Got my new 2002 Klipschorns!!!!

[jmslaw]

Well, I may be the first person on this board to review the 2002 Klipschorns. Let me first start out by saying I am more impressed than I ever imagined. Having owned several planar speakers, including top of the line Soundlabs, Magnepans and Martin Logans, I have always been partial to the "planar sound", which can best be described as open, clean and very transparent. The Magnepans, particularly, have a ribbon tweeter which produces the most crystalline highs ever heard. I ordered the new Khorns mainly out of concern for placement and aesthetics. (My wife is sick of 6' tall planars sticking 5 feet into the room) Well, after unpacking the new Khorns and hooking them up to my Conrad johnson Premier 8A amps, driven by CJ Premier 16ls preamp and Jadis digital rig, I was floored by the sound. Not only do they have the most realistic percussion action of any speaker I have yet owned, they can float a shimmering bell on a wisp of air as convincingly as the Maggies. They are neither bright nor harsh at high volume levels, like I remember my last, older pair of Khorns being. I will further elaborate on this review as I have had more time to really evaluate them. I would be very interested to hear from other 2002 Khorn owners if there are others yet. In closing, I'll just say that I am extremely pleased with these speakers.

[jdm56]

Congrats on the new klipschorns. You are truly in tall cotton now! Wonder how the sound differs from my '98s?

[Kain]

Congrats!

I wish I had the space for the Klipschorn.

[arfz28]

Glad you are happy with your new k-horns,were you powering your older k-horns with the same amp that you have now?If not the amp you were using with your older k-horns might have caused the brighter high end and harshness.

[jmslaw]

No, I was using the smaller, CJ Premier 12's, which differ so little from the 8's that I would hardly attribute much difference to the amp upgrade. My older Khorns were from the late 60's or early 70's and employed the old screw terminals. This, in itself, could be a factor in the harsher sound. these new Khorns are extremely detailed, much more so than my older pair, and really sound like a good planar speaker mated to a powerful subwoofer. The bass is explosive. I have never heard such explosive dynamics from a speaker. Kick drums and cannon shots resonate through my whole body. The bass is not quite as tight as my beloved Magnepan 3.6, but there is no much more energy in the bottom frequencies that I could not go back to the Maggies' now anemic response. I'm not sure if there is any break-in with these speakers. Unfortunately Klipsch is not very helpful in this regard. My speakers did not come with a manual; rather, there was a pamphlet general to all Klipsch speakers which contained vital information such as connect "zip cord" from positive to positive, etc... I seriously doubt anyone spending $7,500 or so on these speakers is using "zip cord" It would have been nice to have a comprehensive manual just applicable to the Klipschorn, particularly since set-up is not perfectly straightforward. I called Klipsch and requested a manual, and was told that none exists. That is unacceptable at this price level. I spoke with an engineer, who was very kind, but had no idea how much break-in these speakers require. Again, a speaker at this level with 50 + years of history should come with more comprehensive literature!! These quips aside, the speakers are wonderful. I hope one of the major mags will drop its preconceived notions and examine this latest incarnation. I truly feel there are few if any speakers at its price which are overall better. I have owned some of the best, and these do not disappoint. Are there any other 2002 owners out there? I would be very interested in hearing other comparisons between old and new.

[JohnA]

Post pictures, We Wanna See!! Try to include a pic of the crossover, too.

[JCturboT]

Jeff,

Congratulations on your New (and I mean NEW) K-horn purchase.What do the have for crossovers in 'em? what finish did you opt for?

Do they still run the Monster Cable wiring? Last, and most importantly what do thet run for drivers?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Jeff

[NOZ]

Congrats,

Pics, we need pics. Especially in the back. What crossover are they using now?

Save the boxes, you could probably make a two story house out of them...They must be huge.

Congrats again, they must be beautiful.

Sean

[kenratboy]

We don't want to here it you lucky SOB!!!

Wow, you are so lucky. I too want some pictures of the components. Take them apart so we can see their guts!

[jmslaw]

I will try to get pics up. I'll have to borrow a digital camera. As for the crossover, I have no idea how it differs from the older version(s). As for getting pictures of the back- NO FRIGGIN' WAY. These puppies were a pain in the a-- to get snug into the corners. In fact, they come with this very rigid and inflexible neoprene stripping to crimp onto the sides of the tailboard in order to get them sealed to the corner walls. The stripping does not easily fit the board, and I had to tape it on. I would prefer NEVER to move these beasts again. yes, the boxes ( 4 of them) are huge and palletized. My wife is flipping that we can not get one car in our 3 car garage between these boxes and my Martin Logan boxes. Yes, they use Monster Cable. The finish is what they call oiled oak. I expected the fit and finish to be higher. Said finish is not laquered at all, and pales in comparison to most other high end speakers I have owned. I was really expecting a glossier, smoother surface. The sound, however, as previously described, makes up for these deficiencies.

