I built a pair of Klipsch "K" horns from plans. They are BIG! As I remember, the LF is an Altec 415 15", and HF is a 608C driver with their #511 500 Hz sectoral horn. An additional super tweeter sits on top in its own box. The super tweeter doesn't add much that I can tell.
If anyone is crazy enough to build these things, the plans are probably available. My plans came from Radio & Television News, April, 1955.
Beware! There are MANY small pieces, many of which have compound angles--not a job for a beginner in woodworking!
Floyd
Eugene, Oregon
p.s. I'll copy the plans for you....
If anyone is crazy enough to build these things, the plans are probably available. My plans came from Radio & Television News, April, 1955.
Beware! There are MANY small pieces, many of which have compound angles--not a job for a beginner in woodworking!
Floyd
Eugene, Oregon
p.s. I'll copy the plans for you....
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Mr. Unit,
The Klipschorn is an excellent horn, which is why they're still being made. The advance in theory and computer modeling has certainly made it easier for ordinary people to design horns. However, Paul Klipsch wasn't an ordinary person and laid down a lot of the foundational work on horn theory.
BTW: Your last sentence doesn't make any sense theoretically or in the real world.
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Floyd,
Those horns turned out very nice, congratulations! I built a pair back in 1975 from the plans that Speakerlab sold and it's a complicated project to say the least. I really enjoyed mine and I'm sure that you'll enjoy yours as well.
Best Regards,
TerryO
To all. Thanks for your good thoughts. These K-horns are actually "corner" enclosures. The LF sound comes out the back, and the corner walls act as the final part of the horn. Since the LF wavelength is so much longer than the corner (or the room, for that matter) phase differences are non-existent. The HF horns face straight out, toward the listener.
Should mention these speakers were made about 1975-- when I had more ambition for this sort of thing!
Floyd Carter
Should mention these speakers were made about 1975-- when I had more ambition for this sort of thing!
Floyd Carter
Is there 'another' version of K-horn? I've never seen an 'elevated' one like this. (and floor-standing by itself is so tall, already!)
The bass sound is supposed to exit from both sides of the cabinet in the original design, the cross section area of the path (in this part) is defined by the top plate, walls and floor. Now the whole cabinet is elevated, the 'terminus' would be larger - the floor is now further away... How does this affect the sound?
Oh, beautiful woodwork BTW
The bass sound is supposed to exit from both sides of the cabinet in the original design, the cross section area of the path (in this part) is defined by the top plate, walls and floor. Now the whole cabinet is elevated, the 'terminus' would be larger - the floor is now further away... How does this affect the sound?
Oh, beautiful woodwork BTW
There are some kits available with some similitude to the Klipsch corner horns like Pi6-12" and Pi7-15", here "p Speaker Kits".
K Horn
To CLS. For many years, these Horns stood on the floor. When we moved to a new place in Oregon, the speaker locations happened to sit on a needed air vent on the floor. The "feet" were added so the air conditioning would work!
I should mention that the plans in Radio & Television News were called the "Georgian", by Electro Voice, and the author was Gene Souther, an employee of EV.
Floyd Carter
To CLS. For many years, these Horns stood on the floor. When we moved to a new place in Oregon, the speaker locations happened to sit on a needed air vent on the floor. The "feet" were added so the air conditioning would work!
I should mention that the plans in Radio & Television News were called the "Georgian", by Electro Voice, and the author was Gene Souther, an employee of EV.
Floyd Carter
Thanks for the explanation. How do they compare? I mean floor-standing vs elevated.
I've had some very brief experiences with K horn (and I was very much impressed). I remember the bass sounds were quite different between [right at the corner] and [slightly pulled away from the corner]. The corner helps a lot.
So I'm curious how the feet works. Also, in the picture above, your horn seemed not been pushed into the corner. Is it because of the glass and curtain?
I've had some very brief experiences with K horn (and I was very much impressed). I remember the bass sounds were quite different between [right at the corner] and [slightly pulled away from the corner]. The corner helps a lot.
So I'm curious how the feet works. Also, in the picture above, your horn seemed not been pushed into the corner. Is it because of the glass and curtain?
As a big Klipsch fan, I still own my Hereseys from 1974. I had the honor of eating several meals with Mr. Klipsch over a period of ten years. A few years ago I was driving somewhere and it happened to be "large trash day" in my area. I spy a large cabinet sitting at the curb. As I get closer, It looked like a K-horn! Upon inspection, it was one of the Speakerlab clones but appeared all there. Where was the other one? I wrestled this thing into my wagon, dragged it home, and the darn thing worked fine! I went back and looked to see if the grass was flattened from the other cabinet thinking maybe someone already grabbed one. No such evidence was there.
A few days later I managed to catch the homeowner and asked about the missing cabinet. Her explination about killed me: She had busted it up with a sledge hammer! She was mad at a friend who had left them there and never came back for them.
So now I guess I need to build a mate to the first or sell it. Right now it's just being used as a sub in my basement.
A few days later I managed to catch the homeowner and asked about the missing cabinet. Her explination about killed me: She had busted it up with a sledge hammer! She was mad at a friend who had left them there and never came back for them.
