I want to Frankenstein my Klipsches

[Kvn_Walker]

I had been considering selling the Klipsch KLF-10's I recently purchased, because while they sound great at lower volumes, the horn tweeters just seem to leave the woofers behind when I crank it up. In a post last night I jokingly said I was entertaining making a Frankenstein speaker with the two Klipsch 10" woofers and the mids and tweeter from the Canton GLE's I just bought. See, I am a fan of the "big boxes" that started to disappear from the everyman consumer space after the 1990's. I just can't get into today's small-speakers-and-a-sub theme for 2-channel listening, and anything above low-end that has that nice 3-way 12" or 15" tower config that I grew up with seems to cost more than I bring home in a month.

But this morning as I sat in my office and looked longingly at the KLF's sitting against the wall neglected, something hit me... What if I took what I had already, dual hard-hitting 10's in a solid cabinet, and replaced the horn section with something mellower to my ears? What if I already had 90% of my Frankenstein 90's throwback right in front of me?

I didn't have time to measure, but it looks like the height of the K-100-K horn is such that I could have a panel fabricated which would probably mount a 6.5" driver (and definitely a 5.25" if necessary). I would have to isolate the top 1/5 of the speaker's inner volume, which would cost me some bass extension, but at least I could get away with not altering any of the exterior. I would be able to put the horns right back in if I so desired.

My living room setup has KEF Q series for front, center, and rear... and I've always loved the KEF Q sound, just hated (again) that they only made do with 6.5" woofers. Nice bass reproduction, but not much impact. So why not make the Klipsch into a concentric 2.5-way like the KEF's?

That leaves me with 2 questions:

1) am I totally friggin crazy to want to do this? I can put this together for far less than buying equivalent speakers would cost, since I have most of what I need already.

2) what would be a suggestable concentric/coaxial driver to match with those woofers? I could steal the Uni-Q from my KEF's (zero cost option) but I see that PE and Madisound have a few choices at varying price points. I'd love to hear first hand experience with any of those.

Sorry for the wall of text, but thanks in advance!

 

[slipperybidness]

I don't think this project will be easy by any means!

I think your time would be better spent by purchasing a DIY kit.

Cabinet volumes and ports are tuned to the drivers. Crossovers are designed to work with specific drivers and cabinets.

 

[Steve81]

1) am I totally friggin crazy to want to do this?

Pretty much. As Mr. Bidness implies, such an alteration requires seriously re-engineering the entire system. In this case, just to start, a concentric driver isn't even an apples-to-apples drop in replacement for a horn tweeter. It's two separate drivers, a tweeter and a mid/woofer, so you'd need to redesign the XO accordingly. Then of course there is the minor detail that you've got two relatively sensitive woofers designed to mate with a high sensitivity horn tweeter, and now you're looking to try and pair them with a relatively low sensitivity concentric driver.

 

[ski2xblack]

You might want to contact that deang fellow on the Klipsch forum. He specializes in network mods that reel in the mids/tweets. Given his experience, that wouldn't be such a shot in the dark as far as re-engineering the whole speaker.

Or, try some eq/tone controls.

 

[j_garcia]

You might want to contact that deang fellow on the Klipsch forum. He specializes in network mods that reel in the mids/tweets. Given his experience, that wouldn't be such a shot in the dark as far as re-engineering the whole speaker.

Or, try some eq/tone controls.

OR get new speakers.

 

[KEW]

Just keep both pairs and cross them over from the Klipsch to the Cantons at 200Hz!

 

[Kvn_Walker]

I don't know why I've got the itch to buy and tinker with stuff so badly this year. If my poor wife rolls her eyes back eany farther she'll be able to see her brain.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

You might want to contact that deang fellow on the Klipsch forum. He specializes in network mods that reel in the mids/tweets. Given his experience, that wouldn't be such a shot in the dark as far as re-engineering the whole speaker.

Or, try some eq/tone controls.

I'll look him up. Thanks!

 

[ski2xblack]

Well, check it out, but consider that J Garcia may be right here. Compare the cost of the mods to what you could liquidate the KLFs for, and the cost of matching KEFs across the front. (Matching L/C/R pays bigger dividends than impractical, sentimental attachment to the big monkey coffins...and I'm sympathetic to monkey coffin sensibilities).

 

[MrBoat]

There are so many great kits out there now.

I too, prefer larger drivers. But in the case of 10", most of the modern 6-8" based speakers will spank those. 10" woofers to me, were always an odd duck. They just weren't quite enough. 12's would be my minimum (I typically prefer 15's) for what benefits larger drivers bring comparatively, if I were in need of speakers.

I got the "itch" to buy and tinker with stuff about a year and a half ago and since then I have built 4 pairs of speakers, speaker stands, 5 subwoofers and an amp and still have more to go. Besides that, building things is my day job as well.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Well, check it out, but consider that J Garcia may be right here. Compare the cost of the mods to what you could liquidate the KLFs for, and the cost of matching KEFs across the front. (Matching L/C/R pays bigger dividends than impractical, sentimental attachment to the big monkey coffins...and I'm sympathetic to monkey coffin sensibilities).

