing various drivers in Cornwalls you will see what I am talking about.

 

 

Looking into the Cornwall type B-3 networks yesterday I stumbled across an old thread discussing the transition between the B-2 & B-3 networks and various drivers. A Klipsch employee at the time stated that the k-57 mid driver in the Cornwall II is actually 2-3db louder than the k-55v. The k-57 uses the same diaphragm and magnet structure as the k-53, k-61 in the forte models as well as in the KLF 20 /30 models:

 

Pulled from the thread above:

 

This is the response that I got from Steve Phillips at Klipsch

"Well,

My suggestion would be no, you could not use the B-3 with the K-55-V.

There spl differences between the 55-V and 57-K, 57 is about 2 to 3 dB higher

I do not have specs on them, but the network differences are easy to notice.

Not sure if you have the B-3, but I will send it along.

Caps and tap points are different.

You may be able to just change the tap points and the mid level be correct.

I would suggest that it may not cause any problems using the network, just may not sound "right."

The B-3's are going right to Michael when once I receive them since he has the matching components that they were designed to work with.

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