Looking for a speaker that can......

rromeo923

Two of my favorite vintage speakers are KLH 6's and Klipsch KG4's (w/crites tweeters). The KLH 6's have great bass and with tubes involved can sound like honey. The Klipsch have such nice clarity and vocals but can be slightly bright even with the upgraded tweets and tube amplification.

If I could somehow combine both I would be very close to not looking for another set of speakers. The big plus w/ both of these speakers are that they can be had fairly cheaply. The KLH's I paid $60 while the Klipsch I got for $200.

Any suggestions??

mhardy6647

I'd say Altec Duplexes with phase-correct crossovers - but it'll cost you more.
Next best choice - ads L-710 (or almost any of its cousins, larger and smaller, two and three way).

zingo

Maybe the Klipsch Forte? Solid bass and better high/mid range than the KG4. They can be had for a couple hundred dollars depending on market and condition, sound great with tubes, and sound even better with Crites!

rromeo923

I have some ADS L-420's which I like less than than the KLH or the Klipsch. Maybe the larger ones?
Forte's? Hmmmm

rromeo923

Mhardy do you mean something like these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTEC-LANSING-604E-SUPER-DUPLEX-SPEAKERS-MATCHED-SET-MINT-1500N-DIVIDING-NETWORK-/271111764331?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3f1f85396b

mhardy6647

rromeo923 wrote: »

Mhardy do you mean something like these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTEC-LANSING-604E-SUPER-DUPLEX-SPEAKERS-MATCHED-SET-MINT-1500N-DIVIDING-NETWORK-/271111764331?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3f1f85396b

That's what I'm rockin' - 'cept with Mastering Labs crossovers and DIY (well, more properly, bespoke) 9 ft^3 cabinets a la Billfort's.
http://www.wardsweb.org/Billfort/



The post above mentioning the ads L-420 is interesting - the L-420 is a later and lesser speaker than the L-710... but I find them to be quite a pleasant little pair of loudspeakers to listen to. Perhaps it is because I've only used vacuum tube amps with 'em?

rromeo923

I too like the ADS L420 but the particular ones I have dont sound sound as good to me as the KLH or the Klipsch.
Unfortunately the Altecs are way out of my price range.

But you know what? As I type this I am thinking that I never really listened to the ADS w/my current set up. Ok Here goes. I will report back.

mhardy6647

I bought a nice pair of Altec Santiagos (very similar to Valencias but with sealed box woofers and - in fact - better LF performance) locally (CL) for $200. Chance favors the prepared mind (as Pasteur said).



(that's one of them on the left in the photo above)

rromeo923

Well I havent hooked up the ADS L420's yet but I did swap out my Conrad Johnson gear for my Yaqin integrated. Hate to say it but the Yaqin sounds better. At least it plays with the Klipsch KG-4's better. However at times the Klipsch's are still a bit bright. Other times though they are incredible.
Went to hook up my KLH 6's again one of them is not working (arghhhh!) Time to open em up.

rromeo923

Finally hooked up the ads l420's. mhardy u might have something here. pretty impressive !

Mystery

I had L-620's and still have L-420's.
L-620's were much better than L-420's main difference being the low end.
I can listen to L-620's without looking for a subwoofer but L-420's don't have enough low end on their own.

You can try New or original large advents for better bass but too bright for me.
They work good with tubes from what I read.
I always used SS amps with them.

rromeo923

I have had and sold New and Original Large advents. Very nice. They both got beat out by some KLH 6's. I may be looking for some larger ADS's now though.

rromeo923

I am seeing a pair of ads l700a's for sale on cl. what do u think of them?

mhardy6647

They are very good.

Mystery

rromeo923 wrote: »

I am seeing a pair of ads l700a's for sale on cl. what do u think of them?

Nope.
Those are one of the lowest rated ADS and are 2-way speaker just with extra woofer.
I had them and my L-620's were way better.
Here is a pic: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=83648&d=1365173570

From your post, I think you should aim for 3-way ADS like 710, 810, 880 etc...

mhardy6647

I very much like the two-way ads, too - de gustibus non est disputandum (or, if you prefer "YMMV").

rromeo923

Looks like i am going to check them out this Monday. He is asking $155.

rromeo923

Ok I have really been impressed w/ the ADS L420's lately. I swapped them out for some Infinity QB's. First thing I noticed was deeper bass but the music seemed a little congested. The emit tweeters are nice though. Anyway the QB's are not the ticket though theyare far from being bad speakers. Anyway fun times. Still need to get the KLH 6's back in order as almost no other speaker I have heard has the magical sweetness that they do. I know that magical sweetness is not an official audio term but nonetheless...

rromeo923

Decided not to check out the L700's. I am going to be happy w/ the Klipsch KG4's for now. I did see a pair of Altec Valencia on CL in what looked to be great shape for $500. They were not on there for long.
Oh well.

rromeo923

KLH 6's are fixed and I have decided they win. They are truly amazing. This has been a fun little thread for me. U learned some things about my system and synergy etc.

rromeo923

Ok. Here I go again. Well I have decided not to spend any money and use what I have. I am interested to know what you think of this set up.
I have a six speaker selector. I have hooked up my KLH 6's and also my ADS L420's to it. I am using a Yaqin MC-10L tube integrated along w/Yaqin MS-12b tube phono pre, Micro Seiki dd40, and Squeezebox touch.

I am pretty happy at the moment. The KLH/ADS combo is sounding nice and giving me the best of both worlds. The Yaqin only has one set of speaker inputs so I have to use the selector.

What am I losing by using the speaker selector?

gmjungbluth

This is a cool thread!

