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Klipschorn internal speaker wire upgrade?


blimycapn

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My '63 Khorns have their original internal wiring. It appears to be a varient of zip cord. While Bob's crossover rebuild has certainly dramatically improved the accuracy of frequency delivery, I wonder if there is better wire anyone has experience with that would improve the signal from the crossover to the tweet/mid/woofer? Or does standard 12 gauge copper work as well as anything? I use this sort of generic wire for the speaker to amp run.

Thanks,

Scotty

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Scotty,

There are lots of opinions on this subject and not all agree. In my opinion, the 16 AWG that PWK used in his Khorns is fine for them. In the case of your 42 year old Khorns, it is possible that the wire may being showing its age with some insulation damage or discoloration of the wire ends. In that case replacement with wire of at least 16 AWG is a good thing to do. Going larger may make it difficult to solder to your beautiful old 16 ohm K-77s, so I would stay with that size if I were doing it. You can go with larger wire to the K-55Vs and woofer if you want, but I don't think there would be an audible improvement by doing that and you may have difficulty getting a lug to put on the larger wire that will still fit on the terminal strip.

Bob

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Scotty -

If you want to use thicker wire than original (14 or 12 gauge, for example) you can always peel back and cutoff enough strands at the last one-inch of the wire to fit the terminals. That way you get the benefit of thicker wire for almost all of the run.

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The original wiring visually looks fine. No discoloration. The wire is a bit stiff as the insulation is 40 years + but then, I am a bit stiff as well. Thanks and I'll leave the Khorns alone now.

I am looking for a nice set of 60's Cornwalls to replace my circa mid fifties KV Aristocrats if anyone has a spare set. The Aristocrats are cool little Klipsch patent designed speakers and are going elsewhere.

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I would DEFINITELY replace the wire due to age whether you can detect discoloration or not. Copper oxidizes when exposed to oxygen (I suppose that goes without saying), and wire that old has been exposed a long time. I think wires should be replaced every so many years as a matter of thumb for that reason. Consider how many speaker cables you have changed over the years, but who ever changes the speaker's internal wires at the same time - if you're like me, the answer is I didn't until lately.

Also, consider this: would you upgrade your crossover but leave the old internal wiring in place? Not me.

DM2.gif

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I agree that it's fine to replace and "upgrade" the wire. Also, IMO, if

you hear any appreciable "difference" it tells you that your old wire

was inadequate for the task.

To replace an adequate conductor with a conductor that is more than

adequate still won't give anything "better" than adequate results. The

signal is conducted well or it isn't. IMO. Your ears can tell the

difference.

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I did replace mine with new wire. 10 gauge. It was hard to tell if there was much difference. Now that I am on my 2nd pair of Khorns I have yet to replace it.

Try this: change one and then do a A vs. B comparison. Use a meter and run the bass bin alone then the squawker and then the tweeter. That should keep things beyond the " I think it sounds better realm".

Some have reported that silver wire run to the horns makes them bright ( I have no clue since I only used copper). Just watch out for the old trap that we all fall into at times: Telling ourselves that it has got to sound better because its new and we spent money on it. Watch out I tell ya or it will bite you in the a#%.

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Let's see, the coils in the crossover are what gauge? Probably very thin 20gauge or less! Wire that is beefier than the coil winding wire is useless. Fresh 16-18gauge zipcord will be just fine but if the old stuff looks good don't bother. I got a kick out of the post about 10gauge wiring!

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The argument that it's useless to upgrade internal speaker wire because the voice coil wire is tiny simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Resistance in series (speaker wire, then internal speaker wire, then voice coil wire, then internal speaker wire, then speaker wire) is additive; if you lower the resistance of one part of the circuit, you lower the resistance of the whole circuit. Granted, depending on the gauge of the new wire, the resistance won't be lowered by much, but even a little can be considered an improvement. Beside it's always a good idea to refresh and tighten the speaker connections.

Also, the damping factor of a solid state amp is also greatly affected by the gauge of external and internal speaker wire.

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Let's see, the coils in the crossover are what gauge? Probably very thin 20gauge or less! Wire that is beefier than the coil winding wire is useless. Fresh 16-18gauge zipcord will be just fine but if the old stuff looks good don't bother. I got a kick out of the post about 10gauge wiring!

You like that huh? I took the Star Trek approach resistance is futile!

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Quote "Also, the damping factor of a solid state amp is also greatly affected by the gauge of external and internal speaker wire. "

If you want max damping factor, etc. one would have to throw out the coils in the crossover network. There are many feet of extemely small gauge wire in there. Two-five feet of internal wiring is nothing compared to the coil wire length.

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I agree with homemade. It has no actual benefit, but I think he fails to realize that the placebo effect can be tremendous. Well worth the time and money.

Remember, test subjects taking a placebo don't really feel better, they only think they do.

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I recently installed a pair of Bob's networks in my Cornwalls along with new diaphrams for the K55s and K77s and new K33E woofers. The difference was definately noticable over the aging networks and drivers that were in the speaker originally. After that, I replaced the factory wiring from the back panel to the network, the K55s to the network and the K33s to the network with 12 gauge wire and the appropriate connectors from Radio Shack. I opted to leave the K77s alone due to the fragile looking nature of their tabs. I must say that in doing the wire mod I did notice more depth in bass and more clarity overall throughout the rest of the speaker. The original Klipsch zip cord appeared to be in good shape so I would say there is a benefit to replacing the smaller gauge wiring Klipsch used 30 years ago with something a little beefier.

post-17903-13819269535798_thumb.jpg

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  • 16 years later...

I am restoring  a pair of 1975 Belles. I notice the wires internally are quite unique with regard to external markings. Are these unique to Klipsch or quite common?. I plan to install new cross overs and had thought of updating wiring while all was apart. ( i am replacing the fabric as well)Is it a point of originality ? ( i will of course keep the old crossover and all the old wires anyway)Dust and all

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