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Upgrade Crossovers of NOT?


Bob Rohrer

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I bought my K-horns new in 1984. I have never been completely happy with their level of sound, especially weak base! I had recently contacted Klipsch to see if I should upgrade my crossovers. They don't currently have upgrade stock, but would keep me on the list and advise when they have product. In our phone conversation the tech just casually mentioned the crossover capability of K-Horns is 33HZ. I have always followed the general advice of setting them to small with the crossover at 80Hz. I changed the crossovers to 40Hz and at my usual listening level the sound from the K-Horns doubled!!, and my 2 10" subs were putting out sub bass from the LFE connection, just as they should!! My receiver is a Yamaha 9.2 Avantage model and all eleven speakers are Klipsch.  Sorry to go on so much, but here is my question: Do Crossovers wear out? And would an expensive crossover upgrade improve the great sound I now have? Or as the old saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it"!

I'm really happy with the sound now, but I'm always looking for better if it's there and I can afford it --  can't believe it took me 37 years to get the 33Hz right!
 

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Yes, crossovers definitely need to be updated on occasionally. The capacitors get out of spec and should be replaced after 20 ish years.

 

That being said, in my experience, vintage Klipsch doesn't shine in surround sound as much as they do in a true stereo setup. If you have any true stereo receiver, it would be worth hooking up the khorns to it to see if the sound quality increases. Where are you located? There might be a forum member around who could try to help.

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No offense, but you have 15" woofers in a horn loaded cabinet that are going to give you a multitude of bass (at least for 99% of music) more than any 10" subwoofers will ever provide. 

Glad you got it configured better!

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There is ALWAYS the option of using an ACTIVE crossover for your K-horns...like the one used on the Jubilees....but the K-horn bass horn is limited to bottom-end performance at around 32 hZ, simply because of its horn lens design, coupled with a requirement to be CORRECTLY loaded into a room corner.  So getting any kind of bottom end below 32 hZ out of its bass horn is highly unlikely to happen to any extent.  Movie explosions and such do not fall into the true musical instrument spectrum, which is what the K-horn was designed to achieve.

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6 hours ago, Bob Rohrer said:

I have never been completely happy with their level of sound, especially weak base!

Its your receiver. Use in good decided 2 channel setup with the right room, bass will never be an issue with these for most.  If you are a bass head, you will always need subs with any speakers regardless 

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16 hours ago, Bob Rohrer said:

I bought my K-horns new in 1984. I have never been completely happy with their level of sound, especially weak base! I had recently contacted Klipsch to see if I should upgrade my crossovers. They don't currently have upgrade stock, but would keep me on the list and advise when they have product. In our phone conversation the tech just casually mentioned the crossover capability of K-Horns is 33HZ. I have always followed the general advice of setting them to small with the crossover at 80Hz. I changed the crossovers to 40Hz and at my usual listening level the sound from the K-Horns doubled!!, and my 2 10" subs were putting out sub bass from the LFE connection, just as they should!! My receiver is a Yamaha 9.2 Avantage model and all eleven speakers are Klipsch.  Sorry to go on so much, but here is my question: Do Crossovers wear out? And would an expensive crossover upgrade improve the great sound I now have? Or as the old saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it"!

I'm really happy with the sound now, but I'm always looking for better if it's there and I can afford it --  can't believe it took me 37 years to get the 33Hz right!
 

Your Crossovers can be upgraded by the KLIPSCH crossover repair center in the USA  anytime -

---You can purchase the klipsch capacitors and do the work yourself , or you can send  in your Crossovers  and have the klipsch crossover Repair center do the work -

 

https://jemperformanceaudio.com

theaudioroom@verizon.net

 

 

JEM Performance Audio

3319 Piedmont Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15216, United States

(412) 401-6915

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I have an unproven theory that speakers used often don't need cap replacements as soon as speakers not used much, especially ones stored unused. 

 

If your K-horns sound polite and laid-back, perhaps distant, you probably need new capacitors.  Your K-horns should sound big, bold, out in the room and lively.  I had one H700 from the early 60s that needed new caps and one that didn't. 

 

If you have Type AK crossovers, change them to AK-3s.  Shop ebay and our Garage Sale section.

 

If you decide to replace the caps, replace them with the exact values your crossovers have and use very high quality film and foil caps.  They will be expensive.  To a point, your K-horns deserve them.  Somewhere around $100 each, you begin to pay for prestige rather than sound.  Avoid metalized film caps, they tend to have a subtle, hard edged sound. 

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