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Quartet Recommended Upgrades/Mods


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I'll be picking up my very first pair of Klipsch Heritage speakers this afternoon, a pair of Quartets. Are there any recommended mods/upgrades that people do to these models? I saw something about a weight on the passive radiator and some talk of tweeter upgrades. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg upgrading them but some basic recommendations would be very much appreciated.

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23 minutes ago, sparton175 said:

. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg upgrading them but some basic recommendations would be very much appreciated.

Basic budget "upgrades" include new Titanium tweeter diaphragms and fresh capacitors in the crossovers. While the capacitors aren't really an "upgrade" they do return the life, energy and clarity to the speakers that have certainly fizzled out over time.

 

Crites.com sells nice titanium diaphragms for a reasonable price, they are aftermarket but I've used them extensively in numerous speakers over the years and have had nothing but good luck with them, great product and service.

 

JEM is kind of new but they are the only Klipsch authorized Crossover parts / repair specialists they can send you parts or you can send them your crossovers for updating.

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Just an FYI" quartets are not considered original heritage speakers,  some call them "extended heritage"...

 

As for mods, I would listen to them for awhile first to see how you like them & establish a baseline, then consider doing some mods one at a time to see if you like them or they make any noticeable improvement.  The weight on the passive will only tune them slightly lower & can make the passive bottom out faster/easier at high volumes.  The Ti tweeters some say make a positive improvement & some say they sound harsher than the stock diaphrams.  The other thing many do is replace the capacitors in teh crossover but that can be a debate of if they really need it vs what type/brand to use. If the speakers sound "muffled" or not crisp in the mids/high freq then the caps could be bad so up to you on what to use, if you can solder they are pretty easy to replace & you can decide if you want to spend a bunch of money on mid to upper level brands or go with a budget brand like dayton 1% or solen, erse etc. or use the recent klipsch approved caps that are the same type & quality as the stock one... which some say are cheap quality compared to modern poly caps.  but all this comes down to your system & your own ears, so decide what you think of them in stock form & go from there... you will get all kinds of opinions & suggestions so be prepared for that as it can make the decision more complicated than it needs to be.    

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Like others have posted – just listen to them for a good while before doing anything.

 

As for adding weight to the passive radiators - do not do it! Years ago I asked Bob Crites about this and he said not to do it. But foolish me - I did it anyway to my forte IIs. I had to have them re-coned just as Mr. Crites said I would.

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1 minute ago, Alexander said:

As for adding weight to the passive radiators - do not do it! Years ago I asked Bob Crites about this and he said not to do it. But foolish me - I did it anyway to my forte IIs. I had to have them re-coned just as Mr. Crites said I would.

 

Thank you for letting me know! That would have been quite unfortunate. 

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2 hours ago, sparton175 said:

Listening to them first makes sense for sure. After a time I'll figure out if there's anything I feel needs to be upgraded/changed and go from there.

Yes man, listen and enjoy!!! 

And hope you are not paying too much.

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On 3/9/2021 at 7:08 PM, billybob said:

Yes man, listen and enjoy!!! 

And hope you are not paying too much.

I don't think I paid too much but it's hard to say when Quartets hardly ever come up for sale. I don't think $500 was too much in the DC area but I could be wrong. Chorus IIs and Forte IIs are normally listed at $1500 here.

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15 minutes ago, sparton175 said:

I don't think I paid too much but it's hard to say when Quartets hardly ever come up for sale. I don't think $500 was too much in the DC area but I could be wrong. Chorus IIs and Forte IIs are normally listed at $1500 here.

Yea with today’s prices and those are walnut you did fine. Like most said listen to them for a while, placement will probably make a bigger difference than any mod can do. You will notice a difference with the titanium diaphragms and it’s such a small investment if you don’t like them go back to the original. I bet you’d be hard pressed to notice much difference after a recap but it’s possible.

By the way what amp will you be using? Modern/vintage/tube/ss?

