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Dave A LMAHL Tweeter Upgrade - WOW!!!!!!!


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7 hours ago, Dave A said:

This is a different tweeter body than the one you are thinking of. This is for the larger tweeter Klipsch has like the one in the Forte and Chorus and yes the DE-10 is the go to driver for these. The DE-120 is common in use where there are space restrictions where the K-77's were most frequently used.

thank you Dave -

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I have been listening to a lot of music this past week since I installed Daves LMAHLs and i think they are pretty well broken in now. When first installed they seemed just slightly hot. I had prepared Lpads to install if I thought they broke in and remained too loud. Dave had told me that his Tweeters had higher sensitivity than the original Forte one drivers so he had me wire up some Lpads  to drop if I thought they were too loud. Fortunately after the initial break-in I think my speakers now sound amazing. In my office I use some KEF LS wireless speakers and they are very accurate and have amazing highs. I feel my fortes tweeters now sound accurate similar to the sounds the KEFs make. Very clear and guitar strings sound amazing. Vocals have never been as concise or nuanced and cymbals and piano are so much more alive - all in all I am a very happy camper.

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Dave et al,

 

I’ve picked up a set of Chorus Is that I’ve decided to make my project speakers. Dave’s tweeters are part of the plan, as is recapping the crossovers. I’m looking for specific recommendations for both elements of the plan. 
 

I’m also very interested in options for the midrange because the squawker is a legacy/heritage part. The Chorus II got a physically different Tractrix midrange horn that may or may not be worth pursuing In an updated Chorus I. The mid-range horn makes most of the sound I can hear, so it seems that the squawker would be of primary interest. Surprisingly, few have had much to say, other than to replace gaskets and perhaps swap out the diaphragms.

 

Looking forward to hearing views on this from Dave A and others “in the know” about the fine speakers.

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In the for what it is worth category here is what I do with Chorus I's. I check the mid and woofer with an ohm meter and frequency sweep generator and make sure all connections are tight. I recap the existing crossovers with Dayton 1% for the 2 2uf caps and Audyn Q4 caps for the 68UF and an Audyn Q4 for the 7uf but use the 6.8 Audyn which is close enough.Stick the LMAHL V2 in there and it transforms the whole thing. I have never felt the need to go further or alter this recipe for maybe six sets now. Love those Chorus I's and they respond so well to these upgrades and play anywhere and don't need corners.

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Thanks, Dave. All of your suggestions sound great.  I don’t have a frequency sweep generator, so I may skip that step for now. (I will look into it, though.). All the rest of the steps are in play, including the recap.  FWIW, I really appreciate the specificity with regards to the parts.

 

I didn’t mention my plans for the bass.  It seems that a seven inch long tube that’s four inches in outside diameter will fit in each bass port and extend the bass response. There are a couple of threads that talk about this mod that are easily found with an Internet search. Since it’s practically free and easily reversible, I think it’s worth a try. 

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I was mentioning the generator only to explain exactly what it was I did when I got speakers to work on. Your chances of running across a bad driver you can't detect outside of an ohm meter and hearing are pretty small. If you are not going to work on a lot of speakers I would not bother to get one. On the other hand they are handy and EBay had mine for $50. Well if you try the port mod make sure to post results.

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Dave, thanks for the note about the frequency generator.  I have suddenly found myself with a lot of speakers and I’d think that $50 or so would be a pretty good investment.
 

I’m thinking about doing a consolidated thread for the Chorus I that I build up, since it’s not as well documented as the Chorus II.  Plenty of good stuff on the Chorus I, but it’s scattered across sites.

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1 hour ago, Outrider 6 said:

Dave, thanks for the note about the frequency generator.  I have suddenly found myself with a lot of speakers and I’d think that $50 or so would be a pretty good investment.
 

I’m thinking about doing a consolidated thread for the Chorus I that I build up, since it’s not as well documented as the Chorus II.  Plenty of good stuff on the Chorus I, but it’s scattered across sites.

  A lot of speakers snicker snicker!  I have a pathway through my pile and in spite of my intent not to get more, I get more and very few are as small as those Chorus's..

 

  I am a big fan of front ported speakers since I like boxes that do not have to go into a corner to sound good.  A thread on the Chorus is a great idea and I look forward to it.

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Re: a lot of speakers...  I think I finally regained my composure when I recently passed on a set of nicely priced Quartets that had a cabinet modification that I didn’t like.  
 

