My "new to me" Klipsch Heresys

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I'm actually going to recap this weekend.   I already have the caps.

I had some high end crackle at high volume, so this isn't just an esoteric recap, one seems to be going bad.   At least I hope it was the cap and not the driver.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Well, a month ago I said that I was going to recap them that weekend.   I just finished.

I am listening to the recapped Hereseys. I think I hear a bit more articulatio​n, but that could just be my mind playing tricks on me. I will know for sure when I wind them up and see if there is any breakup, but that won't be happening any time soon.   BTW, scorpio, I also put new Velcro on the top of that one grill before I returned them to their place of honor.

They will live in the place of honor at least until I get through my extensive resto-mod of the JBLs.   I am surprised at how similar the Hereseys and the L-100s are.   Both have one glaring, offensive peak but sound great otherwise.   The Klipsch just peak about an octave lower than the JBLs.   I though about padding the mid on the Hereseys, but I don't want to do any mods that are irreversible since they are such classic speakers.   If they were ported, I'd run a pad out the port.   I suppose I could cut new back panels and mount L-Pads there.   Maybe someday.

I like both sets a lot, but prefer the (again, anything but flat) bass of the JBLs.   My wife strongly prefers the Hereseys.   So now I have two sets of speakers I really enjoy after not liking so many KLH, Advent, BA etc..   My Grados see less action than they used to, though you still can't beat 'em for late night listening.

Now to see what I think about capacitor break in time.

[scorpio333]

Good to hear you got em back up and running. When you say pad the mids, are you talking about crossing them over a bit lower?

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

No, I'm talking about reducing their output a bit relative to the woofer and tweeter.   Some speakers have L-Pads built in, which is basically a variable resistor wired in such a way so that it doesn't change the impedance that the xover network "sees" from the driver.   I would either add an l-pad or use resistors to pad down the output.   

[ataudio]

Hi Mark.
Glad your recap worked out great.  In regards to an L-pad Vs resistors:  Would you use resistors as a voltage divider or series resistor?

If anyone else has a hot driver they wish to tame I would probably use an L pad. Adding series resistors will change the overall Z the crossover sees and change the crossover point. Most L pads are 8 ohms.  If the driver is an 4 ohm unit just use a stereo L pad and connect the segments in parallel.  Once you determine the setting you like you could measure the L pad values and replace the L pad with resistors but as a voltage divider setup.   I have plans to rebuild my NLA Advents and plan on using L pads and just leaving them there. 

[MacGeek]

An outboard EQ might also work.  This approach will maintain the original design of the speakers.  The equalizer need not be capable of full range 1/3 octave adjustments.  Just find one with frequency centers matching your problem area and play with the adjustments until you like the sound.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

When you use resistors to pad, you have to use series/parallel so that you end up with the same impedance as you started.   Treat the resistor like another driver.

Example: to pad down a hot driver by 6db, you have to put a 4 ohm resistor in line to the positive terminal (series).   But if you only do that, you change the impedance of that 8 ohm driver to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 ohms.   So you also add another 8 ohm resistor parallel to the driver.   8 and 8 parallel gives 4 ohms.   4 and 4 series gives 8 ohms.   (Edited because I pulled a boner on the math.)

There is a neat little calculator on this page.   I've used it many times already in the month since I became aware of it.

http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

If I were to use an EQ to correct a peak in a speaker, I would use a parametric with a sweepable "Q".   However, the tinkerer in me wants to come up with a hard solution rather than a soft one.

[ataudio]

If I were to use an EQ to correct a peak in a speaker, I would use a parametric with a sweepable "Q".   However, the tinkerer in me wants to come up with a hard solution rather than a soft one.

....notch filter.  Hard enough

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

What I meant was hardware, not software (or in this case, signal processing).