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8 minutes ago, Madman1 said:

Yea with today’s prices and those are walnut you did fine. Like most said listen to them for a while, placement will probably make a bigger difference than any mod can do. You will notice a difference with the titanium diaphragms and it’s such a small investment if you don’t like them go back to the original. I bet you’d be hard pressed to notice much difference after a recap but it’s possible.

By the way what amp will you be using? Modern/vintage/tube/ss?

Right now I'm using a tube pre-amp with a topping ss amp. I'm waiting for my IcePower 50x2 kit to arrive, then I'll be using the tube-preamp with that.

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1 hour ago, sparton175 said:

I don't think I paid too much but it's hard to say when Quartets hardly ever come up for sale. I don't think $500 was too much in the DC area but I could be wrong. Chorus IIs and Forte IIs are normally listed at $1500 here.

You did good!

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Highly recommend AGAINST adding any weight to the passives.  On the other hand, again, recommend ordering a crossover kit from Crites, and also recommend taking the Quartets OFF those stands.  You are losing bass frequencies when situated like that.

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Quartets were my first set of Klipsch speakers – bought new ~1992.

 

I would start with ~18” from the wall(s) and tow-in to have the intersection point ~1-2' ahead or behind your sitting position - try various positions to see what you like. You may want to also try them without the stands just for kicks.

 

In the end I would venture to say that you would upgrade to the Crites Ti tweeter diaphragms and re cap the crossovers as the caps are knocking on 30 years old if still original.

 

When it comes to capacitors it is a bag of snakes for sure. You will read the gamut of “OEM approved” to higher grade caps. But this much I would say – few people have disliked the quote “new sound” of “aftermarket” caps over the OEM polyester based caps. I'm not passing judgment over any type/brand of caps, just what I have read (and done) over the years.

 

 

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On 3/11/2021 at 7:51 AM, sparton175 said:

I don't think I paid too much but it's hard to say when Quartets hardly ever come up for sale. I don't think $500 was too much in the DC area but I could be wrong. Chorus IIs and Forte IIs are normally listed at $1500 here.


Quartets don’t come up very often in DC. When they do come up, they don’t stay posted for long.  (Obviously, someone could keep something up for an extended period hoping for an above market price.  I have seen some sellers asking $800-900 further up the East Coast that sat for months, but nothing like that in DC.).
 

$500 in DC is a good buy if they are also in good condition. Considering yours are Walnut, and look pretty in the photos, I’d say you did very well.

 

In the right room, Quartets are probably all you need for great sound.  They can be made different in ways many find better suited to their tastes. I’ve heard three different versions lately:

- stock

- Crites tweeter diaphragms and crossovers

- Cabinet braced, Crites tweeter diaphragms and Crossovers, Ti squawker diaphragms, and upgraded woofers

 

All sound great to me. An A-B test wasn’t an option, so I’ll avoid praising any one over another until I can do that. In the meantime, I’m going to make as many opportunities as I can to listen to whichever ones come available. 

 

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I have had a few sets of Quartets.....I kind of use do rebuilds as a way to relax before I retired 3 years ago....Yea you can do the caps and  tweeter diaphragms....

I 'd usually not do the midrange ones unless they were bad....Never had to brace the cabinets .The only complaint I have ever heard about them is they either need to be raised or angled up because of their size.

 

Enjoy them,

 

George

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On 3/9/2021 at 8:40 AM, sparton175 said:

I'll be picking up my very first pair of Klipsch Heritage speakers this afternoon, a pair of Quartets. Are there any recommended mods/upgrades that people do to these models? I saw something about a weight on the passive radiator and some talk of tweeter upgrades. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg upgrading them but some basic recommendations would be very much appreciated.

I dropped a set of KLF20 woofers into my Quartet added weight to the passive and added some damping to the cabinet in the form of high density fiberglass on the struts only and put them on four post stands which placed the centre of the mid horn at my seated ear level around 40" up off the floor. Best Bass I have achieved from any Klipsch I have owned and modified. see brace work below.

Quartet rebuild 011.jpg

Quartet rebuild 017.jpg

Quartet rebuild 021.jpg

Quartet rebuild 016.jpg

Quartet rebuild 020.jpg

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