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Karlson speakers.

#21
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The original commercial Karlson coupler "K15" was prototyped and finished in the summer of 1951 by John Karlson and Wayne Green.

The Acoustic Control 115BK, KK-Audio, Westwood, Transylvania, etc K-couplers
seemed based on the size of Karlson's 1965 "X15" system so were ~57% of the bulk
of the original Karlson, so give up about 1/2 octave extension assuming high efficiency/lowmass speaker.
power output vs cone excusion is very good for a well loaded Karlson-coupler plus there can be less dead spots than a direct radiator.

there's really more highs than what shows in these graphs as I had the mic on the ground and the beaming portions of the speakers are
elevated by the baffle tilt. Also the sampling rate I used brick-walled at 4Khz.

Karlson 15. 30.5 square inch vent outdoors ~ground plane EV SP15A
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Acoustic Control 115BK ~ground plane EVM15L
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side-view rough sketch of Acoustic Control 115BK essential
dimensions and Z-input to show tuning
115bkside1sr4.jpg


one of my 115BK Acoustic Control K-coupers
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A Karlson-coupler buider's X15A type with slotted tube waveguide- says =
nice bass rig. Dimensions 28"x20"x about 14" - His later cabinets have a curved
reflector instead of a 2-panel approximation.
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distortion measured outdoors of a one plywood sheet K-coupler loaded with an inexpensive Eminence 18" vs a commercial 11 cubic
foot Yorkville horn. (I bought the horn new) The Karlson had 20dB
less 2nd harmonic than the horn.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Stanley Clarke's Karlson-coupler rig - was it the little LEECH/Transylvania Power Company
"KHYBOE" instead of K15?
29031.jpg

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btw-Transylvania Power Company "THE TUBE" is a great sounding waveguide for home use - imo sometimes better than a constant directivity waveguide
soundl12.jpg


btw - Karlsons were used in the studio to make some great records
Owen Bradley - Wikipedia article Owen Bradley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"the place" to talk about Karlson couplers since Job Ulfman's forum closed some years ago is
Gregg Baker's "Karlson Loudspeaker Forum"
Link Removed
 
#25
The late Jess Oliver was good friends with John Karlson and Jess produced a line of Karlson-designed asymmetric projectors (known as "clams"/"klams") I know of two sizes (there may havbe been more?) - The "Phase III Projector" which used a strong 10" alnico motor guitar speaker and the "Magna-Clam" which assume used an Altec 421 15" woofer plus a one-inch format compression driver on a Karlson-slotted tube waveguide.

A pair of Phase III were once used in a stereo outdoor demonstration to an audience of 5000.

Jess once told me that he and Karlson took a little klam-projector up to Yankee Stadium but neither were good enough salesperson to get the gig. Large klam-projectors were installed at Radio City Music Hall.

(...wish I had access to a good carpenter so I have some Phase III from plywood)

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here's an 18" klam I made from one 4'x8' sheet of plywood and loaded with a 103 gram mms low Q Eminence 18. The rear chamber was sealed.
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#26
In the early 70s, bought a prototype enclosure from Karlson to use with my Ampeg B15 head, Altec Lansing 15" woofer, and RS tweeter. I took it in my backyard to test it with my Fender. Later, I took it across the street to Milt Hinton's for testing on his 7/8 bass. We couldn't hear the amp 'boom', and turned up the volume - still couldn't hear 'boom'. But I noticed the screws in the back of the enclosure were vibrating loose! The sound was so natural. Milt said he heard me playing in my yard, and it sounded like I was in his backyard!
 
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#30
freddyi said:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The original commercial Karlson coupler "K15" was prototyped and finished in the summer of 1951 by John Karlson and Wayne Green.

The Acoustic Control 115BK, KK-Audio, Westwood, Transylvania, etc K-couplers
seemed based on the size of Karlson's 1965 "X15" system so were ~57% of the bulk
of the original Karlson, so give up about 1/2 octave extension assuming high efficiency/lowmass speaker.
power output vs cone excusion is very good for a well loaded Karlson-coupler plus there can be less dead spots than a direct radiator.

there's really more highs than what shows in these graphs as I had the mic on the ground and the beaming portions of the speakers are
elevated by the baffle tilt. Also the sampling rate I used brick-walled at 4Khz.

Karlson 15. 30.5 square inch vent outdoors ~ground plane EV SP15A
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Acoustic Control 115BK ~ground plane EVM15L
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
side-view rough sketch of Acoustic Control 115BK essential
dimensions and Z-input to show tuning
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

one of my 115BK Acoustic Control K-coupers
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

A Karlson-coupler buider's X15A type with slotted tube waveguide- says =
nice bass rig. Dimensions 28"x20"x about 14" - His later cabinets have a curved
reflector instead of a 2-panel approximation.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

distortion measured outdoors of a one plywood sheet K-coupler loaded with an inexpensive Eminence 18" vs a commercial 11 cubic
foot Yorkville horn. (I bought the horn new) The Karlson had 20dB
less 2nd harmonic than the horn.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Stanley Clarke's Karlson-coupler rig - was it the little LEECH/Transylvania Power Company
"KHYBOE" instead of K15?
View attachment 1850963
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

btw-Transylvania Power Company "THE TUBE" is a great sounding waveguide for home use - imo sometimes better than a constant directivity waveguide
View attachment 1850964

btw - Karlsons were used in the studio to make some great records
Owen Bradley - Wikipedia article Owen Bradley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]


"the place" to talk about Karlson couplers since Job Ulfman's forum closed some years ago is
Gregg Baker's "Karlson Loudspeaker Forum"
Link Removed
Click to expand...

Stanley Clarke’s Karlson cabinets were made by RM Sound out of New Jersey. RM Sound was a company owned by the late Mike Buyukas. Actually, Mike built the whole stack that is pictured above. Mike also supplied monitors to Electric Lady Studios and got Al Dimeola his gig with Return To Forever!
 
#31
I went to a concert at the Brown County Arena in 1978, and saw Willie Nelson and Family, Asleep at the Wheel, and Ray Wylie Hubbard and His Cowboy Twinkies. This arena even today, is terrible for sound. The echo and reverberation makes sound a loud indistinct boomy mush.

What I remember is that for low end, the large 1978 sound system they used had all Karlson cabinets.

The sound was superb. Willie and Asleep were large bands...9-11 members each and Willie's band had two bass players. The volume was loud, but not excessive.

Surprised at the high quality of the sound, I took a walk around the arena. The sound was great, and everywhere every instrument could be clearly heard.

I have never heard such good sound in that venue. The great sound stuck those Karlsons in my pretty spotty memory.
 
#33
So not totally a zombie thread, only a year since the last post.

I have four Karlsen 15" cabinets that were once part of a PA system that I worked with. It's definitely true that you needed to stand back from these guys to get the full effect but at ~50' the 16 cabinets we put out for festivals would rock your world.

I just pulled the drivers out of them today since I'm thinking of selling and I know I'll get very little interest in Karlsens with four different JBL drivers in them. What I was wondering is if I wanted to keep them, or offer them to interested folks with drivers what would be a decent low cost driver to install? We ran D130's and D140's back in the day but surely they would work with something cheaper.

Thanks for any insight into this.

JOhn
 

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