Speaker re-purposing

[kblackmore]

I have a set of Klipsch Belle speakers that, due to government mandated income redistribution, I need to convert from my beloved living room speakers to DJ purposes. They are of 1984 vintage and last time I used them for a party, I cooked the tweeters. As a temporary band-aid until I find some K-77 replacements, I bought a set of Selenium HM25-25 horns and loaded them with D220Ti drivers. I just made some small boxes for the new horns and placed them on top of the Belles so that I wouldn't have to rebuild the top sections to fit the new horns. I have since found that the most probable cause for the tweeters demise was the old crossovers (the volume probably didn't help). After doing some research, I am considering building some ALK Universal crossovers which will shift the lower midrange crossover from 400 to 500 Hz, impose a 500 Hz crossover frequency on the woofer, and cross the mid horn to high horn at 6 KHz. I believe the caps on the old crossovers are just aged and wore out and the crossovers don't even cross over the woofer (Model AB Crossover). I have a pair of 18" B52 woofers that are doing the subwoofer duties (12 cu ft cabinets tuned to 25 Hz). They do fairly well and I believe they will survive in a professional atmosphere.

Does anybody have any thoughts on how to best go about this transformation? I am considering rebuilding the top sections to fit the Selenium horns and drivers since the looks of the speakers are not as important as they were. The speakers still have the K33 woofers and K55 midrange driver on the factory horns. Is the midrange\driver combo robust enough to survive being driven loud for long periods of time? The K33 woofer is only rated for 100 watts, but it is horn loaded. Should this suffice or should I consider replacing the woofers also?

The amplifiers are a Mackie FR2600 bridged mono for subs, and 2 QSC1200 amps.
The active crossover is a Behringer CX3400.
The equalizers are both Behringer (DEQ2496 & FBQ6200)

Food for thought. Would I be better off going 3 way and bi-amp the Belles since I have the electronics available?

I know this is a lot, but there are a lot of variables involved.

[Paul O]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

If my experience with the LaScala is any indication the absolute worst thing you could do is overdrive them... man do those Klipsch mid horns get nasty with too much input signal.

I think tri-amping these things would be a good experiment, that should tell you what crossover frequencies are gonna work best and it should make it easier to get the maximum SPL with the minimum driver stress.

[wg_ski]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

If you're considering replacing that much stuff, why not just get a couple of Beta or Delta 12's (or the $57 Peaveys) and use them with your HM2525's? Especially if you've got the subs covered. Horn loaded top is not needed to keep up with a single conventional 18.

[kblackmore]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

WG_SKI, you have a very valid point. I have a set of EV S152 speakers that I use for house parties that would probably do justice with the subs underneath. My problem with that solution is that when I was first taught to DJ (1986), we had to provide a "show" comparable to a live band. I was even asked to take my system down and would have my contract re-instated when my stereo system grew up when I first started. At that time I had some Cerwin Vega Junior Earthquakes and Klipsch LaScala's for my PA system. While they were plenty loud enough, they didn't provide the show the clubs were looking for. I look towards this now as the clubs place value on appearance as well as performance. I carry this lesson to this day. The idea of the Belle's is that they should (with proper modification) provide the volume necessary and are sizable enough with the subs underneath. Add in the proper lighting and I believe I can still please any audience and provide the "value" they look for when writing the check. While it may sound counter - intuitive, that is the idea in mind. I just want to do everything properly so that the stereo will operate effortlessly and provide the audio quality I know and love.

Music to me is far more than a paycheck, for those who see it as such should quit immediately
Music should be your passion....

[Paul O]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

My problem with that solution is that when I was first taught to DJ (1986), we had to provide a "show" comparable to a live band. At that time I had some Cerwin Vega Junior Earthquakes and Klipsch LaScala's for my PA system. While they were plenty loud enough, they didn't provide the show the clubs were looking for.

I guess it depends what type of events you are doing and local "tastes" in that regard. For teen and club events bigger is definitely better but weddings are a different story.. it's not 1986 anymore and brides didn't want a big pile of speaker boxes dominating their pictures, hence the current popularity of those tall skinny "line array" type systems like the Bose L1.

[kblackmore]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

Paul,
What kind of system would you suggest for a wedding? That is one of the areas I am specifically going to try and target. Quality of sound is important to me, but I am open to suggestions.

[Paul O]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

Paul, What kind of system would you suggest for a wedding?

I rent sound systems to DJs and and DIY types and for anything up to about 150 people I send out a pair of ZLX12p's with an SRM1801 powered sub. Bigger events will get more powered speakers distributed throughout the venue and more subs for the dancefloor.

I'm no longer an active DJ but I have hundreds of weddings under my belt and what I have found is that in most cases a wedding is a social event where people want to be able to carry on a conversation at their tables, so you don't need or want 120db everywhere in the venue all you really need is some thumping sound on the dance floor and enough overall coverage so that everyone can clearly hear speeches and announcements .

There are lots of different ways to achieve this, my old DJ system utilized some very large 3-way speakers that just coasted along at typical wedding sound levels so I always got good feedback on sound quality, but they were a royal pain to get into some venues. The powered speakers I have now can generate similar SPLs but are only a fraction of the size and weight, I went from needing a pickup truck to move a gigs worth of gear to being able to easily fit it all in a Subaru wagon.. all lighting is now LED and I don't need a rack of electronics and power amps just a small CD/mixer combo and a laptop.

I have seen a lot of different systems used for weddings and there still is a time and place for a big system.. I did lighting for a big east indian wedding recently at a large casino banquet hall and the DJ had a system consisting of 4 horn loaded subs, 4 double 15 mains, and a huge rack of amps and electronics. But that system would be totally out of place at a small wedding with 75 people in attendance so ideally you want to have a range of equipment to suite different events or system with smaller parts that can be combined to form a bigger system.

[kblackmore]

Re: Speaker re-purposing

Paul,

Thank You for your words of wisdom. I'm getting a little old to be doing clubs, but not yet old enough to quit. That is where the idea of small to medium sized events come into place. I will take your ideas in mind and see what I can come up with.