I'm interested to see that your KLH 6s continue to win out, even over the KG4s. I do recall that when we back-to-back tested your KLH 6s with mine, yours had more bass and didn't give up any high end to my recapped speakers. I wonder what your modded KG4s sound like compared to my original KG4s?

My KG4s in my living room almost sound rolled off - there is tons of bass from the rear-firing passive radiator but thehighs are not overpowering, at least o my ears. Could be the acoustics though.

When I compare my KLH 6s in the basement to my other speakers laying around (polk monitor 7Bs, Boston A200s, B&W 601s) the rolled-off top end of the KLHs is very apparent to me. They are sweet and easy to listen to but they definitely give up detail and top end sparkle to newer designs.

I would also be interested to hear what gets lost in the speaker selector....

G

tonyb

rromeo923 wrote: »

Two of my favorite vintage speakers are KLH 6's and Klipsch KG4's (w/crites tweeters). The KLH 6's have great bass and with tubes involved can sound like honey. The Klipsch have such nice clarity and vocals but can be slightly bright even with the upgraded tweets and tube amplification.

If I could somehow combine both I would be very close to not looking for another set of speakers. The big plus w/ both of these speakers are that they can be had fairly cheaply. The KLH's I paid $60 while the Klipsch I got for $200.



Any suggestions??

In my opinion, theres only so much SQ you can squeeze out of a 60 buck set of speakers. Since you like the KLH's, it maybe in need of a crossover update judging by your "sounds like honey" description. Talk to Trey over at VR3 and see what he can do for you. He can sure bring those back to their original, if not better, sound.

rromeo923

tonyb wrote: »

In my opinion, theres only so much SQ you can squeeze out of a 60 buck set of speakers. Since you like the KLH's, it maybe in need of a crossover update judging by your "sounds like honey" description. Talk to Trey over at VR3 and see what he can do for you. He can sure bring those back to their original, if not better, sound.

I have compared my KLH 6's with some KLH 6's that have had new caps etc. I thought mine sounded better. I don't think that new crossover is the answer. There is an awful lot to like about the way these speakers sound. At times with certain types of music it is hard to imagine a more pleasing sounding speaker. However, they do have their limitations. What this whole thread is about is keeping the good things about the KLH but also adding some detail in the highs w/out becoming too bright. If you have never heard KLH 6's with tubes and vinyl you may not understand how much SQ that can be had for $60. I often prefer these $60 KLH's to my highly modded SDA 1C's for relaxing listening sessions.

Jimbo18

This is a very old memory, from a very old guy, but back in the early 70's I owned a pair of KLH-6's and thought the highs were lacking a bit and found that I enjoyed my AR-2ax's better. However, it could be they were both under-powered, since I only had a 40 or 50wpc integrated amp at the time, and maybe the KLH's needed the extra juice more than the AR's did.

mhardy6647

The KLH Six is a good sounding loudspeaker. One thing to look at on these elderly systems is air leakage through the treated cloth surrounds of the woofers; perusal of teh webs (e.g., the forum at www.classicspeakerpages.net ) should reveal some "mitigation strategies" to seal the surrounds :-)

cnh

I agree, KLHs on some nice tubes are very very sweet indeed. Maybe they can't image with the best or throw up the greatest sound stage in the world, but you can listen to them "forever" and care less about all that. It's actually quite "therapeutic"! The guys who do "critical" listening strike me as sitting at the edge of their chairs constantly worried they might here a faint trace of sibilance or some sloppy bass, or that they can't tell EXACTLY where the drum sticks are, etc. They're so WORRIED about what they "may not be hearing" that they don't really ENJOY listening to the music as a whole, IMHO! Nothing a few years in therapy wouldn't cure.

BTW. I have some ADS L520s in the "permanent" collection as well as a pair of KLH 17s. Neither are going "anywhere"! The Sixes hit even lower. Another bookie forever with me are my Dynaco A25s. Every speaker, above, has its own sound, each a gem of sorts!

Never got into Klipsch, but I've never tried them on the tube amp either, so that might be something to think about?

Altecs? Yeah, I'd definitely like to get my ears on those mhardy!

cnh

mhardy6647

cnh wrote: »

I agree, KLHs on some nice tubes are very very sweet indeed. Maybe they can't image with the best or throw up the greatest sound stage in the world...

Ooh, I hate it when speakers throw up.

... but you can listen to them "forever" and care less about all that. It's actually quite "therapeutic"! The guys who do "critical" listening strike me as sitting at the edge of their chairs constantly worried they might here a faint trace of sibilance or some sloppy bass, or that they can't tell EXACTLY where the drum sticks are, etc. They're so WORRIED about what they "may not be hearing" that they don't really ENJOY listening to the music as a whole, IMHO! Nothing a few years in therapy wouldn't cure.

BTW. I have some ADS L520s in the "permanent" collection as well as a pair of KLH 17s. Neither are going "anywhere"! The Sixes hit even lower. Another bookie forever with me are my Dynaco A25s. Every speaker, above, has its own sound, each a gem of sorts!

Never got into Klipsch, but I've never tried them on the tube amp either, so that might be something to think about?

Altecs? Yeah, I'd definitely like to get my ears on those mhardy!

cnh

Our new place probably isn't any closer to you than the old one... but the hifi room's better :-) You've gotta get over sometime - this summer(?!)




it's greenin' up nicely up there now...

cnh

Beautiful country there! I appreciate the offer and will consider that when we return from Greece. Have a short trip with the family planned for late June.

cnh

mhardy6647

mmm... it'll probably be something of a let-down compared to Greece...