jbsl Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 What have you done to improve the sound of your Klipsch speakers? No you can not get bass as low as KHorns with La Scalas but you can do things that will help if you want the bass a little lower and a better blending of the highs, mids, and bass. So these are the things I have done to improve the bass and overall sound of my La Scalas. Anyone who has done other things to their speakers and systems please tell us what they did. When I got my 2004 La Scalas I thought they were too bright and harsh and no buzzsaw is not the word I'm looking for. So I've done some tweaks and system upgrades that have taken my LS to a much better level.1) My living room is small, 15 x 15 x 8 and I sit 9-10 feet back from the LS. So the tweeter was below my chin, the midrange horn aiming at my chest and the bass bin aiming at my legs/ lower abs. I built a 6 1/2 inch riser from 2 x 4 and plywood and now the tweeter is just above my ears, the midrange horn aiming at my face, and the bass bin aiming at my chest. This did 2 things: one the blending of the highs, mids, and bass was much better! This got rid of the majority of brightness. Two with the bass bin aiming right at my chest instead of my legs the bass seemed more pronounced and had better slam. In a larger room this riser may not be helpful but it may help so try it. 2) This one is really up to the individual's likes and dislike in audio gear. For me once I bought the La Scalas the upgrade bug bit me and I have been infected every since. The current system for me right now is: 2004 Luxman int amp used as a preamp with a Cayin TA 30 tube int amp and a NAD C542 cd player running thru a Music Fidelity X10v3 tube buffer stage and my 2004 La Scalas. This combo of solid state and tube gear has really given me a great sound and helped improve the bass and the blending of the highs, mids, and bass. Sometime in the 2006 planning on getting some VRDs and maybe a AH!Tjoeb tubed cd player. 3) For those with tube gear they know tube rolling can make a big difference. I switched from Svevtlana EL 34 to EH 6CA7 and big improvement in bass and less bright or harsh much smoother sound at louder volume levels. This is one plus with tube gear!Also want to thank Craig for showing me how to switch out some caps in the cayin TA 30 and thanks Robster for mailing me some free caps. This took another edge off the overall sound and smoothed things a bit more. 4) The KHorns is not the only speaker to get better bass when placed in a corner. 5) My Luxman L505f int amp has bass, treble, and Loudness controls that I use daily and it improves the quality of sound TO ME!!!!!!! This comes down to a personal belief. I BELIVE that tone controls on quality audio equipment such as Luxman does not degrade the sound but improves it. I work nights and listen to music between 3:30-7:00 AM so the Loudness control and tone controls is great. 6) I did not have the money for a Jolida or a AH!Tjoeb tubed CD player so I bought a Musical Fidelity X10v3 tube buffer stage and have been using it with my NAD C542 cd player with very nice results. I tried the Jolida cd player and thought it had a better overal sound than the C542 but not for $400 more. Each of these 6 things helped improve bass and gave me a better blending of the highs, mids, and bass. Please fell free to post what you have done to improve the sound of your system or speakers. Disclamer: IN MY OPINION these are the things I have done that have improved the overall sound coming from my La Scalas. The improvements these mods and tweaks and system upgrades have made to the sound of my LS is my opinion ONLY and can not guarantee they will improve the sound in anyone elses system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 1.....Place on the long side of the wall 2.....Add center channel 3.....Add subwoofer 4.....Add equalizer, boost 5 db- 30, 2db- 60, cut 3db-240, 3db-480, boost 1db-8k, 2db-16k. (on K-horns only) 5.....Add Hughes Expander (on K-horns only) 6.....Add slave amp feeding K-horns only 7.....Replace old crossovers with Dean Crossovers 8.....#10 stranded wire to K-horns only 9.....#12 stranded wire to Cornwall & side and rear speakers 10...Pipe foam insulators between K-horns and walls for better sealing. 11...Remove pictures from walls 12...Remove objects from shelves 13...Re-design grilles to modern Klipsch standards. 14...Glue loose window pane. 15...Use coax and toslink connections 16...Use low maintenance SS components 17...Move records and turntable to attic. 18...Tell funny tube stories on Klipsch Forum JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Funny you should mention this. I just finished starting a thread on the Woodog listening school. I think speaker positioning are pretty critical with most setups. Just spent some time doing this and the results are on that thread. Otherwise Obtained CW's for all four corners of room, nothing like timbre match in HT. Purchased a more evenly matched KLF-C7 to replace the poorly matched RC7 Upgraded from ProLogic to 5.1 Yamaha Receiver Moved everything around so the proper systems are in the proper rooms. That has taken a year since the move.Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I've never seen anyone position speakers like woodog wish he would come over and do mine. Hey Woodog if your ever in Little Rock LOL... Upgrading my crossovers was one of the biggest improvments I have made to my Belles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I'd have to go through 4 years of history to post all I have done and I'm still not done LOL!! I think the speakers themselves sound very good original and I didn't touch a thing in them for the first 2 years of ownership. I spent that time fine tuning gear. Since then I have started messing with the crossovers, Klapperhorns and so on. The biggest free tweak speaker wise is placement!! This is some thing not easily done with Khorns. