Hello all,
I'm living in Richmond Hill, and hoping to dive deeper into my home audio set up.
The biggest part of my journey, a pair of Klipsh Klipshorns KC-BR (from the late 80s or early 90s) that I inherited from my father. Ever since I was a little child I was absolutely obsessed with them and in beyond happy that I now have them in my possession.
What I'm hoping to gain here is some info on how I can bring them back to glory (everything is original so I feel like many parts/wires maybe due for some upgrading), and also how I can integrate them with an appropriate set up. I have read on some other forums that there may be some kits that can be purchased to help do this, however I never got a working link to any. They are in pretty good shape physically, however I would want to update the mesh around them, as they have taken some hits after being moved from a few different houses over the years (some rips and degrading of material). The speakers are currently set up in my basement (in the corners of the room), but not connected to anything. So that's one of the big things for me is to make sure I get, or build, the correct things to paid with the system. Such as amps, equalizers, ect. If there's anyone local to the area that can help or give advice, I would be SO THANKFUL for that.
I used to think of myself as a little bit of an audiophile, but a quick read at the posts on here and I realize that there's a lot that I know nothing about.
The last thing I want to mention is that I would like to get the system integrated with some newer tools. I have a simple pioneer sb3 dj set paired with 5" JBL 305P Bookshelf Speakers. Unfortunately neither of them are being used at the moment, but the hope for me is that I'd be able to sometimes use the khorns to play some music when people come over using the sb3, and at other times to just use the bookshelf speakers with the sp3 when just messing around myself. I do have a small collection of older vinyls as well (maybe 300 or so albums/singles) and I would like to be able to play those on the khorns as well.
Thanks in advance
I'm living in Richmond Hill, and hoping to dive deeper into my home audio set up.
The biggest part of my journey, a pair of Klipsh Klipshorns KC-BR (from the late 80s or early 90s) that I inherited from my father. Ever since I was a little child I was absolutely obsessed with them and in beyond happy that I now have them in my possession.
What I'm hoping to gain here is some info on how I can bring them back to glory (everything is original so I feel like many parts/wires maybe due for some upgrading), and also how I can integrate them with an appropriate set up. I have read on some other forums that there may be some kits that can be purchased to help do this, however I never got a working link to any. They are in pretty good shape physically, however I would want to update the mesh around them, as they have taken some hits after being moved from a few different houses over the years (some rips and degrading of material). The speakers are currently set up in my basement (in the corners of the room), but not connected to anything. So that's one of the big things for me is to make sure I get, or build, the correct things to paid with the system. Such as amps, equalizers, ect. If there's anyone local to the area that can help or give advice, I would be SO THANKFUL for that.
I used to think of myself as a little bit of an audiophile, but a quick read at the posts on here and I realize that there's a lot that I know nothing about.
The last thing I want to mention is that I would like to get the system integrated with some newer tools. I have a simple pioneer sb3 dj set paired with 5" JBL 305P Bookshelf Speakers. Unfortunately neither of them are being used at the moment, but the hope for me is that I'd be able to sometimes use the khorns to play some music when people come over using the sb3, and at other times to just use the bookshelf speakers with the sp3 when just messing around myself. I do have a small collection of older vinyls as well (maybe 300 or so albums/singles) and I would like to be able to play those on the khorns as well.
Thanks in advance
Welcome!
Maybe check in to this thread…
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/klipscheads-unite.390564/
Seems a bunch of the guys migrated over here from the other forum
Claude is a great wealth of information and very helpful.
I’m courting a LaSacala-ish build myself.
Maybe check in to this thread…
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/klipscheads-unite.390564/
Seems a bunch of the guys migrated over here from the other forum
Claude is a great wealth of information and very helpful.
I’m courting a LaSacala-ish build myself.
Check out Crites Speakers. They have a fantastic supply of parts for KHorns. I recently rebuilt my 1985 KHorns using their woofer, the AG55/2 midrange driver, and the DE120 tweeter. I also bought AK3 crossovers, which is what I expect you to have, but I can't be sure. In addition, I covered the midrange horn with Dynamat, which has also helped.
If you could send some photos of your speakers, especially from the back, we could get a notion of what is in there now, and that would be helpful.
Crites is a stand-up company, and they have been accommodating to me.
Let me know if I can help.
If you could send some photos of your speakers, especially from the back, we could get a notion of what is in there now, and that would be helpful.
Crites is a stand-up company, and they have been accommodating to me.
