Chorus II Speakers Arrived

[paully]

Here are my new to me Klipsch Chorus II. I will say that although I hear some
anomalies (what speaker is anomaly free) they are the best speakers I have ever
heard. Getting them positioned for best
bass response given my room limitations is tricky. I want to say thanks to Mark for having me up to his house. Having heard $30K horn speakers that looked
like La Scala knock offs that I disliked, if he had not been so hospitable to a
total stranger I would never had heard Klipsch speakers and wouldnt have
bought them. Given what I heard at his
house I was willing to by these models never having listened to them. I am currently running them with my Dynaco. The crossover is next, which is to say sometime
around Christmas if I bother at all with it.
Also have a PS Audio P500 en route that should help with my power
problems. As soon as I can I am going
to pull out my beeswax furniture polish and shine them up. BTW, These things are fricking huge!!!

[LoudnClear]

Picture has some anomalies on this observer's computer. Glad you like the chorus units though, they should be friends for life now.

[paully]

[mark1101]

What are the serial numbers (year of manufacture) ? What anomalies do you hear? They look pretty nice. Congratulations.

[Coytee]

What anomalies do you hear?

One too many woofers?

[:|]

[Coytee]

What anomalies do you hear?

Perhaps the center channel isn't timbre matched?

(ok, I'll shut up now)

[:#]

Good looking speakers (and dog too!)

[oldbuckster]

They look real nice................Good Luck....in about a week the voices will start, ignore them!!!!!!

[paully]

Yea, the bass has seemed a tad out of balance with the rest of the

speaker. Depending on positioning it can be a bit muddy and tubby

and overwhelming. But I am working on that (within the

constraints of the room which are a bit constricting) and also putting

some material behind the speaker to dampen the bass. I'll get

that problem solved, it seems more a fault of the room than the

speaker. There is also some grunge in the upper

frequencies. I think that however might possibly be to some

really bad power coming into the house that has been plaguing me all

summer. I have a call into the electrician and also a PS Audio

P500 on the way to help in that department. I was dissatisfied

with the midrange until I went from 2 watts to 25 by switching to my

Dynaco. I don't have my Bottlehead 300B's yet so we will se how

8.5 watts does. Overall, they are tremendous speakers and

incredible at the price. I think it is quite possible that all of

the most troubling "anomolies" can be attributed to problems other than

the speakers in actuality and we will see what kind of difference I can

make with my tweaks and playing with the caps in the crossover. I

can't say that I anything other than very pleased. We will see as

I work the issues out but I think these might be my speakers for many

years to come.

[paully]

LOL!

[paully]

Thanks, they already have. I've gots plans for those crossovers.

[oldbuckster]

That's how they start.............Mods, then they stop for awhile, but they'll be back.......Enjoy you set-up.......

[leok]

Some possibilities to consider:

"Acousta-Stuf" is a very user friendly acoustic damping material available at Parts Express. I found it made Chorus-II bass less boomy and much better defined. I think I used the recommended formula of 1/2 lb / cu ft. The product is inexpensive, easy to use, and easy to remove if you don't like it (I tried it in my RF-7s and didn't like the results).

The Chorus-II needs a very low distortion signal at low power to give you clean highs. A power line filter should help (I find it does). Then there's the amp itself. I like the highs with tube amps, but with my no-feedback amps, the Chorus-II's midrange impedance peak resulted in a midrange sound peak that I didn't like. I've found the Crown to have clean highs and no midrange peak (very good overall sound). If you do use tube amps I suggest you try the 4 Ohm output to minimize the amp's susceptability to the speaker's impedance swings.

Crossover upgrade is worth the effort, but that's possibly something for later. I found that upgrading crossover caps resulted in further cleaning up of the high end.

Congratulations on your new Chorus-IIs. They're a great speaker and fun and rewarding to customize.

Leo

[paully]

Thanks, all very good suggestions. I have been able to
minimize the boom by back the speakers away from the wall, toeing them
in, and putting some pillows behind them. The movement seemed to
make the biggest difference. The low end seems better and if is
still bothers me I will try some more positioning, but for now I think
it is all right. The acousta-stuff is good to have as a back-up
if I need it and it is of course an easily reversible mod.

The
Bottlehead 300B is zero feedback as is the 2 watt amp I have. We
will see how it goes, but I will definitely put it on the 4 ohm tap.

Crossover
upgrade is definitely in the future, but like you say, something for
later once the other details are worked out and I have had a chance to
live with them for a while.

[LarryC]

Is that white circle in the middle of the speaker on the right just a camera flash artifact, or is there something different in there?

[paully]

Artifact from the flash or something. Grills are pristine.

[paully]

I talked about the "anomolies" below which may very well be due to

factors outside of the speakers. They are almost consecutive

serial numbers but are seperated by one. They were manufactured

in 1990 according to the label. Time to change those capacitors!

[stormin]

Congrats first of all!

Boomy muddy bass and dirty highs from a Chorus II.[*-)] I must be lucky because I've never experienced anything similar to that in the 17 years I've owned mine.

They might not be a perfect speaker but each time I visit my dealer and listen to the B&W 802D's I just smile and appreciate what the Chorus II's can do. They do a heck of alot more right than wrong IMHO. And those tractrix mids just awesome.

It's possible your crossovers have went south. Also make sure you have no holes in your passives. Ever so slightly pushing in on the rear passive you should see the woofer move the same distance.

Another strong possibility is that your Dynaco is ready for a rebuild. Dirty highs muddy bass yup thats the dyno not the chorus.[]

[LarryC]

Artifact from the flash or something. Grills are pristine.

I think you're right, although I was wondering about a different driver in there with a white center that was lit up through the grille by the flash. The grills and everything are indeed pristine!

[paully]

I really don't think in the end that the problems are the

speakers. The muddy bass changes depending upon where I place

them. I hade them too close to the wall. Moving them out,

as much as I can, and putting them off axis along with some dampening

because they are still very close to the wall helped a lot. So I

don't think I can attribute that to the speaker. As far as the

problems in the highs, I am pretty sure it is the power at this

point. There is still a Klipsch sound to the speakers, which

really seems to be defined by its clarity, but I don't think the real

problems I am having can be attributed there. The Dynaco is

competely rebuilt, the only stock parts left in it are the output

transformers. And there are no holes in the passives. The

brutal highs remain even when I switch amplifiers and started a few

months ago. I am 6 houses down from the transformer, and I notice

the dirty highs are worse during the day. Sounds like a power

problem. So when I said anomolies I really should have been

clearer and distinguished between a Klipsch sound (as it seems to me, I

am new to this after all and don't want to pretend like I can identify

everything about them after a few days) and problems that the more I

think about them the more I am convinced that I can trace them back to

exterior sources. So I am clear, I think the Chorus II are, after

initial listening impressions, the best speaker I have ever heard