Klipsch KG 4 cabinet mods: sound damping, bracing, angled riser, dual binding posts for Sonos bi-amp
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- I liked my bi-amped Sonos IKEA Symfonisk pair of vintage Klipsch KG4 speakers so much I decided to upgrade the cabinets with damping and a brace, sand and refinish the wood veneer cabinets, paint the front and back, and add a pair of 5 way binding posts. They sound incredible now.
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I know this video is fairly old now, but they way to know the damping mats are fully attached is if all the diamonds disappear, ideally you'd get a roller in there to flatten them all. It does actually make a difference to just pushing them in place (even hard), you have even more performance to get out of it
Also you don't need to cover everything. I think depending on brand mil max effective coverage is only requires 40 to 60 percent of surface area. I read that on Amazons brand. I remember in the 90s they had a display with a bell like school bell and put a piece on it the size of a dime and that was enough to prevent the bell from ringing. A bell was born to ring a speaker box not so much. In automotive application it has fire and thermal benefits so not as much of waste but I bet one square would have same effect as 5
We used to use play dough clay , to line the horns and attenuate them. Easy trick that doesnt leave anything permanently behind .
Extraordinary job. I am in the process of buying a pair of great condition KG4s and this will be my spring/summer project!
Thanks! If you bi-amp them I think you’ll be very happy
Ok, so I've done the same work but with Kilmat instead of Noico. I also refinished the wood (veneer really is paper thin) and recapped the crossovers. I removed the tweeter polyswitches and replaced them with 0.5 ohm 12W non-inductive resistors. I also used the Kilmat to dampen the casing for the horns. Sounds different. I've noticed more clarity and better EQ response when I make adjustments on my receiver. The speakers also aren't as loud as they were because the resonance is gone. I can't do an A/B test but feel the mids that weren't really there before are now there. Also, the bass has dropped but not a problem because I have a Velodyne subwoofer connected. Highs have been tamed though dampening and Bob Crites titanium diaphragm upgrade. The highs come out at me now. Happy with the results, but I also feel I lost a bit of the original KG4 character. Less boom, but more definition/separation. If that makes sense.
Just found your channel while researching a pair of KG4.That I am picking up this Saturday. I absolutely love your approach to audio. Thank you so much and keep up the good work and how can we support you
Glad the videos were helpful. There wasn’t much info on the KG4s when I found them so I figured there might be a few people who might find my tinkering interesting. The bi-amped setup sounds so good. Enjoy! Oh, and I don’t have a patreon or anything so just suffer through the ads, it’s all I’m doing for monetization
Maybe a brace from the front plate to the back plate. They are the biggest plates. It could be a improvement. :)
Now that i've seen this i can't settle with keeping mine completely stock lol. This will make a nice autumn project.
Nice, it's a fun project. I think adding mass to the horn is a cheap and easy way to make a difference. The new horn diaphragms are also a big impact.
What I took alway from all the video’s with the Ikea hardware is that you could set that up with any speakers to create a multi room option from any old or new non-active high end speakers :-)
Yep! Between the bi-amping and room/driver correction with Trueplay, they sound incredible. Even ceiling speakers work if you bypass the passive crossovers
PLEASE make more videos on these speakers. I love mine and I can’t wait to see you to fix up the grills.
Glad you liked these videos. My Klipsch are still my primary speakers, they sound so good bi-amped through Sonos. I have the grill material and new badges, just have been sidetracked with other projects!
@@todd.parker I just bought some KG4s not to long ago for $180 but they needed some work. I’ve been following your videos and basically copying everything you do. I got new diaphragms from Amazon because Crite’s titanium ones were just a bit too much money. I’m going to get new badges and build stands for them in the future. I want to sound deaden the inside walls but I’m not sure if that I will hear a difference. What do you think, did the car sound deadening make a difference to the bass response?
Very cool. The cabinets aren’t super strong so I think you’ll hear a benefit from adding some form of bracing or mass. I highly recommend adding mass to the tweeter horns because they are so light and want to ring.
@@todd.parker I will be sure to do that then. Thanks a lot. 👍
Nice work on the "clean up" of the KG-4's. Wondering if you think it would be a good idea, while you have the woofers out, to put some damping material on the baskets? Might eliminate any "ringing" from the metal baskets......I just picked up a nice pair for $200 and will be pulling them apart, upgrading the tweeters to titanium, damping the horns, woofer baskets and cabinet interior. I built a stand for them, about 18" tall that fits up into the recess of the base, to raise the horns to ear lever; I did not want cut the base to "tilt" the speakers as you did. Now the passive radiator can reflect all around the speaker instead of just sides and top. Thanks for the video, you put forth some good ideas.
