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I've opened up my Klipschorns to look for a pair of replacement woofers. It appears I have the K-33 but I see that there are current ones saying it should be K-33E. These are 2002 or at least on the AK4 xover has a QC sticker saying OCT 2002.

Can someone point to me where I can get genuine Klipsch woofers? I read that Bob Crites has his ones but uncertain on the difference (he offers both cast and pressed steel). Another thing is i'm in New Zealand and online at Speaker Exchange wants $218 to send which is nearly as much as the cost of the drivers.


Look at the mess of this xover - all point 2 point and what's the deal with lump bundling Monster Cables?
i0oQwK8.jpg

 

and here's the printing on the magnet - 4 ohms (I thought they were 8 ohms?) Anyways i've discovered a problem. Using my voltmeter I measure at the LF binding posts of 4.5 ohms but when I use the probes to measure directly at the woofer's terminals I get 4.1 ohms. Should I be concerned?

 

b8m4qJ9.jpg

and the woofer is only attached with 4 screws - I hope this was not a cost saving measure?
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ANx45sr.jpg

 

Edited by SBQ
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Ok i've discovered something on the ohm difference reading. Looking at the 1st photo above, the left side is the woofer connection. The leads from the woofer - top left are soldered on to the inductor (positive lad) and then ends at the bottom LF binding post.

Apart from that, I must say the AK4 is mess and not surprising Klipsch didn't make this board for a long period of time.

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The 'E' means the woofer was made by Eminence.

 

14 hours ago, SBQ said:

here's the printing on the magnet - 4 ohms (I thought they were 8 ohms?) Anyways i've discovered a problem. Using my voltmeter I measure at the LF binding posts of 4.5 ohms but when I use the probes to measure directly at the woofer's terminals I get 4.1 ohms. Should I be concerned?

 

The woofers are 4 ohms. The action of the woofer with the compression slot raises the impedance in the system. I would carefully remove one connection at a time, and reconnect. Loosen the connections on the terminal strip/binding posts and re-tighten.

 

14 hours ago, SBQ said:

and the woofer is only attached with 4 screws - I hope this was not a cost saving measure?

 

I believe they are machine screws with T-nuts on the backside. Don't sweat it, as long as they are tight.

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It all looks remarkably original to me, including the original Klipsch woofers.  Now that I think about it, I've never had speakers that actually used more than 4 screws, even pro gear.  It is/was an engineering decision that also saves money.  Why would you think that is bad?  It is highly likely the screws are machine screws run through T-nuts.  Pull one and see.  Make sure all are retightened to the same torque.  You should expect to see an increase in resistance through wires and a connection (or 2).  Until recently, all Klipsch networks were wired point to point.  What's wrong with that? 

 

Bob Crites does sell replacement woofers.  His are built to the Thiele-Small parameters used over 40 years ago.   Your networks are tuned to get the best response out of the newer woofer.  I would not change them, you have no information on the result.  Would you be willing to do the testing required to determine if new woofers were better and to adjust the crossovers to match? 

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20 hours ago, SBQ said:

Ok i've discovered something on the ohm difference reading. Looking at the 1st photo above, the left side is the woofer connection. The leads from the woofer - top left are soldered on to the inductor (positive lad) and then ends at the bottom LF binding post.

Apart from that, I must say the AK4 is mess and not surprising Klipsch didn't make this board for a long period of time.

what is wrong with the woofers , these are usually good for life , at least 40-50  years easy ------

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Ok i've decided not to buy spares, was something to consider long term. Bob Crites i'm uncertain as I prefer original despite how awful the AK4 crossover network sound.

Nothing wrong with point to point wiring but in my tube amp building days, I find it a shock to see bundled wiring and messy component leads with gobs of solder. I've learned there are AK4 in PCB.

 

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 one  aspect  that does wonders in Khorns , are to  enclose the backs of the bass bins with panels for a seamless seal -  the problem is not the woofers as they are under-stressed based on the  k horn design  -

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I will have to look into making corner panels. I've seen some to place Khorns away from corners but would not of thought it would help having them in the corners. I suppose not ALL corners in houses are built equally.

Plywood best choice? What thickness?

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It’s essential to place Khorns tightly into corners, since they use the walls of the room as extensions of the bass horns.  This is how they are able to produce such low bass tones, in spite of the bass horns being too short in theory to go that low.  To make up for the gap caused by having baseboards, many Khorn owners use foam pipe insulation to fill the gaps above the baseboards.  This allows the bass horns to produce the deep bass tones that they’re famous for.

