Has anyone else used these olden "vintage" - ish   speakers on twin Zens?

I have two SE84C amps, set for mono operation.

My own creation of open-back, foundational "dual fifteen, modded JBL + Visaton B200 or Fostex (several) and/or Heil - front and/or rear facing supertweets,"  all first order crossovers, when needed - has kept me busy LISTENING with my gear for ages.


I actually LIKE the midrange efficiency, clarity, and definition I get from these ancient Klipsch - designed speakers, but what has gone missing is the open-back "air"  and incredible detail and "vastness" in the upper and lower ranges I have been used to experiencing with my own "mocked-up" speakers.


Yes, these things make MORE bass than my OB creations, but when I try to tone some of that down, I get so much less energy and openess in the rest of the spectrum, that I am becoming disappointed. I don't listen loudly with this system, so I may be missing the benefits of these speakers.


I am hoping that someone may have tried this exact combo - twin Zens and Klipsch, La Scalas - and can recommend some tubes to try.


As I said, the mids are incredible, very efficient (!), but the bass has a pinched feel and the highs seem to roll off some, a bit too quickly to my old worn out "Rock and Roll beaten" ears.


Any comment would be welcome.

Hi, Dennis,

Thanks for your insight. I had noticed a small bit of anomalous response peaking when listening to acoustic bass recordings that I am quite familiar with and I had suspected some internal cabinet resonances to be the source. Steve's suggestion to re-enforce the outer structure would probably help some, but I think of the "mouth area" (or say the final expansion)  of a horn to be subjected to a lesser amount of pressure than the throat under most conditions.

To me it seems that the problem with cabinet structural irregularities is more likely to be internal than a weakness in the "final expansion" would be, but I'm not sure. I also understand that the drivers themselves are to be suspected on a thirty year old set of speakers.

I also notice that they don't seem to go very low, which is also to be expected, but they do sound pretty nice with some drum tracks.


Hey, it's good to see that there are still some of us OB enthusiasts out there.

I gave them to church's band this morning.

No regrets.