Dynamat Upgrade for Klipschorns

[Hauck]

Well, the Christmas tree has been down for a couple of weeks, so I have been able to test one of my 1999 Klipschorns with the Dynamat treatment. The squawker horn (plastic) was given the Dynamat application, with some rope caulk applied around the driver to horn interface. I applied rope caulk to the tweeter horn. Finally, I applied remaining Dynamat to the back of the squawker and tweeter horns mounting board. I used Dynamat Super which is foil backed. If anyone would like to be sent a few digital photos of the modification, please Email me.

Many of us that purchase Klipschorns do so because of the clarity of the bass horn and are typically willing to put up with that mildly annoying middle and high end edge. I have tested this dampening modification by listening to Aaron Neville, Roxy Music, Gary Moore, Michael Franks, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews Band, Supertramp, George Benson, Sting, Celine Dion, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Tracy Chapman, Loreena McKennitt, Santana, The Who, Joe Satriani, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Mark Cohn, Fourplay, Joshua Redman, Eric Leeds, Seal, The Rippingtons, Chip Davis, Candy Dulfer, ZZ Top, Beethoven Symphony #9 (Herbert Von Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic), The Doors, Bonnie Raitt, Montrose, Blue Oyster Cult, Melissa Etheridge, Blues Traveler, Lion King soundtrack, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Diana Krall, Neil Schon, Tom Waits, Bette Midler, Kansas, Wishbone Ash, and James Taylor so far . . . I think a reasonably broad spectrum sampling.

My assessment is that I have found the Dynamat and rope caulk modification generally worthwhile. It makes a subtle, if not negligible difference at low volume levels, but is much more pronounced at higher volume levels, say about 1 watt or more. It does indeed take much of that slight edge off the midrange and tweeter. I hesitate to use the word mellow . . . lets just say that I perceive things to be more realistic, and I feel I have taken another step, albeit a small one, towards the Holy Grail. I believe the difference would be far greater with metal horns, as John Albright attested to with his Lascalas. Overall, I am quite pleased with the difference, and will get around to modifying the other horn sometime this spring.

I am next considering some of filmofreddy's advice for biamplification of the Klipschorns. Man, I cannot wait to add a Belle or Lascala center channel.

Phil Hauck

[jwgorman]

Phil,

Your Khorns are new eh? Please remove that derned elliptical filter that stores energy and causes your tweeter to ring like crazy. This will take far more edge off your Khorns.

Just one snip with a pair of di-cutters and you can remove it from the tweet path.

There is a red wire running to the cap nearest the front of the high horn section. Snip this wire to remove the cap and coil from the circuit. It was designed to protect a delicate tweeter driver that is no longer used. The problem is they left the filter in place. No problem for the modern tweet to handle publishsed power levels. This mod takes nearly all the sibilance out of vocals! The best free mod ever. If you would like a photo of where to cut please email me.

jwg

[Q-Man]

Phil & JWG,

I have always been content with the sound of my horns. Maybe because I thought that you couldn,t do any thing to improve them. My oldest pair of LaScalas have an AA x-over. the two newer pairs of LaScalas have the AL x-overs, and the Klipschorns Have an AK2 x-over. I notice a diferance in the sound of the older AAs compared to the others, So I might update them one of these days. I called Klipsch & it will cost $800.00 for new tweets, mids. & AL3 x-overs.

Are any of these new enought for the clip JWG is talking about ? To me it sounds scary, more like a castration then a little clip.

I guess I could try the dynamat wrap on one of them, if you think it worth a try. I kind of hope that I can't hear an improvement since I have 4 pairs to wrap. But since I can hear the differance in the AA system maybe I can hear and appreciate the differance in the dynamat .

I can't say that I prefer one X-over over another, but then I never bothered to really do a side by side comparison .

Q.

[pzannucci]

Q-man, as far as the little clip, just have a soldering iron available.

I recently was working on a way to bi-amp my KLF-30s and when I hooked up an active crossover to the mid/tweeter, I was surprised to see really how much power the high frequency section really needed. At around 1 watt, it was very loud (my modified KLF is around 99-100Db vs 104Db for k-horn). Unless you listen at very loud levels or have a very large room, the circuit probably doesn't even get used let alone burning out the tweeter. But you are right about the sound. I had owned a couple of pair of late 70's and early 80's k-horns (AA x-over) and thought the sound was very good minus their roughness in the mids. Not as much sibilance as I used to hear with my KLFs.

Peter Z.

[lammers]

Hi all,

The Dynamat and rope caulk made a very noticeable difference on my metal squawkers

and tweets.I installed the latest tweets, mid drivers and AL3 x-overs some time ago. I bypassed the polyswitch on the tweeter and this was an immediate improvement. This was easy to do and as JWG sez, try it you will like it. The sound overall is much smoother

and more detailed.

[colterphoto1]

Is it too late to get in on the DX38 fun? I'd like on too. Nothing like playing with the toys that Roy tells us to.

Michael

[Bill H.]

Michael,

I don't know how you did it, but you answered a post from 2000.............. The post you want is

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/109434.aspx

[JohnA]

THIS is an oldie!

The Dynaat does work and well.

[Dylanl]

I use Rope Caulk on all my horns and I think they sound much better.

[Marvel]

THIS is an oldie!

The Dynaat does work and well.

But you wouldn't need it on a K401. Those are about as inert as you can get.