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New Klipsch Jubilee speaker
- Thread starter Doodski
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That and one of your large horns! Which almost brings us back to the original topic of the Jubilee.
The K-400 and the newer K-401 horns are far too small for the 400Hz crossover frequency required by the bass horn. I'm sure PWK knew that and decided he could live with that compromise for practical and aesthetic reasons.
The Klipschorn will never match the M2 on paper, but that doesn't mean that it can't be even more engaging for some listeners. There is something to be said for the dynamics of an all horn system. Oh well, so far we still can't have it all.
For sure! That's the reason I kept and tweaked my La Scala's for 32 years and the only reason
I sold them is they would never have fit the room in my retirement home. And it wasn't like I hadn't
listened to just about every high end speaker around during those 3 decades. To me the best feature
of the La Scala over the K-Horn was that it could be positioned anywhere in the room. You give up
a octave of bottom end but positioned about 3' off the side walls, 5' off the rear wall and 9' apart then
toed into the MLP, I've never heard a better imaging soundstage, ever. A pair of 7' tall HSU subwoofers
tucked in the corners filled in the very bottom end handsomely.
Does anyone know the radiation pattern of the horn and tweeter of the Klipschorn ? I have a pair myself, never used them because I am making the new home , but i am curious about their horn coverage, as might be useful for my room . Ibought the old Klipschorn 1.5 year ago and finally i will use them, you can't imagine how excited i am)
Good question but how does one measure the horizontal directvity accurately of a horn that is placed in the corners and uses the walls to lengthen the horn? You would actually have to rotate the room! And placing it any other way, beats the purpose of the design. Vertically it could be measured though.
But doesn't that only apply to the bass range? Radiation pattern for the mid and tweeter horns could be measured, no?
More of a question that anything, your the expert here.
It has especially low modulation distortion, although the THD is low also. At 105 dB SPL, one result, which I think came from reading the IM distortion graph in Heyser's Audio magazine (1986), was 1.75%. I can't find my copy, but anyone having it can look at the distance from the Klipschorn that measurement was taken. For comparison purposes two smaller, direct radiating speakers from those days at 105 dB were 7% modulation distortion (Platinum Studio 2) and 10% modulation distortion (Fried Studio 4). The THD of the Klipschorn @ 105 dB was 0.25%.
Back in the '70s or '80s, Klipsch put out some spec sheets, one for the Klipschorn, one for the Cornwall, that listed the Klipschorn as having 1/3 of the modulation distortion of the Cornwall, with the Cornwall running at 10 dB lower SPL, even though the Cornwall and the Klipschorn had identical drivers (in those days).
I have more data somewhere; I'll look for it.
Mr. Widget said: "The K-400 and the newer K-401 horns are far too small for the 400Hz crossover frequency required by the bass horn."
When the Klipschorn AK4 and AK5 came in (or earlier) the lower crossover was kicked up very slightly from 400 Hz to 450Hz, and the crossover slope went from gradual (6 dB/octave?) to a much steeper one.
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Constant directivity in the bass can't be achieved in rooms of this size. The room modes will dominate no matter what. But corner placement minimizes boundary effect and it picks up SPL, as much as 9 dB in certain frequencies.
One can measure the speaker's directivity free standing but not when placed in the corner. However, it's very likely the horizontal beamwidth is 90° and the vertical is around 60°.
Here's the horizontal and vertical directivity of the K-402 horn (horn used in Jubilee).
For dynamics that is at insane SPL levels only right? In terms of specs the Jubilee has 2dB max SPL over the M2 with 125dB vs 123dB. And to be fair, the M2 has a matching 18" subwoofer for when you want more low-end power. Considering the M2 is half the price you should compare it to the M2 together with the SUB18.
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It's not the SPL that's so much of interest for home use, it's the lower distortion. And that's very audible. Front firing can't keep up with horn loading, unless you add about three times the drivers.
Directivity control also comes in the picture, but will depend on the type of horn. There'a a reason why we using such a large midbass horn you see below.
So dual 12" horns beat a single 18" in terms of distortion?
Yes. Using a 18" as high as needed in most horns wouldn't be a good idea by the way.
So a 15" has high and noticeable distortion in the, lets say, 60hz to 800hz range (800hz is the crossover to the horn in the M2)? Because that 18" sub would be playing the <60hz content, an area where it also has more distortion that dual horn loaded 12" woofers?
I'm speaking in general terms. Horn loading a driver minimizes distortion and the horn can add directivity control. Front firing can't compete here as distortion is higher and there's a loss of directvity. I can't go into a discussion with all various scenarious though. One can obviously add subwoofer(s) to Klipschorn as well but it would take something with very high SPL and low distortion to keep up with it.
IMO, the JBL M2 has a fairly small horn, crossover is higher than what's ideal, directivity control is lost a little high in frequency, and distortion is generally higher than what can be achieved in SOTA system. Klipsch uses a folded horn to reduce the dimension, but that has also has its compromises.
A older review of the Klipshorn from Audio magazine in 1986 with measurements. Better scans may be available elsewhere.
Awesome, thanks for posting. I had a copy of the magazine I had saved since 86 but I looked every
where and can't find it.
mhardy6647
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Awesome, thanks for posting. I had a copy of the magazine I had saved since 86 but I looked every
where and can't find it.
https://worldradiohistory.com
Dunno if it's better, but at the least, it's in color!
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