This is actually my 2 channel office setup, with my PC as the source. Sorry I didn't elaborate on that.

A full DIY does seem the best option long term. I can get more for the money and just invest a little time. Any recommendations for someone selling complete tower kits?

 

[slipperybidness]

This is actually my 2 channel office setup, with my PC as the source. Sorry I didn't elaborate on that.

A full DIY does seem the best option long term. I can get more for the money and just invest a little time. Any recommendations for someone selling complete tower kits?

I have been drooling over the Jeff Bagby Solstice since they were released!

I just don't have the space in my current home to even consider them at this point.

There are several other good resources, but check out Parts-express.com

Solstice
https://www.parts-express.com/solstice-mltl-reference-tower-speaker-kit--300-708

 

[CB22]

I had been considering selling the Klipsch KLF-10's I recently purchased, because while they sound great at lower volumes, the horn tweeters just seem to leave the woofers behind when I crank it up. In a post last night I jokingly said I was entertaining making a Frankenstein speaker with the two Klipsch 10" woofers and the mids and tweeter from the Canton GLE's I just bought. See, I am a fan of the "big boxes" that started to disappear from the everyman consumer space after the 1990's. I just can't get into today's small-speakers-and-a-sub theme for 2-channel listening, and anything above low-end that has that nice 3-way 12" or 15" tower config that I grew up with seems to cost more than I bring home in a month.

But this morning as I sat in my office and looked longingly at the KLF's sitting against the wall neglected, something hit me... What if I took what I had already, dual hard-hitting 10's in a solid cabinet, and replaced the horn section with something mellower to my ears? What if I already had 90% of my Frankenstein 90's throwback right in front of me?

I didn't have time to measure, but it looks like the height of the K-100-K horn is such that I could have a panel fabricated which would probably mount a 6.5" driver (and definitely a 5.25" if necessary). I would have to isolate the top 1/5 of the speaker's inner volume, which would cost me some bass extension, but at least I could get away with not altering any of the exterior. I would be able to put the horns right back in if I so desired.

My living room setup has KEF Q series for front, center, and rear... and I've always loved the KEF Q sound, just hated (again) that they only made do with 6.5" woofers. Nice bass reproduction, but not much impact. So why not make the Klipsch into a concentric 2.5-way like the KEF's?

That leaves me with 2 questions:

1) am I totally friggin crazy to want to do this? I can put this together for far less than buying equivalent speakers would cost, since I have most of what I need already.

2) what would be a suggestable concentric/coaxial driver to match with those woofers? I could steal the Uni-Q from my KEF's (zero cost option) but I see that PE and Madisound have a few choices at varying price points. I'd love to hear first hand experience with any of those.

Sorry for the wall of text, but thanks in advance!

the horn tweeters just seem to leave the woofers behind when I crank it up. In a post last night I jokingly said I was entertaining making a Frankenstein speaker with the two Klipsch 10" woofers and the mids and tweeter from the Canton GLE's I just bought. - yes I could't agree more. I use mine mostly for games and movies. What I do is turn down the treble down a few db on the receiver. This levels it out a bit so the higher frequencies don't hit you like a punching bag. I actually love klipsch for the HT side of things and plan on keeping my till the day they die. HOWEVER, I actually bought a pair of new speakers for music solely based on the "Frankenstein" effect your talking about.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

I have been drooling over the Jeff Bagby Solstice since they were released!

I just don't have the space in my current home to even consider them at this point.

There are several other good resources, but check out Parts-express.com

Solstice
https://www.parts-express.com/solstice-mltl-reference-tower-speaker-kit--300-708

Yes I saw those, but my brain immediately said "ugh, 6.5's!" Like I've mentioned, my mind is apparently stuck in the big/tall/heavy mode. Is Transmission line truly as great as what I've read?

It's almost 20 years late but I feel like I'm suddenly having seller's remorse for the Infinity Kappa 9's and JBL L7's I let go back in the prior century. That seems to be what kind of speaker I'm after, but it's not in my price range anymore. Whereas I was able to get those speakers for less than $1000/pair back in the 90's, if they built them today there's no way they would go for less than $3000. Heck, the rare times either of those hit the market, they sell for more than what I paid for them new.

Maybe I'm writing off Klipsch too soon since I haven't heard any of their 3-ways yet. I came REALLY close to impulsively pulling the trigger on these Infinity's this morning. I'm going to wind up sleeping in the car... with my stereo... if I keep this up. I just know I've got the itch some kind of bad this year.

 

[ski2xblack]

For the Klipsch heritage three ways, keep an eye out for forte II, which typically go for about half what those Infinites are listed at. They're a considerable upgrade from KLFs, but still require some eq.
And alternative from the do-it-yourself side that several of us have had good results with are the fusion 12 Tempest from do-it-yourself sound group. Those require no EQ, sound good straight up, arguably better than any Klipsch I've owned.