Klipschorn - New Build introduced to pilgrimage attendees

[Chris A]

38 minutes ago, mikebse2a3 said:

Hmmm....  “manufacture’s pride” well I sure hope Klipsch has great pride in all aspects of the Klipschorn...What I have no doubt about is Roy’s desire to honor PWK with any changes that he designs into the Klipschorn. 

 

There has been a fair amount of discussion on "inflated sensitivity specifications" of late on this and other forums (i.e., measuring sensitivity in a way that isn't what I'd call "conservative" that tends to err on the high side).  [I'm pretty sure that you don't want the conversation in your thread here going in that direction.  I simply answered JJKizak as honestly as I knew how--since no one else tried to answer it.  It's not a hard question to answer, but it may be a sensitive one from the standpoint of the manufacturer...or their representatives here on the forum.  That's the essence of my meaning, above.]

 

35 minutes ago, JohnA said:

This is true, but that 1 db shows up as a "flavor" and will be audible.  It might make the K-horn sound soft or some such audiopile adjective in vogue this month. 

I think that you're probably answering based on a mindset that the rest of the loudspeaker wouldn't be rebalanced using a fully updated balancing/crossover network--including the bass bin gain/impedance vs. frequency.  I answered the question from the standpoint of complete loudspeaker balancing network redesign after the above changes were instituted in the cabinet and drivers, not DIY swap-out using a third-party tweeter. The object of that type of redesign activity described in this thread is to rebalance everything so that the timbre doesn't shift perceptibly--I would guess--since that's PWK's baby, and Roy, et al. hold in such reverence preserving that original sound of his flagship loudspeaker that started the company in the 1940s.

 

Chris

[boom3]

11 hours ago, alxlwson said:

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought of using glass filled plastic for the horn.  It is dense, for sure. Quite the impressive mold that must be. The amount of scrap I see at some of my plastics customers on much simpler IM parts makes me think this has a wicked amount! How does the sound compare to the previous metal horn, and why was the GFP selected?

 

Klipsch went to the GRP K-401 in the 1990s. There is a cover of Speaker Builder that has a great pic of the K-401 production line. I can't speak for Klipsch, but the metal horn rang and was frequently damped with putty. The K-401 is much more rigid. I bought one to use in my center channel rig and it it is quite inert.

 

Paul was asked (more than once I'm sure) why the K-400 wasn't injection molded before, and in my presence about 1978, said, "The mold would stretch the account's butts (euphemism for the forum ) out to here."

[alxlwson]

57 minutes ago, boom3 said:

 

Klipsch went to the GRP K-401 in the 1990s. There is a cover of Speaker Builder that has a great pic of the K-401 production line. I can't speak for Klipsch, but the metal horn rang and was frequently damped with putty. The K-401 is much more rigid. I bought one to use in my center channel rig and it it is quite inert.

 

Paul was asked (more than once I'm sure) why the K-400 wasn't injection molded before, and in my presence about 1978, said, "The mold would stretch the account's butts (euphemism for the forum ) out to here."

 

 

Ahh, well thanks for the info! All of the pictures that I've seen inside of the Khorns have shown metal horns. I did a quick Google image search before my query to make sure I wasn't posing a stupid question. Turns out, my GoogleFu isn't as strong as it used to be 😅.

 

From my knowledge of PIM, that horn is very expensive to make. Between lack of volume and it being a complex mold that likely requires the cavity to be unloaded by hand instead of robot, it must be. Those two things alone, plus the probable high amount of short shots resulting in plenty of scrap, results in a high cost per part.

 

It would be very interesting to know how many of these horns(just that horn, not the whole speaker) are sold on an annual basis. 

[seti]

That new Khorn build is superb. Most exciting list of changes in a long time. Way to go ROY!!!!

 

 

 

[garyrc]

8 hours ago, boom3 said:

 

Klipsch went to the GRP K-401 in the 1990s. There is a cover of Speaker Builder that has a great pic of the K-401 production line. I can't speak for Klipsch, but the metal horn rang and was frequently damped with putty. The K-401 is much more rigid. I bought one to use in my center channel rig and it it is quite inert.

 

Paul was asked (more than once I'm sure) why the K-400 wasn't injection molded before, and in my presence about 1978, said, "The mold would stretch the account's butts (euphemism for the forum ) out to here."

 

 I believe the year was 1987.  Klipsch claimed the old metal horn (K400) didn't ring if firmly attached to the baffle board, and supported properly.  I replaced my K400s with K401s in about 2006.  Klipsch service said they had "slightly lower distortion."  They sound slightly different -- I think -- but it is barely, and unreliably, noticeable.  

[ricktate]

I was in the purple tour group we did not get to see the new K-Horn build area.....dang it. Where was this secret area at ? Glad someone got pics in there. When I heard what they were going to cost I thought they are really going to be out of range of most people. 

[Deano1974]

These are going to be amazing, might have to wait awhile before they hit the shores of New Zealand though [emoji26]

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[Schu]

I wonder why they added a 2" riser....

[seti]

On 7/2/2018 at 6:15 AM, Schu said:

I wonder why they added a 2" riser....

To help with false  enclosed backs?

 

 

[Wirrunna]

On 7/3/2018 at 12:11 AM, seti said:

To help with false backs?

 

• Quote

I think you are right. By raising the bass bin 2" they dispense with the old cutout for the skirting board.

I lightened up mikebse2a3's picture and you can see there are just straight cuts for the backs, makes for simpler production.

 

Edited July 8, 2018 by Wirrunna
fixed pic upload

[Wirrunna]