Polk LSI15 vs. Klipsch KLF30 (1 Viewer)

[Bhagi Katbamna]

I am sorry I waded into this pissing match. I only wanted to say the even Dunlavy's can be driven to compression.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Michael---I think the impact comes from several things. Horns have very good damping, "brakes" so to say. And they're able to move large quantities of air "right now" with low distortion. This gives them the ability to produce steep wavefronts. I liken it to waves coming in at the beach and you wading. A 3" high wave with a gradual rise will simply start at your knees and work higher as it passes. A steep wave will crash into your body all at once and stagger you. As JBL said about the 375 compression driver "steep wavefronts of explosive loudness are taken in stride".
www.chicagohornspeakerclub.org

 

[Troy LaMont]

Is there some sort of measurement or specification for "smoothness" and "detail"? These areas especially seem to be where low-priced horns are lacking, and I haven't yet come across a technical reason for a speaker to have such qualities.

This has yet to be addressed.
Tom,
You entered this thread offering up reasons you thought a certain speaker would sound better than another speaker based solely on personal preference of a type of driver. You have yet to comment specifically on either speaker. Have even spent time listening to the Klipsch or the Polk? If not, then I'd suggest you open another thread dedicated solely to admonish horn speakers and leave this thread be.
Troy

 

[Tom Brennan]

Troy--Here is what I said----"The KLF will play much louder and with much lower distortion too and less distortion at any level, loud or soft. The KLF will sound much more dynamic; loud peaks will be reproduced cleanly instead of compressing into a sodden mess. As to tonality, well that's a matter of taste and not objective performence, you have to suit yourself."

I don't think that's an unreasonable statement, it's based on how loudspeakers work as machinery. I've heard the KLF and not the Polk. However a familiarity with loudspeaker's mechanical chararteristics leads me to believe that a single 10" woof cannot match the dynamics and low distortion of 2-12s.

The original poster asked for opinions and he got one, what's your beef with that?

 

[Alex F.]

Troy:

Thank you.


Manuel:

I better understand your point of view now. And I agree with what you say about the Klipsch Heresy. It has been quite awhile since I've heard them (I've never seen the current Heresy II). They are indeed excellent, and sonically similar in many ways to Klipsch's ultimate product, the Klipschorn.

My point of view, and what I've been trying to say here, is that the sonic strengths of horns (dynamics and detail) have, over the years, been obtained by a number of moving coils, planars, and electrostats. The detail, delicate textures, and impact that one hears at a live performance can indeed be reproduced by a number of non-horn systems. (I, too, enjoy live symphonies and chamber music. My wife and I even hired a superb string trio for our wedding.)

I spent so many countless hours plopped in front of Klipschorns that it remains an important reference for me when I audition speakers. My ears eventually outgrew the corner horns though because I found other speakers that provided the strengths of those horns without any of its drawbacks (for example, the subtle stridency and horn colorations).

Maybe I have had the good fortune to hear better moving-coils, Magneplanars, and ES speakers (and synergistic associated components) than you have had access to in the past. The state of the art has evolved so far over the years that one no longer needs to pick a speaker based purely on its drive system. Top-quality sound can be achieved in more ways than one. What matters is what most pleases one's ears at a given time. A listener may find that today the best speaker he/she auditioned is a Martin-Logan Prodigy electrostat. Next week it could be a Magnepan planar. Then an Avantgarde horn. Or a Vienna Acoustics Mahler or Thiel 7.2 or Wilson X-1. (And others, too, of course--with the exception of the Avantgarde, I'm mentioning models I have personally auditioned.) All, when coupled with appropriate electronics in a sonically agreeable room, can knock one's socks off. Textures, detail, dynamics, impact--all present. Yet no two sound the same. One can simply choose which loudspeaker best reaches into his or her soul (or reaches the least into the wallet).

That's all I have been trying to say.

 

[Jai]

Oh well, heres my 2 cents. The most critical part of music is midrange. I have never heard any mid driver reveal vocals with such clarity and depth as a good squaker. I actually have a set of KLF -30's and I must say they do everything very well. They lack the mid depth that the Klipsch upper end Heritage line has: Belles, K-horns and Lascalas because the KLF's dont have that huge mid horn. Now ask yourself how many times dome tweets have been so-called improved or a new aspect added only to be the same old dry dome tweet. You buy a tower that has a couple of 10's and a dome tweet and a freq. range of 32-20k there are several out there but you need a but load power to actually produce some DB.and even then It wont compare dynamically. I have been into music for about 25 yrs which means nothing....I purchased my first pair of horns back in 1984 (Cornwall 2's) then came the Belles then the KLF 30's. Now I am using some Lascala pro's. I listen to all the so called new tower speaks at the high dollar hifi stores and Im not going to put them down but I just dont get it. There is just no way in hell I'm going to buy a speaker that needs 200 watts to get 100-105, maybe 110db and even then it seems lifeless. One thing Klipsch does is concentrate on the important frequency range which to me is about 50-16or17k, this is where the real accuracy happens.

 

[Mark Russ]

Wow Jai, you really dug this one up from out of the archives, as this was well over a year ago.

Just as a side note, a good friend of mine who I work with bought this exact same set of KLF 30s that I originally found for sale locally after I decided against them and told him about them. He also has them passively bi-amped with some HK amps, but I don't know the model #s offhand. I think they are some older HK amps, but they are big, heavy and powerful. He uses these speakers in a 2 channel set up only. He also has some Klipsch KSPs for a home theater set up. I personally like the KSPs he has much better than the KLFs. I think that they are much more listenable.

Also, I've since decided against the Polk LSi15 too. It was just too lacking (for lack of a better word, pun unintended) to me. Once I actually heard them, while I thought that they were more listenable than the KLF 30s, they just weren't "lively" enough. I wanted something kind of in between the LSi15 and the KLF 30. Really, still searching for that "ultimate" speaker too. Probably will never find it.

 

[LanceJ]

Mark Russ: The KLF-20 is the version with two 10" woofers and as weird as it may seem, they go a little lower bass-wise than the KLF-30's (I think because the cabinet--relatively speaking--is larger for its two woofers). This extra bass depth might slightly warm up the sound for you.
The last time I heard the KLF-20's was at Tweeter late 2001 connected to a large Denon stereo receiver with 100 watts per channel, with a Denon CD changer supplying the music. When I turned the mechanical volume knob to the 11:00 position.....oh my. That's when the salesman ran in the room and asked if I needed help. ANY kind of conversation was impossible at this volume level. Sound was bright but not strident and bass was very powerful. And for large towers they looked quite graceful & attractive to me.
I sure wish Klipsch hadn't changed their sound--I liked their slightly "in your face" attitude (well, I think they sound different than since @2 years ago). Just last Saturday I saw a Samsung HTiB system featuring a Klipsch 5.1 speaker system. Seems like since Paul Klipsch passed away the company is........um, I had better stop there.
LJ

 

[Jai]

Oops, oh well I couldnt resist. What? You still have not bought any speaks? What have you narrowed it down to Mark?

 

[James W. Johnson]

Tom Brennan's posting in this thread should be published.