[TheEAR]

Jeff,

Congratulations,I envy you.These babies are someting else,the cream of the crop from Klipsch.I wish I had the space for these,I would order them in no time.At 6 grand per pair they are not cheap but not too expensive either.

CJ amp must really make the K-Horns sing.Darn I'll stick to my high power solid state for now.

Great buy,enjoy your new speakers.Enjoy the music

[arfz28]

Wow these new k-horns even have a factory stripping to seal them to the walls. That reminds me I need to do that to my k-horns.

[j-malotky]

Congrats on your brand spanking new Khorns.

I believe the new Khorns use the AK-3 crosover network. I think that is why he prefers the sound over his older Khorns. The same reason why many of us have replaced our old AB,AL, and AK networks to the ALK network. Q-man rates the AK-3 and ALK very simular. Also older khorns aluminum horns ring at loud volumes and why we usually dampen them.

Arf - My '83 Khorns have a factory seal sounds very simular to his explanation. Surprised your '84s do not have it?

JM

[Q-Man]

All Klipschorns ship from the factory with the tail board gasket.

For some reason it's missing from a lot of the second hand Klipschorns. I don't know what the first owners do with them.

Call Trey, he will give you the right part number so you can order them. Don't ask the parts department, they won't know what your talking about.

The new Klipschorns have a mid range driver change. This probably means that

the network is no longer the AK3.

[arfz28]

Heck I bought my k-horns brand new, ordered them and took them out of the box and set them up myself, there was no gasket at all in the boxes.Think klipsch would beleive me and send me a free pair?I really need to get these k-horns sealed to the walls, might pick up some more bass out of them.Who at klipsch can I talk to about this? thanks all.

[MarkF]

Arfz28,

I bought my Khorns new in Jan 2000. I found what works the best is to make a pair of tailboards instead of the gasket provided by Klipsch. The tailboards basically are designed to enclose the sides of the bass bin. I found the mid bass imprived noticably. Klipsch uses the gasket to attempt to create a seal in the corner but the sidewalls are never sealed. The tailboards eliminates this problem. If Klipsch provided tailboards these things would be even heavier. Ask Trey what he knows about tailboards. I think Paul himself designed tailboads for his speakers.

If you haven't already read the PWK book, it's a fun read.

Mark

[discorules]

Hey jm.

I too have Maggies. In my case however it's the 1.6qr. I would love to hear more comparisons between your new Khorns and your Magnepan 3.6. I eventually plan on getting a pair of Khorns. It was interesting to see the highs compared favorably.

My top qualities for audio equipment are transient response, smooth extended frequency response and low distortion. These qualities I believe are shared by both speakers but perhaps you can shed further light.

[jhawk92]

JM-

Can you stand one more person congratulating you and asking for pics?? Seriously, I am WAAAYYY envious; you have the finish I want in a pair of K-horns. I really love the OO finish, and so have that on all my current speakers. Great to hear the new monsters compare favorably to ML and Maggie. I heard a pair of the top-end ML, forget the model, when I was looking at subs. They sounded very good, but quite a price tag.

Again, congrats on the new additions.

[Super_BQ]

My new 2002 model Klipschorns do indeed use the Monster Cable wiring and terminal lugs.

I fully intend to take MORE pictures however, I will have to do so next year when the new house is built. As of now, the Klipschorns stay IN the box. I won't even attempt to take them out of the box because I know they are so big and heavy to move around.

As for the drivers, I am certain that they are not the same as the older Klipschorn specs. Even the midrange horn flare looks like some new composite plastic material. Can you consider these new Klipschorns as "New & Improved" ??? For decades, Klipsch had always used the typical lamp cord for internal wiring. I can not verify if the xover is an ALK type. There are far too many variables to say that dropping in a new xover will be it when a new mid-range driver (having different specs than the older Klipschorns) is being used. Most likely, a newly redesigned xover was used. Did you guys catch the extra extended low freq. range of 2 Hz compared to the older models?

Sorry i can't show much more photos other than the 4 boxes and serial #s on them. The finish is dark walnut which I find is the most appealing.

For future amplification, I intended to use this

http://www.geocities.com/lelamjade/2A3.html

In future years, I intend to build many more tube amps of low wattage. Anyone else driving Klipschorns with flea power amps like 2A3 tubes?

BQ

[Istari]

Congrats on the new Klipschorns!!!

"Even the midrange horn flare looks like some new composite plastic material." The "newer" midrange horn is the K-401,its been around since at least '91, as it is te type that came in my '91 KCBR models. It is supposed to ring less as some say its self damped.