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Klipschorn Portable Corner Walls


StephenJK

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Klipschorn Portable Corner Wall

Under a separate thread I explained how I’ve been working on a pair of Klipschorn’s from 1976.  This is more of a rebuild than a restoration.  All of the edge banding has been replaced, but I was able to sand and refinish the bass and horn cabinets with only minor repairs being needed.  The crossovers were completely rebuilt with new capacitors from Bob Crites. 

Because of the layout of our house, it isn’t possible to place the speakers into corners.  I thought of closing in the bass cabinets but was reluctant to change the original design.

As a result, portable corner walls are needed.  The Klipsch design with 2 x 4’s and plywood was not something I wanted to do.  That’s an old design using the materials available at the time, and one I thought I could improve on.

These walls are made from 1” x 4” (3/4” x 3-1/2” actual) knotty pine.  I used a dado blade on the table saw to cut a groove 3/8” deep and 1/4” wide.  The completed outside dimensions are 42” x 42”.

Once assembled with glue, screws and one floating tenon per corner, the wood forms a slot that is used to insert a section of wall paneling 1/4” thick.  I don’t think the tenon is absolutely necessary, but it will stop the ends from twisting and keep them aligned.

I went with a wood grain look as that was the least ugly panel at Home Depot.  I suppose you could also use a flat Masonite panel and then paint, but I’m OK with the wood grain look.

Once the two panel section were installed, I inserted 2” rigid Styrofoam board to fill the center space.  The foam is easy to cut with the table saw and you can get a close fit.  The idea is that the foam board will provide a high density barrier to the bass signal without adding a lot of weight.

Once the foam was installed, I placed the top cap and screwed it in place.  After that, to better seal the wall sections and to glue them up I ran a bead of clear silicone all around both sides and clamped it while the silicone set up.

Alternately, you could run a bead of silicone on the inside of the wood frame so that it would stick to the Styrofoam, but I think it’s easier to do the outside.

With the silicone set, I finished by plugging the top screw holes and placing wood filler into the exposed end of the dado groove.  Once that was sanded down and the stain touched up the entire wall assembly, including the panels was given a coat of satin water based Varathane.

The walls were assembled with a couple of brass hinges, and the bottom protected with felt stick-on feet.  Each wall panel section weighs just a bit over 26 pounds for a total assembly of 52 pounds.  They’re light and easy to move around.

All costs are Canadian dollars.  The cost for the pine was a few bucks.  The wall panelling was about $38 a sheet with four sheets needed.  The 96” x 48” x 2” rigid foam was surprisingly expensive at $32 each, again four being needed.  Any other material I had lying around, but that’s the bulk of it.

The walls work very well.  I do need to do some tweaking, especially with something to close up the gap at the back.  The overlap of the frame at the top and bottom fits well up to the side of the speaker.  My thought was that the bass signal exits by bouncing off the back baffle plate and then out along each side, so it shouldn’t matter if there is a gap between the wall sections.  

On second thought I think I’m wrong and will have to either make a 90 degree molding that can be screwed in place or cover the gap with a strip of rubber of some sort. 

The nice thing about them is they are light and very easy to reposition with the speakers as I continue to dial them in. 

Note that the side grilles are not installed.  The bottoms got wet at some point, the 10,000 staples in each one rusted slightly and they’re a bear to pull out.  A couple of the plywood panels are broken so it’s easier to make new panels from 1/2" sanded plywood, paint them black and install new grille cloth.  I was going to install new cloth anyway, as the original stuff has seen better days.

The speakers are sitting on indoor/outdoor carpet – the rubber backed stuff.  I cut a triangle shape that the three metal feet can rest on, essentially the same size as the bottom of the bass cabinet. 

Two carpet sections of the same size are stuck together with double sided carpet tape so that the carpet side sits on the floor and the rubber side sits under the speaker.  That allows me to easily move the speakers around without marking up the pine floor.

That’s it! 

Edit:  I'm unable to have the pictures sorted in order by file name and after four attempts have decided to give up.  In any event, you'll get the idea.....

 

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Edited by StephenJK
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k-horns 8 ft apart. looks like you have plenty of room on both sides of the windows to spread them out to at least 20'. build false walls and stuff them in to the corners like their supposed to be. sit back 10' you'll be shocked on the room filling sound

 

beautiful logs

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14 hours ago, JMON said:

Awesome job!  Now how do they sound?

 

14 hours ago, jorjen said:

Nice job, they look fantastic!

 

Is that a Clearaudio Performance Turntable I see in your rack?

That is a Clearaudio Ovation with the Universal tonearm.  Also installed the VTA adjuster. It's the best turntable I've ever owned.  

 

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10 hours ago, ricktate said:

Great job. What did you do to keep panel from vibrating in the center part of each panel ?  Wouldn't the K-Horns sound better a little farther apart and toed in slightly also? 

  But it is a good idea.

The ridgid styrofoam fits tightly between the wall panels, there's no play at all. I don't think they could buzz or vibrate at all. 

 

I've never had K-horns before, I normally run with four way magnetic planars. I rebuilt these for a friend who then left them with me. I have a lot to learn about these speakers, this was just the first serup and it's close to how thw planars were setup. I see a few comments about further apart, that I can do. 

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3 hours ago, Budman said:

k-horns 8 ft apart. looks like you have plenty of room on both sides of the windows to spread them out to at least 20'. build false walls and stuff them in to the corners like their supposed to be. sit back 10' you'll be shocked on the room filling sound

 

beautiful logs

Agreed, as I replied to another comment I have a lot to learn about these speakers. Those are the false walls, they're easy to move and I will try a different setup. What you don't see is that the house is completely open across the top floor. Normally, we're listening at the supper table which is another 36 feet back. And yes, they fill the house with sound in a way my planars never could - at any volume. 