 

The resistance of the drivers comes up often.  The number on the complete speaker refers to its impedance, which is its resistance to AC current, the kind that drives speakers.  The individual drivers may have different numbers, since the numbers are affected by the horns and crossovers.  Besides, your multimeter or ohmmeter measures DC resistance, and the DC resistance numbers are always a bit different from the impedance numbers.  DC resistance figures for the various drivers have been posted before on the Forum, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.  Besides, variations of a few tenths of an ohm are negligible.   

 

As for the fact that only four fasteners are used on the woofer,  and not all eight, I remember reading that some of the holes are very difficult to access.  It may well be that woofers do need to be attached at only four locations, and the other four holes are to allow for flexibility in different applications, i.e., in a different cabinet, different holes might be accessible.

 

Is there a problem with your woofers that you can hear?  As RandyH000 points out, Klipsch woofers usually  last for many decades.  This is because they do not have the usual foam or rubber surrounds.  Instead, the surrounds are made of doped paper.  The term “dope” in this case refers to a black sticky substance that’s applied to the corrugated paper at the edges of the woofer’s cones.  This is where the woofer cone flexes as the cone moves in and out.  The dope keeps the paper from drying out, which is why the woofers keep operating normally for so many years.  My 1974 La Scalas are 46 years old, and they sound great, even though the woofers are most likely the ones that went in originally.

 

Are there any problems with the sound of your woofers?  If there are no tears or holes in the paper cones and the cones can move in and out smoothly, and the resistance numbers are roughly correct, the woofers should be fine.

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I got to hear early AK4 Klipschorns in Indy, in 2002 or '03 along with the corresponding Belle Klipsch and La Scalas.  They should sound excellent, if sealed to the corners and if your room does not have an odd sound of its own. 

 

What are you hearing that you don't like?  do you have any measuring equipment? 

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Wheels on the bus go round and round...

 

I had that same year in oak. I bought them new. I was disappointed. I had tweeter issues in the left speaker, and squawker issues in the right. The soldering looked horrendous, and I redid quite a few of the joints. The sound seemed disjointed and kind of gritty. Trey Cannon of Klipsch did me a solid and took the point-to-point build in trade for a new pair of the PCB types when they came out. After about a year, I changed out the networks -- and then later everything in the top hat. 

 

I still think the Type AA sounds sounds better.

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3 hours ago, Deang said:

There are no t-nuts. The woofers are screwed into the motor-board with wood screws.

 

That seems crazy since the La Scals used T-nuts. Maybe becacuse the LS were a more 'portable' system.

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16 hours ago, Marvel said:

That seems crazy since the La Scals used T-nuts. Maybe becacuse the LS were a more 'portable' system.

I could be wrong. I never took them out, just going on memory of what it looked like. I’ll edit my post. 

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Mine had t-nuts, at least the one original I still have had them. I can look at the sn... 🙄

 

The clone I have used screws. I took out the 1/4 20 t-nuts and put in 10/32 t-nuts in both.

 

EDIT: It is a 1980... found it and a clone on a porch... paid $100 for the two.

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4 hours ago, Marvel said:

Mine had t-nuts, at least the one originalI still have had them. I can look at the sn... 🙄

 

The clone I have used screws. I took out the 1/4 20 t-nuts and put in 10/32 t-nuts in both.

 

EDIT: It is a 1980... found it and a clone on a porch... paid $100 for the two.

curious did you have problems with the 1/4-20 tee nuts? coarser threads are less prone to vibration as they tend to jam up tight on themselves where fine threads turn smoothly.

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8 hours ago, moray james said:

curious did you have problems with the 1/4-20 tee nuts? coarser threads are less prone to vibration as they tend to jam up tight on themselves where fine threads turn smoothly.

 

I've found the opposite, of course, YMMV.

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  • 5 weeks later...
On 10/17/2020 at 9:24 PM, Marvel said:

Mine had t-nuts, at least the one originalI still have had them. I can look at the sn... 🙄

 

The clone I have used screws. I took out the 1/4 20 t-nuts and put in 10/32 t-nuts in both.

 

EDIT: It is a 1980... found it and a clone on a porch... paid $100 for the two.

 

Marvel, you are 100% correct, at least for my '78s. I pulled a K-33 today, and confirmed they use t-nuts, 4 screws. Memories can be unreliable.

 

My apologies, I corrected my post above.

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