KG 5.5 - am I missing something?

HBTim

HBTim

Critical listener of beer fizz
Picked up a pair a few months back because they were so cheap and they said Klipsch... Seriously, I had not heard of 5.5 but they were $40. I mean c'mon, why not right. Was not expecting much...

I was instantly impressed. The cabs are not in the greatest shape but I am not a re-seller so what do I care.

Before I knew it they were still in the main set up. I put them in place to audition and then one thing led to another and they stayed there. Apparently my ears were not minding at all.

Not thinking, I pulled them out to lend to a friend getting started in audio. Put some ads 1090 back in place. All good... ads sounds really good. I have them connected to a Scott LK-72. I also flip over to some big boy ads L1590 when I really want to pound the sound on a Pioneer SX-1010.

Mostly, I like to come home and do some easy mid level listening, and relax, kick back.

Then, a buddy gave me a pair of titanium diaphragms for the KG 5.5.

The friend that I lent the Kg's to got another pair of house rocker speakers... blah!!

So I went and picked them up. Put in the Ti diaphragms...

At first, my ears (body) immediately remembered the sound the 5.5 made from before but the highs were so so more shimmery. The mids were warm, like thick, same as before. Bass could use a little taming (can get a little muddy?) but did not mind at all.

They stayed as my main "come home" easy listening speakers. Surprised, I rotated in some other speakers... let's not get into what models and what not... all were good.

I can not believe how much my mind and ears have attached to these. I am very surprised.

I have not got the Crites crossover and am going to upgrade this as well.

Am I missing something? Am I the only one? They marry so well with the Scott. Damn, had no idea...
 
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GChief said:
Your not missing anything, your just figuring out what lots of people already know.

:beerchug:
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Well, I have heard Klipsch Forte, Chorus, and the like are amazing... guess I didn’t think these would be as well. Well, to me anyway they are super smooth, Bass is excellent, and highs are sublime. Good to know I wasn’t the only one. Hehe.
 
HBTim said:
Well, I have heard Klipsch Forte, Chorus, and the like are amazing... guess I didn’t think these would be as well. Well, to me anyway they are super smooth, Bass is excellent, and highs are sublime. Good to know I wasn’t the only one. Hehe.
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I probably (jury is still out) prefer my (my daughters:rolleyes:) KG4’s over my ADS-720’s. The KG‘s have the full Crites treatment and I still need to do the crossovers on my ADS’s. After I rebuild the crossovers we are going to trade, she thinks she needs smaller speakers :)

I think the KG series is an awesome budget speaker!!
 
I owned 2 pair for over 20 years . Awesome speakers . I got JBL's now . They're pretty good too .
 
I had 5.5’s with Crites Ti diaphragms in my living room rig for many years and they were great for movies, concerts and casual listening. I had a dedicated listening room where I would listen to better speakers than the 5.5’s, but one day decided I wanted to be able to do more critical listening in the living room, so I found a set of Chorus II’s and heard immediate improvement across the board. Went for the Crites x-over and Ti diaphragms and took them up another notch. Sold the 5.5’s and just recently found Epic CF-4’s...which are seriously impressive sounding speakers. If all you have tied up in the 5.5’s is $40 and the cost of the Crites diaphragms and you like what you’re hearing, then no doubt you’re doin great. I have ADS 1290/ii’s as well, and prefer those to the sound of the 5.5’s. I’d think your 1590’s really show the shortcomings of the 5.5.
 
tomlinmgt said:
I had 5.5’s with Crites Ti diaphragms in my living room rig for many years and they were great for movies, concerts and casual listening. I had a dedicated listening room where I would listen to better speakers than the 5.5’s, but one day decided I wanted to be able to do more critical listening in the living room, so I found a set of Chorus II’s and heard immediate improvement across the board. Went for the Crites x-over and Ti diaphragms and took them up another notch. Sold the 5.5’s and just recently found Epic CF-4’s...which are seriously impressive sounding speakers. If all you have tied up in the 5.5’s is $40 and the cost of the Crites diaphragms and you like what you’re hearing, then no doubt you’re doin great. I have ADS 1290/ii’s as well, and prefer those to the sound of the 5.5’s. I’d think your 1590’s really show the shortcomings of the 5.5.
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Yes, the 1590 absolutely shine over them, however... when it comes to easy listening the 1590 need to be bi-amped to do this. They love big power and really dominate in those moments when you want to rock out, and do very well with low volume but only with big power and/or bi-amped.

The 5.5 seem to lose their way when getting to crank volume and you want to really rock. The balance seems to get sloppy and lows get boomy. Mids fall far to the back and the highs get too shrilly.

However, they really do mid to low volume on tube very well. This is what attracts me to them. I do a lot of home background listening while working. They are so relaxed and smooth filling this role for me.

There are only one other pair of speakers that I have that do this. Mind you, they do this much much better but they are Altec... so, there is that. Much more money invested there of course.

I am just so happy With the 5.5 for what they do for me. After the Crites crossover upgrade and some cab insulation I will give them another shot at higher volume levels and see what they can do.

I imagine they will perform much better than stock but will never ever reach the 1590 dominance in this arena. I have not heard many that can actually.
 
When I had the 5.5's I had to reglue the back panel. This is a common issue and I would recommend doing it using liquid nails and also putting a bead along the seams inside the cabinet. If I still had them I would do some bracing to the cabinet too, they are good sounding speakers!
 
