guitz Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 I bought a pair of used Klipsch KM-6 floorstanding speaker a few months ago, but just now have been able to audition them with a good receiver, a Marantz 5200 and earlier on with an old Sony component receiver....The sound thru both is rather disappointing, although, I haven't had a chance to really crank them flat out yet. The disappointment really comes from lower volumes anyway. A friend has an Onkyo integrated system , with Onkyo floorstanding 4 way speakers. My setup has more clarity to be sure, but, even at lower volumes hers has this great 'density' and kick to the sound. I don't mean ultra low bass, that seems to be there , nor high range frequencies which sound OK as well....I mean it's like someone took a knife and carved out all of that frequency range that produces that 'oomph' , even at lowered volumes. The result is speakers that have good ultra low bass and good treble but very 'tiny' and small, punchless low mid sound. Is there a test or something I can do to see if the drivers or crossover is defective, or does anybody have any other suggestions?....I get the feeling that when I am able to crank these up very loud, I'll still get this 'tiny' , punchless midgrangey sound only louder, ...I have a pair of Yorkville YSM-1's I use as surround speakers and when I kick them on they have that nice low, but not ultra low beef, so I know it's not a receiver problem....is this just the nature of sound that these speakers produce and how can I be sure I'm hearing them to their max potential? Thanks for any replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted December 30, 2003 Share Posted December 30, 2003 It could be simple, she may have the loudness control on or other equalization. At lower volumes, the loudness control would really kick in and change the sound, adding a lot of OOOMPH. You should carefully check each driver in your speakers to make sure they are working. Sometimes you need to remove the driver to be sure. I'm not familiar with the speaker you have, but if it has more than one bass driver, for instance, you would need to remove each driver from the cabinet to be sure it's operating. It's possible to think that a driver is operating, when, in fact, it's just being vibrated by the other driver. Know what I mean? If all drivers are working and aren't making funny noises, then the speakers are probably o.k. It is possible that you have a pair of speakers that is set up to be more of a clear midrange type of sound. All speakers sound different from one another for a reason. Different markets. Many speakers have a built-in bassy sound. First impression is that they have a lot of OOOMPH and sound great, but really, often times they are not accurately reproducing the sound. A speaker that is designed to offer a flat frequency response is not going to have OOOMPH at low listening levels without some kind of equalization, bass/treble, or loudness control. The electronics before the speakers can make a big difference in sound quality and OOOMPH. See if you can try some other amplifiers. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitz Posted December 30, 2003 Author Share Posted December 30, 2003 Thanks for the reply....I did just notice my friend keeps her systems bass and treble maxed, so that obviously had a lot to do with it. Plus, I'm listening in a much smaller environment and don't get to turn it up as loud as she does (apartment for now). I sure do like the clarity I get , with the digital coax out of my DVD player, it makes listening to CD's a real pleasure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitz Posted December 31, 2003 Author Share Posted December 31, 2003 Got to listen to louder levels today....Ok, now I'm noticing a trend...it's the frequencies that give the snare drum that punch out to the front of the mix. It's not there. Good clarity, good smack or snap of the snare hit, but utterly punchless ... I auditioned many CD's and even stuff off the radio tuner and whatever frequencies are responsible for that, there is a distinct lack of punch. My friends receiver has no loudness control so I know that's not an issue, and I've cranked the bass on my receiver and also gone 'direct' mode, bypassing all processing. It's strange that these behemoths can't kick like I'd hope,what with two heavy magnet 10" woofers...the sub frequencies are OK, but maybe their just more noticeable because of this lack of mid-bass kick. I'm seriously beginning to think someone might've tweaked the crossover ,as the screwheads to the speakers do show wear..hmmmm. The thing that just seems overwhelming , is for the size of these things, about 3 1/2 feet tall, they sound very small no matter what I tweak. I'm about ready to pull the drivers like suggested earlier and check the crossover also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted December 31, 2003 Share Posted December 31, 2003 That looks like a KG-5.5. There are several on the site that have those. Do a search and see what you can come up with. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitz Posted January 1, 2004 Author Share Posted January 1, 2004 3DZapper, Yep, that's them....well, things have gone to from disappointing to bad. I was futzing around in both cabinets yesterday and after putting the left speaker drivers back in and firing up the receiver, the tweeter horn no longer produces sound. Moving the + and - wires ever so slightly made them work intermittently , but now they just do nothing. I took the horn apart and they look fairly simple...a magnet and the membrane part..not sure why it fails but I swapped it with the right speakers tweeter horn and that one works fine, so it's not a crossover problem. Anyways, how much will these cost me to replace?...Maybe I could also see about getting a newer crossover as well, just to see if it helps the original problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 G, a form member named Martyc, is selling his 5.5's for 300.00 , just an Idea go up to search, and type in KG 5.5 , his is the first one listed................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 1, 2004 Share Posted January 1, 2004 guitz, New tweeter diaphrams can be bought right from Klipsch and are not expensive. I think if you want new crossovers the only way is to biuld them yourself. Levir just built some really nice ones for his KG-5.5s you could get the skinny from him down in the Odds and Mods section. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitz Posted January 1, 2004 Author Share Posted January 1, 2004 very cool , thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispykoilz Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 ---------------- On 12/31/2003 12:55:50 PM guitz wrote: ...I'm seriously beginning to think someone might've tweaked the crossover ,as the screwheads to the speakers do show wear..hmmmm... Hello guitz, have you checked to make sure that all the internal wires going to the speakers are hooked up using the proper/same polarity? The previous owner may have pulled out and replaced some blown components and put the wires on wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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