So now I guess I need to build a mate to the first or sell it. Right now it's just being used as a sub in my basement.
You know, I really haven't done any experimenting with placement. My old house had solid corner walls, and I just spaced the speaker about 6" away from the corner. This place, as you see, has glass but also drapes (that I can do nothing about!). Again, the spacing is mainly for practical reasons to be able to move the drapes.
Since the bass is already powerful (!), I really don't think it could be any better by moving the box around some.
Floyd
Since the bass is already powerful (!), I really don't think it could be any better by moving the box around some.
Floyd
For me and based on listening a very long time ago, only the Klipschorn bass is audiophile level - maybe SpeakerLab treble is better.
I'm a big fan and tell people nothing could possibly move as much air. Not sure that is really true today but the Klipschorn was just waiting for CDs to be invented and their extended bass.
I'm also a big fan of mixed bass. I've crossover at 140 for years and you can put the corner bass horn in any corner and there's no impact on stereo image. I've moved down to around 110 Hz for various reasons and including various other changes and can't judge if the image is better.
In short, just no compelling reason to need more than one speaker playing in that bass range, even if there may be some room-acoustic reasons why two or more is incrementally better.
For sure, they don't go super low like some people on this forum seek. Well, for home theater - for music listening, 30-35 Hz is low enough to play any organ pedal even if the fundamental isn't all there.
K-horns do not go super low but pretty good to maybe 35 Hz. And with some EQ, just swell. I'm toying iwth the thought of adding a subwoofer.
I just can't believe that a 6 inch driver with a 3 inch movement in a tapped horn moves a fraction of the air of a Klipshorn or as cleanly.
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Hmm, interesting assertion. I think of a tapped horn as in the class of more-efficient due to being more-resonant devices, like the Bose Acoustic Cannon or a front/rear ported bandpass. I just saw Tom Danley but unfortunately was too gaga at their latest monster (size of 2 small refrigerators, multi tapped? horns feeding into one, 4+ foot long SEVENTEEN THOUSAND WATT amplifier!!). I wonder if the tapped nature of the horn makes it somewhat less "pure" than other horn types. (Of course to be fair, the intention is for good fidelity at insane SPL levels, not audiophile listening sessions)
But that is exactly what I think too.
A TH has more in common with an "efficient" Karlson multi-resonant cabinet (as Paul Klipsch characterized it) than with a Klipschorn.
Another implication, at least for some of us, is that enclosures that traffic too heavily in their resonance have no place in the audiophile world, even if they have value in other settings.
Hmm, missed this one first time around. Yes those are beautiful and so is your wife. I know that without even seeing her. She has to beautiful to allow those in your livingroom.
Couple of things I noticed:
I think the LF drivers are the 416's not 415's as I can't remember a 415 and the 416's are very common.
The HF are likely 806's or perhaps 808's not 608's as again I don't recall a 608.
That horn looks to be the 811 unless my eyes are not adjusting to the scale of those cabinets. They look pretty much the same but the 511 is bigger than those look. The 511 is 24" wide. Could be wrong though, those are truly big magnificent speakers. I just wish I was allowed something like that inside. I'd be in heaven.
Cheers.
Couple of things I noticed:
I think the LF drivers are the 416's not 415's as I can't remember a 415 and the 416's are very common.
The HF are likely 806's or perhaps 808's not 608's as again I don't recall a 608.
That horn looks to be the 811 unless my eyes are not adjusting to the scale of those cabinets. They look pretty much the same but the 511 is bigger than those look. The 511 is 24" wide. Could be wrong though, those are truly big magnificent speakers. I just wish I was allowed something like that inside. I'd be in heaven.
Cheers.
Kilpsch horns
Glad to see someone building this classical design. It is one of the few speakers that ever really impressed me as a former High School musician. There used to be a high end retailer on Kirby in Houston inside the 610 loop that sold Klipschhorns, also MacIntosh. The idea was you were supposed to build a room in your house exactly the right size and shape to make the Khorns shine. He had such a room as a demonstrator in this old wooden house in a neighborhood going commercial. I was there for the Mac demo in 1969, where they told you what was wrong with your off brand (Dyna) amp. K-horns on Mac sounded great, on such a busy day I got about 15 seconds in the royal room. I couldn't have ever afforded either speakers or amp. That place went the way of the dodo bird about 1970, with the advent of the "bookshelf" speaker and the packaged receiver.
Glad to see someone building this classical design. It is one of the few speakers that ever really impressed me as a former High School musician. There used to be a high end retailer on Kirby in Houston inside the 610 loop that sold Klipschhorns, also MacIntosh. The idea was you were supposed to build a room in your house exactly the right size and shape to make the Khorns shine. He had such a room as a demonstrator in this old wooden house in a neighborhood going commercial. I was there for the Mac demo in 1969, where they told you what was wrong with your off brand (Dyna) amp. K-horns on Mac sounded great, on such a busy day I got about 15 seconds in the royal room. I couldn't have ever afforded either speakers or amp. That place went the way of the dodo bird about 1970, with the advent of the "bookshelf" speaker and the packaged receiver.
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