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15 hours ago, JMON said:

Awesome job!  Now how do they sound?

The difference with the walls is astonishing. The bass cabinet seems to have a frequency range much geater than what you would expect - it's from low bass to a midrange overlap. With the walls in place the gap to the squawker is now seamlessly closed.

 

There seems to be a balance between all the drivers that wasn't there before. The horns provide the detail and resolution while the bass extension with the walls fills up to meet and overlap the horns. 

 

I'm glad that I rebuilt the speakers and crossovers to the original specification - I can see why they are so highly regarded. 

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You people with your crazy wood skills. Everything looks fantastic from the KHorns, false walls and log home. And once again and will keep repeating whenever I see these great projects I can't cut a 2x4 straight with a chop saw. Or table saw. Or radial arm saw. Handsaws are verboten!!!

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14 minutes ago, richieb said:

You people with your crazy wood skills. Everything looks fantastic from the KHorns, false walls and log home. And once again and will keep repeating whenever I see these great projects I can't cut a 2x4 straight with a chop saw. Or table saw. Or radial arm saw. Handsaws are verboten!!!

I'm sure you have other skills that more than make up for your lack of shop experience. :)

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Not sure if you did this or not but the Tail Board on the klipschorn needs some kind of seal against your false walls. Depending how tight the horizontal part of bass bin is to the false wall it might need some . Most of us use pipe foam in these areas as it seals good and cheap.

I would spread them out at least 12 feet and toe them in a little. Some say point them just past your head some say point them to in front of your head at listening position.

How do you hold the false walls up against the back of the speaker ? Since they have little weight I would be afraid of them moving around. I think I would have put some bricks in the bottom to add a little more weight to them. But you should know Paul Klipsch had same type of false walls in his own home so you did good. You would be surprised how much power that horn loaded woofer can produce. I would also put what use to be called Grippers on the speakers and the walls since they sit on a smooth surface.

So have you been converted to the dark side now???lol. Seems every time someone hears a real K-Horn set up right with good system they always never go back. Those [Magpie] owners are always the worst at cutting down Klipsch products. I always tell them I could knock over their little planer speakers with 10 watts they get real mad then...lol

  Love your house it  looks awesome....Looks like those Ks have room to breath in your house though I bet they sound awesome. Would love to hear more on your thoughts on the sound compared to what you use to have. You say you got these given to you???? WOW

RICK

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12 hours ago, ricktate said:

Not sure if you did this or not but the Tail Board on the klipschorn needs some kind of seal against your false walls. Depending how tight the horizontal part of bass bin is to the false wall it might need some . Most of us use pipe foam in these areas as it seals good and cheap.

I would spread them out at least 12 feet and toe them in a little. Some say point them just past your head some say point them to in front of your head at listening position.

How do you hold the false walls up against the back of the speaker ? Since they have little weight I would be afraid of them moving around. I think I would have put some bricks in the bottom to add a little more weight to them. But you should know Paul Klipsch had same type of false walls in his own home so you did good. You would be surprised how much power that horn loaded woofer can produce. I would also put what use to be called Grippers on the speakers and the walls since they sit on a smooth surface.

So have you been converted to the dark side now???lol. Seems every time someone hears a real K-Horn set up right with good system they always never go back. Those [Magpie] owners are always the worst at cutting down Klipsch products. I always tell them I could knock over their little planer speakers with 10 watts they get real mad then...lol

  Love your house it  looks awesome....Looks like those Ks have room to breath in your house though I bet they sound awesome. Would love to hear more on your thoughts on the sound compared to what you use to have. You say you got these given to you???? WOW

RICK

Rick,

 

I don't have Magnepans, I have something called Fostex GZ-2000's. They're a magnetic planar with a four-way configuration. As you know the Maggies tend to be bass shy. Fostex got around this with a 12" edgeless woofer in a lower sealed bass cabinet. There were maybe 12 pairs made in a prototype run in the early 80's. I bought them from Oakwood Audio in 1982 for $4,800. 

 

At the time, through a local company called RWO they were making the LS-1, -2 and -3 monitors using the Fostex drivers. Those were with two top time aligned horns with a lower ported and vented dual driver bass cabinet. 

 

My wife and I preferred the planars over the horns. The planars have a very flat frequency response, are the most accurate speaker I have heard and have never failed to resolve the most minor changes in our system. 

 

I do plan to conduct a detailed analysis and comparison between the Fostex and the K-horns with the understanding that it's a bit of an apple and oranges thing - they were made for different purposes. Still, soundstage depth, instrument placement, detail and resolution should be common factors. 

 

I'll make some time to do some testing tomorrow and will report back soon, perhaps with a new thread topic. 

 

And yes, I will try the pipe insulation on the baffle plate. There doesn't seem to be any issue with the walls moving, we rarely play over a comfortable conversational level. 

 

So far, I do have to say that the detail, clarity and resolution of the horns is astonishing. I continue to hear things on recordings I know well that I have never heard before. Testing is needed to see if, compared to the planars, something might be changed or missing. 

 

Stephen

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5 minutes ago, Stevenarrow said:

any idea if those RWO monitors are still around?

I've come across a very few for sale over the years. They were big and heavy, like a K-horn lying on it's side. The last time I saw a pair of LS-3's was in Hamilton through the CanuckAudioMart.com many years ago. They were beat to hell and my very unreasonable offer was refused. 

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