Groomlakearea51

First is isolate the problem: Both hissing? or is it just one? Switch the speaker wires and see if the hiss "follows" the speaker wires to the other one. If that's the case, it's not the K-77, it would be in between the speaker and the source. If it does not "follow" and remains on that K-77; then there is a problem with one of the K-77's or possibly with the crossover. At that point, other members of the forum will have a number of suggestions, including contacting Bob Crites (BEC). Hope that gets you started in tracking it down.

Beautiful work!!

The good cleaning is important; I agree with the comment on distilled water. The key on "washing" is to absolutely use distilled water and an old, well broken in, clean chamois cloth. Every time I pull out one to transfer to the CD's, I also wipe it down with a 25%/75% Windex/distilled water using a very old Audio Technica disk cleaning pad, then "rinse", wipe again, with distilled water. The comment about playing them dirty is correct; the stylus can embed dirt particles if you are not careful. Another "trick" is use compressed air to dry them and it will often dislodge any particles that you missed. It usually takes a couple of cleanings to do it. I did some "shopping" around and ended up with one of these; pricey, but very, very good on most LP's. They also have a couple of units that are $7000... I've heard one of those; it's amazing, but out of most our pocket book range. http://www.esotericsound.com/SNR.pdf

Welcome to the Forum. Your account of "life back in the day" brings back memories of the old "Audio-Photo Clubs" that had all the high end stuff that the PX's would not carry! Spent many, many hours in them spending my mere military pittance.... You have a private message (PM) re: Germany

I guess I'm very lucky. My local UPS store is great; I've shipped many "high end" items and only had one damage claim (at the other end...). The owner works directly with me on each item that's leaving; we discuss how to pack it, options on packing, etc. Then again, I only use new boxes, good condition bubble wrap, styro peanuts, foam board, etc. It's a shame that other services/stores apparently don't seem to care, or assist the customers. I'm lucky, as I said, we're a small community, the owner is a friend of mine and we used to work together before he went into business for himself.

That does not sound right... at all!! Per my UPS store, someone should be there within 7 days. You can also call UPS. That's 1-800-742-5877; When you go through the menu, dial "0"; When they protest that, dial "0" again; Do this until a person talks to you. Usually you only have to dial "0" twice. Tell them the SBT (sad but true) story and have the shipping label handy. You might find that the seller has not filed a claim (yet).... Hope that helps.

Steve Miller, Joe Walsh, Justin Hayward, Jim Burton, BB King, Pete Townshend, Link Wray, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, while maybe, maybe not... my favorite "top gun" is Duane Allman. It's that smooth, dreamy quality that simply underscored their vocals. But.. I allways liked Steve Miller. Check out "Book of Dreams". Listen to Hank Marvin of the Shadows for that "core British sound". Brian May of Queen, particularly on News of the World can do the soul good. Little Ry Cooder can help the psyche on occasion... Acoustical? Try Leo Kottke!

PaulN; thanks; very interesting and should be of great interest to folks with the late model Heritage series. That would also certainly be a starting point to make sense out of the "printout" style of serials on the tags starting in the mid/late 80's.

To borrow (and adapt...) PWK's old phrase..., "What this country needs for the 21st century is a plain Jane KB-BR for $2995..." Oh well, just a wish.... A dream... A thought?

The last three (or four, particularly with Heresy's) are the serials for that year According to my top sekret inside, undercover, triple agent, A1 source.... The scheme was, as they recall.....: Example, parsing it out....: 22T403, a 1979 LaScala... 22 = second run, second LaScala run (? likely); T = year, 1979 (that's for sure...) 403 = LaScala (totals) by serial# for that year. I believe that the second (and third if there is one) prefix digit(s) has something to do with which production run during that year..... Reason.... the 15T on the KC-BB Klipschorn's. They did not (and probably still don't) make that many in any one "run". It would stand to some reason that the "5" may very well relate to the 5th run in late 79'. Other question I've always asked is that when was the actual serial number applied; e.g. when the cabinet pieces were completed and ready for assembly? OR When it hit the driver assembly line? OR when the speaker was completed, but not lacquered? OR When the "raw" cabinet was completed and ready for veneer, drivers, etc.? That would explain why a pair of "matched" (ordered at the same time...) speakers could have a 100+ digit spread. Reason could be that they ran out of KC-BB's and were waiting for the next available KC to be built as a BB in order to "pair it up" for shipment. The other pair of KC's are 18W027 & 18W028, so the "spread" is not available to think about. Same thing with the KB's 8907678/679. Now.... interesting food for thought... I had a pair of Heresy's that were 111UXXX.... Was it Heresy's = the first "1", and the second "11" was the 11th run that year?... Also, I'm coming to the conclusion that the actual serial numbers (last 3-4 digits) had nothing to do with the finish. As an example 25P1234 may be a Heresy HBR, but 25P1239 could be a HBB. They may have done 16 "boxes" as HBR's starting with 1230 and ending with 1245. "box" 1246 through 1249 (two pairs) may have been walnut veneer, etc. For Amy/Mike Colter: Can we go to Indy or Hope and look at the archives/ log books? That would answer alot of questions..... I'll buy the beer![H]

