Klipsch speaker upgrades

[TMC]

I bought my first set of Klipsch speakers in 1974. A new pair of K-horns. Fast forward. These K-horns are now the anchors to a home theater setup using Klipsch Belles in the center and surround positions. I have been wanting to do upgrades/modernizing to these speakers for quite some time, and last month pulled the trigger on gathering the required pieces. I will do the pair of K-horns first, as they are the oldest (by a factor of 4).

So far I have received a pair of ALK extreme slope X-overs (ES-Khorn), 2 B&C DCM50 mid drivers, 2 B&C DE250 tweeter drivers and wooden horns for both mids and tweets (Fastlane Audio Eliptrac 400 mids and Contrac tweets). I am waiting for a pair of cast frame woofers from Bob Crites. Then the fun begins.

[jdandy]

TMC.......Looks like the only thing that will be original after the upgrades will be the cabinets.

[TMC]

You are 100% correct. Cant beat a horn speaker, and I still believe in the basic design. Its just time to incorporate the 4 decades of technological improvements (in both drivers and X-overs) that are now available.

[jdandy]

TMC.......Do us a favor if you can. Photo document the upgrade process so we can watch the old Klipsch K-horns go from old to new.

[TMC]

No problem. The camera battery is fully charged. As soon as I get the woofers I can begin.

[jdandy]

TMC.......That will be great. It might even help other Klipsch owners get the bug to upgrade their speakers. I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes.

[vintage_tube]

Bob Crites is the man on Klipsch upgrades/crossovers IMO. He did a pair of crossovers for my Forte II's years ago. They provided a vast improvement over the measly stock units. Was an easy 'plug n' play' install.

Best

Bob

[TMC]

Here are pics of what I have so far. These parts are all for a single K-horn. I am not showing a pic of the Crites cast frame woofer. Those will be delivered tomorrow. When I get one of the old K-33's out of a K-horn I will post woofer comparison pics.

The wooden horns are Eliptrac 400 mids and Contrac tweets from Fastlane audio.

The ALK extreme slope x-over is a 3 piece setup for the K-horn. This allows placement of the 2 long thin pieces to be on each side of the mid horn. The tweeter x-over is mounted on an edge. When installed, I will post pics and this will be clear. Both the tweeter and the mid-range drivers can have their efficiency ratings slightly reduced thru the use of different tap points on the x-over. So in this case, the woofer is 104db @ 1W and both the mid and tweet drivers are 108.5 db @ 1W. To match everything, you can use the different tap points for these drivers that that will reduce the 108.5 to be very close to the 104 of the woofer. (Al, if I'm butchering anything in my attempt at explaining how these work, feel free to chime in).

The tweeter driver is a 1" throat and the mid-range driver is a 2" throat. A sizable increase over the stockers. This mid driver works fine at the K-horns low end x-over point of 400Hz.

This setup also alters the original 8 ohm rating to 6 ohms. In my case, this means instead of 300W the speakers will see 450. I'm going to have to invest in some fuses.

[TMC]

A few more items showed up. I did a fit of the new horns into the frames and the fit of the horns is 'secure', and they fill the frame very well.

[jdandy]

TMC.......Looking very good.