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KP-301 II VS CORNWALL OR CHORUS II


Jvitti1970

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I think many will say kp 301 II.   I haven't heard them, but I'm moving to the pro line myself after hearing so many rave reviews.   I think many would also pick the chorus II over the Cornwall due to the cleaner bass and better midhorn, not to mention the smaller footprint.   If it were my money, I would go KP 301 II.   Those rarely pop up around me.   I guess it depends on your listening habits as well as I am sure the pro stuff sounds awesome turned up (more than the other two) .   Whereas, I know the Cornwalls sound great even at very low volumes.  After owning Chorus IIs as well, they sounded better with the volume up a little to get those stiff 15s moving and the sound well blended from top to bottom.  This has just been my experience however.   

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4 hours ago, Jvitti1970 said:

have a chance to get kp-301 ii's at a decent price. how is the sound compared to chorus ii or cornwalls. i have never heard any of the pro line.

i know the look it much more rugged but that doesnt concern me

 

I would say to buy the 301's.  You will not lose any money if you don't like them.  Having the KP-3002's as my desktop speakers has been a blast.  But I will bet you $20 that you will love them.  I will not be selling any of my pro stuff anytime soon.  I am having too much fun with them.

 

The pro line seems to have better build quality, and more involved crossovers to protect the drivers, and they are built to withstand life on the road.  As opposed to the veneered cousins...

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You can see that the low end response suffers on a Pro version and these will have less bass extension and output compared to a chorus ll that's what lets them play louder. Note these are 4 db down at 50Hz and 10 db down at 39Hz that means they don't do much bass so a sub will be required to do the grunt work.

 

 

The Klipsch Professional KP-301 is a compact, full-range loudspeaker system that is exceptionally accurate. Its high output, high power handling, low distortion and smooth frequency response make it an excellent choice for music playback, such as in DJ or karaoke applications, as well as for live sound applications as a touring or fixed install speaker.

This three-way system features a 15-inch (380 mm) bass driver with a rigid, lacquer-dipped, rib-reinforced cone for extreme power handling. The midrange is handled by a 60° x 40° Tractrix® Horn coupled to a two-inch (50mm) titanium dome compression driver, with the high frequencies provided by a similar horn matched with a ferrofluid cooled, one-inch (25mm) polyetherimide dome compression driver. The KP-301 is equipped with a proprietary limiter device that automatically protects the high frequency driver from being overdriven.

The KP-301 is built from selected furniture-grade, 3/4-inch (19mm) void-free birch plywood with a 1-inch plywood motorboard. The finish is black textured paint with a black, powder-coated perforated metal grille. This is a portable model fitted with side positioned handles at the balance points and corner and edge protection.

MSRP: $976 each

KP-301

 

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 50Hz - 20kHz±4dB (-10dB @ 39Hz) @ 3 meters, 1/2 space anechoic

SENSITIVITY: 101dB @ 2.83V, 1 meter, 1/2 space anechoic

POWER HANDLING: 400 watts (44.7V)

CALC MAX CONTINUOUS OUTPUT: 125dB

COVERAGE ANGLE: 60° Horizontal x 40° Vertical

DIRECTIVITY INDEX (DI): 9dB ±2dB

NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 8 ohms, 5 ohms minimum @ 230Hz

TRANSDUCERS: One K-792-KP compression driver, one KP-66-E titanium compression driver and one 15" K-48-KP woofer

CROSSOVER FREQUENCY: 800Hz and 6kHz

INPUT CONNECTIONS: Dual red/black five-way binding posts and dual locking Neutrik® D-shell 0.25" phone plugs

DIMENSIONS (H x W x D): 32.625" (82.9cm) x 20.825" (53cm) x 16.825" (42.9cm)

WEIGHT: 82 lbs. (37.2kg)

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I don't have any comparative anecdotal comments but I really enjoyed my KP-301-II's when I had them.  I gave them new crossovers and ti tweeter diaphragms and they sounded sweet.  Had plenty of slam when you put a bunch of current through them too.

