How well would K-horns work being on a 15' wall?

avguytx

avguytx

Lunatic Member
I'm most likely picking up a set soon but I then I start doubting how well they will, or won't work, being in corners on a 15' wall. This is an upstairs finished out room above a 3-car garage so it's got that usual rectangle shape that's about 28' in length. I wish it would have been more like 18' but they just didn't get it in the plans that way. So, it is what it is. The Klipsch CF-3's sound great being where they are on that wall and I augment them with a Sunfire HRS12 which mates up well.

But in reality, how far back is optimum to sit given their distance apart? Are they really going to "bloom" in the room or am I basically pissing in a fan with this idea? This is an old view of the room but gives an idea of where I sit in relation to the gear. Pardon the mess. Stuff has changed some, been moved, gotten rid of, etc.

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I remember listening to K-Horns at dealerships in rooms with similar dimensions and thought they were fine. This was about 40 years ago when K-Horns were impressive no matter where they were.
 
Parents had theirs a similar distance apart in a square room. Sounded great.

I assume you’ve measure the height in those corners and the horns will fit?
 
Room looks good, I have mine in a similar size basement.
Are you sure Klipschorns will fit in the corners ?
If yes, get some help getting them up the stairs.
Good luck .
 
Bottom line first. You really won’t know until you set them up and see for yourself. So many factors are at play here.

If it’s any comfort to you, my man cave listening room is quite similar to yours. My EV Georgians work spectacularly pushed into the corners. I believe your chances for a good outcome are high.
 
Nyjblbob said:
You might need some wall treatments, but the corners look good.
Probably won't need much power.
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I'll run them on a rebuilt Dynakit ST-70. I wouldn't think they would need the 250wpc Rockford amp or 460wpc Carver amp. lol. Although, the Belle clones I build some years back sounded quite good on the Carver and not a hint of hiss that my ears could hear. Very surprising.
 
winglet said:
Parents had theirs a similar distance apart in a square room. Sounded great.

I assume you’ve measure the height in those corners and the horns will fit?
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Yep...made sure when we built the house that the builder made those "knee walls" to be 5' in height just in case.
 
bruno80918 said:
Room looks good, I have mine in a similar size basement.
Are you sure Klipschorns will fit in the corners ?
If yes, get some help getting them up the stairs.
Good luck .
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Can do there. My (almost) 16 year old son is 6'2" and benches 225-lbs and squats 325 or something like that. He's a hoss. I miss having his metabolism.
 
Nyjblbob said:
On second thought, if the Carver is 25-30+ yrs old I would not trust it.
Use the newer amp
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Oh, it's a completely rebuilt M-1.0t that was upgraded to the MkII Opt 002 that made it way better. It would be the newest of the two, per se. The Rockford is 30 years old and no service manuals for it. I replaced the smaller caps and that got it going again.
 
I had my AK3 K horns on a ~15ft wall in a 23ft long room, main seating was about 12ft from the speakers in the middle of the room... while the K horns sounded good overall for lower or mid volume listening, they had too many issues that made them hard to enjoy on a regular basis. Mainly the unbalanced midrange that required tone control adjustment as every song/recording was different needing frequent adjustment. The bass was great when it was good but very finicky, would sound good in one spot on the "U" shaped couch but terrible on the other end, same for different places in the room, strong at the back corners but less in the main seating position and almost non existent only a few feet away at other end of the couch or side chairs.

Another thing I really didnt care for was how too many recordings sounded bad on them, yet other klipsch speakers like CF4, KG5.5 and forte/chorus2 or other brands sounded fine on same recordings and same system. Also noticed the time alignment issues these speakers have, smaller rooms seem to be worse for this since the speakers dont have the room they need to breathe or let the sound stage expand like it can in bigger rooms with higher ceilings. When listening louder, all those things mentioned got worse, as good as the bass can be, up louder the mids overwhelm everything and the bass knob or loudness button needed to be turned up to compensate.