Wow,fantastic video Todd,Thank You.I only wished you had included what you were doing with the wiring and the crossover(assuming it was removed?).And all three woofers wired in parallel to that connector? Looking at some 4's locally and good to know that upgrades can be made to improve overall sound quality.Assuming this could be done (Bi-Amp mod) to earlier Hersey's?
Hi. I removed the passive crossovers completely and just wired the symfonisk woofer amp to both KG4 woofers in parallel, tweeter amp to the horn. The amps are electronically crossed over. The Hereseys won’t work because they are a 3 way system
Excellent upgrade. Those look great. Would love to have a pair of KG4s.
I may have a pair for you soon
There was a pair of these on Marketplace for only $200 and I waited too long. I've got to keep an eye out for the next bargain pair.
Hey Todd thanks for the vid! Can I ask what is stopping you from putting the symfonisk inside the cabinet itself and fully convert the klipsch while keeping terminals on the back for use with say an amp with a phono?
EDIT: when I said symfonisk I was only referring to the internals of it and not the entire symfonisk enclosure.
Mostly, I like to keep my options open and experiment for more videos but I’d otherwise put the guts into the Klipsch. Plenty of room!
@@todd.parker Great to hear. Can't wait to see more vids!
did you make any acoustic measurements before and after?
Unfortunately no. At one point I did a comparison between the passive crossover and the bi-amped version but I was mostly listening. I much preferred the biamped Sonos version
Im a bit confused by the addition of a second set of binding posts. That speaker was not a bi amp/bi wire speaker, the only way to properly make it so would be to have an engineer design a new crossover system for it.
That's because I'm bi-amping the KG4's by using the built-in electronic crossover and dual amps in the Symfonisk to power the woofers and horn directly. TruePlay EQs everything so it sounds flat.
loved the video. excellent work! thanks for sharing!
Thanks, glad it was useful
Great Video. Hey, where did you get the replacement 8 inch woofers for your KG4's ?
Thanks. I didn’t replace the woofers myself, I found them that way and just switched things around so they were symmetrical
@@todd.parker Ahh ok, I see some original ones on Ebay. Debating whether to buy one and keep it as backup? Also, what are your thoughts on connecting the internal connector speaker wires in the KG4? I mean these cables are 30 years old. I was thinking this would be a easy replacement...
I love your speaker and audio videos! I'm curious to know if the techniques you've used to get better sound quality like adding mass to the cabinet can be applied to other small speakers like the Sonos Symfonik bookshelf speaker itself. Perhaps adding 3M double-sided tape which is pretty dense? I don't know.
I bet it would help quite a bit. The plastic cabinets are very lightweight and resonant
Great job, lovely finish 👍
Quick question : Would any integrated amp work for computer (audio source) to medium floor standers? Any suggestions or recommendations greatly appreciated 🥂
Should work fine, yes. You can also pick up a small integrated amp like this - Fosi Audio BT30D Bluetooth 5.0 Stereo Audio Receiver Amplifier 2.1 Channel Mini Hi-Fi Class D Integrated Amp 50 Watt x2+100 Watt for Home Outdoor Passive Speakers/Subwoofer Powered Subwoofer a.co/d/gcMWno3
Thanks for your video. Speakers look great!
Thanks! It was a fun project
@@todd.parker I just bought a pair of KG 5.5 that have some scratches and scuffs on the exterior cabinets. The speakers sound good. I’m planning to try and renew them.
TIP. When using banana plugs always tighten the screw otherwise you have a bad contact, because of loose threads
Loved this project! Congratulations
Thank you so much!
a tip : you can watch series on Flixzone. I've been using them for watching all kinds of movies lately.
@Santana Mohammed yup, been watching on Flixzone} for since december myself =)
Great job. I just got a pair yesterday by mere chance. Vintage gear is rare here in Mexico, at least ones in good working conditions and mostly more commercial brands. One speaker I got does have 1 black klipsch replacement, whick i think is a newer driver. I have been thinking fro a couple of years about exactly what you did: Bracing, sound deadening with exactly that type of material, and Bi-amping. I have several other Vintage speakers but these "new" Klipsch I am thinking now go to the top of that to-do list. One question for you: The amps you are using are regular, either vintage or newer type amps? I mean I still have to acquire the active cross-over but as far as the amps go, does it need anything special?
These are easy to power so you have a lot of options. They sound really great, good score
It looks like you eliminated the entire crossover. I retained mine and replaced the capacitors with a kit obtained from Bob Crites.
Yep, I ended up bi-amping these so no need for a passive crossover.
How difficult was the capacitor replacement process?
@@justinelliott4127 easy
@@ellischernoff8603 That's good news. I emailed Bob today. Will be doing the Ti tweeter diaphragms as well. Packing and bracing seems incredibly easy as well. Thanks!
@@justinelliott4127 That sounds great. I did the tweeters too and the result is that these speakers sound better than new. I still love them after decades.