Let me know if I can help.
if technically everything works the loudspeaker would profit a lot from time alignment like overall FIR compensation or software dsp like Acourate
Here are some pictures of the speakers. There's two pictures of the board (one for each speaker), and then just a few shots of one of the speakers for the mesh. Hopefully it helps
Attachments
I feel like crites may have been one of the companies someone recommended to me before. I am going to check them out now. Hopefully replacement of those parts wasn't too costly? Plus I'm based in Canada, so shipping and duties on some things might really bring up the price. I was hoping for a Canadian option similar to that, but if that's the only one I'm totally on board with trying it out.
Thanks for the recommendation. I will check the site out now
@Freedom666 forgive me, I'm still new to all of this and learning the terms here. Are the things you mentioned something that I can easily do myself or would I need a professional for that? I'm certainly open to anything that will improve the sound.
Most of the replacement parts are basic screw-in or bolt-on. The exception is the woofer filter, which will be on the access door for the bass unit. You will need to wire around the components on that part, but it is straightforward. A minimal amount of soldering.
If you are sadomasochist you could change out the grille cloth. The factory used a lot of staples, and you'd need to pull all of them out, cut new fabric and then tension and staple on the new fabric. You'll need a good strong pick or thin screwdriver to pull the staples out, and a high quality electric stapler is highly recommended. You won't want to use a hand staple gun for the 500+ staples holding all of the cloth on all of the side grilles and top grille.
The Wendell Fabrics "Mellotone" DA-3555 that the factory used is no longer available. You could choose another cloth from the Mellotone line that suits your fancy. Note, there is a direction to the fabric, if you want the sides and top to match, they have to be cut accordingly.
Distributor in Canuckistan for Mellotone acoustical fabrics is Q Components in Waterloo, Ontario.
https://qcomponents.ca/collections/tolex-grill-cloth
Maybe DF-6000 might be a good look?
The Wendell Fabrics "Mellotone" DA-3555 that the factory used is no longer available. You could choose another cloth from the Mellotone line that suits your fancy. Note, there is a direction to the fabric, if you want the sides and top to match, they have to be cut accordingly.
Distributor in Canuckistan for Mellotone acoustical fabrics is Q Components in Waterloo, Ontario.
https://qcomponents.ca/collections/tolex-grill-cloth
Maybe DF-6000 might be a good look?
I doubt any one DSP could effectively correct the large time discontinuities of a passive Klipschorn. I’ve fantasized about doing an active triamp Khorn DSP upgrade, however, and you could achieve phase linearity that way. I would ditch the passive crossover entirely.
I suspect this is vastly different from what @Circutz has in mind here however 🌞
You think? 🙄
He wants to occasionally play vinyl on them, and enjoy them. Recommending Acourate FIR to someone who doesn't know much other than he wants to enjoy them is like telling someone with an old 70's musclecar they have to throw out the points, condensor and carburetor in favor of a Motec ecu, port injection and crank trigger.
I'm even worse than that. I'm suggesting he replace his 454 engine with 72 volt batteries, solar panels and servo-controlled electric drives.
maybe some klipschhead did it already and knows how to proceed.
certainly for dsp control of phase and frequency response you need help of someone be it for money or as friends help.
certainly for dsp control of phase and frequency response you need help of someone be it for money or as friends help.
Lol, as much as I want them to sound as good as possible, I don't want to completely break the bank in the process. But considering the quality of them as well, I want to ensure I give them the upgrade they deserve.
This is amazing, thank you for sharing. I will check them out for sure. While I wouldn't consider myself a sadomasochist lol, I do remember that thing having an insane amount of staples. The DF-6000 certainly look similar to the original fabric. I do think the solid black ck-2009 could have a nice look too
Rather generic question here, but does anyone have a recommendation on an amp that would work well for my needs without breaking the bank?
First acknowledging the earlier comment by @diyuser2010, that this may be way beyond your objectives...
You can buy a MiniDSP Flex Eight for $600 USD; you can triamp using three Adcom GFA535s which cost under $200 USD each, so for $1200 including amplification you can own a triamped DSP upgraded K-Horn that runs circles around ANY passive system no matter the cost and sophistication.
(Especially if you stream digital music. If you're an analog-only purist, maybe this is overkill.)
You could easily spend $600 on passive crossovers, and I suspect a time-aligned linear phase K-Horn will sound absolutely amazing, and it won't have the colorations K-Horns are known for (unless you want to keep those colorations, because you can EQ it any way you want).
I bet there's a DIYaudio member in the GTA area who'd LOVE the opportunity to come and run measurements and help you set up the DSP. It's not rocket science.
If I lived near Toronto, I would. I think this is a very cool project.