KLIPSCHORN PLACEMENT & UPGRADE ?

[ManchesterKhorn]

Hi All,

I have had a pair of Klipschorns for 7 months now that I shipped over from the USA to the UK, I must say they are beautiful speakers but as being quite young and this is the first BIG step I've taken into HI-Fi I feel there may be a few issues and improvements that can be made as I feel the speaker do not sound to their fullest.

Firstly my set up:

Klipschorns x 2

Yarland 10 Watt Tube Amp

Thorens TD160 Super/Linn Basik Arm/Linn K9 cartridge

My front room is 15 X 17 Feet and I have been told this is just about big enough got the Khorns, the speakers are in the only two suitable corners about 8/9 feet apart. The left speaker is very close to the window and half the speaker over hangs the window by a foot, but this is mainly the top section, would a solid wooden partition behind one side of the speaker blocking off the window help ? They are both not flush to the wall and about 1 to 2 Inches away from the corners due to skirting boards and a plug point etc. Would a custom made base the shape of the Khorn with spikes increase the tightness of the base or/and should I take the skirting board off and move the position of the plug point ? or (and I very much don't want to do this ?!?) sell the Khorns and try for a pair of Heresy's or Cornwalls ? this options is going to be a problem as its very hard to get Klipsch Speakers over here in the Uk.

Secondly, I was thinking of replacing the internal Speaker Cabling with Silver Cable as the cable in them at the moment is very poor. Also what about A or AA Crossover Upgrades ? Also the belt on my Thorens needs replacing which i've been told can cause a flatness to bass response.

And lastly I've heard the Linn Basik arm is a poor choice for the Thorens Td160 and a rega or SME would be much better ?

Any help for the experts out there would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Lee

[steamer]

Hello,

First off welcome to the forum,lots of great people here with alot of knowledge.

Second dont get rid of those K-Horns,most the people here would love to be in your position.

Soon information will be flowing your way and its gonna sound good!

I can tell you that it is important to get the K-horns flush as possible with the walls,and yes that window is probably hurting the sound,it would be a good idea to put backing there or maybe false corners behind the speakers.

I dont own K-horns but picked up a few things reading the posts here.

People on this forum who have them will be able to give more specific info than I can.BTW welcome to the adventure of a lifetime.

Greg

[ManchesterKhorn]

Many thanks, I look forward to the replys

[LarryC]

Secondly, I was thinking of replacing the internal Speaker Cabling with Silver Cable as the cable in them at the moment is very poor....

Silver may not be the best replacement wire -- some think it is bright and can be somewhat thin-sounding, and it seems to take a long time to break in and sound its best. Why do you say the wire in there now is poor?

I can't comment very well on the rest, but I do suggest that you send us some pics of the crossover network and the tags on the sides of the bass bins, as well as front views.

Thanks for writing, welcome to the forum!

Larry

[dubai2000]

Welcome indeed!

I am with Larry on this one -- the silver ICs I have encountered always struck me as being bright. When it comes to keeping your Khorns or not I was told the following before purchase: 'if the price is right get them, because one day you will have a better room for them and then you won't stop being pleased with your decision.'

Obviously the gentleman in question was right [].

I am not sure about the belt issue, though. Why do you believe that it's time for a replacement? Try to find an original belt - I was told that they last longer than (cheaper) imitations. I seem to recall that phonophono.de stocks those, but better check their website. Sorry but I don't know any supplier in the UK.

I am sure you'll get some advice on the placement issue pretty soon - otherwise the search function might help [].

Wolfram

[D-MAN]

Remember, we are not talking interconnects here! We are talking speaker-level wire.

The only problem with silver internal wiring is that it's expensive.

If you've got that handled, then go for it, it will improve the overall clarity and smoothness. I wouldn't go smaller than 18 ga. on the silver, the larger the better. A good performance/economic compromise is silver-coated copper wires.

DM

[WMcD]

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately the search function is not working well. Therefore it is difficult to point you to salient discussions from times past.

There is an issue with your window problem.

Let me add, at the beginning, that K-Horns in bad situations give some very impressive results. The other point is that there is a lot more performance to be gained if you can get a good acoustic seal at the back of the bass horn against the wall..

In a perfect world, the last expansion of the bass horn would have been formed by a built-in wall. However, for IP reasons, it seems that the living room corner wall is supposed to do that. Unless you have smooth, and unineruppted walls in the corner, there is not a good surface to get a seal.

Many people here have less than perfect walls, baseboards, and in any case, just pushing them up against a nominally good wall falls well short of getting an airtight seal.

The solution for small gaps is the addition of weather stripping foam type of material to the sides of the bass horn at the back and sides. This sort of material can fill a gap of, perhaps, up to an inch. The type of stuff you use to seal off an air conditioning unit or window. We shop at Home Depot. What you have in the UK, I don't know.

Of course this leaves the solution up to your enginuity. It is not too demanding a situation as far as pressure. Here the weather strip just has to keep the "wind" inside, rather than outside.

The most radical solution is to build a "false corner" into which the K-Horn resides. I expect that is not necessary in your situation.

This forum is a treasure trove of problems and solutions discussed between us. Please consider sending pictures. We share in mutual joy, problems, solutions, and humor. Some of those, off-beat.

Best,

Gil

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[ricktate]

I would think you could get 1/2 inch pipe insulation over there....it will make up for a lot of wall variations.Try and seal both the tailboard and the upper horz. part of the bass binn.I dont think the window on the upper part is going to be a problem.Rick

[LousyTourist]

Gil gave you the right dope there... false corners if necessary, or good sealing with some kind of weather stripping.

Also, the room dimensions (and your seat relative to the speakers) have a LOT to do with the sound.

Good integration of the horns sound takes about 8 to 9 feet (IMHO) from the face of the speaker to your seat.

Make sure where you sit that you can look to the left or right and be looking directly down the throat of the speaker.

Your kit sounds fine, otherwise. Spend some time listening and getting used to the sound.

[Daddy Dee]

Congrats on getting your Khorns to the UK and welcome to the forum.

On crossover upgrades, my recommendation as the first step would be to make sure your A or AA crossovers are up to factory spec.

Depending on their age, the caps will eventually drift off spec and become resistive.

This is not an expensive proposition. Factory spec Khorns are impressive indeed. They can be improved upon, but unless one establishes a baseline of performance, the user has no idea how to assess the sound of the upgrade. When considering the cost of true "upgrades" the factory spec sounds better and better, IMO.

[soundog]

Sealing the bass bins to the wall is a must with Khorns. Another factor that is the most ignored but very important component of good sound is room accoustics. Optimizing room accoustics by adjusting reflections, diffusion and absorption of sound waves can make a huge difference! Wire adjustments will produce negligable results IMHO. Al's crossover upgrades make a difference as I bet his trachorns would also.