Did your KG4's come with the foam insulation? I had a set that were EMPTY. So I damped the inside of the floor with a heavy rubber mat and lined the inside with sound deadening batting, and the end result was a very diminished bass output! Something to do with the cabinet volume and the passive radiator I think. I'd re-test your setup without the foam and maybe reduce the dynamat stuff and give it a listen. It was like night and day difference!
Huh, interesting
Hey Todd, thanks for the video! You mentioned you might do the grills, did you end up doing that?
I still haven’t gotten around to do in the grills because I got sidetracked with some other projects. It’s on my to do list for the winter
Nice job. How much did you cut off the base. Do you know the approximate angle? I love my Kg-4 speakers also.
I think I trimmed off around 1” from the back to lean them back. You can prop up the fronts with books to find the angle that feels best for your room.
I have recently acquired a set of these and yet my drivers are both white cones. Is that an earlier version than what I see here?
I think the white ones are the originals. Mine have 2 replacement units in black
Thanks!
Thanks so much for that contribution. I really appreciate it!
My KG4 vibrates (sounds like wood to wood- loose panels) at high volumes. I tried to fastening the front wood panel with screws with no avail. I tried to remove all the speakers for inspection to find out where the loose portions are, but everything seems to be tight fitted. The few screws that I placed on the front wood panel next to the speakers looked so ugly that I ended up pulling them out and sealing it with wood dough like seal. Up until now, I have not resolved the problem and the speakers are in storage at present. Anyone may have some suggestions on what may be causing the vibration, please comment below. Thanks.
I’ve found that a rattle can actually be a tiny air leak so try holding a lighter flame all around when playing bassy music to see if there is a leak in the cabinet joints, around the drivers, etc
Go down to your local hardware store and get a tube of silicone sealant, remove all the components (tweeter, woofers, pr and connector cup) and seal every joint from the inside of the cabinet. Replace all the gaskets before re-installing everything. You can also dampen the inside of the cabinet, plastic horn and woofer baskets before re-installing. That should tighten everything up. This speaker has great bones to work with. Good luck!
how did you replace the passive crossover? have you added an active one before amps?
I am bi amping them by connecting the drivers directly to the woofer and tweeter amps in the symfonisk speakers. They have built in electronic crossovers and room correction
@@todd.parker I am interested in seeing that.
Is there a way to combine the outputs from the symfonisk amps to drive a ceiling speaker that only has a 2 conductor wire going to it?
Most ceiling speakers are two way with woofer and coaxial tweeter. There is usually a passive crossover on the back to divine the full range signal up. If you bypass that and connect direct to each driver, this will work great
@@todd.parker I only have two conductors running to the speaker. Is there a way to combine the outputs to full range? Positive from high/ negative from loss? Thx for the videos and your reply!
You can’t combine the 2 amps, that could do bad things. Which model of speaker do you have?
@@todd.parker it has a separate woofer and tweeter with external crossover. I just can pull any more wire to this location... 🙁
Donnie McCrorie oh, I see. I think the Symfonisk isn’t a great choice for this situation then. Maybe an older connect amp?
Mine in mint condition and they are completely stock just my opinion I don't think it's worth going through all of this but maybe if you have a beat-up pair that you got for free I rather leave mine stock and I rather put them on speaker stands but that's just my opinion still a nice job
I like messing around with speakers to see how much I can improve them. Bi-amping them made a huge difference
Amazing video buddy. ? There’s a guy Local to me that are selling a pair of the kg4. He is asking 450 should I go for it. I was thinking of the 600M any advice
I really like my kg4’s but that seems a bit steep. Maybe you can talk them down a bit. That said, I’ve seen these listed fit up to $700 locally, maybe people are re-discovering these!
@@todd.parker Thanks for advice I really appreciate it. I will msg him and see what he goes down to.
@@felixlaboy1453 I feel like 300-350 is a fair price
@@todd.parker that sound about right were I would be comfortable with
That is by far the most annoying music I have ever heard... you actually picked that shit and you own Klipsch.
Hey man, that’s my band. Gonna go cry.
Im sorry Todd, It's not my Jam but Im glad you like it, Don't ever stop making music, even if its bad.
I'm doing this with my Epi a200
Looks great, but, its supposed to look "dated"
Where is the mod for the symfonisk?
Check out my other videos, I cover it in detail
@@todd.parker I think I have watched them all but I will check again.
I also have other videos on the KG4s showing the wiring if I don’t cover it here
😅😅😅noch nicht mal mehr die originalen Chassis. Ersetzen durch originale. Was ist das denn für ein bullshit?👎👎🇩🇪
This is ridiculous and no way does it sound better than OEM. The bracing?! What a joke.
It really does but I don't need to convince ya