HBTim said:
Yes, the 1590 absolutely shine over them, however... when it comes to easy listening the 1590 need to be bi-amped to do this. They love big power and really dominate in those moments when you want to rock out, and do very well with low volume but only with big power and/or bi-amped.

The 5.5 seem to lose their way when getting to crank volume and you want to really rock. The balance seems to get sloppy and lows get boomy. Mids fall far to the back and the highs get too shrilly.

However, they really do mid to low volume on tube very well. This is what attracts me to them. I do a lot of home background listening while working. They are so relaxed and smooth filling this role for me.

There are only one other pair of speakers that I have that do this. Mind you, they do this much much better but they are Altec... so, there is that. Much more money invested there of course.

I am just so happy With the 5.5 for what they do for me. After the Crites crossover upgrade and some cab insulation I will give them another shot at higher volume levels and see what they can do.

I imagine they will perform much better than stock but will never ever reach the 1590 dominance in this arena. I have not heard many that can actually.
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The guy I bought my 5.5’s from used them for low level listening with tubes, also. I tried them with tubes once (an ST-70) and liked the results, but not enough to move them up the “big league” in the dedicated listening room. That was the realm of Altec 19, JBL L250 and Infinity QLS-1...quite frankly another planet compared to the 5.5’s. Your comment about the recessed mid range at normal to high listening levels is spot on, and the the Chorus II’s definitely illustrated just how recessed the mids in the 5.5’s are.
 
bryblob said:
When I had the 5.5's I had to reglue the back panel. This is a common issue and I would recommend doing it using liquid nails and also putting a bead along the seams inside the cabinet. If I still had them I would do some bracing to the cabinet too, they are good sounding speakers!
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I think if one had the time and desire to dig into the 5.5’s and implement some serious mods (especially to the cabinet), one could have a pretty impressive performer for not a lot of coin.
 
I always thought they had a lot more potential, compared to quartets and forte's that I owned I would agree that the midrange is a lot better on those. I didn't do the crites diaphragms with the 5.5's but later had some 4.5's and put them in, I think it's a must.

I also had some ADS L-1290's that I thought were better, but definitely a different speaker.
 
I’ve run the KG 5.5 on Marantz 2275 in a very large room. 25’x35’ open beam ceiling. Big log home.

I was pleased.
 
tomlinmgt said:
I think if one had the time and desire to dig into the 5.5’s and implement some serious mods (especially to the cabinet), one could have a pretty impressive performer for not a lot of coin.
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This exactly right... the return on investment I think is where the sweet spot is on these. With some investment in time and effort I think they will really preform. I am going to give it run myself.

I had a friend of mine come over to audition a table I am selling him and using the 5.5's. He said he thinks he likes my 5.5 more then his highly modded Forte... I was shocked he said that. I haven't even modded the crossovers yet!!
 
HBTim said:
This exactly right... the return on investment I think is where the sweet spot is on these. With some investment in time and effort I think they will really preform. I am going to give it run myself.

I had a friend of mine come over to audition a table I am selling him and using the 5.5's. He said he thinks he likes my 5.5 more then his highly modded Forte... I was shocked he said that. I haven't even modded the crossovers yet!!
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Yeah...that’s a pretty bold claim. I sure can’t go there after comparing 5.5’s to Chorus II’s. Lol

But, then again, used Chorus II’s fetch 4-5x more than 5.5’s...so performance per dollar might just go to modded 5.5’s.
 
tomlinmgt said:
Yeah...that’s a pretty bold claim. I sure can’t go there after comparing 5.5’s to Chorus II’s. Lol

But, then again, used Chorus II’s fetch 4-5x more than 5.5’s...so performance per dollar might just go to modded 5.5’s.
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hahaha... Yes, very bold. He might have been on something because I looked at him like, WHAT?? Maybe he was being nice.
 
I haven't been impressed with any Klipsch speakers - Fortes, Cornwalls, Herseys, etc - until I set up a pair of mint and original KG 3.5's for a friend over Thanksgiving. I was really impressed with them. These are powered by a Denon AVR... decent, but nothing special. Perhaps it was her room full of all sorts of absorbing and non-symmetric stuff. As good as they sounded, I still greatly prefer my ADS's, especially the M12's, but I'd be OK with the KG's for a second or third system. I wonder if the room's acoustics have a greater effect on Klipsch / horn tweeters more than domes.
 
David_NC said:
I haven't been impressed with any Klipsch speakers - Fortes, Cornwalls, Herseys, etc - until I set up a pair of mint and original KG 3.5's for a friend over Thanksgiving. I was really impressed with them. These are powered by a Denon AVR... decent, but nothing special. Perhaps it was her room full of all sorts of absorbing and non-symmetric stuff. As good as they sounded, I still greatly prefer my ADS's, especially the M12's, but I'd be OK with the KG's for a second or third system. I wonder if the room's acoustics have a greater effect on Klipsch / horn tweeters more than domes.
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Your M12's actually surprised the holy hell out of me man... They are performers.
 
HBTim said:
Your M12's actually surprised the holy hell out of me man... They are performers.
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They really are, and I listen to them daily. I still wonder about the M15's.... Sadly, they'd be way too big for the space I have at present.
 
I too would recommend some cabinet tweaking on these, just because the box is so big, it probably flexes so bracing is #1.

Not surprised you liked the Crites diaphragms, a lot of folks really like em. I have 4.2's and won't give them up. They are almost as much speaker as the 5.2/5.5 in a smaller less boomy box.
 
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