The set of Choruses was a deal I couldn’t pass on, though. I had been looking for Chorus IIs but few have been listed lately and none were close.   I was a bit leery of Chorus Is because they didn’t stay in production all that long and because the Chorus II gets so much love.  But the price for the original Choruses was agreeable, they weren’t too far away, and, upon reading more, they seemed worth an extended audition at home.  So far, the juice has been well worth the squeeze.

 

No doubt that my LMAHL tweeter experiment will make a fine addition to a great speaker.  I think the recap and freshening up gaskets will get it back into specs.  But mods like the tweeter and the bass tubes will change the character of the speaker.  My expectation here is that change = improvement, but the test will be making that assessment in my listening room with my gear.
 

There’s also the matter of cabinet work that belongs in another section of the forums.  The factory black paint has done it’s job protecting the veneer underneath, but it’s flaked away in a few places.  So that will get a refresh, too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/4/2020 at 6:23 PM, Outrider 6 said:

 

I didn’t mention my plans for the bass.  It seems that a seven inch long tube that’s four inches in outside diameter will fit in each bass port and extend the bass response. There are a couple of threads that talk about this mod that are easily found with an Internet search. Since it’s practically free and easily reversible, I think it’s worth a try. 

 

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@4JaxJags your work on the Chorus I bass ports is, IMO, seminal.  It’s well documented and clearly explained. While it’s in my nature to tinker, I plan to duplicate your work as a starting point. It’s so well thought out that it’s probably going to be the end point, too.
 

Thanks for adding your link to this thread. 

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  • 6 months later...

I have these installed in my Cornwall II's. Wondering what others opinion of these are? There is a lot I really like about them, certainly much greater detail than the K-79 that were in there. There is still just something not right. I think they might be too hot and may need to be attenuated? They seem a bit to bright, to fatiguing maybe.. I thought about switching back to the K-79's but the improvement in detail is huge.. Anyone else have to make adjustments to these in a Cornwall?

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4 hours ago, BanjoBill said:

I have these installed in my Cornwall II's. Wondering what others opinion of these are? There is a lot I really like about them, certainly much greater detail than the K-79 that were in there. There is still just something not right. I think they might be too hot and may need to be attenuated? They seem a bit to bright, to fatiguing maybe.. I thought about switching back to the K-79's but the improvement in detail is huge.. Anyone else have to make adjustments to these in a Cornwall?

did you ever try using the Titanium diaphragm in your K79? Another question is how many hours of play do the new tweeters have on them? They do take time to settle in and to smooth out.

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A couple of things here. Have you recapped the crossover? As Moray says break in time but these won't take long. Depending on how good your hearing is there is another thing to consider too. I am 67 and my hearing is not the best. For me the higher DB efficiency of the DE-10 lets me hear higher frequency sounds better and I get detail I missed before. If your hearing is good you might need to attenuate the tweeter with an L-Pad. The DE-10 is 107 DB and the CW2 is 101 DB so there is an efficiency difference. Fiddling around with speakers and it never ceases to amaze me at how small wattage HF drivers can get ahead of the mid + LF parts of a speaker. I had some KPT-904's I was working on recently and using the factory setup with the DE-75 driver, 510 horn and stock Klipsch crossover it was just way to harsh. Meant to get through a movie screen I guess. I added an L-Pad to the horn and magic happened. That 80 watt De-75 can overwhelm two healthy 15" woofers in a heart beat.

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Il y a 9 heures, BanjoBill a déclaré:

Je les ai installés dans mon Cornwall II. Vous vous demandez ce que les autres en pensent? Il y a beaucoup de choses que j'aime vraiment chez eux, certainement beaucoup plus de détails que le K-79 qui s'y trouvait. Il y a encore quelque chose qui cloche. Je pense qu'ils sont peut-être trop chauds et doivent peut-être être atténués? Ils semblent un peu trop brillants, peut-être fatigants .. J'ai pensé à revenir au K-79 mais l'amélioration des détails est énorme. Quelqu'un d'autre doit faire des ajustements à ceux-ci dans un Cornwall?

salut @BanjoBill

 

Vous pouvez facilement réaliser un L-Pad avec 2 résistances 5w pour haut-parleurs, par exemple pour réduire d'environ 2,8db l'utilisation de 2,2 ohm en série et 22ohm en parallèle.

 

 

Voici une petite calculatrice pour L-Pad

http://www.mh-audio.nl/Calculators/att.html

 

 

 

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sorry because I am sure someone has asked this before and it has been answered.....but, are these drop in replacements for my klipschorn tweeters? nothing to be done to the crossover?  where can i see cost?  I looked on ebay without luck.   lastly, any plans for a midrange horn/driver for the khorn?  warm regards, Tony

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