Caulk rope for K-Horns

[playntheblues]

Ok I am ready to tweak my K-horns a bit. When I put my hand on the midrange horn I can definitely feel resonance. I was thinking of trying some caulk rope, unless there is a better suggestion. If I go with caulk rope, how much should I buy? Do I wrap the whole horn? Your help and experiences are much appreciated. Thanks, Guy

[Colin]

Packing lines of gray caulking cord like a potter working on clay, I layered the throats of both horns. I only put on one layer and have yet to add another. But the horns are covered up to their heads in gray jackets - only their heads peak out of the top. Once impressive black horns, they now looked like small asylum inmates, side by side, tall and tiny, straitjacketed in their ancient padded cell.

The caulking cord is soft weather stripping window putty sold at Home Depot for less than $5.00 in 30 and 90 linear feet rolls. I used 120 feet. It comes in 1 1/2" wide flat strips easily torn and pasted by hand. In Europe, it is something called ' plastic-fermit' and sold in tin cans of either 250 or 500 gr. For the squawker and tweeter horn you need about 2.5 Kg. Each speaker took about one hour of network TV; who wants to be a millionaire when you can do projects like these?

Next, I placed ¾ thick black rubber washers underneath the crossover boards. The washers were the thickest in the plumbing section and cost $.47 a piece. Finally, I rubbed the walnut shanks of the Cornwalls down with lemon oil, just like the fine through bred horses they are, and set them back up again.

The effect of the tweaks was immediate and wonderful. Most of the clamor and ringing was gone from the high end.

I re-played the last CD, Michael Frank's Blue Pacific, in order to hear the contrasts and the tone. It sounded soft, gentle and warm. 8:00 on the dial was the fighting point for my little miss sensitive ears and I. At 7:55, I like it higher at 8:05, she likes it lower. But she liked it and did not ask me to turn it down.

Before the tweaks, Bruce Sprinstein's Born to Run CD played with a feeling of harshness. Even though I wanted to CRANK his music, I had to keep turning down the volume. The high end was too hard - too harsh; I blamed the age and analogue equipment of the recording.

But after the tweaks, the Bruce was painless. Likewise, with a Nimbus Natural sound CD, the Hayden trumpets rang like church bells in the valley.

[Benzima]

Colin,

Any chance you can provide a picture or two? I'm thinking about abouting trying this.

Thanxxx in advance and have a nice holiday (to all).

[playntheblues]

WOW Colin, How kool is that. A blow by blow, thank you very much for taking the time to share.

Any other thoughts?????????

[thebes]

Colon, a link or post the caulking pics here please. I'm interested also. Thanks.

PS Wonderful, decriptive writing.

[3dzapper]

There are others in the archives also, but here is a caulked K-400:

Looks like something from the "Revenge of the Mummy",no?

Rick

[Benzima]

A picture is worth a thousand words. I never would have guessed.

Thanxxx.

[playntheblues]

Thanks 3dzapper that really helps. How many K-horns owners have done this? And are you all happy with the results? Thanks, Guy

[Q-Man]

It helps to deaden the horn, many have been doing this for years now. It was a hot toppic some 3 years ago. You can find many post on it if you do a search.

I was a non believer. I was happy with the sound of my Klipschorns and LaScalas the way they were. I couldn't hear this ringing that everyone was talking about. Then I tried it and other things. Try it, you won't hurt anything. Just do one at a time. Then play the same channel (left or right) through both speakers and A/B them. I bet you too will now say,"so that is what a ringing horn sounds like." This fix will yield a smother more real like sound.

[colterphoto1]

OOHHHHH, that's how it's done! Thanks for the photo. I've got a pair of older Corns that I understand also benefit from this treatment. Always thought that you just put a couple big 'slabs' of the mortite clay material along the flat sides of the horn. Didn't realize that we should entirely wrap the entire horn surface. Thanks again.

Michael

[colterphoto1]

Is it true that some people have gone so far as to put slabs of the dampening material on the frame portions of the woofer as well?

[garymd]

I have to be honest and say that after wrapping my khorn's squakers with the rope caulk (mine was a reddish color), I heard no noticable difference. I even did one at a time so I could a/b. My results, or lack thereof, may also have something to do with the smooth response I get from the mids after installing a pair of Dean's auricapped crossovers.

[Benzima]

My ALK's are on the way. I'll install them first and then see about the rope thingy.

Thanxxx.

I was full steam ahead on an integrated tube amp, but I've decided to take my time and check out one thing at a time. Patience is not my best virtue but for once in my life, I'm excercising some. You know the many reason why? Lack of funds. Wierd....very wierd. Christmas sure aint helping.

[3dzapper]

Benzima, The best defense is a good offence, Charge!

As for me, I'm spending my daughter's inheritance for her.

Rick

[Q-Man]

You won't hear the ringing at low to moderate volume levels. You have to turn it up. Once I began experimening I ending up replacing the K-400 horns, but most of you know that. That's another isue, were just talking about improving the K-400 here. The horn needs a little help.

[fini]

Care to elaborate on that, Q? You talkin' K-77 here?

[Erik Mandaville]

Q-Man:

Are you saying the plastic midrange horn is really better than what you remember with the original one? I've got metal horns, but I have not experienced ringing or any strange resonance -- but then again, I don't hear half the things people talks about, including honking AL crossover networks.

Aren't the newer plastic horns available for a reasonable price? For some reason, I remember something like $50 each. Could that be right!?

Erik

[Q-Man]

Fini,

I'm not sure what your asking. I'm talking about the K-400. I did replace the K-77 tweeter with a JBL 2404-H, is that what your asking? I also replaced the K-400 with a Altec 311-90. Since I'm saying that much, I also replaced the K-55 with a Altec 290-16K and a custom network. I thought you knew all this.

I don't want to tell people that they need to go this far. I just mentioned that I found out the 400 needed more help then just dampening when I began to try some of the mods people were discussing on the fourm a few years ago.

Just rope caulk the 400 or add dynamat, or incase the darn thing in cement for all I care, but these mods help.

[fini]

Q-man,

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post. I thought you were saying to do something more than damping the horn (like midifying it). I understand you went a different way with your set-up.

[Q-Man]

Erik,

The K-401 (plastic) horn is less prone to resonating them the K-400 (metal) horn. Yes Klipsch does sell the 401's really cheap.

You won't hear any of the things that I or other people talk about untill you A/B them. That's when they stand out. That's why I used to say that my Klipschorns and LaScalas were fine. Then one day I set up a room in my house for doing mods. I used a stock of Klipschorn in one corner as a reference speaker. Every mod I did I would A/B againts the stock Klipschorn. I did this for a couple of years. The ringing really was very obvious once I began experimenting with different horns.

I also tried all the networks to see which I liked the best. Again, you need set up so you can A/B them. When you quickly switch back and forth, you can hear the differences. It's also good to have a CD player where you can keep repeating tracks. Some warble test tones also help. After a while your ears become trained to listen for certain things.