If yours is 203.... I'd better pull mine out and look again... If they are duplicates (I'll take a picture...) then the plot thickens!! [:|]

The way I understood it when talking to the production folks at the Klipsch factory was that the 62 through 83 series first two numbers referred to the production run type. Example, build run #15TXXXX may have been Klipschorns, 23TXXXX may have been Heresy's, etc. The serials (the XXXX) referred to the actual serial assigned to that series for that year "T", in this case 1979. I may be wrong, but someone else (can't remember who) told me that the first two numbers in the 62 - 83 series referred to the week of the year the production run was made. Thus in week 22 (June) in 1979 is when they produced that batch of LaScala's. 200? maybe? Maybe not. I think that what the factory told me was likely correct. Interestingly...., My LaScala's are 22T403 & 413. I know the cabinets were assembled in late June of 1979 because there is a date, in pencil, written inside the bass bin. So,.. I know they made at least 413 of them in 1979... One of my Klipschorn pairs has the serial 15T252 & 668. These were ordered as a pair from Klipsch by the berlin audio club in November of 1978, and delivered in January of 1979 (I was there and drooling at them for several months...). Because of the numbers "spread", I think that the first two digits probably related to the production run, rather than a week in a year. Also, does anyone have Klipschorn's, LaScala's, Cornwalls, Heresy's from 1979 that have a FIRST digit of anything other than #2; example 2XTXXXX? That might answer some historical questions.

There is another possible dampening option; Find a "soft" dive weight, about 3 or 4 pounds or so.... they are in soft "pouches". Place it, to start with, about 1/3 of the way up the horn towards the throat. Put a rubber grommet between the rear brace bolt and the horn to isolate it further. That will kill it off. I tested it temporarily taped to a spare 400, and it does not "ring" anymore. Cheap ($2.00 maybe), quick, and can obviously be easily removed. Even slapped a couple on my 400's around the house just to see how it works. Can't really hear any difference because my ears are too old and probably worn out from gunfire, screams of pain from my kids, etc. and being hit in the head way too much when I was an idiot (still am, but learned to duck...), but... I think I detected a slight bit more "smoothness" in the LaScala's. Used a "known quantity" vocal track to test that.

Would that be: www.psp-inc.com ?

Welcome to the Forum!! Correct, Bob's really, really good with crossovers, "fixin" the tweeters (and other drivers!). Many, many very well qualified people on the forum to give you a hand and good advice on most anything related. PS. Keep the AU stuff!! (see my profile).

Beautiful work! You have a PM in a few minutes.

Old tire innertube? Wash it well, cut it round and round until its a single 1/2" wide strip, but about 20' long... wrap it around, cut of the excess, and secure it at the driver end with a cable tie/wire tie wrap? You could also start at the driver end and double up layers towards the middle of the throat.

