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Hello all, new to forum. Proud new owner of a set of 1993 KG 5.2. I am powering these with a 1974 Pioneer SA-8100 (40 watt per channel) running a two channel set up with a turntable and an ipad running through a pioneer DDJ for my digital audio for extended listening. 

 

The problem is the speakers sound amazing at low volume, 70-80db at 15', once I turn them up to say 90db at 15' the 10' driver on one speaker distorts.  I ran a series of test to isolate, I balanced L-R to see if it happens on the R speaker at volume, it sounds great, balance to the L and distortion. I pulled all mid and low to check horn and both sound fine, I add bass and the 12" sounds solid but the 10" starts to sound "blown" at high volume. I know the 12" is not powered and has no coil,  I was thinking of suspension fatigue or voice coil failure on the 10". What says the Klipsch community? Thanks in advance for having me. 

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Edited by BrianJacobs
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One of your woofers probably has a damaged voice coil (from too much heat) that is rubbing the magnet gap.  Listen for rubbing.  If you can get a kit from Klipsch, it can be reconed, or you can install a replacement woofer.  Too much heat can easily come from driving an amplifier into clipping, especially with the bass knob turned up. 

 

 

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Welcome Brian-

 

Have you confirmed that the driver and passive radiator are securely attached?  Have you switched speaker leads to confirm the problem stays with the speaker on the left?  If switching speaker leads sends the problem to the speaker on the right, the speaker is not at fault, but rather a problem in the left channel signal path.

 

Assuming the right channel also sounds bad in the left speaker, I would gently push on the driver, while placing fingers around the perimeter of the dust cover.  Listen, and feel, for the scraping of the voice coil referred to by JohnA above.  Irrespective of your assessment, the next step is to remove the driver to be replaced or repaired.

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just swapped speakers left to right, problem repeats, confirmed both driver and radiator are securely attached, I think the route I would take would be replace over recone.  What would be the best route for replacement? I have read about people being satisfied with aftermarket options but not sure if that is like putting a chevy motor in a Porsche? 

 

The gentleman I bought the speakers from said he just replaced 1 driver with a used driver from Ebay, but did not note which speaker it was. So either the other speaker also failed or the replacement failed as well. Regardless, I think replacing both drivers and starting over is the best route.  The next question is, while my 40 watt amp certainly gets these screaming, am I underpowering the speakers, should I upgrade to 100W watt amp to prevent future damage?  (I have a feeling asking if I need more power in here is like asking my car buddies If I should turn the boost up in my car, more power is always better) 

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23 hours ago, JohnA said:

LOL!  "They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true."  Call and ask.

 

https://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m4084.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.XKlipsch+k-.TRS0&_nkw=Klipsch+k-1001-k

 

 

the internet was correct, Klipsch discontinued the 10" drivers. They said the speaker from Midwest Speaker is a 1:1 clone on the factory Klipsch driver and is an excellent unit. I ordered a matched pair and also got the titanium upgrade for the horns as they were only $24 per.  Thanks for all your help thus far, I will report back next week and give you guys a review. 

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Factory KG-1001 on the right, to say it is everything the factory speaker is and more is an understatement. only down side I can think of is it does not look factory as shown. Dont care, my screens look good and these sound great. Also added the titanium diaphragms from mid west speaker as well. All in I am at $600 for these speakers with new horns and drivers. While on the pricey side for a nearly 30 year old pair of speakers, these are now essentially brand new and I can not think of anything below $3000 I would rather have. 

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Edited by BrianJacobs
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the wife and kids have been out of town for a week and I have been playing these non stop with a wide range of music ever since,  much much brighter than factory, mids are fantastic, and bass is great for everything except anything that has an 808. A terrific speaker for rock, folk, jazz.....gonna try to hook up my sub and see how it does with electronic stuff, if as good as I suspect I will pick up an 8" sunfire for those times I listen to stuff that goes low. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

UPDATE: well the little 1974 pioneer that could no longer can. The right channel is gone, not sure if worth fixing or not. In the mean time I picked up a Rotel RB 1080 200WPC. Dont really notice much of difference in volume but wow did the speakers come to life. The highs scream, the lows drop. This is off my crappy pioneer DJ mixer, looking for a decent pre amp to find its way into my life. We shall see what fate brings my way (and just incase fate does not produce I am watching the internet daily) 

 

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