Volti Audio VX Crossover Installation And Settings - Klipsch Upgrades by Volti Audio

Volti Audio VX Crossover Networks
Installation and Adjustments

Thank you for your purchase of Volti Audio VX Crossovers. These installation instructions will guide you through the installation of the crossovers as well as the adjustments available for use with the V-Trac horn upgrade for Klipsch Khorn and Klipsch Belle speakers.

Crossover networks are shipped in product-specific packaging that has proven to be very durable, and we've had very few problems so far with shipping damage. However, please inspect the box and contents for damage, and if you do have shipping damage, please let me know asap, and before you install anything so we can put a claim in to the shipping company for reimbursement on the insurance.

First, remove the old networks and wiring from the speakers. If you're upgrading other components, install everything else first before installing the new networks. Take this opportunity to remove all wires and clean all wire terminations, which may have become corroded over time.

Volti Audio crossovers are not screwed into the cabinets. They have sticky polyurethane feet that hold them in place inside the cabinet. If you are moving your speakers (more than just sliding out of the corners), you may want to remove the networks so if you tip the speakers they don't fall out.

Some people choose to put the crossovers on top of their speakers and change the internal component wiring to reach. Not only is this convenient for making adjustments, but some of the Volti crossovers are darned nice looking too!

So far the polyurethane feet have not created a problem with the finishes on top of the cabinets. However, you may want to put a placemat or some other protection under the crossovers just in case.

Before we continue on with the connections and adjustments, please take a few minutes and read through these notes.

For those of you who have Klipsch Khorns with AK-2, AK-3, AK-4, or AK-5 crossover networks, do not use the input binding posts on the woofer doors as an input from your amplifier as you have been doing. With the new crossovers, the input will go to the screw terminal connections on the front of each crossover.

FOR KLIPSCH KHORNS with AK-2, AK-3, AK-4, and AK-5 crossover networks. These Khorns have woofer crossover components located inside the woofer chamber, mounted on the inside of the woofer chamber door. With your new Volti Audio crossovers, you will not need these existing stock crossover components and they will need to be removed or disconnected before you proceed with the new connections. If you are unsure if your Khorns have these components inside the woofer chamber, I recommend you remove one woofer chamber cover and have a look. There are different approaches to how to deal with these old existing crossover components. Some folks like to completely replace the woofer chamber doors with new wood panels with new binding posts for connection to the woofers, which allows them to sell the crossover networks on the used market. Other people like to remove all the components from inside the chamber, cutting and de-soldering wires, leaving the inside of the chamber completely clean of components. Others choose to leave the old components inside the woofer chamber and disconnect all wiring to the components so they are no longer affecting the sound of the speaker. You may be able to de-solder and clean up the top set of existing binding posts so that they can be used to connect the new woofer wire through to the woofer. It may also be necessary to remove those old binding posts and install new binding posts in their location. Whatever you decide to do, please remember that in the end, what is important is that the new wire that comes out of the new crossover down to the woofer, must be connected directly to the woofer with none of the old crossover components affecting the signal. If you have any questions about this, please contact me and I'll help you get it all sorted out.

Your new crossovers are built with a very simple design and very few components on purpose. I feel that fewer components of higher quality and a simple signal path results in the best possible sound quality. To that end, we have not installed any measures to protect any of the drivers from damage caused by excessive power levels (fuses). It is your responsibility to be aware of how much power is being fed to the speaker and to use necessary caution and restraint to protect the speaker components, especially the tweeters. Do not rely on the crossover network to provide protection for your speakers. If you feel you need protection for your speakers (teenagers and rap music maybe?), please add this protection in line to your networks with an inline fuse holder and the appropriate fuses.

Check, double check, maybe even take pictures with your phone of the connections of all wiring from your new crossovers to the drivers in your speakers. Having the correct and matching polarity on both speakers is necessary for the best sound. I always take pictures of connections that I make inside woofer chambers, because so many times in the past I've wired up the woofers, closed up the woofer chamber doors, and then had second thoughts about whether or not I made the connections correctly. It is easier than you think to have one of the drivers wired backwards. While being wired backwards does not cause any serious damage to occur, it does mess up the imaging, soundstage, and possibly the tonal qualities of the system. Please be diligent about this - it makes all the difference in the end.

The wires coming from your amplifier should go directly to one of the two sets of screw terminal inputs on the front of the VX crossovers.

These inputs have jumpers that connect them together, so it doesn't matter which of the two you connect to - but do make sure to get the negative wire on one of the negatives and the positive wire on one of the positives. If you are bi-wiring, remove the jumpers and run the two sets of wires from your amplifier to the two sets of screw terminals - the left/negative and the left/positive are for the upper horns and the right/negative and the right positive are for the bass horn. Once the jumpers are removed, there is a complete disconnect between the woofers and the midrange/tweeters. Information about bi-amping is at the bottom of this page.

