K-horn's - advice needed for High End

[Audiocoupe]

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I have been cruising through the forum for a couple of years now and I am really impressed with the support and knowledge provided. I am hoping that I could receive some advice with a problem concerning my Klipschorns.

I was finally fortunate enough to purchase a pair of Klipschorns awhile back. They are a KB-BRL with serial numbers in sequence starting with 8556925 with AK-2 crossovers and are labeled as rosewood veneer.

Tweeter - K-77 (Square Magnet)

Midrange - K-55-M

I moved to a house and finally had the space to compare my La Scalas and Klipschorns in the same room. In comparing the La Scalas to the Klipschorns I really noticed that the highs from the La Scalas are clearer than the Klipschorns. (Its like a person took the Treble knob and turned it all the way down on the K-horns)

Given this situation, I am wondering what would be the best process to correctly identify the problem and options to fix. (Tweeter, Cross-over, or something else?)

Thanks, Randy

[Coytee]

It's that crummy Rosewood veneer.

Where are they & I'll come get those trashy things off your hands.

Sheesh...Rosewood... there outta be a law that no one can have them til I get a pair.

[]

To answer your question, have you stuck your ear next to your tweeter to make sure it's tweeting?

If so, do the ole "unscrew & rescrew" of the wires on your crossover connections

Absent that, you have permission to send them to me. I'll even accept COD.

[Audiocoupe]

Thanks for the reply, I did do the tweeter test with the ears and was pretty sure that they were producing sound. But tonight I will do it again and as well I will unscrew and screw the wires on the crossover and see what happens. (I will keep you posted)

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Before I saw these K-Horns I was hoping that they were going to be walnut but the rosewood really looks great as well. They seem to be lacquered and I am not sure if a person would put oil on these or if you just leave them as is.

I just want to get these big guys up to their potential.

Thanks again,

Randy

[mikebse2a3]

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I have been cruising through the forum for a couple of years now and I am really impressed with the support and knowledge provided. I am hoping that I could receive some advice with a problem concerning my Klipschorns.

I was finally fortunate enough to purchase a pair of Klipschorns awhile back. They are a KB-BRL with serial numbers in sequence starting with 8556925 with AK-2 crossovers and are labeled as rosewood veneer.

Tweeter - K-77 (Square Magnet)

Midrange - K-55-M

I moved to a house and finally had the space to compare my La Scalas and Klipschorns in the same room. In comparing the La Scalas to the Klipschorns I really noticed that the highs from the La Scalas are clearer than the Klipschorns. (Its like a person took the Treble knob and turned it all the way down on the K-horns)

Given this situation, I am wondering what would be the best process to correctly identify the problem and options to fix. (Tweeter, Cross-over, or something else?)

Thanks, Randy

Hi Randy

First as was suggested you can take a piece of cardboard or pillow and cover the midrange horn so that you can better confirm that the Tweeter is working properly.

The AK-2 network has the wires soldered to the Networks so there are no screws to tighten but it could be possible to have a bad solder joint so you might want to inspect and resolder any questionable solder joints.

The main problems I've seen with the AK-2 and AK-3 Networks is:

(1) Bad Connections due to the Push-on Clips going to the Tweeter and Midrange Drivers and also sometimes some of the K77 and K77-M Tweeters can develop a bad connection where the voice coil wire is soldered to a rivet that holds the Terminal connection of the K77 and it can cause a weak or intermitent change in tweeter level.(Just slightly touch or wiggle the terminal and listen for any spl level changes) This can easly be fixed if you can solder.

(2) Another Problem That I've seen with the AK-2/Ak-3 Networks is the Old Monster Wire used for the Driver connections can deteriorate! Inspect it closely and if you see a Green Tarnish Coloration under the Clear Insulation then it should be replaced.

mike tn[]

[Q-Man]

I have had problems with a few tweeters in some of my LaScalas and Klipschorns. The problems were #1, and #2 above.

Good suggestions.

[Audiocoupe]

I really appreciate all of the suggestions, I will check all of this over the weekend and let you know how it turns out.

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Thanks again for the support.

Randy

[psg]

My Klipschorns are 1978 (AA crossovers). A few months after buying them 18 months ago, I refreshed the 6 caps in the pair of crossovers with new ones. The change in sound was impressive (and unexpected for me). They were much clearer with incresed high end. I listenned to some CDs nearly 10 dB more softly!

Yours aren't as old as mine were (1985?), but that's something to consider if the tweeter check doesn't pan out.

Your next step in debugging could be swapping crossovers between your La Scala and Klipschorns to see if the problem follows the crossovers or not.

[Audiocoupe]

On the weekend I was able to confirm the following:

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Action: I used the crossover from the La Scala and hooked it up to the K-Horn tweeter.

Result: No Sound from K-Horn Tweeter.

Action: I used the crossover from the K-Horn and hooked up to the La Scala tweeter.

Result: Sound from La Scala Tweeter.

Action: I did a continuity test on the Tweeter of the K-horn.

Result: No continuity, (Confirmed continuity of Mid Horn of K-horn)

Action: Disassembled K-77 and to determine any physical damage.

Result: Diaphragm looks good, no crack or tear. No apparent Physical damage

and also inspected by shining light through Diaphragm)

Wires to diaphragm look good and confirmed by continuity test from inside to

outside of plastic body.

Conclusion: Crossover is okay. The only thing I can come up with at this point is that the coil on the diaphragm must be damaged due to no continuity. If this conclusion is correct the next step would probably be to purchase two new diaphragms.

I am just wondering if other people would agree with this conclusion.

As always, help is greatly appreciated.

Randy

Note: Once I get the tweeters operational I will then want to take a look at upgrading the crossover.

[BEC]

Randy,

I have the tweeter diaphragms. Most of the time (I have replaced hundreds of them) they are just open with no indication of what is wrong visually.

Send me an email.

Bob Crites

bobcrites@mac.com

[DrWho]

sounds like you've got everything figured out...just wanted to say welcome to the forum!

[Audiocoupe]

I contacted Bob Crites and he has the diaphragms for the K-77s on the way and provided details on how to install which I really appreciate. I will keep you posted on the outcome. I can hardly wait to get the K-horns back in shape. Thanks again Bob.

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Randy

[DrewBolce]

Old phenolic diagphrams will degrade and ruin the sound quality. I discovered this when I blew one of my tweeters testing a bad amp. I replaced both diagphrams and could not believe the improvement. It was right up there with my ALK universal crossover upgrade.

I now believe that phenolic diagphrams are a wear item. I would replace all of them, including the midrange. After all they are over 25 years old.

If that doesn't do the trick start suspecting something in the crossover.

[Rudy81]

Once you get the tweeters running, you will be blowm away! BTW, when you get to the tweaking stage, take a listen to Bob's CT125 replacement tweeters. I replaced all my K77's with Bob's and love them.