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Help an old noob with his confusion!


bbkong

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Hi all, I'm hoping to find a solution here. 
I have a pair of old Klipsch  two way 15" floor monitors with the carpet covering that I've learned are made of unobtainium.
I love the way they sound but unfortunately the crossover died in one of them. I'm pretty sure it's the crossover

since I replaced it with a substandard crossover and it works, it's just really anemic next to the one that still works. 
I'm searching for replacements that sound as good or maybe some tips on repairing the bad one. 

I'm guessing the monitors are 8 ohm? 
Plz explain it to me like I'm 5 yrs old, I'm already in over my head being a musician who doesn't understand the magic inside the box, 

just the outside. Thanks so such! 

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19 hours ago, bbkong said:

Hi all, I'm hoping to find a solution here. 
I have a pair of old Klipsch  two way 15" floor monitors
I love the way they sound but unfortunately the crossover died in one of them. I'm pretty sure it's the crossover

 

you have   a  KSM 15  , there are 3 versions  KSM 15-    KSM 15 II  -and KSM 15 II C  --the horns are different depending on the version -

 

 

 

KSM-15 | Klipschimage.jpeg.635462d3dbc2d4a5ec6dd9af98637eae.jpeg

 

 

--klipsch has an Exclusive  Crossover Repair Center for the USA  -- they can send you new klipsch capacitors to replace the old capacitors or you can send the crossovers by UPS  for a repair  , you do not need to buy new crossovers - 

 

https://jemperformanceaudio.com/

JEM Performance Audio

499 Limestone Drive, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania 15102

(412) 401-6915

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Michael Crites also does test and repair. You’re also making the assumption that JEM will have have the needed parts - they primarily do Heritage and some speakers that share common values. 
 

Anyone have a schematic for those?

 

Could just be a burned out resistor. 

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19 hours ago, bbkong said:

Hi all, I'm hoping to find a solution here. 
I have a pair of old Klipsch  two way 15" floor monitors with the carpet covering that I've learned are made of unobtainium.
I love the way they sound but unfortunately the crossover died in one of them. I'm pretty sure it's the crossover

since I replaced it with a substandard crossover and it works, it's just really anemic next to the one that still works. 
I'm searching for replacements that sound as good or maybe some tips on repairing the bad one. 

I'm guessing the monitors are 8 ohm? 
Plz explain it to me like I'm 5 yrs old, I'm already in over my head being a musician who doesn't understand the magic inside the box, 

just the outside. Thanks so such! 

Welcome to the Forum -

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There are a number of things that don't add up here. 

 

1) Crossovers seldom "just die" unless they were heavily abused.  Connectors, come loose etc, but I would first make sure the the problem was the crossover - there are logical ways to do that. You or a friend will need to have an inexpensive volt meter at the very least. 

2) there is really no such thing as a substandard crossover (I think you mean some sort of generic crossover. I am guessing). If that is the case, then of course they don't sound very good.

3) First make sure all the drivers are working and the signal is getting through. 

4) use the "good crossover" and have a friend order replacement parts from Parts Express or Madison etc (resistors, capacitors, fuses). If there is an auto former on these (and I don't know if there is), I hope you still have that part since they are difficult to replace with the correct one. Any auto former or inductor should probably be okay. These may have one of the Klipsch protection circuits on it (they had a silly name IIRC). Those will not be necessary. 

5) before you take anyone's advice on this (including my own). A) let us know specifically how you determined that the problem was the crossover and B)  take a picture of the cabinet and several pictures of the crossover. Any advice without these two points of information is likely to misguided. 

 

Don't worry it can be fixed,

-Tom

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JEM is not a saint who immediately knows a solution for everything. First of all, your speakers are not from the Heritage family. That's why I don't think JEM is your first point of contact. Your request might be better placed in the Pro Audio section. But anyway, you will be helped here as well. And certainly also at Michael Crites.

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And boom, nice responses!  My thanks to all! 

I kinda kept an eye on the page last night and started thinking maybe it was a dead forum. lol  So now I know what time of day you guys operate.
Being an old guitar player, I don't get up until noon and into gear until ~3pm. 2021-06-27_14-19-26.thumb.jpg.b711c0a57050d9f8da041b7304e23782.jpg
I bring peectures. Sorry about the potato cam, I found my phone in the jeep in the sun and had to put it in the fridge to cool off and it still doesn't do the photo thing so well.
The original crossover is pictured, a KSM-12. The last pic is the $5 Amazon crossover that informed me the speaker and the horn are both working fine. 

Guess I should have started off with the pics, but the info you've already provided may be enough to track down my solution. 
I got these monitors for $75 off an auction site in Texas, plus $200 for shipping so I guess I got a good deal.  While they were working I was using them along side a pair of

15" JBL EONs and they sounded great. (QSC amps) 
I'm wanting to use these for my guitareoke gigs because they're smaller and aren't too loud for restaurants. 
My thanks for your time and attention! 

2021-06-27_14-22-00.jpg

2021-06-27_14-19-32.jpg

2021-06-27_14-21-21.jpg

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Yeah, they're 12"s. Since I turned 70 I'm starting to leak data and my processing speed is obviously suffering too. 
I'll be on the phone tomorrow trying to get this resolved one way or another. The wife thinks I should just get some new speakers

but she doesn't really understand. Her car radio quit working and her solution was a new car.  lol

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3 minutes ago, bbkong said:

Yeah, they're 12"s. Since I turned 70 I'm starting to leak data and my processing speed is obviously suffering too. 
I'll be on the phone tomorrow trying to get this resolved one way or another. The wife thinks I should just get some new speakers

but she doesn't really understand. Her car radio quit working and her solution was a new car.  lol

 

After looking at your photos, highly recommend you contact the Crites folks.  Have fun with your project.

 

https://critesspeakers.com/

 

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