Replacement speakers for Karlson cabinets

[lattiboy]

Hi all,

I picked up some Karlson cabinets a week or so ago.

They came with GE 401 Coaxial speakers, which sound good, but are quite bass heavy and only 25W. What would you folks recommend to put in these things? Somebody on Reddit recommended a woofer/horn setup, but I don't know how the design of the cabinet would work with that. Is there a very good full-range 12" that would be a drop-in type replacement? Open to ideas.

 

[asilker]

Those are really pretty.

Audio nirvana? Although they can be beamy

 

[lattiboy]

I should also mention I happen to be getting a set of Electro Voice T25A horns and Altec 421a woofers next week as part of a trade. The woofers are 15 inches unfortunately, so I think that would only make the bass issues worse. The EV horns are mids, not full range, so I'd have to do a lot of modifications and I don't know that a 3-way setup makes sense with these cabinets....

 

[opa1]

It looks like they are crying for a tube amp. Bet they would sound great. If you change drivers, don't toss the 401's.

 

[gdmoore28]

The Altec 421s are musical instrument speakers. I think you will find that the bass response is much more controlled than what you have now, so using them in place of the 401s is probably a step in the right direction.

There's a good chance, too, that the Karlsons sound overly-bassy because their mid range and treble output is far out of balance. I'll bet that simply adding a good horn tweeter crossed over at 1.5Khz/12dB/octave will alleviate the problem. You'll need an L-pad, of course.

GeeDeeEmm

 

[toxcrusadr]

A bit off topic but this may affect your choice of replacements. They might be 'only' 25W but I bet the sensitivity is pretty high. In college I had early 60s Jensen triaxes rated 25W continuous/50W peak and they held their own in the dorm stereo wars. Don't judge a speaker only by its wattage.

 

[mkane]

Those cabinets are well known for having boomy bass.

 

[gdmoore28]

A bit off topic but this may affect your choice of replacements. They might be 'only' 25W but I bet the sensitivity is pretty high. In college I had early 60s Jensen triaxes rated 25W continuous/50W peak and they held their own in the dorm stereo wars. Don't judge a speaker only by its wattage.

Good point, Tox!

GeeDeeEmm

 

[mhardy6647]

The Karlsons work best with low Qts drivers (woofer sections, that is). AKer freddyi used to have a scanned Karlson document listing first- and second- tier recommended drivers for them... but I think it's lost in the mists of time.

I do remember that the Altec 604 was in the top-tier list. I think the EV SP15 twincone and 15TRX coax were as well.

Low Qts drivers like the 15TRXB ain't so hot in a Karlson.

I've got a Stephens Trusonic 106AX in a K15. It's a magnificently built coax, but it ain't so hot in a K-kabinet, either.

The 604Es I now have were previously in a pair of K15 kabinets... their owner didn't think much of 'em thus baffled (FWIW).

 

[lattiboy]

The Karlsons work best with low Qts drivers (woofer sections, that is). AKer freddyi used to have a scanned Karlson document listing first- and second- tier recommended drivers for them... but I think it's lost in the mists of time.

I do remember that the Altec 604 was in the top-tier list. I think the EV SP15 twincone and 15TRX coax were as well.

Low Qts drivers like the 15TRXB ain't so hot in a Karlson.

I've got a Stephens Trusonic 106AX in a K15. It's a magnificently built coax, but it ain't so hot in a K-kabinet, either.

The 604Es I now have were previously in a pair of K15 kabinets... their owner didn't think much of 'em thus baffled (FWIW).

Wowza! Even the "2nd tier" 15TRX are $400 a set. I paid $50 for the cabs, so I suppose I should be a little less thrifty building them out.....

 

[sbeineke]

I just got a pair for free and am kicking around the best way to put these to use.

1. I am in the processing of refurbing a set of Altec 604C duplexes. Parts on order. I am wondering how the cabinet will interact with the horn.
2. I have a pair of EV 15W and also a pair of EV SP 15B. Would couple these with Altec 806A or 808A bolted to 811B horns.
3. Looking a acquiring a set of Altec 605A which I will have to completely rebuild.
4. I also acquired a pair a speakers with I think they are Allen 15 inch woofers???? Apparently these are primarily geared for organ use i.e. in churches.

Thoughts?

Hi all,

I picked up some Karlson cabinets a week or so ago.

They came with GE 401 Coaxial speakers, which sound good, but are quite bass heavy and only 25W. What would you folks recommend to put in these things? Somebody on Reddit recommended a woofer/horn setup, but I don't know how the design of the cabinet would work with that. Is there a very good full-range 12" that would be a drop-in type replacement? Open to ideas.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Perhaps the perfect 12" wide band drivers for the Karlson cabinet would be the Zenith 49CZ8** series. They are phenominal in open cabinets, beautiful tone, smooth as silk, have alnico motors and cover the highs/lows in spectacular fashion. They are around 96-98 dbs so a flea watt amp ( preferably tube ) is highly recommended. Mine are 49CZ802's and if they look like the ones below they're the real deal. Two years ago you could find a pair for $20 but since I've been gushing over them the price has steadily gone up.