KPT-335 custom build

[revrseat70]

Hello all,

 

if this doesn’t belong here, feel free to boot it.

 

I am fairly new to the forum and Klipsch loudspeakers, but after finding some KG4’s at a consignment store with my daughter and a FB marketplace buy of Fortes turning into a haul that included a set of KLFs in addition, and finally acquiring some KP-301’s. My wife and I love the Klipsch sound and are having fun going bigger and bigger.

 

We recently heard the Cornwall IVs and thought this was the next move. After reevaluating our long term goals and my imagination for building and tinkering, we decided to look into my building speakers.
 

Que a member of the forum posting the components to a KPT-335, which I purchased. (Btw it was all received in the best packaging job I’ve ever seen in all my years with automotive and now electronics used markets)

 

I have tracked down a supplier with lots of 3/4” Baltic birch, my wife has been generous with budget, and a buddy of mine is a skilled woodworker with access to a full shop, including CNC. 
 

I would love to harness the collective knowledge from this community to help make these truly great. 
 

My first thought is to make separate bass cabinet and mid/high “cabinet”. Then each could be perfected in design, time alignment, etc. I also want to experiment with being able to flip the top bin upside down to put the tweeter horn (k703) at ear height and the mid (k510) above it. But if there is a better way or that’s just wrong I’m open to it. 

 

the constraints are: 

1. visual - they can be big if they look “good”, ie. clean/simple. For reference: My wife really likes our KLF 30’s and the visual look of tower speakers.

2. protected - we have two young kids. So ideally there wouldn’t be exposed crossovers/diaphragms etc. I would be making screens to magnetically attach. 

3. not corner dependent- I want flexibility of placement, and would therefore prefer open baffle or front ports

4. Bass - I would like for the single k48 to  reach as low as it can without loosing the smooth transition from the midrange. Ideally in the neighborhood of 40 hz

I’m really open to imaginative ideas, granted I wouldn’t need to do major crossover surgery from the original. The room these would be placed is a roughly 22x28’ bonus room with 8’ ceilings and two svs subs where I would use a kp-301 as a center channel. We mostly watch shows and movies in this space, but also some 2 or multi-channel music listening. It’s a treated space but kids do play rough in there. 

 

Sorry for the novel, thank you for the consideration. 
 

Alex

[Vivi]

definitely following this topic - great idea.

[OO1]

 @Issac Acker   restoring   klipsch speakers  is the main focus  here ,  klipsch  speakers with factory  capacitors , crossovers   , drivers keep their value  ,and  prices are up BTW 

 

 

 

 

[revrseat70]

Thanks 001, but as it was said, these were components purchased in pieces. Nothing to restore here. Just parts for which to design a cabinet. 
 

The first step was to build a prototype of the HF section I could test and tune with. A couple of hours and some plywood and we got there. 
 

once that was done, I could wire them up to whatever woofer cabinet I want to test different LF section ideas. 
 

first test was with my KLF 30’s. (Mainly just to hear them in the room they will most likely end up occupying) 

[revrseat70]

I have the kp-48’s… and after stumbling on a thread here where discussion led to installing k-48’s in folded horns I starting doing some research on building a Lascala bin vs the conventional kpt-335 bin. 
 

I spoke with my woodworking friend about this option, detailed the budget, but also spent several weeks eyeing Facebook marketplace. 
 

in the meantime, I “sacrificed” my kp-301’s to use them as prototype bass bins. This gave me what I could expect from the final product if I go the conventional route and it sounded wonderful. 

[revrseat70]

But my itch to experiment wasn’t satisfied. So when a marketplace ad for Peavey FH-1’s with their woofers installed came up 30 minutes from me, I messaged the seller 15 minutes after he posted them and had them in my Jeep within the hour! All for the total cost of $140! 

 

Suddenly, I had an inexpensive (if not free once I sell the black widow woofers) opportunity to test my folded horn theory. 
 

using some insulation strips on the lip, some polyfil, new wiring, and some nice rubber feet, I had my first ever completely horn-loaded speaker. 
 

After some simple time aligning the HF section and getting rid of the “foot” angling the speakers up to bring the HF section lower (not shown) - these things sound INCREDIBLE. 
 

So now, I think I have my bones and guts worked out. Now it’s just a matter of putting it all together in a better looking shell. 
 

Edited May 21, 2023 by revrseat70

[OO1]

On 5/20/2023 at 7:49 PM, revrseat70 said:

Thanks 001, but as it was said, these were components purchased in pieces.

 

Get some    KPT 904 bas bins and call it a day , nothing beats twin k-45's in a bass reflex cab 

Edited May 22, 2023 by OO1

[revrseat70]

14 hours ago, OO1 said:

Get some    KPT 904 bas bins and call it a day , nothing beats twin k-48's in a bass reflex cab 

Those are k-45’s. Different impedance.
 

I got tired of looking/waiting for 904’s a long time ago which is how this all came about. 

[jjptkd]

17 hours ago, revrseat70 said:

After some simple time aligning the HF section and getting rid of the “foot” angling the speakers up to bring the HF section lower (not shown) - these things sound INCREDIBLE. So now, I think I have my bones and guts worked out. Now it’s just a matter of putting it all together in a better looking shell. 

 

That is awesome, can't wait to see the final product! I love my custom 335's and 325's. not sure I could easily go back to "home" speakers after having these. 

[OO1]

7 hours ago, revrseat70 said:

Those are k-45’s. Different impedance. 

yep , I stand corrected ,  4 Ohms  k-45 woofers