new khorn question

[Ilike10cc]

Any difference between 1970's khorns and 1980's khorns? They sound the same?

[playntheblues]

10cc, I believe the crossovers hence the sound of the 70's will

be a little better. In the 80's Klipsch used the AK II crossovers

and in my opinion that is not one of there best crossovers. That

being said if you can pick them up for a good price you can change the

crossover. BEC here on this site makes great new drop in

crossovers, very easy to install. All the best, Guy

[rplace]

If I remember correctly the AK is the dog of the bunch. The AK-2 is better while the AK-3 better yet. The AK-4 requires different drivers. As to 70s XOs sounding better then 80s that surely is a matter of personal preference. 70s networks are now 30+ years old and should be rebuilt to sound their best. 80s networks are well on their way to needing a freshen up as well.

Forum member Andy (HDBR, I think) worked for Klipsch building the Heritage line. He had some opinions as to better years due to build quality of the cabinets. I think is was the mid to late 70s that he was big on. Too bad the search is not working I saw a great post a couple of months back on all of Andy's insight into the quality vs. production numbers.

At any rate if you find a pair of khorns close by in decent shape with all drivers working, I would not pass on those to buy some from a different year 1/2 way across the country.

FWIW, Mine are 87s, they came with AK-2 networks, I switched to Dean's Super AA with upgraded cap. option. There are things I like about Deans and things I like about the AK-2.

Even in a terrible room with khorns far from the corners being driven by bad SS gear I have yet to hear a "bad" khorn, just different degrees of great.

[PrestonTom]

K-Horns from the early 80s still used AA crossovers (mine are 82s). By the 80s certainly the Mid range horns were composite (401s) and not metal (400s). I am not sure about the mid drivers (K55s) mine are K55V with soldered connentions. Some (not all) of the earlier ones may have had some difficulty with a frequency notch around 9KHz

Painting with a broad brush, the A & AA crossovers will sound more similar than dis-similar.

If you have a chance to get K-Horns don't shy away from them if they are not from the 1970s. They will all sound good. Proper placement & room treatment will probably have more of an impact than the version of the crossover or which version of the mid driver & horn.

Good luck,

-Tom

[tidmack]

I'm nearly in agreement here with what's been said, with one exception. I think the AL network sounds terrible. The ALs almost made me sell my LaScalas until a great board member sold me some AA's reasonably cheap. The difference IMO, is night and day and I'm not one to hear the subtle differences in wire, cables, etc that others hear. If I came across mid 80's K-horns with ALs, I'd obviously still buy them, but would figure in a network change. Again, just MHO.

Jeff

[rplace]

Just an FYI you should not find ALs in a Khorn unless somebody switched them. For a time the Khorn/Belle/LaScala came with As then AAs. At some point they went speaker specific AK=Khorn, AL=LaScala, AB=Belle.

I totally agree the networks is not a reason to buy or not buy a set of Khorns. Easy to swap, and most will need news ones anyway.

[tidmack]

"AK=Khorn, AL=LaScala, AB=Belle."

I didn't know that ! I love this place-

Jeff