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Kg 4.2

Kegger

Kegger

R.I.P. 1/12/1966 - 6/1/2017
Any owners out there care to share there thoughts?

I see the Crites titanium Tweeter upgrade gets good press.
(any other updates, or thoughts on the Crites "upgrade")

I got these in trade for my bench, to let the small tube amp
builds get an fair test in the sound/performance department.

So far I think they'll work pretty well.. ;)
 
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you have the 2nd iteration of the KG4s with 2 8" mid/woofs and a horn tweeter. 2way.
Rearfiring 10" passive. Yours have bigger woffers. I have the kg4s and they sound very good with a slite midrange reduction. I recapped them but nothing else yet.
Personally, for waht you are going to use them for, I would only recap either buy what you want or get the crites cap kit. My KG4s opened up quite abit when I recapped them. You probably will get abit better bass form yours what with the bigger woofers.
 
I'm curious about the same questions Kegger. I've had my 4.2's since 1991 (original owner) and I'm thinking they need a recap because they're not sounding as good as I remember. Hopefully it's not my ears. Jaymanaa said last time we talked that Klipsch is/was infamous for using crappy caps. I'm going to try that first and then think about the new diaphragms if I'm not satisfied. Caps are the low hanging fruit.

I've been recapping old speakers for years but never had to do a pair I bought new. I must be getting old myself.
 
Here's a link to the Klipsch forum about these crossovers..
http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/152654.aspx

And a pick of the "original" Xover, nothing special resistor or cap wise.
(so yah I could definitely see an improvement with "better" parts)
kg42xo.jpg
 
I have a pair which have been upgraded. I did the diaphragms first, which netted a subtle gain. I then swapped out the caps using Bob Crite's kit for a substantial gain, much more bottom end, a lot tighter too. Thinking more is better I then went with custom network boards accommodating 14ga. ERSE air core inductors and Mills resistors, rewired everything and rope caulked the horns. The only improvement I netted from that was things are a little brighter less the Polychem tweeter fusible link.
My advice would be to recap them, then look at new diaphragms. Excellent speakers BTW.
 
I'm leaning to recapping them, replace the electrolytic with a poly and use Mills resistors.
(then get the updated Titanium diaphragms)

Thanks..
 
Where do you get those resistors? I haven't bothered with fancy resistors on the mid-fi speakers I've worked on, but it might be time to start with these.

[Edit: Oh, I see Parts Express has them.]
 
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I've never had KG4.2s but I had a few other KG models in addition to a BUNCH of "Heritage" models. Pretty much all of them have undergone some manner of upgrade at one point.

I suggest that you listen to them "as is" for a little while before making a bunch of changes. And then do the upgrades one at a time. Only with a good baseline to work from will you be able to appreciate the sonic improvements brought by the upgrades.

Just my opinion of course.
 
jhoak said:
I've never had KG4.2s but I had a few other KG models in addition to a BUNCH of "Heritage" models. Pretty much all of them have undergone some manner of upgrade at one point.

I suggest that you listen to them "as is" for a little while before making a bunch of changes. And then do the upgrades one at a time. Only with a good baseline to work from will you be able to appreciate the sonic improvements brought by the upgrades.

Just my opinion of course.
Click to expand...

+1 on that.
 
I have the titanium diaphragms in my kg 4.2's. Well worth the money for me. Cut down on the listener fatigue a good bit and the highs sound great to my ears. There is still something missing in the midrange though. Crossover work will be my next project.
 
Kegger said:
I'm leaning to recapping them, replace the electrolytic with a poly and use Mills resistors.
(then get the updated Titanium diaphragms)

Thanks..
Click to expand...

Hi kegger,

Nice to see you working with Klipsch :thmbsp:

They are far more capable than what most people think they are!

And that was including myself a decade ago.

Looking at the schematic

kg-4.2.jpg


Its a very simple network.

Often people will recap and replace the resistors, but in reality IMO the inductors are the components that yield the highest in return performance :yes:

Not that resistors or caps don't have merits but the iron inductors do the most damage to the sound IMO. Mills or Ohmite resistors are no comparison to the Duelunds IMO and are vastly superior due to their negative temperature characteristics which enhance dynamics and are substantially smoother.

And when you go big like 10AWG in air cores things happen like a greater sense of body and authority along with a greater presentation of space.

The Solens are very reasonable

http://www.solen.ca/pub/cms_nf_catalogue_fiche.php?id=740&recherche=&numRows=&manufacturiers=&niveau1=1&niveau2=4&niveau3=24

1mhcoilsnz5.jpg


North Creek above 1.0mH Music Coils in 14 AWG, 12 AWG, 10 AWG, and 8AWG

And as you know I am using the 8 AWG in a 3mH which I enjoy immensely.

Need more insight to this I can provide it!

SET12
 
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Actually I've been an Klipsch fan/user for quite some time here.
(I have at least a dozen pair of there speakers around here) :)

And yes I agree the Iron core inductors leave a lot to be desired.
(I've done a fair amount of xover work myself as well)

I'm not going to go all out on these as they won't be my mains, I
will end up buying the Diaphragms, then do the caps an resistors.
(I got to hear the Diaphragms recently and like what they did)

These are just my bench speakers, so I'm not going to spend a lot.
(but so far there doing quite well in that setting though) ;)

Cheers!
 
Thanks for posting the schematic, I was just putting together some parts orders and was thinking I'd have to open one up to get the values. You saved me the work.

I'm going to see if I have any 1 mH air cores sitting around, entirely possible I do and could make that upgrade at no cost while I'm in there doing the caps. I didn't realize they used an iron core since I haven't been inside them.
 
If I was going to replace only one of the inductors with an air core, would it be better to replace the one in the woofer circuit? Seems like it would be as it's directly in the signal path to the woofer, whereas the one in the tweeter circuit seems to be there to shunt residual low frequencies to ground. Correct?

Odd arrangement of caps in the tweeter circuit on these - 2.5 followed by 3 uf. Can anyone explain the purpose of that arrangement?
 
Wait a sec, at Kegger's link to the Klipsch forum the poster says one of the inductors is an air core and the other is iron core. Looking back at the schematic it shows two additional parallel lines on the inductor in the woofer circuit - is this one iron core? In the crossover pic it seems the one at the top has a hollow core and a white zip tie.

If so my previous question is moot.

Funny that they'd cheap out on an inductor in a speaker in that price range. Is there *any* sonic reason for them to use iron core here?
 
I know just a little about this, but I've heard what is wrong with iron cores is 'saturation' - which seems like it would occur when there is high current. Which seems more likely in the woofer circuit than in a 'shunt' situation in the tweeter circuit. So their choice of where to cut costs seems counterintuitive.
 
I think 600 watts should be plenty for an Erse "H" Iron Core inductor to handle! Just saying not ALL iron cores are made the same!
DC
 
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