As mentioned above and something I say all the time... far too many variables to say they will or wont work in any given room, system or a persons taste in music or volumes they listen at, but after owning 2 pairs of these speakers, 1 AK3 and 1 AA, they are just to difficult to make them sound right in a smaller room for the majority of music I listen to which is mostly classic, modern and alternative rock music.

Dont get me wrong, they are great speakers that can do amazing things when all the stars are aligned just right and I'm sure much of the problems were related to the smaller room, but when other speakers sound good on the same recordings/system/room, that indicates the K horns were just too finicky and picky in a smaller room with mid-fi solid state gear. I am much happier with my current set up of chrous2 and dual SVS subs in that same small basement for music, I run Definitive Technology speakers for movie use but they also sound very good for music. And since you are a epic speaker guy, I liked my CF4's the most of all my speakers so far, I actually sold them and some other speakers to fund the K horn purchase, but I sold the Khorns a couple years ago when I got an offer for 2x what I paid. Maybe will own them again when I get a bigger house. The good thing is, if they dont work out you can sell them for what you paid or more if you get a good deal.

Hope they work out for you, just dont sell the epics before you decide. ;)
 

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@DEFTECHY I do remember you talking about them being finicky in their surroundings. That's just the thing; the CF-3's sound just fine on pretty much whatever I play on them and aren't too picky about it. I have an AudioSource EQ-ONE (Ferris Buehler EQ) with some drop at 2 & 4khz, mainly because of my tinnitus, and they sound just fine. And I don't listen to the same genre's of music constantly, like choral, orchestral, drums & stuff, etc., where they might excel. My tastes range and I really have no desire to change all my equipment out on a continual basis trying to make the K horns play right. It's just not worth it to me.

Thanks for that info.
 
walnut resize.jpg Pictures are deceiving, but your above garage room looks less than 15 foot wide; the other room picture posted looks even shorter than yours, using the Klipschorns as a scale. Regardless, 15 feet is near optimum for a set of Klipschorns, as long as you have enough sit back space from the front wall, which appears you have plenty. The angled ceiling may also be a benefit to the sound.

I have one set of Khorns at 20 foot wide and another at 16.5 foot - I prefer the 16.5 width as the other approaches the need for a center channel. I am driving one set with a pair of Carver M4.0t's, bi-amped, and both with the Nelion upgrades.

I'd wager you have a great room for them, assuming your room dimensions are accurate.
 
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@TPK I believe the exact width, sheetrock to sheetrock, is 14' 9" so just a tad under, and my head at listening position is 14' back. I agree that the view posted definitely makes it look more narrow in there than what it is.

I'd say you have plenty of power for them. ;)
 
avguytx said:
@TPK I believe the exact width, sheetrock to sheetrock, is 14' 9" so just a tad under, and my head at listening position is 14' back. I agree that the view posted definitely makes it look more narrow in there than what it is.

I'd say you have plenty of power for them. ;)
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You may have to adjust your listening position to obtain optimum sound, probably no closer than 10 feet.

Yea def. enough power, didn't need it just wanted to mimic tube sound, but without the hassle of tubes :) . It is bi-amped as I am using a wireless setup between pre-amp and power amps, as I wanted no wires visible and was not drilling any holes to hide them.

Once the net streamer went to full volume inexplicably on startup and I accidently had the amps on, so it was ear-splitting for 15 seconds...and I did not blow any speakers!
 
My Khorns were with a LaScala center for 30 years in 6 different domiciles, regardless of spacing, which was 14' initially and 17 before they were sold in 2007. Working on one of a kind Underground Jubilee Clones. They will not need a subwoofer for music with Three 12" drivers in each bass horn. It will then be B&C Big Horn/Concentric Driver tops vs. a K402 for fun (and maybe an Axi2050 with Shevling and PEQ). The curves and listening tests will tell me which. As the spacing for Khorns alway dictated my Sweet Spot in any of the rooms.
 
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