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Klipschorn reviews


soundog

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Its interesting to read the reviews of Klipsch Heritage speakers on audioreview.com. They tend to fall into two categories .... love them or hate them. They range from one fellow who has his old Klipschorns in his garage because, while his new $92,000 speakers are SLIGHTLY better, he still likes the sound of his Khorns from time-to-time! To those who claim that Khorns/ La Scalas, etc. are barely fit to be used as PA speakers. I did not like my La Scalas when I first hooked them up ... I had to find the right room placements for them. Then, I loved them! My Khorns sounded terrible when I first got them, until I learned about room acoustics and acoustical treatments. Now I love them. If I had $92,000 laying around I would still buy my old Khorns and use the $90,500 I would have saved to also buy a Mercedes. In my opinion the two products are similar in quality.

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I agree soundog....who would spend $90000 on some speakers that are only "slightly" better. Sounds pretty stupid to me. I love our Khorns and I would never give them up. (you hear that Steve P, you are going to have to keep me around...hehehe)

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The token female for the Klipsch Fan Club Tour 2001

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About the La Scala being "barely fit to be a PA speaker",that's what it was designed to be.Who ever made that statement....well I won't say!One of the best sounding PA speakers in the world,I'd say.

I have heard $2500 center channel speakers that couldn't come close to the vocal clarity of my Heresy.

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sound dog, My lousy PA speakers (k-horns) sound better than any speakers I have owned before (Magnapans, B&Ws, JBLs, Infinitys and home cooked, modified KLHs) why? more clarity, more definition, openess and most of all dynamism!...the punch!...I still from time to time think about the best qualities of my maggies and of my B&Ws and try, through tweaking, to coax a little more out of the k-horns BUT I would never go back! might have some other speakers in a secondary system but the k-horns are my final sepakers!...my guess is that anyone who talks down a k-horn has not really heard it in an appropriate environment with the appropriate electronics...hook them up in a small basement, without acoustic treatment, radio shack receiver, etc. etc. you get the idea...the fanatics are those who have these and have invested time to set them up correctly, the nay sayers are most likely those who have not lived with them...MTC...Tony

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Here's a quote from a post I made in another forum. It is at the top of my list of audio memories even after nearly twenty years. Hope you Khorn lovers like it:

"Nothing beats the sound of a tree being felled playing back through the Klipschorn (memory from circa 1983 with a Perreaux Amp and Preamp, Nakamichi Dragon). Something about that punch that you can feel in your chest and gut and vibrates up through your esophagus. Stunning."

I remember my heart rate picking up as the recorded tree started to fall, feeling like it was going to crush me...hearing the wood crack as it slowly started arcing toward the ground..then the whoosh of branches followed finally by that huge and air disturbing thud as the body of the tree hit the gound next to me...or so it seemed.

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Here's a quote from a post I made in another forum. It is at the top of my list of audio memories even after nearly twenty years. Hope you Khorn lovers like it:

"Nothing beats the sound of a tree being felled playing back through the Klipschorn (memory from circa 1983 with a Perreaux Amp and Preamp, Nakamichi Dragon). Something about that punch that you can feel in your chest and gut and vibrates up through your esophagus. Stunning."

I remember my heart rate picking up as the recorded tree started to fall, feeling like it was going to crush me...hearing the wood crack as it slowly started arcing toward the ground..then the whoosh of branches followed finally by that huge and air disturbing thud as the body of the tree hit the gound next to me...or so it seemed.

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I can understand the prior reviewer, that was similar to my first experience until I learned about room acoustics. As I said before I was able to adjust for the anomalies of the room pretty welll by just finding the right placement (and angle as it turned out) although I really didn't like to much were they ended up and were I had to sit. With the Khorns placement was a given that couldn't be changed. I had to learn about bass traps (to break up the standing waves) and sound defusers to defuse what I think is termed first order reflection. Since I was doing a Home Theater placements of the LaScalas and the phase of Heritage components I built into a cabnet I made to also house my 32" TV monitor. I also had to brace the walls on either side of the Khorns with medium density fiber board. Also I had to add velvet curtins. But the result was worth it ....the cleanest bass I have ever heard (only use my LF10 subs for LFEs in movies) and the highs and midranges are incediably realistic. If this is distortion its the best I've ever heard!

