Help: I've been Klipsched

Allow me to add my 2 cents: I currently own several speakers, including the newest revision of the venerable Klipschorns. The Magnepans, Martin Logans, Thiels, Piegas, Soundlabs, etc. that have graced my room in the past couple of years have impressed me with the detail, accuracy, staging abilities and all other "hi fi" attributes; however, none has provided as much enjoyment as the Khorns. I know, empirically, that these speakers do not better some of the aforementioned designs in any individual category, yet, taken on the whole, they simply reproduce music in a way that sounds and, more importantly, feels right. This is a difficult concept to describe; one just has to experience them. I am not familiar with some of Klipsch's lesser offerings, but I can tell you that the Klipschorns are still among the finest speakers on the planet. And feed them with low-noise tube amps, but not the flea-powered SET jobs that some people swear by. The bass doesn't come alive until some real power is intoduced, despite what the 104db efficiency will suggest.

Wellfed, to answer your question on an imaging comparison between the Virgos and the Klipsch Chorus, to me, the Klipsch's images have a bit more body and a bit better dynamic contrast (not night and day by any means). The Virgos are a little more pinpoint and lay everything out on a nice coherent soundstage that is both wide and deep. Looking at Cjr888's assessment, I have to say that what I hear coincides with his findings. The Klipsch present a little larger scale than the Virgos, and I find it "lifelike" in that it's more akin to what I hear live than it is akin to artifacts of the recording process. That said, I find that the Virgos also do a very credible job of presenting dynamic contrasts, especially when fed with enough clean power. And realize that my impressions are from listening to the Virgos and Klipsch in two different rooms. The Klipsch are in a much larger room and that has to impact the differences I hear as much as the respective differences between the two designs. To their credit, the Virgos sound quite "large" in a much smaller acoustic environment.

Also, the Virgos seem more extended and linear in the bass than the Klipsch. The Klipsch seem to have a little bump in the midbass around 70 Hz and start to roll severely below 45 to 50 Hz. The Virgos seem better controlled in the bass. But if I understand correctly, the Chorus 15" bass driver is a ported and not a horn-loaded design. So depending upon the recording this can make a significant preceived difference in character.

This brings me to Jmslaw's comments and the assertion that the Klipsch need a bit of power to perform at their best in the bass despite their high efficiency. My question is: what do you consider "adequate power"? I ask, because I am considering buying a tube amp rated at only 10 watts/channel. If you think I need more than that for the Klipsch to really strut their stuff, please chime in. Would amps in the 30 to 40 watt range make more sense???

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving to All!!!

Plato:

I have used the follwing amps on my 2002 Klipschorns:
CJ Premier 8A(275 wpc);
Wavelength Cardinals (8 wpc);
Welborne Laurels (7wpc);
VAIC VV52b (30wpc).

I found the lower wattage amps provided the quietest background and, particularly the Cardinals, created a very smooth and palpable sound. The bass does doesn't have that ooomph as with the CJ and VAIC amps. My room is 21x18x11. I would hardly say the bottom end was anemic, but in contrast to the deep growling of the large CJ amps, the SETs just didn't have the same bite. The tradeoff is the somewhat noisier background, since the Khorns magnify any noise exponentially.

Thanks JM, I appreciate the benefit of your experience regarding the amplifier question. One final thought I'm having about the Klipsch, and probably what surprised me the most, is their incredible speed and clarity. I expected the great, virtually unbridled dynamics, but did not realize the transient speed that the horns provide. Fast fretwork on acoustic guitar, nuances of the voilin's rapid undulations are sharp, crisp, and natural -- not blurred or smeared as they are by so many other speakers.

Frank :)

Regarding the power item -- I've used Cornwalls, which are less sensitive than the KHorns with an 3.5w 2a3 amplifier on both 4 and 8 ohm taps, using a passive preamplifier (Audio Consulting Silver Rock), in a 24x14 room firing down the length of the room.

In most cases you don't need more power, and regarding flea powered amplifiers and Klipsch's -- I understand what was stated regarding the bass -- this to me is more of a reflection of the amplifier itself regardless of the speaker. I listed to just about every kind of music out there, and regarding SETs specifically, it becomes more of a you like it or you don't. Sure you aren't going full range, but that's the thing -- the beauty of the amplifier makes you forget whether there's more bass or less bass -- your seduced basically. Again, this is amplifier specific and there are ones that can to an extent, do it all.

Definitely browse through the forums at www.klipsch.com, part to see people's comments and comparisons, and part to see what people use -- you'll find everything from people using 1-2w 45 tube amplifiers, to 30w PP tube amplifiers, to a couple hundred watt solid state amplifiers.

Everything varies, but one combination a lot of people have found heavenly is push pull 2A3 amplifiers, as well as a lot of the vintage amplifiers -- the Scott's, the Fischers, etc. A lot of 8-15w PP amplifiers and receivers.

Anyways -- you mentioned you have another system, and you mentioned that you're having fun with the Klipsch's -- browse the forums, find yourself a good deal on a vintage receiver for a couple hundred bucks, and then you don't have to get rid of the other system, and you can greatly increase your fun for a very minimum budget.