Wires should be connected from the tweeter output terminals of the crossovers to the tweeters, from the midrange output terminals of the crossovers to the midrange drivers, and from the woofer output terminals of the crossovers to the woofers. You'll notice the VX crossovers are labeled with a "T" for tweeter, and an "M" for midrange. The woofer is connected to the "C,1,2,3,4" screw terminals.

The stock midrange drivers in our Khorns (K55) are more efficient than the woofer and tweeter drivers and need to be attenuated down to balance out the system. In the stock Klipsch crossovers, this is done with a fixed attenuation, but with the VX crossovers, the level of the midrange and tweeter output is adjustable. Being able to choose the output level of the midrange and tweeters is very useful for voicing the overall sound of the speaker to compensate for variables outside of the speaker design, like the room, the user's preference, type of music, volume levels, etc... There is a 'factory' setting that you will start with, and then after listening to music, you may choose to make adjustments to the levels.

Your VX crossovers will come to you with the woofer jumpers in the 1-2 position and with midrange resistors in place for the 'factory' setting, based on which midrange drivers you are using. There will be NO tweeter resistors installed. They will also come with a kit of resistors that can be used for different midrange and tweeter attenuations.

You'll see on your VX crossovers that there are locations on each board for four resistors and they are labeled TR1, TR2, MR1, and MR2.

Installing the resistors is very easy. The resistors have lead wires on each end, and you simply loosen the appropriate screw on the terminal strip and wrap one around the screw (either end is fine, doesn't matter) and then loosen the opposite terminal strip screw and wrap the other end-wire around and tighten down. You'll see this in pics coming up. If you remove these resistors, just leave the loop as is and it can be used later by removing the screws completely and dropping them down through the loop to tighten down. I recommend this because if you try to straighten out the wires they may break.

You'll see two connection points for your tweeters on the crossover boards - one in the middle, shown here in this picture

If you're not using tweeter resistors for attenuation, connect to the connection point in the middle of the board. If you are using resistors for attenuation, the resistors go in the space in the middle of the board, and you will then connect the tweeter to the front connection point. Please pay close attention to the polarity, labeled at each connection point.

We recommend starting out with full tweeter output - no resistors in the TR1 and TR2 positions, and connecting the tweeters to the tweeter screw terminals in the middle of the board as shown here. Note the midrange attenuation resistors in the MR1 and MR2 positions, with wires wrapped around the screws.

The connection point for the midrange drivers is on the front of the board as shown here in this picture

Start out with the midrange attenuation resistors that have been installed in the MR1 and MR2 positions and then make adjustments later.

Connect the negative wire to the "C" and the positive wire to the "4" screw terminal as shown here in this picture

With those connections described above, you're all set to play some music and have a listen.

If you're using the stock K77 tweeters, you probably will not need to attenuate them at all. Full output usually works just fine. If you're using Beyma CP25 tweeters, you may want to turn them down a bit. I remember when I had Beyma tweeters in my own Khorns, and I liked them at full output. But I have had quite a few customers over the years want them down just a bit.

If you decide to drop the level of the tweeter a bit, it's very easy. Install a 2.2ohm resistor in the TR1 space and a 22ohm resistor in the TR2 space. Two of each of these resistors are included in your resistor kit that came with your VX crossovers.

This will drop the tweeter output level by approximately 3db. If you decide you want more or less attenuation, please contact me and I'll send you other resistors. But typically these resistors are just right to tame a hot tweeter.

Here's a picture showing the TR1, TR2, MR1, MR2 resistors in place, with the front connection of the tweeter.

After you've listened to music, try different settings to see which you like the best. There is no "correct" setting, it is user preference. I suggest you try listening at a higher level of midrange than you think you might like for a few songs, and then try listening at a lower level of midrange for a while. This will give you a good sense of how you'd like to balance the midrange in your system.

Here's a chart with lots of information about the different midrange settings available.

If you are using BMS drivers on the V-Trac horns, per the chart above, your VX crossovers will come equipped with 5.6ohm and 3.3ohm resistors in the MR1 and MR2 positions. If you decide you'd like the midrange to be slightly higher output in the mix, you would replace those resistors with a 5.1ohm in the MR1 position and a 4.3ohm in the MR2 position. This is using the resistors in the "Linear" group.

Alternately, you might try resistors in the "Flatter" group. Linear and Flatter are referring to the frequency response curve of the midrange horn/driver - or a better way to think of it is the tone of the midrange. The Linear resistors do not change the frequency response curve or the tone of the midrange as you increase or decrease the output. Using the resistors on the Flatter side will change the tone of the midrange a bit - Flattening the response curve and softening the upper midrange a bit. It's a subtle difference, but might be worth a try.

