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KG SW anyone?


AndreG.

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I´ve been looking at said KG SW on ebay for some weeks now and i have some questions to once/still owners.

 

I would team up that sube with my KG 1.5s and a Yamaha A-S201. Does that sound like a worthwhile idea?

Another idea would be to use it with my Heresys, once those are done, but i also have a Yamaha active sub i was planing to use for the Hs.

To be honest, maybe i´m just intriuged by the fact that the SW belongs to the KG line, looking at the pictures it leaves a good impression and it´s fairly cheap, sub and shipping about 160€.

 

So, what are Your opinions?

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I have a kg sw paired with a pair of kg 2.2's. I was intrigued by the concept, and like you, wanted to fill out the low end of a pair of Heresy's I have (I eventually bought a subwoofer for the Heresy's). Definitely fills out the low end in my basement system. There's extra wiring involved; you run your speaker outputs into the kg sw, then run wires from the kg sw to your regular speakers; it has a built-in, fixed high pass filter.

 

While MeloManiac mentions the unit is front firing, you can direct the ports rearward to experiment if you want.

 

For the European eBay ad you reference, the price is fair. There's a pair on eBay in the U.S. right now for $400 EACH, plus $96 shipping. That's practically the original price.

 

I paid $150 U.S. + maybe $25 for shipping, for the one I purchased on eBay a few years ago in similar condition.

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2 hours ago, AndreG. said:

I´ve been looking at said KG SW on ebay for some weeks now and i have some questions to once/still owners.

 

I would team up that sube with my KG 1.5s and a Yamaha A-S201. Does that sound like a worthwhile idea?

 

I've never heard the KG-SW but a good friend of mine uses an SW-8 sub with KG-2's for his TV set up and that little sub really does help to fill them in so worth it IMO. You're obviously not going to get Jurassic Park bass out of it but maybe closer to a full sized set of towers?  

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7 minutes ago, jjptkd said:

 

I've never heard the KG-SW but a good friend of mine uses an SW-8 sub with KG-2's for his TV set up and that little sub really does help to fill them in so worth it IMO. You're obviously not going to get Jurassic Park bass out of it but maybe closer to a full sized set of towers?  

Thanks, but it was not my intention to go jurassic anyway. ^^ It´s more like lessening the bass-load on the 1.5.

 

1 hour ago, Peter P. said:

There's extra wiring involved; you run your speaker outputs into the kg sw, then run wires from the kg sw to your regular speakers; it has a built-in, fixed high pass filter.

In fact i ran my 1.5s like that before with the Yamaha, so i know about the cables, i can stow those away under the desk.

I´ll wait a little longer, but the feedback so far lets me think that i might pull the trigger on this one.

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PeterP, and I and others talked about this before in the past here. Try a search of the forum may yield more. Glad he chimed in.

Unless someone vetoed here, would go with it.

Only downside Could see is you unhappy for a reason.

Upside is, you could sell it locally.

Another upside is you would now have bass. Owned a pair of 1.5 so yeah.

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6 minutes ago, billybob said:

PeterP, and I and others talked about this before in the past here. Try a search of the forum may yield more. Glad he chimed in.

Unless someone vetoed here, would go with it.

Only downside Could see is you unhappy for a reason.

Upside is, you could sell it locally.

Another upside is you would now have bass. Owned a pair of 1.5 so yeah.

Did that too, for example:

 

Call me selfish, but maybe  i wanted some more recent input, but You´re right of course.

So far thumbs-up only, reasuring.

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My best friend had a KG-SW paired with KG .5 bookshelf speakers for a very, very long time.  It's an interesting design - bandpass I believe?  Drivers are inside the cabinet, not visible, with two side-firing ports. 

Decent bass but no way to adjust output other than possibly through the 4/8 ohm switch on the input panel. 

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7 minutes ago, MeloManiac said:

Take a look at this finish. It was originally black... Sanding and staining can bring it to this. Looks amazing. 

If you buy something like this new, you'll pay way more. 

The one in the eBay offer is just plain black - now, but that is one of the points that tempts me to buy it. I saw that post´s pictures and others on the net. some really beautifull sw bass-bins out there.

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10 minutes ago, AndreG. said:

That´s what i hoped for. Why do You think it´s being used so rarely, most KGs had enough bass as was, people liked going active better?

They are semi-rare. Also, home active subs not nearly as prolific until the advent of HT.

If you think about it, made mostly for the smaller KG line models you and others still using.

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2 hours ago, AndreG. said:

 Why do You think it´s being used so rarely, most KGs had enough bass as was, people liked going active better?

Don't think of it as a subwoofer per se, but as an extension of the the low end of your main speakers. As has been said, other than the low/high output switch (91 or 94 dB/w/M) there's no ability to adjust the level, and the kg sw has a low end cutoff of 38Hz; not exactly subwoofer range. It's an inexpensive, passive way to fill in the low end of most bookshelf speakers which don't reach below 50Hz, as well as older Klipsch Heresy's, without having to replace your speakers entirely. They are also something of a space saver, as you can easily find space for those bookshelf speakers while putting the kg sw in an out of the way location. Lastly, the kg sw doesn't consume power.

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So i did it, pulled the trigger and bought the thing. Even got a little discount, paid 125€, shipping included. Curious in what shape the SW will arrive here and what verneer is under that black finish...

A question to owners like @Peter P., is there a way to see if booth woofers are ok, without breaking the enclosure open?

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3 hours ago, AndreG. said:

So i did it, pulled the trigger and bought the thing. Even got a little discount, paid 125€, shipping included. Curious in what shape the SW will arrive here and what verneer is under that black finish...

A question to owners like @Peter P., is there a way to see if booth woofers are ok, without breaking the enclosure open?

Yes.

Using a voltmeter to measure resistance, measure the resistance at the input terminals of each channel of the subwoofer.

With the switch in the Low Output position, you should measure 8 ohms, +/- 1 ohm or so.

With the switch in the High Output position, you should measure 4 ohms, +/- 1 ohm or so.

At the output terminals, you should read greater than 1M ohm regardless of the switch position.

I just verified this with my kg sw, so you can trust the numbers are good.

As long as you don't hear any nasty rasping, grating, or scraping noises from the sub as you turn up the volume, you can be assured the woofers aren't damaged.

Lastly, with all the wiring connected, your regular speakers should still be working. You could also set a voltmeter to AC volts and with some music playing, put the leads across the output terminals. You'll see the signal bounce around a lot as the meter tries to follow the music. With the music at a comfortable level, you'll probably see less than 1 V.

With all that wiring at the sub, pay close attention to + and - at the amp outputs, and sub inputs and outputs, so everything is in-phase.

The forum expects a report once you get it up and running!

 

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