DizRotus Posted December 22, 2005 Share Posted December 22, 2005 If updating a type AA network to ALK Universal, what are the advantages, if any, of replacing the Klipsch T2A Auto-transformer with a Universal Transformer #3619 or #3636? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofu Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 i think the 3619 just has more attenuation options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 Type AA crossovers are a desirable breed. The 3619's are only $60 for the pair. You should be able to sell the Type A's for the $60 to cover a new set of 3619's. Chris PS - somweone had a set of ALK's built by AL for sale with Hovlands for $400. If someone would step up to the plate and buy my K Horns, I would buy your Type A's to rebuild and supply with the speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 23, 2005 Share Posted December 23, 2005 What you would lose is the 'X' tap that the 3619 has. That particular tap works with the '4' and 'X' combination which is a very popular setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizRotus Posted December 24, 2005 Author Share Posted December 24, 2005 Other than the additional tap is the performance of the two different? What would be wrong replicating an ALK Universal using the T2A to start and switch to the 3619 at a later date? I appreciate the valuable information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 The new ones are wound tighter, but according to Al and Bob an old T2A will perform just as well as a new 3619 or 3636. Since it's one of the few things they agree on it's probably a pretty safe bet that it isn't anything to fret about. I personally prefer my squawker a bit hot, and I always end up back on the 4 and 0 setting -- I never use the 'X' tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Are these autoformers custom parts or off the shelf? I'm wondering if one exisits that will do the job in a Super AA network but that has taps in finer increments between 3.8 and 4.6? Such as in .2db increments. I suppose that would definitely be custom, wouldn't it? How hard is it to create those type of increments in the circuit itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 My 3636 Autotransformer will do 1 db increments from 1 to 12 db, but has to have connections on the input and output changed to change attenuation in 1 db increments. Going to even smaller increments would make the manufacture of these autotransformers more complex and more expensive. Bob Crites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 JOOC did anyone ever compare distortion among the different autoformers? Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I think Al has done some of that for the T2A and 3619. The 3636 uses the same coil and core as the 3619. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 I did distortin tests one the very first sample 3619 UTC sent me. I put 50W through it from my McIntosh MC50 and was not able to seen any distortion at all added by the transformer. Al K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Al, Try lower wattages. I saw distortion through the 3636 down on the lower end of its range around 400 or 500hz. Up high it looked fine. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Shawn, What did you see and at what power? How were you testing it and did you test a T2A? Bob Crites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Shawn, I just hooked up a 3636 on the bench. I put in one watt sine wave at 100 hz to 1 khz in 100 hz increments. I looked at the output of tap 4 (3 db) on my spectrum analyzer. Output terminated into a 16 ohm resistor. I saw no distortion at any of those frequencies down to my noise floor which is about 65 db below the signal peak. Bob Crites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 I don't believe you will get any distortion through a 3619, 3636 or T2A no matter what power level you put into it until you reach core saturation. Distortion at low power levels is usually a product of poorly designed solid state amps. Also, 60 or 120 Hz power line hum from old power supply filter caps at low power levels will start giving you high distortion readings on simple distortion analyzers that are based on notch filters like the HP330 or HP334. That won't fool a FFT spectrum analyzer like Bob and I use though. AL K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted December 30, 2005 Klipsch Employees Share Posted December 30, 2005 FYI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrestonTom Posted December 30, 2005 Share Posted December 30, 2005 Just a couple of comments. re: 0.2 dB increments for adjusting levels. This is a very small value, certainly less than perceptible. I can not imagine that 0.75 dB increment would not be fine. Besides when you increase the resolution (smaller increments) you will lose the overall range, unlesss there are many, many taps. re: distortion in the autoformer. I can not believe there would be a problem. This is a passive device and you would need to do something very unreasonable to make go into some sort of non-linear region. Good luck, -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Tom, Good points. But one thing I found playing with the Super AA network is that as you change the squawker settings either up or down it seems to also affect the woofer in the opposite direction. Maybe Dean or Al can comment on that. But as I made the squawker hotter, the woofer output seems to decrease. So, there is definitely a delicate balance there. I proved to myself that I could easily hear the difference between the -6.7db and -6.2 db. settings. Very easily, because you are affecting both the woofer and squawker, the changes are readily apparent.Losing the overall range is not a problem because the useable range is pretty narrow and probably half the taps are already outside of the useable range as is today. (disclaimer: my application is laScalas) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Klappenberger Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Mark, Adjusting the squawker up and down using the transformer is simply adjusting the relative level of woofer to the squawker. The actual loudness is adjusted with the preamp or receiver volume control. Your brain decides how lound it is by the midrange. If you change the mdrange with a transformer tap change, you will compensate by changing the volume control to put it back where it was. What's left after all this is the level of the woofer! The tweeter is seconday and will probably only need changing of it's way off. AL K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted January 1, 2006 Share Posted January 1, 2006 Al, Thanks for the explanation. Does changing the taps on the Super AA affect only the power to the squawker, or is there some affect on the woofer too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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