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Large K-79 Tweeter Horn Lens Road Show


Dave A

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On 10/2/2018 at 5:28 PM, ClaudeJ1 said:

Those curves should never cause anyone to use the word "appears."   It's pure and REAL data, curved from the exact same distance in the same room from 1 meter away. One original K77 tweeter mounted on a Klipsch Heresy vs that same Klipsch Heresy using Dave's new tweeter assembly bolted into the same cabinet with the exact same crossover, unchanged from the factory, except for new film capacitors for both curves. It's a factory K77 vs. the new improved driver/lens combo from DaveA, plain, simple, and accurate. Original tweeter vs. new tweeter. The vastly superior definition of all instruments, especially the palpable reality of Cymbals, says it all beyond reading curves.

 

So, with the unchanged factory crossover as stated above............you have tweeter curves virtually flat down to 2K.  How do you get that?

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On 10/2/2018 at 4:37 PM, ClaudeJ1 said:

Here are 2 curves comparing DavA's Horn Lens with B&C DE-120 vs. original square magnet K77 on a Super Heresy 1.5. The rolloff with the K77 starts at less than 7.8 Khz. and goes down pretty drastically while the DaveA's horn/driver combo remains flat. Please note the 2 db increment in the vertical scale vs. the typical 5 or 10 db increment. It's 2 1/2 to 5 times the resolution in the curve plot. Also note that the curve is for DaveA's smaller horn lens. The BIG one talked about here is even smoother than this below 7 Khz. so it you have room, it's the way to go!! If not, this little one 'aint too shabby!!!

 

DavA_B&C_DE120vsK77.jpg

 

Better check your crossover.  Flat to 2K?  How?

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2 hours ago, mark1101 said:

 

So, with the unchanged factory crossover as stated above............you have tweeter curves virtually flat down to 2K.  How do you get that?

From the original post: "Here are 2 curves comparing DavA's Horn Lens with B&C DE-120 vs. original square magnet K77 on a Super Heresy 1.5."

 

It's not just a tweeter curve, it's a simple swap in a Super Heresy 1.5 with the original E-2 network, with a full band sweep. So the K-55 is still at play. In other words, I ran the sweep from 20-20Khz from the exact same mike distance on the Super Heresy, before and after the swap. I'm just showing the high end part, since the low end is irrelevant to my point about K77 vs. MAHL+B&C_DE-120. Got it?

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  • 1 month later...

Claude had tested the B&C DE10 for the larger MAHL's some time back and I briefly had a set to play with here. Time passes and my driver vendors get these back in stock so I can place an order. Yes it is hard to imagine but true these guys often run out as far as I can tell and then you wait wait wait. Anyway I have had some DE10's to play with now and Claude is right these are the ones to get. They are $60 a set cheaper and sound clearly better and these will be my stock drivers for the larger MAHL's from now on unless someone requests otherwise. They are to big to fit through the cutout so you have to install the horn lens first and then mount the clamp plate to the back side while in place. Easy to do by removing the mid driver and reaching in though that cutout to assemble.

 

 

  Forgot to mention these De10's will be the drivers that go with the road show large MAHL tweeters from now on.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recieved the MAHL K-79 tweeters today. I've got them installed in my KLF-30's and initial impressions are pretty good.

I like to bump up my bass and treble controls a bit......just a hair below 1:00. Now, to equal that sound I have the treble turned down to 11:00. I'll be expecting some break-in after x amount of hours but so far I hear potential. As it was described to me, I'm hearing a bigger sound. A bigger image that is crystal clear.

I'll post more as things progress. Quality of the horn lens is about as good as it gets. Very solid with a very nice finish. Very professional looking. Eventually I'll paint these black....or not.....any tips would be apppreciated.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this will be one more verified 'Ultimate Upgrade' to the KLF-30. [emoji106]

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Wow! Did you hear that?!! We're breaking in tweeters up in here!

Man, it was so loud at one point I thought I seen a tweeter fly across the room. Turns out I was just hallucinating because it was rockin so hard.[emoji39]

I started out yesterday with a low powered tube amp for about five hours at 70-72db. Then today I hooked up some high power solid state and let it rip with some music that will rip your face off at a little over 110db. I only stayed in the listening room for about two songs with it this loud. The rest if the time I was in the basement working out listening to the house shake.

At this point, the K-79/B&C DE10/MAHL setup is no doubt superior in sound quality compared to the stock driver with titanium diagrams in the KLF-30.

