Good Sounding Floor Standing Speakers

Todays ¨small footprint¨ floorstanders can kick your @rse in a way older speakers are unable to. I didn't believe it till I owned a pair.

 

My Rega RS3 have surprised a few. Small foot print doesn't mean small bass!

 

These are only 20 cms wide and a meter tall with dual 6.5¨ and a horn tweeter, and STOMP on my older 3-ways Infinitys SM with 15¨woofers . They may not look the part as much but not only outperform those by a long run but can also be unobstrusively placed wherever you see fit. Even my wife hardly notices them (WAF, WAF !!!). If they weren't built in this fashion there'd be no way in hell I could have room for a sub in my living room.

Skinny 1- fatso 0

 

I'm guessing you don't live in a major city.

 

I live on Long Island, a well populated suburban area adjacent to the city of New York. But my dislike of keeping things on top of my speaker cabinets has little to do with where I live. It's just one of my peeves, no reflection on you.

 

Gotcha. I was confused by your previous post.

 

Rhythemdoctor, holy smokes, what a whirlwind of a thread.
At 11:39am you posted original message asking for suggestions.
At 11:40am you got 1st reply.
At 12:23 you gave notice finding KG-3's in local CL ad and asked about them.
At 2:25 you posted about your new KG-3's and having some other issues.
WHEW!
I need a Red Bull just to keep up with the post changes.
Anyway, the Klipsch Cornwalls are a good choice and so are the Klipsch Heresys in any version.
The Heresys do have a flat top, bottom, and sides and are quite similar in size to the Fischers you now have.
When you see the Heresys angled back they are sitting on optional risers.
The risers do a great job of aiming the horns at the listeners ears for much better overall sound while sitting in the sweet spot.
Some say the Heresys lack in bass response. I have found, with the three pairs I have owned (still own two pairs) that the amp makes a great deal of difference in the bass response.
Heresys, when fed a good signal, play bass quite well. They are not thumpers but they will rattle the dishes if asked to perform with good amps.
The KG-3's, while nice speakers, are not in the same league as Heresys and Cornwalls...in my opinion anyway.

 

The amplifier you use (Klipsch favors low damped SS or tube amplifiers), how they are positioned, the other sources you use, the music you play all factor in making your experience top notch. I use a McIntosh MA 5100 to drive my Klipsch Chorus, I use a HH Scott 312-D FM tuner and a Thorens TD 165 with a Stanton 681 EEE-S II cartridge.

 

yep, these speakers are completely different when you give them the right amplification. If you are running some vintage 35watt integrated amp, it would be like driving a new corvette and not getting out of first gear.

 

Appreciate the replies. Stupid question: does amplifier = receiver? Are they one in the same? On the train home from work. When I get home I will pist my receiver brand/model.

 

A receiver is equal to a tuner, a preamplifier, and an amplifier in one chassis.
An integrated amp is a preamp and amp together.
An amplifier is an amp with no other function built into it.

 

I had a cat that pist a receiver once. It didn't end well.

 

lv70'smusic is correct. The receiver has your power amplifier, preamplifier/control center, and your tuner in one box. I have power amplifier/preamplifier in one box in the living room, my FM tuner is separate. I have a power amplifier and a preamplifier/FM tuner in the other system.

 

I really appreciate everyone's input. I've been a bit volatile in the last 2 days, panicking when my speaker stopped working, determined to fix it quick. I'm usually very patient and do plenty of research before making larger purchases.

Anywho, after further reading and research, I really want/need a pair of Cornwalls. These KG3s don't match my Fisher's bass, they are more high-end and not as balanced as I'd prefer. I'd prefer a lean to the bass side if they were to be unbalanced which is probably why I like my Fishers better.

Now, in search of an affordable set of Cornwalls!

 

why not change the speakers out and a different crossover, I do it all the time,if you like a JBL sound go to ebay and get the components and change them out.
do a little research on the particular speakers you like and similar cabinet volumes and have at it.
I like the old vintage speaker cabinets also. in fact I have some big end table furniture grade Fishers, I bought them just for the cabinets, they are on the speaker sex change list already.
Those are really nice cabinets.

 

I did consider this but a buddy of mine suggested that doing that wouldn't work how I intended. He basically said the dynamics will be different and won't resonate correctly, in a nutshell.

 

So you're saying buy this and this?

