cleger Posted December 22, 2001 Share Posted December 22, 2001 Hi again, Lookign to do a second room. I've spent a great deal of time thinking about what sort of speakers to get, without really accomplishing anything. In the living room, I have a pair of KLF-30s powered by a Rotel 991, pre is Onkyo 787 receiver which has 2-room capability, so I'm looking to put another stereo pair in my office. This is a 12'x18' room, which is glass on 2 sides, open on the third, and the back wall s the old-style 3/4" acoustic wood panelling. Looks sort of like this w w w w _---------------------_ w / C C / w /________________________________/ / c c / / / w / open / /________________________ ___ panelling ----- door w=window c=chair C=computer The rectangle across the upper portion is a 32" deep countertop. Anyhow, I've gone back and forth between getting a pair of RCW in-walls plus sub, a pair of RB5s plus sub, a pair of Heresies, or doing a custom install behind the panelled wall. The problem with in-walls is the sound. I like the RB5s but I think I'd still probably be unhappy with them without a sub (and I don't like subs) I thought about putting a pair of Heresies on the floor at either end of the counter, but my reading leads me to think I might not be that blown away by the Heresies... common complaint is lack of bass. And again I don't like subs. I'd just as soon not have a pair of speakers on my counter, obstrucing the view through the windows, etc. All this has led me to consider doing a custom install of a pair of full-range speakers, like KLF-30s or 20s, behind some grille-cloth in the back wall. That wall leads to the garage, so I can do pretty much anything I want back there. I was thinking of making a couple of over-sized recesses/nooks back there, large enough to accomdate a KLF-30 and then some, and then later I'd be able to easily change speakers if I wanted. But now I wonder if there might not be some folded-horn design that would suit me better. La SCalas/Khorns are a bit too wide to fit in the space (at lower right in my ascii diagram) between the door and the end of the wall (30") so something "custom" seems in order. I've seen posts in here of people building replicas of University & JBL designs, etc. I'm wondering if anyone cares to share any ideas. What do I do?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleger Posted December 22, 2001 Author Share Posted December 22, 2001 Rats. I mean: code: w w w w _--- ------- -------- ---_ w / C C / w /________________________________/ / c c / / / w / open / /________________________ ___ panelling ----- door w=window c=chair C=computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleger Posted December 22, 2001 Author Share Posted December 22, 2001 AAAGHHH. I mean: code: w w w w _--- ------- -------- ---_ w / C C / w /________________________________/ / c c / / / w / open / /________________________ ___ panelling ----- door w=window c=chair C=computer Textf>Textf> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted December 23, 2001 Share Posted December 23, 2001 Cleger---A pair of KLFs mounted flush with the wall should work very well, unlike direct-radiating speakers with their willy-nilly dispersion, horns, with their controlled dispersion, work well flush mounted and many horn type studio monitors such as Altec 604s and such are flush mounted in studios. Now with the garage available as an "enclosure" you're free to do some pretty wild things. You can use the garage as an infinite baffle and simply mount woofers in the wall with the back radiating into the garage. You could build 2-ways with woofers and compression driver-horns mounted right to the wall. Now I'm not sure which woofers are suitable for such use though John Hilliard, who was the engineering Honcho at Altec in the 40s through 60s, built a huge infinite baffle system in his house using 2 15" 416 woofers and an 802 compression driver on a 511B horn per side. There is an 18" JBL that guys use in IB setups but I'm not sure which one. Guys also use multiple Shivas and ACIs in IBs. There's a website out there on IBs with photos of several installations, a search under "infinite baffle" should turn it up. Oh yeah, the old Bozak 12" woofers were meant for IB use in huge cabinets. These are VERY good woofers. Though no longer made they're on Ebay all the time. 4 of the Bozaks per side combined with an Altec compression driver and horn should sound very good, oh yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleger Posted December 24, 2001 Author Share Posted December 24, 2001 Thanks TBrennan! That's just the sort of info/encouragement I was looking for. As it happens, I *have* been spending plenty of time at ebay, looking at Altec 604s, etc. It seems to me that I could probably do o.k. with some modern woofers, say from Eminence or someplace or other, and find some horns and drivers (Klipsch or Altec horns, and Eminence still makes drivers...) and come up with custom 3-ways... I'm not limited by space, so "co-axial" speakers like te 604s are not really dictated. Space isn't much of an issue. The problem I would likely run into with "infinite baffle" approach is that while I can do anything I want out in the garage, I live in New Hampshire, it gets cold here in winter, and the garage isn't insulated or heated, so I'd probably have some heat loss & drafting-through-paper-drivers issues! So I think I'd still need to enclose them. The good news is I can make the enclosures as large as I like, practically. To tell the truth, I really love my KLF30s, and I'd like to approximate that sound... seems like by using some real high-quality componentry, I ought to be able to better them. My room is 12x18, so the 4 twelves in the KLF30s ought to be more than enough. I'm going to give some more thought to enclosures, crossovers, etc, and report back here. Any thoughts on a ready crossover design that I could start out with? Best regards, & Merry Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted December 24, 2001 Share Posted December 24, 2001 Cleger---Well since you're so satisfied with the KLFs installing a set flush with the wall is a good bet. Can you get better sound with a DIY rig? That depends solely on taste, I think you could but you might not like what I like (I have about a zillion ideas to use in your situation), you could assemble an Altec rig and decide you like KLFs better. I'd advise you to listen to some other horn rigs, Altecs and JBLs especially, before investing time and money unless you want to play with the stuff anyway. Maybe there are some guys up in your neck of the woods with rigs you can listen to, you could inquire on the high efficiency forum at www.audioasylum.com In any case the KLFs are excellent speakers and you know you can't go wrong with them. Merry Christmas to you too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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