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffDurbin Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I'm surprised you have spent all that money on your system without spending anything on room acoustics. A square room is going to have substandard bass. You should have bass traps in the corners. Here is the master thread at avsforum.com but there are other threads related to room acoustics. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=255432 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoriated_Tiger Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Gave the Fortes an all-Audio Research tube rig. No mods to the speakers themselves. Gave the Synergy HT system a Panasonic XR-55. Spiked the center, L and R speakers. Spiking the SF2s got me a level of improvement very disproportionate to cost. It wasn't a little improvement, it was a lot -- particularly in low-level detail retrieval and removing hi-frequency 'hash'. The XR-55 is a scary, wonderful piece. I'll just leave it at that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I haven't done anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrol Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 so, your telling that they can sound even better? [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Several changes to amps, and sources. Went to separates eventually. Best change for the money: Had the networks rebuilt to original Klipsch spec. Future change coming: Network upgrades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I haven't done anything. LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE! Actually Dean, that would be "I haven't done anything, this afternoon." :-) "yet". I have gone to tube amplification and recapped worn out crossovers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I went from 5 Heresy II's to 5 Belles . ( Seemed to do the trick ) Oh yeah , I went from using the short wall to the long wall , incredible differance . Unfortunately I did have to give up the dining table as a result , but my sister has promised to get a set of TV trays for me for Christmas ! [Y][Y] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardhead Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Divorced my wife; I couldn't hear them over her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painful Reality Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Sold them... Now those khorns sounds much better in someone else room! I'll get another pair when I feel I have a decent room for these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I'll get another pair when I feel I have a decent room for these.TRANSLATION: I will never see another pair of Khorns again unless wandering down to Kudret's to bum free Maudite and Goat Cheese.... kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Sold them... Now those khorns sounds much better in someone else room! I'll get another pair when I feel I have a decent room for these. At least you had the energy to give them a try, while others, stuck in a rut, guzzling down sixpacks while their eyes, glazed over, dart about in the general direction of *their* Cornwalls, struggle in vain to find the courage to make a change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAPTORMAN Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I notice that a few of you guys have put your speakers on the long wall with great improvements. I did the same a while back. My listening room is 24 x 14-- Big difference on the long wall. My question is; would this improvment be the same for all speakers, or just the Khorns??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Replaced all those rolled off, no top end, Electro-Voice T35 Super-Sonax with the Avedon Sonophase Throat pieces of feces, with JBL 2404Hs. It amazes me that Klipsch has used that piece of crap for so long. Maybe if they hadn't, the damn thing would have disappeared long ago, relegated to the great expectations pile in the sky. All the factory network tweaking and after market voodoo in the world can't fix what's wrong with this thing. Listened to them for a while with at least a decent top end..... ......then sold them all to a fellow with bad hearing I did hang on to one pair of Heresys though, to remind me of Paul Klipsch's GENIUS! It's just the mediocre execution that has evolved over the years using cheap, wide tolerance parts that nixed the deal for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy James Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 Kept the 2404Hs, glad he wanted the "factory" parts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted December 6, 2005 Share Posted December 6, 2005 I haven't experimented much with my RF7's but with my KG4.2's one time I hung them on the wall. Yup, on the wall about 3' off the floor and it created the most horrible bass-less sound I ever heard out of those things, sort of bose like. Put em' back on the floor real quick. Also put them in the back room which is heavily carpeted with heavy curtains all around, almost an acoustically "dead" room. First set them on the floor without anything underneath. It was verrrrry bass heavy, an almost polk like closed in muffled sound. Installed the spikes and set them up on concrete pads and boom!, everything cleared up again and they haven't been moved since. Changing speaker cables made a difference going from zipcord to heavy 12ga. copper, then when I added a 120 watt amp after always using a receiver that was a nice change. Speakers are like Real Estate, location, location, location......[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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