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klipschorns, they kick ass for sure

hello folks.   for those out there that think the big klipschorn's are not good enough to be a high end quality speaker, guess what??   your wrong!!   I have been in audio for over 40 years. I have heard many speaker systems over the years. I have very good speakers now in my home. I have good equipment running them.  I picked up a pair of k-horns last week.  1986 model year.  replaced the crossovers with crites xovers.  one tweeter blown.  replaced both with ct120 tweeters from crites. hooked them up to my parasound  3500 amp ( yes, way overkill  )  but I wasent in the mood to move it.  speakers placed where they are supposed to be in the corners of the room.  well let me tell you all it took was 2 minutes to decide these things are the bomb.  I dident hear any of the stuff I been reading about over the last 30 years how these speakers are harsh, no good bass and everything else everybody says about them.  as far as im concerned they are clean, clear, crisp, and loud. did I say loud.  volume starts a 7 o'clock,  at 9 o'clock  your ears start to bleed.  I guess the 350 watts into a speaker that only needs 20 will do that.  and all the stuff I hear about  ss amps these speakers don't like.  only 30 watt tube amps will do or you will hear all kinds of noise.  well, all I can say is bull crap to that.  what I here is a speaker sounding better then just about anything else I ever heard.  I played rock,jazz,classical,  all passed with flying color's. all I can say is you guys out there that think they suck. have your ears cleaned out and go listen again.  yes, the 350 watt power house is going to go before I blow everything up. 
tomtab
tomtab OP
97 posts
 
mr_m,    thank you. I never had a problem with your post   bill, thank you again
phusis's avatar
phusis
1,120 posts
 
A high light of the days when I attended the national Acoustical Society meetings was a debate between Edgar Villchur (sp?) and Paul Klipsch during which Klipsch said "I don't care if you push it with a broom handle, you still have to move the air." Of course, we know who won that debate from a sales standpoint. I think stereo ended the days of the great corner folded horns.

It's a testament to the engineering wonder and sonic impact of the Klipschorn that it's still made today, largely unmodified, 70(!) years after its initial launch - a feat I believe no other speaker model can rival. Mr. Villchur's acoustic suspension principle has had a lasting effect as well in many different incarnations, but its sales pitch of lower distortion at low frequencies has in effect been foreshadowed first and foremost by its reduction in physical size - an aspect that brings with it (in conjunction with much lower sensitivity) a set of new audible limitations.

Many audiophiles not in favor of hornspeakers seem hellbent on pointing out  their "colorations," all the while being oblivious to the shortcomings of direct radiating speakers that can be heard as an absence of core traits such as dynamics, scale, ease, speed and overall physical/emotional impact. One anomaly "popularly" comes in the form of an alteration/addition to a signal (horns), whereas the other goes as a negation (direct radiating speakers); what the latter lacks I feel typically weighs much more as a coloration than the former, so there we go.
mlsstl
1,379 posts
 
This has been a classic "my dad is tougher than your dad" thread.

Once again, people are forgetting that different people look for and are impressed by different things in speaker design -- just like in the car world. Some people love the big horsepower and off-the-line torque of the "muscle cars" from the 60s while others never get past the poor suspensions and drum brakes of those same cars.

Match the right speaker to the right listener and you have nirvana. Give the same speaker to someone else and they will only hear the parts they don't like.

It's a big hobby with room for everyone.
missioncoonery
1,190 posts
 

This has been a classic "my dad is tougher than your dad" thread.

  I disagree...its about someone posting a thread stating if we disagree "go clean our ears out".It has nothing to do with my speakers are better than yours because I never went there at all..What the initial poster did IMO  was tell the audio community that if we don't agree then we are wrong.It was what he said and how he said it that was offensive to me and I called him out on it...and for the record I said more than once in , the $3500-$4500 price range on the used market.No idea where this guy got I was comparing 100K speakers to his Khorns,must be a way to justify im wrong and hes right,who knows?.What I said was in the $3500-4500 price bracket which is what im thinking a nice pair of original un-moddified Khorns are worth on the used market there are lots of modern speakers at the same used market price that will surpass what he is "hereing".Im not thinned skinned, I just don't like guys spouting off stuff that really isn't true in the way he did it.

jond's avatar
jond
5,660 posts
 
Wow people need to relax a bit we're talking speakers here not politics! And tomtab you should throw some tubes at those bad boys, perhaps something vintage to complement the history like a Dynaco St-70 or old McIntosh or Fischer amp or something. Sounds like you're having lots of fun so rock on dude!
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