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https://www.jblpro.com/pages/pub/components/2226.pdf

whern looking for a woofer you want a driver with a Qts of about 0.32 as this will give you the lowest extension in the smallest cabinet volume, you also want a lot of throw especially if you choose to use a small cabinet the JBL2226 would be a very fine choice as it is a very serious woofer design. You can lower the tuning of the cabinet by making the vent ports a little longer but you only have so much cabinet and they do need to breath. Still you can play and see what you think.You can uses some thin paper card stock rolled up and inserted into the existing vents to experiment with various vent lengths, this works well.

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I have a pair of 301 II's in the shop right now and they are nice. Pro gear sounds good at any db level as far as I am concerned. I have had all the vintage gear except KHorns and Belles and I keep only pro gear for myself. If you ever get a chance to get or hear a set of KP-450's or 456's do so. If you get lucky you can buy them for the same price as Chorus or KP 301's and they are enormously better. People I know that have owned both the 450 and 456's and have had KHorns (supposed to be the best vintage I guess) prefer the 450-456.

 

  By the way hearing is believing and sound is subjective so go hear those 301 II's. Remember also that whatever you hear that old needs to have the crossovers re-capped and check your drivers for problems since lots of pro gear was pushed pretty hard.

 

  By the way I don't know what a "decent" price is for you. My current pair ($600.00) was bought with a pair of subs of some sort. The guy claimed they were klipsch but they are no name as far as any identification. They do have 18" good quality Eminence woofers in them though so they are not junk and go much lower than the 301's by themselves.

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13 hours ago, moray james said:

https://www.jblpro.com/pages/pub/components/2226.pdf

whern looking for a woofer you want a driver with a Qts of about 0.32 as this will give you the lowest extension in the smallest cabinet volume, you also want a lot of throw especially if you choose to use a small cabinet the JBL2226 would be a very fine choice as it is a very serious woofer design. You can lower the tuning of the cabinet by making the vent ports a little longer but you only have so much cabinet and they do need to breath. Still you can play and see what you think.You can uses some thin paper card stock rolled up and inserted into the existing vents to experiment with various vent lengths, this works well.

Moray, I have wondered this and have never tinkered with any of these except a pair of KP-250's by adding tubes to them. At the time I had no way to measure anything and didn't hear a difference and no way to scientifically approach this so I quit. Do you have any recommendations for the KP-301's or indeed any other front ported Klipsch?

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OP by the time you read this I hope you have picked up those 301's they really are fine speakers. The Chorus 2 is no slouch and may work better for you in a home environment. Like others have said you can get your money back on those if you don't like them. So get the cash load em up and have a listen.

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2 hours ago, Westcoastdrums said:

"2 both main speakers and will sell for $410 each". 

 

It's too early for to interpret the confusion of that sentence.   Haha.  I have a pair of the KP 302 I was selling myself.... I think I'm gonna keep them. They sound awesome and are light and small enough to transport easily. 

I sold a pair not to long ago to a guy in Alabama who did pro sound rental. They are one of his favorites and he says there are compliments on the sound and he considers them as close to bullet proof as you can get. Got to trade with him for two KP-450 horns now all I need are bass bins.

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  • 1 year later...

Briefly... years ago I bought a pair of kp-301's (original EV-style squak/tweet)  for a very good price, new, at a music store that didnt know what they were.

Used them for years and then one of them slipped fell straight down while loading them, to the concrete and shifted the magnet on the woofer.
later a wonderful benefactor offered a pair of LaScala woofers which I grabbed. They are apparently 8ohm drivers while the original 301 woofs were 4 ohm... so, a VERY thin sound.
As an answer I chose to biamp since the crossovers are good with that. woofers on one channel of [power and the internal passive mid/hi on another.  Marvelous.
recently got them out of storage and have spent a few weeks tuning them up and balancing them. I had forgotten... ! The room they are in is not large but sounds very good and the lo end extends father than teh specs say teh 301's should with the original 15's (which were tuned for more power handling at the expense of deep lo end)

 

What I think I would like to do is in some way slightly reduce the tweeter level relative to the midrange ... suggestions? These have the tweeter-protection thing on them

 

 

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On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 7:38 AM, Westcoastdrums said:

 After owning Chorus IIs as well, they sounded better with the volume up a little to get those stiff 15s moving and the sound well blended from top to bottom.  This has just been my experience however.   

Replace the stock mids with Crites A55-g's and it balances out the speaker big improvement higher quality / larger driver and about -2db down in output vs stock really improves low level listening.

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