I'd love to see a Klipsch commercial; Let's go with a James Bond kinda' guy. Walks in, couple of jiggly babes on either arm; walks over and turns up the Klipschorn's; winks, fade-out. The Geico guy's voice.... "Klipsch - The ultimate in the listening Experience"....[H] Bashing? When you are on the moral "high ground", you don't bash, you "pontificate".....[D] I'll give my daughter (and her cretinous boyfriends...) credit.... They had heard Bose, then they heard Klipsch; Small victories for the cause... Veni, Vidi, Vici. [6]

I would not seal it with putty... It will harden, likely crack and leak over time, and be a mess later; IMHO use a 1/32" thick piece of neoprene as a gasket to take up any "slack" on the motor board face... Another "blueprinting" trick is to "plane" that motor board face with say about 1/128" depth with a good planer, or a sanding block with say about 180 grit. Just enough to give your gasket a fresh face and some "grip". Please Post the results on what you find on the flange face; I'm personally very interested about that flange surface and it's "straightness" or "plane". I'm also wondering about the throat centerline being "perfectly" perpendicular to the flange. Could maybe be a key to the unexplained resonance that some have, while other's don't.

I've got a Nikon D1 that I'll let go for $550, includes a nice new 500mb f-card, LCD & lens ring caps, and a good Nikon battery. I'm original owner; don't use it that much, as I have a D1X, a Nikonos-V, and couple of "Coolpix" for work stuff. Go to keh.com and get a MH-16 charger (I only have one and I need it for the X), a 35-70 AF lens and you're in business.... It's reliable, great images, workhorse and a good entry level before going to the newer D's. PS. It's big and impressive!!![6]

I read (and re-read...) the interview. IMHO, Mr. Klipsch makes a very strong statement for the Heritage (and by default, the RF series) which, to me, translates: "They are getting more popular again so we're gonna keep making them for the forseable future". S&A may probably/possibly have edited the interview for length and it's likely that Mr. Klipsch may have clarified further on the "why" of targeting certain segments, but since the S&A editors probably needed a certain length, they went for the "key" statements, rather than explanations; thus the article "hit the street" as we read it. That being said, it would seem to me as Klipsch is going to go after the market that currently Bose (and others...) cater to, it will be an interesting "war". Klipsch should eventually either win, or carve out a very solid chunk of it, by virtue of quality in construction, technology, and their ability to adapt to the different "unwashed masses" listening environments. Bose thinks numbers; I believe Klipsch thinks quality which = "repeat customers".... Think of it this way; Joe Sixpack walks into "Electro-City"; instead of just the Bose, he now hears Klipsch in various incarnations. He decides... Walks out with a reasonably priced Klipsch system. Can Klipsch do it cheaper than Bose? - I think so at least at the "entry level" versions of the "whole house" HT, etc. system. But in that bag with the receipt.... (or better still, inside the boxes...) is a "down to earth", "plain talk" brochure on the Heritage and Reference Series.... Get's Joe Sixpack thinking!!.... "Wow, if this sounds this good, I wonder....". Marketing is a funny thing. You gotta be aggressive, and if you want to stay in business, you gotta' go after the markets... I know... I write competitive grants. You gotta' sell the folks with the money that your idea for getting their "free money" is better that everyone else's... The hardest thing to do when you're in tight competition with others in the same business is to think outside the "box". I remember when I first ran across Klipsch in 1971, and being the unsophisticated, underpaid GI...., I went after JBL, AR, etc. The Klipsch were there, but the salesman in the PX and Audio club was getting a vendor commission for the other stuff. How do I know; I did a part time gig in the Audio Club in Berlin while off duty (to raise more money for that first pair of Klipschorns..) and the Marantz and Bose vendor folks were blunt about it: "Sell a customer a Marantz or a pair of 901's, and you get 5%"". The target market for Klipsch back in the day was not really us at that age; it was the more mature (older...?) afficionado who had an understanding of what Klipsch designs really were! But times are a changin' as Bob said.... At the early age of life, we tend to concentrate on SPL; music is often nothing more than a tool in the social world to have fun, etc (let's not go there...).... I say, give it to them, but lay in the seed for when that desire for SPL is overtaken by common sense, and let's not forget "furniture, decor, and real high quality sound", that comes with age, income, WAF, etc. Besides, and is a good example, my daughter thinks this way, "daddy, my iPod and headphones sounds better than those old Klipschorns or whatever you call them that you put in my room and take up so much space" (footprints are important to the unwashed masses!!)...[:S] We do need to work on that. She's grown up with nothing but Heritage stuff around our home, but that's not important to her. Her friends (she's almost 16) came over a while ago and I entertained them (cast the pearls before the swine...) with K'horns & LaScala's. They were amazed, but.... their questions related to money, footprint and portability! GM did it right with the Corvette. Sell them a Nova or a Camaro, make sure it has a 396 and a 4 speed, but make sure they have to walk past the Vette to get to the Camaro (and pause along the way...). They still make the Corvette.... Suggestion for Amy and the Klipsch Crew? What about a post from Mr. Klipsch for all of us older "fanatics" that outlines where the hardcore Klipsch group figures in the grand scheme, and what we can expect in the next few years. It would be interesting! BTW, my daughter really wants one those Klipsch iPod "thingies"....[G] Well, there goes another pair of Heresy's out the door to fund that request... [6]

