osagebch Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I have ordered the crossovers from Al Klappenberger. Any information anyone can provide as to ease of installation when replacing a Klipsch AK 2 network would be appreciated. Also, any feedback as to improvements noted in Khorn performance would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 There has been MASSIVE feedback on this subject in the 2 Channel forum. Ditto in the Updating Speakers forum. The switch appears very painless. You might consider replacing the wire to the drivers, soldering the connections at the driver end. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I also ordered the ALK's for my Belles. I have the AB crossover currently, which Al dislikes due to it's reverse equalization. I am hoping this will make a noticeable improvement. I ordered after reading the many posts about the ALK's on the board. Replacing them from what I gather should be painless. You can visit Al's site and download the DIY file. It contains some information and pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I originally ordered ALK's for a pair of '99 Belles and the mounting holes in the ALK's didn't line up because Klipsch has changed the dimensions of the board the crossover is mounted on. For the Belles I just set the crossover on some padding in the same place that the stock ones were. I used the padding to reduce vibrations since they weren't screwed down tightly. The ALK's will "probably" be a drop in replacement for your stock crossovers, just 2 screws to deal with. Which speakers do you have and what year? The ALK's did fit perfectly in my K-horns. You might want to get some thick rubber washers or maybe felt to put between the crossover board and the speaker to minimize vibrations but that may be a bit over the top... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCturboT Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 ---------------- On 12/18/2002 4:54:18 PM edster00 wrote: The ALK's did fit perfectly in my K-horns. You might want to get some thick rubber washers or maybe felt to put between the crossover board and the speaker to minimize vibrations but that may be a bit over the top... ---------------- edster, Over the top seems to be the "norm" around here! Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 oh yea...I forgot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbflash Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 I installed them in my lascalas in about 5 minutes. They are very easy to install. Everything is labeled. Let us know what you think. Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Hey, great job on your purchase! Al's networks are built to very high standards, and many are very, very happy with their performance. I am probably going to build myself a pair from the schematic Al has (unusually and most generously)made available for other DIYers. I'm going to have to do this 'on-the-cheap' for the time being, and use a variable L-pad on the midrange horn, rather than the the autoformer used in both Al's network and the stock Klipsch crossover. Doubtless a few might jump on my case about this, but one can actually build a very good crossoever with such a built-in voltage divider as this -- I speak from having made several networks that use variable rather than fixed L-pads on both the tweeter and midrange branches. Once set, the variable L-pad can be replaced with fixed resistors. But to your tweak question! You might indeed experiment with bi-wiring (or perhaps later, even bi-amping), since Al has insightfully made provision for this modification. I know several exceedingly knowledgeable listeners who really prefer to bi-wire their speakers. Since speakers present a fairly reactive load to the amplifiers, they are usually more sensitive to the kind of wire used to make the amp-speaker interface; thus differences between wire used for speakers can often be sometimes easier to discern than than that for upstream components. Replacing the short lengths between the driver terminals and the crossover might have a small effect, however you may notice a greater difference when working with the longer lengths between your amplifiers and speakers. I have built many, many different cables based on a variety of geometries, including a simple cross-connect between a twisted pair of low-capacitance (measured to be approx 14pfd./foot) coax. Even Romex cable sounded really quite good (I could care less what others might say...). Of late -- and this is something you might care to try -- is a braided cable of 4 twisted pair of CAT 5 cable. This is available at Radio Shack for about $.30/foot. It is insulated with blue PVC rather than the more common gray. The blue insulation is important in that it contains twisted pair conductors insulated with thin Teflon, rather than PVC. There are those who have braided gigantic versions of this, consisting of many, many twisted pair -- ultimately creating a cable with seriously high capacitance issue...so much though that they caused oscillation in some amplfiers. You can also find spade terminals at Radio Shack that will fit the terminal strips on your new crossoevers -- this connection is important and shouldn't be an after thought. Do try bi-wiring, though! It's easy to do, and you may really like what you find. It enables the use of wire more appropriate for the frequency ranges of the drivers they're being used for. I'm in the process of doing some dismantling of the stock x-overs on my La-Scalas for the same purpose, however my plan is to go a step further and eventually use different amps for the tweeter and midrange and the woofer. Al clearly marks the inputs and driver outputs on the crossovers, and they should be a snap to install. Ed's idea of a vibration absorbing buffer between the crossover and speaker cabinet is a great idea. Some manufacturers even encase the entire crossover in epoxy or silicone for the same reason. I've also done that on some of the loudspeaker systems I've built. Anyway, have lots of fun and enjoy your new networks. They look very nice, and I wish I could afford them, too! I've got to get a now truly fine sounding AE-1 preamp paid off first, though! Keep us up to date, and please let us know how you like the performance -- I'm really interested! Friendly Regards, Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Hi guys, As to the mounting holes in my network, they are drilled to fit the "AA" network. The "AB" netwrok has a different hole dimension, and I assume the "AK" series is different again. You will need to force the screws into the mounting surface through the holes on the newwork board. It isn't hard. BTW.. Beware of using "L pads" on the squawker with my network. The K55 driver is 16 Ohms (13 actually) and the filter wants to see 8 Ohms. It could make for a rough midrange response. It would be ok for a temporary rig though. Al K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osagebch Posted December 19, 2002 Author Share Posted December 19, 2002 I have the Klipshorns circa 1986 with AK 2 networks. Purchased new and still all original. I haave system torn apart due to home remodeling and am anxious to fire back up with new Audio Research Reference pre-amp, Levinson amp and the new Tri Vista tube SACD from Musical Fidelity. Also drive two Velodyne subs with the Khorns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy81 Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Al: Do you know if your current ALK setup will allow for a hole template that will match my Belles AB network? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 Hi FYI - When I replaced my AK (not AK-2) the holes in Al's ALKs matched up perfectly. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 when I installed my ALK in my k-horns I had to clip out a capacitor that resided within the bass chamber...but ALs instruction talk about that so I expect you are alright there...everything wen tvery smoothly, install took about half and hour...my problem was indentifying the polarity of the various driver terminals (they are not marked "+" and "-" on my drivers...just a dab of paint, on some of them! lol! a little trial and error on that part. Al helped me out when I had questions I am sure he will do the same for you. regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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