 

buy you some good JBL lf drivers put them in the cabinet, buy a pair of Altec horns with drivers off of ebay ( prices seem to be down right now) and get you a two way crossover to match the horns hook them together and man you will be amazed at the sound you can get from a setup like that.
Sometimes I mount the horns on top of the cabinet, sometimes I just sit them on top for a while to see if I like that set up and decide how I want it to look.
I find the altec 511 horns sound the best, as far as drivers go for the horns , they all sound good, have fun with your speakers.
I have one set of speakers I just built and before I settled on what I wanted to do,I had three different sets of speaker cabinets piled in two corners of the room two different JBL LF drivers wired in series and a 511 horn on top of the pile with a two way JBL 3110 crossover siting to the side of each pile.
They really looked like a pile of crap, but there was a method to the madness, they sounded great, I have klipsch khorns, klipsch heresys, altec model 19 clones, I built and JBL 4311 or 12 I forget which monitors, so I can say with certainty I have a good idea when a speaker sounds good, I have many examples to compare too.
So anyway I built a set of cabinets for all of it and now I have another set of speakers that would probably cost 4500$ if I went out and bought them rather than build them myself.
I bought a lot of great speakers before I shook the thought of ( the only way you can have good speakers is buy what's already been built and pay the price) now I have fun and have a sound that would cost thousands of dollars to get if I was still buying already built speakers.
When you spend all that money you do get great speakers and the right to hold your head high when someone ask about your speakers, but let me tell you, I love the look on peoples faces when they see these speakers and then they hear them.
The first comment is usually, they are so big, then they hear the true voice of the theater in front of them, they can not believe the sound is in someones house.
Altec and JBL built all these wonderful components for wonderful amazing sound to be heard thru and originally sold them for people to build their own system and mix and match, Think Burger King, Have it your way!

 

Yes, The internet is a great thing sometimes, just start doing searches on vintage speakers you like, speakers that have drivers of the same size so it's just taking one out and putting the other in, mount your new crossover in the cabinet drill on small tiny hole in the back panel for your hf horn wire to come out and go to the horn on top.
Inside the cabinet take the leads coming in to your old crossover and hook them to the new one, it is not rocket science, I assure you, once you do it ,you will be amazed at how simple it is.
Here is an example, I want altec model 19's but I will never afford the 3000.00 to 9000.00 I have seen them going for then there is shipping also, solution, search " what is inside of altec model 19's or a similar search. Just ask the questions that pop into your head about the speaker, before you know it, there is pdf file links to original sales info detailing what is in them , what crossover ,frequencies the whole 9 yards, everything you ever wanted to know but did not know how to get the answer is there. then you just go to ebay and look for what you need at a price you are willing to pay.

 

That's why you do a little research first,it will work, I promise you he will be eating those words, on one of my cabinets it was a three way closed box, so when I put my driver in it needed to be vented, so I took the midrange speaker out and had an instant vent, the tiny tweeter did not matter it was so small and disconnected anyway.
Those cabinets will sound great, they aren't vented if they are like mine ,so just take a speaker out, play around with that.
You have to forget about what you read on all the technical stuff,Go read one of these pdf files on altec vintage speakers systems, they explain in their sales promotional how they sell or now sold components to make hi fidelity hifi available to everyone at an affordable price.
those are big cabinets so you are already in good shape there.

 

How do I connect wires? Do I need a soldering gun?

 

JBL and Altec speakers all have push terminals on the speakers, strip a half inch of insulation and put it in the connector,The JBL cross overs almost all except the really older ones have push type terminals also , so no soldering.
If you are using an Altec crossover you can strip the wire back about one and a half inches and twist them together tightly and tape the with some good electrical tape, most crossovers from other speaker cabinets will usually have leads on them when you get them.
The only way anyone will ever know those wires are not soldered is if you tell them, and as far as all the super technical details about speaker resonance and the like if you have really small cheaply made cabinets you might hear something, but we both know that is not the case with your speakers.
Most all of the JBL and Altec crossovers are surface mounted into the back panel of the cabinet, it's not hard to cut a hole.

 

unless you have this golden ear they talk about or you hook these speakers up to test equipment and know how to do all that ,you and your friends will listen to your favorite music and have big smiles and say a big YEA that's what I am talking about!

 

The more you know how to do, the more you can have in life, simple as that,I am 58 years old and we were raised with the philosophy preached to us,Learn all you can,you never know what you may have to do to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. And if you like that one ,my dad's favorite saying was "your reputation proceeds you", meaning to us always be to work on time do what you say you will do and always keep your word. And if you don't know how to do something , tell the man, they will usually teach you.

 

Appreciate your input, Sunrayjack.