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Building backs on older (1989) K horns like the new 60th Anniversary ones.


IndyKlipschFan

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While I repect the Klipsch commercial/cinema designs, I find it difficult to believe any of them would sound 'better' than the Klipschorn in a normal domestic environment. I know people may have reasons for buying commercial - greater sensitivity, cost, ability to drive even larger rooms than the Klipschorn, but overall I would stick with the domestic option.

actually, the first pro line consisted of heritage speakers textured and painted black. we needed to find a way to use up rejected cabinets and so the tscm (klipschorn), cp-1 (cornwall), hp-1 (heresy) and lsi (la scala) were born. since then, we really try to put our "domestic" sound into our products and that is one the reasons the products sound good. i have often heard the comment "klipsch pro speakers sound so hi-fi."

Regarding 'backs' on the Klipschorn.if you have good corners, I wouldn't even contemplate this tweak. Don't mess with them if you don't have too. Regarding the sweet spot, some may not be able to generate the sweet spot in their preferred listening position because of toe-in issues. This is where you would consider a false wall. Bring the Klipschorn further into the room so that the sweet spot is where it should be. Adjusting the toe-in of the top hats is possible for a short term fix, but overall I suggest you might compromise the Klipschorn's integration with the corner.

Speaking of the Klipschorns alleged difficulty in room placement - you guys have no idea how spoilt you are. PWK designed the Klipschorn so all you have to do is find/build a decent pair of corners, and away you go! Now speaking as a Martin Logan electrostatic loudspeaker owner, room placement with the ML's is much more demanding. I've had to change my whole room around, including my listening postion, to exploit the ML's sweet spot. I admit that sweet spot is magical, but when I had my Klipschorns, I didn't have to work so hard. So stop whinging!!!! [^o)]

roy delgado

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I'm sitting here on my front porch watching the kangaroos jump down the main street while I am reading all these posts, amazing and amusing stuff. Very entertaining. Why doesn't some one do some testing-'to have a back panel or not to have a back panel, that is the question!' We are 'hearing & feeling' let's see some tests!

Oh I have to go, I've just spotted an emu...that's tonights dinner.

Cheers

This is fascinating!........[:D]

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Indy:

Very interesting thread indeed. I recall there were fall corner discussion earlier and someone had used single plywood instead of PWK the "wall" approach. I am in the middle of Trachorn upgrade now but would certainly make an attempt at copying what you have done. Did you by any chance make drawings of the pieces? Unfotunately, I have no wood working skill nor the necessary tools to do proper job. I would have to ask a local cabinet maker for help if I had the drawings.

Ki

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Look at the pictures I posted, do the bottoms and braces and just and follow the back lines of your K horn. We were going to do exactly that. (make drawings but decided quite possibly that not everyones K horn was exactly the same.) If you hire a pro with the right tools, this is a 1-2 day job at most.

I did buy the best 4' x 8' of Baltic Birch at 3/4" that I could find.. that was 59.99. (USA funds) Have some scrap wood for braces, I think we used Poplar... Measure twice, cut once ... Worked for us.

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CP1 does have them in a nice room. I would hate to hear them really cranked though in his situation. (hardwood floors no wall treatments.. but low to mid volumes..They just fill up the room wonderfully! (And that is not why he has them anyhow to crank it out...)

We used a pipe fitting foam to help seal his and it worked very nicely..

Different tricks.. different situations.. His walls were very solid before...

They key to his (CP1) set up.. the chairs to listen.. dead on perfect!!

Lucky Guy!!!

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Indy,

Its ironic that once I noticed this thread, I had installed backs on my 2004 khorns just a few weeks ago. I did the work myself using 3/4 mdf and and installed bracing just like you did on your khorns. I did not replace the stock tailboard but, I did add 1/2 mdf using silicone and wood screws which made the tailboard 1 inch thick. Adding the 1/2 mdf to the tailboard did make it more solid of course but, it also allowed the 3/4 backside panels to mate better with the tailboard. I cut one edge of the 3/4 panel 45 degrees to allow the panels to flow nicely into the side grills and also not be seen from the front. I spray painted all panels flat black. It really turned out well and like you said, it can be reversed back to factory original. The main reason I did this mod was the fact that I recently installed ALK es networks in these which took these to another level in clarity, soundstage, and most of all dynamics. Al, as most of you know is an expert in crossover filter design and his es networks are as far as I'm concerned are state of the art, it takes the great designs of Paul Klipsch and his Heritage line to higher levels. My basement room which doubles as a home theater as well as two channel listening is 17 x 22 and the khorns are on the short wall for home theater purposes. I, like so many others with khorns ran into the problem with placement issues concening the khorn being properly sealed in the corners for the bass horn extension and having to sit in an awkward area of the room to listen in the so called sweet spot. I built the false corners like so many so I could tow them out and sit farther back into the room of course. This worked fine until I bought and installed AL'S es networks in the khorns, movie watching was fine but, 2 channel listening was over whelming, I admit, I do play these loud when I sit down for serious listening ( Just ask my wife and kids). I realized that these khorns had to be farther apart and deeper into the room corners just like we all know they were designed for ( long wall and larger room than mine that is) so I took out the false corners and after several weeks of getting insight from this forum as well as other venues, I got my table saw out, already had the mdf from another speaker project, measured eveything and like Roger said measured again, made all the cuts, made sure everything fit and then took all the panels outside and used 4 cans of flat spray paint to cover everything. It really for the most part looks factory. I did not allow for a woofer access door but, its really no problem taking off the panel to get to the woofer access door. Also, I'm of course using the es networks which are all in the upper midrange,tweeter horn area of the khorn for easy access. I now can push these ( over 200 pound giants) into the corners and tow them out to my required listening position. I will admit like everyone else that even with the sealed backs, these still need to be pushed into the corners for the bass extension but, this mod allows much better placement options with out having to worry about the tail seal or huge false corners. And most of all, the mod really does work, in my setup now these khorns have more room to breath and having to not worry about the sealed issue is great. I have checked for rattles from the installed backs at decent sound levels and could not hear any.If done, its very important like any large speaker project, to correctly brace and in my case I used wood screws and silicone sealent for this mod. I've place an order for Bob Crites ct125 tweeters as well as ALK trachorns to put in these khorns ( there goes my Christmas bonus ) so I will be looking forward to installing those as well. I'm in agrement with most, you can't hardly beat the bass horn design of Paul Klipsch's corner horns but, I do believe there is room for improvement in the upper drivers and crossover's. I will take pics after Christmas of the finished backs, I'm getting my wife a new digital camera for Christmas, the old camera died awhile back.I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks and Happy Holidays

Randy

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Randy:

Thanks for sharing your experience. Do please post pics after you get your new digital camera. There are a bunch of us that are still intrigued about building backs on the backs of our K horns, and the more pics depicting how people are doing this, the better.

Also, congrats on your upcoming Trachorns and Crites tweeters. I run Trachorns and Crites tweeters in my Khorns along with a set of hot rodded Al's ALK, Srs. Pure heaven to me.

Carl.

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