Will Kilpschorn AK6 work well in my room? (thinking of upgrading from La Scala)

[ThomBoh]

3 hours ago, Peter P. said:

Sometimes you have to ignore the acoustic ramifications and meet your other needs.

 

You're right; LaScalas and two huge subs take up way to much space along that short wall, and in the room in general. Placing a pair of Klipschorns in the corners

is the right solution.

 

Few people have the ideal setup for a pair of Klipschorns yet they enjoy them just the same.

 

I say go for it with one caveat; since you've got the TV screen I assume you watch movies. You'll want to use one sub for movie effects as you have mentioned so you'll

have to find space for it. Sounds like you have a plan for that.

 

I would say that the acoustic ramifications are about equal to the other needs here. I don't want to be taking a downgrade from how things sound now, but yeah I really would like to clean up the arrangement of the room and footprint of what I currently have. As for the TV, I'm actually moving it to another room. I rarely use it and I have a nice atmos soundbar system with its own sub that I can use on the rare occasion that I do. Doesn't sound as good as my hifi system but that's fine. I don't want this room to be TV centric and would rather it just be a nice hang out space where seating doesn't need to be oriented towards a screen. Anyway, for subwoofer, my plan would be to either keep one of my 212s, or drop in my REL HT1510, either of which should be able cover the KHorns well up to 40 Hz where I suspect they'll start losing steam.

 

4 hours ago, Flevoman said:

I don't know if my experience is the right one to use, but I still want to share it.

 

I own the AL5 myself and, like you, was hesitant about acquiring someone else's AK6. I went to listen to his speakers twice, and both times I had the same experience. I found the AK6 to have a much tamer, maybe even somewhat dull, sound. The AL5, as it sounds in my home, has much more dynamics and punch. Also, I found the placement at my home better than at his. I'm not sure if this is due to the speakers, the setup, or the acoustics, but this is what I noticed. The bass went a little deeper, but I didn't find the difference, with the tracks I listened to, noticeably large. If I had to describe it briefly, I would say the AL5 (as I know it) is dynamic and lively, while the AK6 (as it sounded there) is more laid-back and grander.

 

Note: he had his Khorns placed against the long wall, not in the corners. And this person likes a laid-back sound. It is likely that he has tailored his setup to this preference. I personally prefer a dynamic and lively sound. By the way, this person is in a position to listen to different Khorns daily, which are placed well in the corners, and according to him, the audible difference between the set tightly placed in the corners and his set is minimal.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! It does give me pause. I read your thread from when you were trying to decide, and I (perhaps naively) feel like you did in that I would expect the Khorn and La Scala to sound the same except for the bass, given that the tweeter horn and mid horn + drivers appear to be identical? Although that seems not to be the case.

 

3 hours ago, Frzninvt said:

Too narrow not wide enough for them to image correctly.  You should have at least 4ft of wall on either side once they are in a corner.  You are better off with the La Scala's.

 

 

Thanks for the input! If I could dig in a little more into what you mean: when you say 4ft of wall on either side, you mean flat wall extending out from either side of each Khorn from where the khorn ends? I agree that the windows hurt this on 3 out of 4 sides. But for what it's worth, the windows only impeded ~half of the height of the bass bin. I wonder if that'll help.

 

Re: not being wide enough to image properly, are you talking purely about tweeter/mid horn angle due to corner placement (which could be, to some degree, aided by toe out) or are you implying that the windowframes compromising the bass horn extension will hurt imaging?

 

Thanks again for your thoughts!!

 

 

General question: this isn't a dealbreaker if not, but I'm wondering if there are any comprehensive professional reviews of the new AK6 model from any publication that are positive? The vast amount of what I've found written about KHorns on the internet (and on this forum) are not about the AK6 (which is understandable given their super high cost), but I would like to read as many impressions as I can as I mull things over.

[ThomBoh]

One thing I'm curious about: although the La Scala AL5s are rated down to 53 Hz, I have found from REW measurement using a calibrated microphone that below ~90 Hz, the bass response drops like a stone. No change in placement (moving them around in the corners that they are in) seems to be able to change this. Hence the absolute necessity of having the REL 212s, which are crossed over at about 90 Hz which is very high.

 

The KHorns are rated down to 33 Hz. Given my LS only made it down to 90 Hz instead of 53 Hz, I'm wondering what to realistically expect from the KHorns in room? I'm really hoping that they can get down to at least 40 Hz before losing SPL so that subs don't have to be covering such a large frequency range. I know that nobody can say for sure how they'll perform in my room, but if anyone has anecdotes about measured bass response of LS vs KH in their rooms I would be interested to hear it!

