I bought a pair of used Keltiks about 20 years ago and then scraped together enough cash to buy 4 Klouts on Ebay. After a fair amount of sweating over cables and Aktiv cards I was finally ready for the big bass sound (I was using Activ Kabers till then). Well, I put on my favourite Bluenote and cranked it up - how can I describe the sound... flat, dead, awful, like a big pile of jobbies. More messing around with cables and DIL switches reduced the amount of aural excrement - but it still did not smell like a rose garden. Ah-ha I thought. That must be why the Linn dealers in Edinburgh and Glasgow left the Keltiks in the window and continued to demo Saras and Briks. Then one day I had an idea. I had bought a full set of brand new Kaber drivers from Linn for my second system as I think I'd blown a mid-range unit. At the time they were not too expensive. Having nothing to lose, I swapped out the original Keltik treble units for the new replacement Kaber tweeters. I don't remember the part numbers but they come with a raised grill consisting of three vertical bars so they look stupid if you put the fabric covers on (does anyone do this?). The mounting flange is identical so all it takes is one allen key and 5 minutes with a soldering iron and you're done. Next I pushed the treble gain to max (+6dB from memory) on the top Klout, put on the favourite Bluenote and cranked it up. Hallelujah. No more lumpen manure sounds, just brilliant, living music. And the bass - I still have not heard anything deeper and tighter, including the new Linn floorstanders that cost more than my Toyota*. Well, the Kabers were quickly consigned to the room with no heating above the garage. My wife, who knows nothing about hifi and cares even less, loves the Keltics. She says that she misses the "boom boom" (I think she means the kick drum) sound when she listens to other systems. Anyway, old Keltiks are dirt cheap and you can probably still get Kaber tweeters for next to nothing. 4 Klouts are essential imho and they are not particularly cheap, but then they are classic pieces of kit that will hold their value. So, you can get a huge amount of sound for not much money. A lot less than a Brik system nowadays (Briks are great too).
* To be fair - the top end on the newer speakers with 3K and 4K arrays is absolutely fantastic.
* To be fair - the top end on the newer speakers with 3K and 4K arrays is absolutely fantastic.