I've got more burning in to do but so far the clarity, smoothness and overall improvement in sound quality in how the tweeters improve the mids and especially the bass is very admirable. Detail is drastically improved.

Curious to hear how these improve from here. I've got about 9 mellow hours on them with one of those hours really laying into them.



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2 hours ago, SWL said:

so far the clarity, smoothness and overall improvement in sound quality in how the tweeters improve the mids and especially the bass is very admirable. Detail is drastically improved.

 

Nice! I've never heard the D-10's but I absolutely love the Crites CT-120 tweeters, they left my jaw on the floor as I was in total shock as to how much better they were than the k-77. 

 

Maybe instead of painting the horn lenses you could give them a thin rubberized coating like the new RF-7 III horns have? Don't know if that's feasible just an idea. Lookin' good!

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Nice! I've never heard the D-10's but I absolutely love the Crites CT-120 tweeters, they left my jaw on the floor as I was in total shock as to how much better they were than the k-77. 
 
Maybe instead of painting the horn lenses you could give them a thin rubberized coating like the new RF-7 III horns have? Don't know if that's feasible just an idea. Lookin' good!
Thanks, I'm gonna look into that or something similar.

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After about 12 hours of music flowing through these.....two of those hours at 100-110db.....going back to my low powered tube amp the tweeters have certainly responded positively to some break in time.

Like I said earlier, when I first hooked up these tweeters and did some listening through my tube amp I had to dial back the treble a couple notches. Now I can play it back to the way I had it before. It sounds great.

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So I think I've had enough time to evaluate these tweeters. The first thing that comes to mind is the increased clarity and smoothness. There is a more genuine, accurate sound. The image and soundstage is slightly enhanced as if you are cupping your hands around your ears to hear something better (in a good way). It's not drastic but it is a notable effect that I've noticed.

The louder I played my system, the better it got. The highs kept their composure by staying smooth and accurate. There is a 'spaciousness' that wasn't there before.

Some other things I found interesting. If I cut the highs with my EQ or tone control, the detail is still there whereas before if I cut the highs I was reducing detail as well.

Honestly, these new tweeters are really embarrassing the stock drivers with the titanium tweets. Had to say it.....

As far as using these new tweeters with tubes and solid state.....which I flip flop back and forth quite often......the bigger improvement happens with my solid state gear. I really wasn't expecting that but I sure do welcome it. After listening to tubes and then to solid state, I would have the tendency to want to slightly cut the higher frequencies to mimic the tube sound I had gotten used to but it didn't quite work. That cut in the high frequencies would take away some detail but now with the new tweeters that is not the case. That minor cut in the highs balances out the sound the way I want to hear it and all the detail, fidelity and spaciousness remains. Very cool.

I've had Fortes, Chorus, and Heresies come through here in the past. Any of these that share this same tweeter I would think will undoubtedly benefit from these tweeters.

When I was approached with the opportunity to try these tweeters out free of charge, my initial reaction was that I really wasn't that interested because of ALL the improvements I've done to my speakers in the last year or so I didn't have any issues with my high frequencies. They sounded great and couldn't hear a reason to change anything.

Then it took me all of about two minutes to realize that virtually every change I've made from the stock form of the KLF-30 was a positive if not dramatic improvement. So I went with it and glad I did.

Dave A was an absolute pleasure to deal with. I already put in another order for my second pair of KLF-30's. Dave if you decide to build a machined aluminum mid horn for the KLF-30 that fits the A55G mid driver, I'll be the first in line.[emoji846]



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On 9/26/2018 at 8:44 AM, Dave A said:

. . . In the don't get me started category how dumb is it that smart iPhone  people don't realize you can turn the phone 90 degrees and actual have more than a silly little strip of image to look at.

 

A friend was showing photos taken in Yellowstone on her vacation.  I was wondering if any would be turned 90 degrees, until she got to a photo of the lower half of an Old Faithful eruption.

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4 hours ago, SWL said:

The louder I played my system, the better it got. The highs kept their composure by staying smooth and accurate. There is a 'spaciousness' that wasn't there before.

No surprise there. Break in loosens up the suspension and allows for smooth lower frequencies to shine through a bit more. Also, since the power handling is 10 times that of a K-77, I'm not surprised it held together at 110 decibels (and should provide a stupid loud 120 for the db freaks out there). Any of the B&C tweeters will do this. Am I correct in assuming you have a DE-10 driver?

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