Arky, thanks for the kind comments; No more of my rebuilt Heresy's are going on eBay unless I get really desperate; too many problems with alleged buyers.... Not worth the shipping hassles, the eBay fees, the outrageous Paypal fees, etc. Generally they are for people and friends who've asked me to "cut a pair" for them. I always cut two sets of panels, driver board's, so any extras.... I'll put them on the Forum. eBay's a great place to visit for certain things, but it's a zoo out there.

I first heard the DX on a Cornwall or LaScala horn at Bob Crites' shop in December. He's doing some testing and experiments. It sounded very good, and to me, as clear and "full" as the 55's. Bob explained that the DX has the necessary frequency response, but would require an attenuator for use in K'horns, etc. The best person to describe it's properties, and the ways it could be used would be Bob Crites. I took "notes" for how I might use it for my K'horns and LaScala's and also for Heresy's. Last week, I obtained 2 of them and started experimenting on K's and L's.... By itself, with no crossover mods to the Bob Crites A/AA crossovers in the Klipschorns and LaScalas, and only with the required attenuator attached, it sounds quite "clear". I tested them first in the LaScala's. Bright, but less "tinny" than the 55's at the top end. With Bob Crites CT-125, however, because the CT-125 has a wider range, the effect was a very bright mid & highs, but maybe still a little strong. I put in the Bob Crites' A/4500 crossover's with the DX's and the CT-125's, and the result is now very balanced, more defined vocals, etc. That being said, I moved the crossover, the DX's and the CT's to a pair of KC-BB's with Bob's CT-1526 woofers (one of the old, old, K-33's had finally "retired"...). The combination is still very, very clear; coupled with the good bass from Bob's woofers, there seems to be more "stage presence", "depth of field". Almost easier to isolate the performers. I compared this to a pair of KB's with the type AK3 crossovers, and very similar. It's sorta' apples vs oranges, and I like both. Not being the tech person I'd like to be (I read the forum everyday, read everything I can get my hands on, and eventually I'll understand more), the crossover has alot to do with it. The DX really rolls off fast. The A/4500 takes advantage of that when coupled with the CT-125 tweeter. I describe it as a poor man's extreme slope... It's not perhaps necessary, but per Bob, the DX works really well to a certain point, and the CT-125 has a lower frequency response than the K-77. Caveat: Everyone's ears hear things differently than everyone else to some degree. It might be great for me, but not for someone else. My volume levels are generally not that high. And I listen to alot of classical music. My rooms are "crowded", and I've got kids running all over the house, my wife does not like really loud music, etc. So..... I can only give an opinion on what I've found, and under the conditions I've used them. But..... For the price, it may well be worth the experiment to many folks. Next project is a pair of HBB's that need to be rebuilt.... Bob's CT-125's, Selenium DX's and a pair of new K-24's; with E/4500 crossovers from Bob. That "project" will also involve testing a rear panel with a passive radiator, acoustic baffling, etc. Sort of a work in progress. If it does not pan out, I'll just put the 77's, 55's and standard E crossover back in, standard rear panel, make my notes and drive on...

For the brave experimenter looking for some midrange options.... Get a couple of Selenium D250X ($37.50 each) and an 8 ohm/ 10 watt resistor ($1.38 each) from partsexpress.com. Wire the resistor in the positive lead to the D-250; unscrew the 55, screw on the D-250, hook them up and see what you think. It works best with Bob Crites' CT-125 tweeter and the crossover modified to cut at 4500 Hz. I just got the resistors today and put this experimental setup in my LS's with Bob's A/4500 and CT's, and it sounds very, very good. Very impressed. Note: The 250 is a "hot" driver and needs the resistor.