By the way, this might be a good time to pause and say that if the idea of experimenting with these different settings is not appealing to you, don't worry about it! Leave them in the factory setting and enjoy. Pretend you have crossovers like the ones Klipsch originally installed that don't offer adjustments and enjoy the higher quality parts and design these crossovers provide. This is also a good time to remind you that you can contact me anytime for help with any of this. Email is a great way to contact me, or if you want, simply give me a call 207-314-1937.

There's not much more I can say about the midrange attenuation choices - it's all there on the chart. I guess one thing is if you are using these crossovers with all stock components in Khorns or La Scalas, the adjustments will more or less be the same as they are with V-Trac horns - and because you have so many adjustments available, you should be able to easily find a good balancing point for the midrange in just about any pairing of midrange drivers and horns.

In addition to using the midrange attenuation to balance and voice our V-Trac upgraded Khorns, the VX crossovers are equipped with dual woofer inductors, which offer us three different upper-bass voicings to choose from. By connecting to the five screw terminals labeled C, and 0-4, as well as locating the jumper in the correct position, we are engaging one, the other, or both inductors in line to the woofer. This effectively changes the point where the frequencies to the woofer are "rolled off", and this effects the amount of upper-bass that is coming from the bass horn.

The midrange is not changed at all with these adjustments, it is simply the amount of upper bass that we're allowing to 'mix' with the lower midrange.

The three different upper-bass settings are used in conjunction with the midrange attenuation to provide flexibility in setting up our systems, and because everything is being done with simple, high-quality passive components, the sound quality doesn't suffer the way it would with tone controls and/or other processing equipment. This is a pure and simple way to contour the sound from our upgraded Khorns and Belle speakers, and improve upon what is already a spectacular sounding system.

For all three upper-bass settings, the negative wire from the woofer is connected to screw "C".

To choose the highest upper-bass setting, connect the jumper to "1" and "2" and connect the positive wire from the woofer to screw "3". This puts the smaller of the two inductors inline to the woofer.

To choose the middle upper-bass setting, connect the jumper to "1" and "2", and connect the positive wire from the woofer to screw "4". This puts the larger of the two inductors inline to the woofer. This is how your crossovers will be set when you get them.

To choose the lowest upper-bass setting, connect the jumper to "2" and "3", and connect the positive wire from the woofer to screw "4". This puts both inductors in series, inline to the woofer.

If you are bi-wiring, remove the jumpers and run the two sets of wires from your amplifier to the crossovers. On the VTK crossovers, the left set of binding posts, facing them, connect to the mid/high crossover filters and the right binding posts connect to the woofer crossover filter. Once the jumper wires are removed, there is a complete disconnect between the woofers and the midrange/tweeters.

Generally speaking I don't like the idea of bi-amping. It's not my cup of tea. Far too many components, too much wiring, and too many controls to fiddle with. Whenever I've listened to an active-bi-amped system, I know I'm listening to and evaluating a stereo system, and that's not what I want to do when I sit down to listen to music. I want just the opposite - I want the system to disappear and leave behind only the music. Whenever I've had a biamped system in my own home, I find myself evaluating and adjusting the system constantly, wondering why I chose to make the last adjustment during my last listening session, and hoping that this adjustment will be just right for this listening session. It never is. But if you want to try it, here's how to do it with the Volti crossovers.

Bi-amp without active crossover - remove the jumpers and connect the mid/high amplifier to the left/negative and left/positive input screws - feeding a signal to the midrange and tweeter horns. and the low amplifier to the right/negative and right/positive input screws - feeding a signal through the crossover to the woofers. Full range signal to both. You'll need level output control for each amplifier or for each input signal. You'll hope that as you turn the overall system volume up and down that the individual amplifier gains will follow in a linear fashion. They often do not, especially if the two amps are different topologies like a solid state amp on the bass and a tube amp on the highs. Good luck.

Bi-amp with active crossover (you'll get more consistent results this way, but you'll also more than likely ruin the signal by passing it through an active crossover - so much for that pure, simple signal path) - remove the jumpers and connect the mid/high amplifier to the left/negative and left/positive input screws - feeding a signal to the midrange and tweeter horns. Set the controls on the active crossover to provide signal of 400Hz and up, high pass - this will use the filter in the passive crossover for the mid to high balance. Connect the low amplifier to the woofer input barrier strips on the woofer chamber doors, bypassing the Volti crossover completely. Set the controls on the active crossover to provide signal 400Hz and down, low pass.

If you have any questions or problems with your installation, please don't hesitate to send me an email or call me.