powering klipschorns with high power mcintosh amps


im running a mcintosh system in quad with 1 pair of k-horns & 1 pair of klipsch cornwalls,i am currently running a mac c38 preamp/2 mac mcd 7007 cd players/2 mac mq101 equlizers (1 eq for each amp)1 mac mr7082 tuner/ 1 mac mc300 amp & 1 mac mc2105 amp with a mac scr3 for remote power up of the amps / im running the cornwalls on the mc300 & i love that amp & it fits the cornwalls needs to a tee/ im running the k-horns on the mc2105 & i hate that amp, the 2105 does ok with the k-horns but it lacks something not to mention that it looks like crap/ im thinking about running a mac mc150 on the k-horns or maybee even a 7150,i want to stay with solid state/any k-horn users who are running them with hi power amps especialy the mc150 or 7150 please let me know your thoughts,mike.
128x128bigjoe
Hello I have Khorns and have used a mac 252 amp with them with fine results BUT the whole majic of the khorns is their efficiency and I have found they sound best with tubes (after all they were designed around them) I use a mac mc275, a vtl st85 a restored dynaco st 70 and I also have a pair of 3.5 watt set amps all sound great with them and I have tried many solid state amps including the new 5200.00 Goldmund....my $750.00 Dynaco amp sounds better MUCH better....who knew ??? anyway tubes and khorns,,,its the way to go.
Your decision to reduce your power (selecting a lower powered Mac Amp) should solve any problem you're having with The K-Horns. Since the Midrange Horn in Klipsch was changed around 1995 the Horns have lost something to many of those that really liked them. In my opinion The Aluminum M/R Horn sounded better than the Tractrix Horn currently used in the Korner Horns. There will probably not ever be a noise/distortion problem with the McIntosh Amps even when using Horns as they are some of the most quiet Amps available.
The problem is noise. K-horns are very (too darn) efficient. Try reducing the gain of the amp. Any tech can show you how to insert a volume control in the line. (Go to radio shack and buy a METAL box, RCA plugs, a 100K stereo volume control, and build a test box) Once you determine the desired value (measure the pot), you can then vastly improve on the results by inserting internal fixed value low noise film resistors inside your amp in place of the external volume control. A lot of amps get bought and sold simply because the input sensitivity does not match the speaker efficiency. Folks spend big bucks to fix small problems because they do not know the basics. I know because I have learned the hard (can you say EXPENSIVE) way myself. Good luck!