[Shakeydeal]

Good on ya for moving the tv out of the room. You’ll definitely notice an improvement on that for sure.

[ThomBoh]

2 hours ago, Shakeydeal said:

Good on ya for moving the tv out of the room. You’ll definitely notice an improvement on that for sure.

 

Yeah it's the change I'm most excited for tbh lol.

[YK Thom]

I think they would work well, and were I in your situation I would go with this strategy. I doubt the window will have much effect at all, 3.5 vs 4 is not much difference. Having a fairly high ceiling works in your favour as well as the length. Pretty rare to find the perfect room - keep in mind Khorns were originally a single speaker mono setup, and most rooms would have that one perfect corner. They would solve your room set up issues nicely by reducing the real estate required. Visually they would be perfect and make the room feel more spacious. Seems like a win win to me.

[YK Thom]

On 3/8/2024 at 9:04 AM, ThomBoh said:

 

I would say that the acoustic ramifications are about equal to the other needs here. I don't want to be taking a downgrade from how things sound now, but yeah I really would like to clean up the arrangement of the room and footprint of what I currently have. As for the TV, I'm actually moving it to another room. I rarely use it and I have a nice atmos soundbar system with its own sub that I can use on the rare occasion that I do. Doesn't sound as good as my hifi system but that's fine. I don't want this room to be TV centric and would rather it just be a nice hang out space where seating doesn't need to be oriented towards a screen. Anyway, for subwoofer, my plan would be to either keep one of my 212s, or drop in my REL HT1510, either of which should be able cover the KHorns well up to 40 Hz where I suspect they'll start losing steam.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! It does give me pause. I read your thread from when you were trying to decide, and I (perhaps naively) feel like you did in that I would expect the Khorn and La Scala to sound the same except for the bass, given that the tweeter horn and mid horn + drivers appear to be identical? Although that seems not to be the case.

 

 

Thanks for the input! If I could dig in a little more into what you mean: when you say 4ft of wall on either side, you mean flat wall extending out from either side of each Khorn from where the khorn ends? I agree that the windows hurt this on 3 out of 4 sides. But for what it's worth, the windows only impeded ~half of the height of the bass bin. I wonder if that'll help.

 

Re: not being wide enough to image properly, are you talking purely about tweeter/mid horn angle due to corner placement (which could be, to some degree, aided by toe out) or are you implying that the windowframes compromising the bass horn extension will hurt imaging?

 

Thanks again for your thoughts!!

 

 

General question: this isn't a dealbreaker if not, but I'm wondering if there are any comprehensive professional reviews of the new AK6 model from any publication that are positive? The vast amount of what I've found written about KHorns on the internet (and on this forum) are not about the AK6 (which is understandable given their super high cost), but I would like to read as many impressions as I can as I mull things over.

Here you are, one with a room not too dissimilar to your own.

 

https://www.audioresurgence.com/2021/08/klipsch-klipschorn-speaker-review.html

[tragusa3]

I used LaScala in an LCR setup for my theater room for years.  An opportunity for Khorns popped up and I jumped, maybe too quickly...

I immediately recognized the advantages of them digging into the base region deeper.  I expected that.  However, I did not expect increased clarity and detail.  Considering the top hat uses the same drivers, I assumed I wouldn't hear a change, but I did.  I also noticed a difference in dynamics.  The best way I can describe it is that with the rooms walls being used as the last fold in the horn, the Khorns dynamics grabbed the room differently.  It's like I could sense that the room was more involved with dynamic passages.  

 

Another thing I didn't anticipate was imaging struggles.  With my Khorns being the older variety, they must be tight in the corner.  In doing this, the axis crossed about 7' in front of my listening position.  My room is 18' wide x 30' deep, Speakers on the short wall.  For the first year, this bothered me enough that I would have considered going back to LS.  However, since my speakers aren't seen, I was able to twist the top portion of the Khorn to a different angle than the base bin.  I found the right spot and am now very happy.  This "twist" is not shown in the picture.

 

In your room, you will likely appreciate the improvements if you sit close to 12' from the speakers spaced 12' apart.  Too much outside of that window and you may loose full advantage of soundstage and imaging.

 

I usually make money when buying and selling vintage Heritage speakers.  With that in mind, I would buy the Khorns and find out for myself.  

 

 

[YK Thom]

Twisting (toeing?) the top hat is a brilliant idea.

[Schu]

Ahem...

 

CLOCKING

[YK Thom]

Clocking?