20 June 2011

Happy Father's Day... to me - Klipsch KG4's

Had a fun craigslist experience this weekend...

klipsch addict




















Nah,
I didn't go to the LA Roadster Show.
I'd love to say I almost went,
and it would have been great seeing old hot rod friends,
but time and no real swap meet $$ allowed me sleep in.

Instead I got lucky with some really cool speakers.
Yeah, yawn if you want.
But it was a cool experience, met a fun family, learned a mid-century design lesson,
 and got the kids out of our 2 mile radius of Point Loma!

tj on a clear day





















The deal was out on Mt. Helix,
a place I rarely venture too.
To the kids we might as well been in the mountains,
the scenery is so...bouldery.
The view from their house was very unique,
we could have seen our dentist on a clear day!

herman miller & charles eames




















The seller, Lisa, had a serious knack for finding "mid-century modern" furniture.
I screwed up by not snapping more pictures,
but respecting their privacy its probably better not to post too much anyway.

cool

























The bottom line is,
now I know one more thing to look for at garage sales!
If this is good or bad I'm not quite sure yet.
I'll spend some time now studying some of the big names and styles,
but fortunately I don't have too much desire to scrounge around...yet.
Thanks Lisa and Mike!

Mid-Century modern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So I'd love to tell the long story of the speaker deal,
but let's just say she listed a great deal,
got tons of interest,
and after a bunch of emails I was the lucky guy.

Klipsch KG4 & Forte - 1985ish




















The little speakers are the new score, Klipsch KG-4's.
They are the perfect match with the larger Klipsch Forte's.

horny




















They are also a perfect match for that Sansui QRX-5500a receiver
I've been rattling on about lately.
These KG4's are a 2-way setup, versus the Forte's 3-way setup,
so they make the perfect rear speaker for the 4-channel (quadraphonic) Sansui.


This system is so crispy perfect now.
And loud!
For a 30 watts per channel output,
this thing cranks, with clear highs and deep bass.






The Orb - Earth
If you ever want to freak the shit out of your neighbors,
play this really loud on repeat.
Slow trippy start but after 2:00 it goes on and on.
Great work music.
I've listened to this for years and never heard the detail til now.



Klipsch passive woofers




















Klipsch had a strange bass reflex like design.
Instead of an unrestrained hole,
they put a dead woofer in the back of the cabinet.
Basically this acts as a valve or air resistor,
so the bass is basically tuned, and not overly thumpy.

user friendly patina

























I was really curious how a weak receiver and large speakers could sound so good,
so did a little research.
First of all I found out that the Klipsch speakers are very sensitive,
94 db @ 1 watt/ 1 meter for the kg4's and 98 db for the forte's (+-)
This is very efficient,
the speakers do not need alot of power to create sound.
Most speakers made are in the high 80's or barely 90's.
The difference in 3 db doubles the watts needed for sound.

Than I found this article.

A Tiny History of High Fidelity, Part 2

What I found out helped me to understand why I like these stereos so much.
It's kinda like hot rodding,
finding the best stuff that spans over years or eras of time to make a better system.

Basically you get the high-powered amps/receivers of the 70's,
(which were needed to push the inefficient speakers of the time)
and then you couple them to some really efficient speakers of the 80's/90's,
and you get a "holy chit" system.

It's getting trickier to find a newer speaker system that doesn't rely on a separate subwoofer,
and that's beside the point anyway.
My goal is to get 2 sets of $100 speakers, a $60 receiver and blow away a new setup costing $2000+!

now what




















Now I've got to figure out what to do with all this.
The Sansui 9090 is sitting over there in the corner,
I should hook the speakers up to it to see what they can really do.

The house is a little cramped to hide 4 more speakers,
but the wife and kids are gonna be in camarillo for a couple days,

It's way too good for the garage,
but I can crank it up in there while working.

Hmm.
I guess its a good problem to have!

Happy Fathers Day!

TP

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