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I can understand the prior reviewer, that was similar to my first experience until I learned about room acoustics. As I said before, with my LaScala I was able to adjust for the anomalies of the room pretty well by just finding the right placement (and angle as it turned out) - although I really didn't like were they ended up and were I had to sit to realize their potential. With the Khorns, placement was a given that couldn't be changed. I had to learn about bass traps (to break up the standing waves)and sound defusers to defuse what I think is termed first order reflections. Since I was doing a Home Theater, placements of my LaScalas and the phasing of the Heritage speaker components I built into a cabinet I designed to house my 32" TV monitor were added factors. I also had to reinforce the walls onboth sides of the Khorns with 3/4' medium density fiberbord. I also added velvet curtains at strategic points and bought a new thicker carpet ....but it was worth it ....the cleanest most natural sounding bass I ever heard ... I use my two LF10 subs only for LFEs on DVD movies. The midrange and highs sound incediably real. I've entered the twilight zone ... live bands are in my room and my room becomes Carnegie Hall or wherever the music was recorded. In short, you have to provide the proper setting to realize the full potential of these wonderful speakers.

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How do you get those cool double posts? smile.gif

John Warren,

I don't disagree with your assessment of the Heritage line. However, a Wilson WAMM is more expensive than my house. The point is most items are an engineering trade-off between price and performance. I and most of us here have decided the Heritage Line is the best price/performance trade-off in the audio world. I have some ability to modify my La Scalas for better performance. I'm intrigued by djk's suggestion of the Comminity M200 as I had discovered it independantly and thought it might be a good substitute. However, I draw a line at sawing off the K-400 and using bondo to fill the crack (perhaps he omitted the TIG weld). Perhaps if Klipsch produced a horn that would readily accept the M200, I'd be all over it. Until than, ....

John

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  • 1 month later...

I just bought a pair of used K-horns from a local dealer who also carries a certain $85k speaker from Denmark (can we guess which one?). One of the dealer's sales folks admitted to me that he prefers the K-horns.

I'm still tweaking the K-horns. Biggest change was getting them snug in the corner (a lot of the boxy, wooden boom went away when they made solid contact with the walls). Next is damping the squawker and tweeter horns. One K-horn owner in AudioAsylum suggested putting polyfill in the woofer cavities (through the panel with the binding posts and fuses on it). Anyone have experience with that?

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I paid a little over $1,000 for my k-horns, about $500 for my Dynaco tube monoblocks and about $1,000 for electronics (cd/dac/preamp)...less than $3,000 all in for a system I love to listen to...true I am looking for tweaks, true if I were not all thumbs I might build a world beater DIY speaker with Audax drivers a la Polynatalia but I am sure I would keep the k-horns for the impact, the expansive, dynamic sound...Get a used k-horn, get the room right, maybe fill in below 50hz with a strong sub and I do not see how anyone can top the sound for $3-6k the whole system...regards, tony

This message has been edited by sunnysal on 05-17-2001 at 02:15 PM

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re: klipschorns and accuracy, two points:

A. There are many ways to measure "accuracy". It depends on what kind of accuracy specifically that you're talking about. Dynamics? Timing? Tonal? - and so on.

B. In the areas that are most perceptable to the human hearing function, the klipschorn, IMHO is one of the most accurate loudspeakers available, period. Especially at it's attainable (though expensive) price. True, they can be be fussy about room acoustics, and very revealing of any extraneous noises in the preceeding electronics, but aren't nearly all of the highest performance products, whether it's cars, motorcycles, or loudpeakers somewhat more demanding than products with lower levels of performance?

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JDMcCall

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