audiodogster Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I first went down the Klipsch rabbit hole when I bought a pair of La Scala Industrial in an auction without any idea of what they were. I liked them besides the bright tweeters and bass extension (and I was interested in doing some of the mods) but they were too wide and too ugly for my room so I put them up for sale (still available if anyone is interested). I didn't know if would end up with another pair but a couple of months ago, I picked up a pair of Forte in walnut. They looked and sounded wonderful. I preferred the sound to the La Scala but I had to put them up as I got them for my dad and plan to surprise him with them on Father's Day along with a restored HK 430 Twin Powered. I then put my Monitor Audio Studio 6 in my system, which are great speakers for near or semi-near field listening but aren't meant to fill a large room. I was planning on buying something Martin Logan for my front channels (and may still at some point as I have a center channel and subs from them) but last night I was waiting for a friend to come pick up his phone that he left and decided to check Craigslist and saw a pair of Klipsch KSP-400 for $250. It had been up for an hour so I was sure they were already claimed but I texted the number anyway asking if the price was correct. He said I was the first to contact him and yes, the price was correct. He was renovating his house and the wife wanted them gone, plus they had seen a little water damage from a pipe that burst. He also said he had the matching C6 center and a pair of Mirage KRx Ones with speaker stands and would do $425 for the lot. I went and auditioned them this morning and drove home with them. The water damage was minimal, veneer had separated but wasn't warped or anything, should glue right back down. Otherwise, the grills were missing for the towers but that isn't any concern for me. My two smaller subs are Martin Logan Abyss and go lower than the KSP-400 so I am currently running a 2.4 setup (center channel isn't connected). No hum from the woofers so the amp cards seem to be fine for now. I think these may be my favorite Klipsch yet, they look beautiful in mahogany and aren't as bright as the other models I'm used to. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Congrats on your find. Glad you like them. They have always seemed like an interesting design from Klipsch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Great buy dogster. Check out the manual. They're versatile. http://images.klipsch.com/KSP400C6S6Manual_635042115637990000.pdf Keith 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 2 hours ago, T2K said: Great buy dogster. Check out the manual. They're versatile. http://images.klipsch.com/KSP400C6S6Manual_635042115637990000.pdf Keith Thanks for the manual. Now I know why the midbass sounded so dead. I had the "bass boost" knobs turned all the way counterclockwise because I didn't want to have any bass boost but that really just set the bass down -6dB. My Martin Logan subs were handling under 35Hz so the low bass sounded fine. I need to make a pair of crossbars and probably add some spikes as they are sitting on top of an area rug that's on top of terrazzo floors. So far I'm satisfied with my purchase but I've actually done more listening to another pair of speakers I've just picked up, vintage Infinity QB. I've never heard Infinity or done much listening to ribbon tweeters so those were a treat, bought them to sell but might find another room put them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 3 hours ago, audiodogster said: Thanks for the manual. Now I know why the midbass sounded so dead. I had the "bass boost" knobs turned all the way counterclockwise because I didn't want to have any bass boost but that really just set the bass down -6dB. My Martin Logan subs were handling under 35Hz so the low bass sounded fine. I need to make a pair of crossbars and probably add some spikes as they are sitting on top of an area rug that's on top of terrazzo floors. So far I'm satisfied with my purchase but I've actually done more listening to another pair of speakers I've just picked up, vintage Infinity QB. I've never heard Infinity or done much listening to ribbon tweeters so those were a treat, bought them to sell but might find another room put them in. Yes, it's always good to have multiple speakers of different types. Then you can appreciate what the different implementations, horn vs. ribbon etc. have to offer. The farthest I have been away between the two was an set of Apogee Mini-Grands (100% Ribbon) sitting next to a set of KLF-30s. Two totally different presentations offering two different windows to see the music through. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 I use mine for HT primarily but also 5-channel music. The speakers will pound bass when LFE is adjusted properly for HT. For music, I prefer the warmer less bright sound of these speakers as opposed to other Klipsch speakers. Hookup options can be confusing if you try to exploit the speakers for all they're worth. In my experience the room surfaces (hard/soft) and amplification will affect the overall sound. Some speaker wire jumpers can be made easily and the original spikes (1/4 X 20 I believe) look similar to the ones pictured below. spikes.bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 Looks like one of the input boards is having issues. I have everything hooked up but the left speaker's indicator light stays green instead of turning red and nothing come out of the sub. I tried both line level and RCA and had the same result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 Do you have jumpers connecting all 3 pairs of speaker binding posts? Have you tried sliding the switch to 'on' position? Have you checked the fuse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 6 minutes ago, T2K said: Do you have jumpers connecting all 3 pairs of speaker binding posts? Have you tried sliding the switch to 'on' position? Have you checked the fuse? The fuse is fine, the led turns on green but doesn't switch to red. I sprayed the switch with contact cleaner but that didn't change anything. I don't have jumpers going to all three though I don't think that should matter but I can try that tomorrow. I pulled the board and tested it with the other speaker and same symptoms, so I believe that it's not a problem further up the line but I will take the other input board and test it on the speaker that wasn't working to be sure there isn't a problem with the amp card. I'll check the resistance of the woofer first before potentially frying the good board. The circuits on these boards seem pretty simple, no surface mount components. I should be able to rebuild them if necessary, only concern is part availability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 Woofer and amp cards are good on both speakers. Input card is the fault on that speaker, I swapped in the good input card and it the sub worked with no hum. Looks like I need to figure out what failed on the input board. Fortunately, another thread had the service manual PDF with all of the parts listed and diagrams with voltages to help with tracing the fault. I think I may go ahead and replace the capacitors on the amp cards seeing as they are common failure items. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 On May 17, 2017 at 3:47 AM, audiodogster said: . . . plan to surprise him with them on Father's Day along with a restored HK 430 Twin Powered. Such a good son. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 On 5/20/2017 at 7:13 AM, DizRotus said: Such a good son. Looks like the HK430 might not be done by Father's Day but I'm sure he'll love the Forte. Haven't been able to diagnose the input card yet but found out that a piece of equipment I had to buy for my electronics class has a built-in oscilloscope and signal generator on top of the built-in multimeter. National Instruments myDAQ, only $179 so it's somewhat incredible that is has those features for that price. I was going to have to go into our maker space to use their high end (donated) equipment but the myDAQ should do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Who did, is doing, or will do, the restoration work on the h/k430? Forum members are always looking for capable techs to restore h/k x30s, as well as other vintage gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodogster Posted June 11, 2017 Author Share Posted June 11, 2017 I'm doing it myself, that's been the hold up. I've been trying to read through all of the rebuild threads. A few of the transistor pairs need to be updated and the trim pots could probably be replaced as well. The other part of why it's taken me so long is I don't have as nice of a soldering setup as my school and the hours they have the electronics lab in our maker space open is abysmal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 30 minutes ago, audiodogster said: I'm doing it myself, that's been the hold up. I've been trying to read through all of the rebuild threads. A few of the transistor pairs need to be updated and the trim pots could probably be replaced as well. The other part of why it's taken me so long is I don't have as nice of a soldering setup as my school and the hours they have the electronics lab in our maker space open is abysmal. If you're interested, others will want to hire you to restore their h/k x30s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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