Mr. Widget

They are not showing or mentioning the scratches on the top of one, the sides of both, or the dings in the front edge of the veneer... overall they are in average to slightly above average condition for their vintage. $2500 may be a good price, but I wouldn't have paid it. Regardless... hopefully they'll find a new home and make someone very happy. Widget

No, I'll see if I can find out. The auction is primarily a for the trade only sort of thing... it is not on line. Widget

Oh well... I was out bid by a local antiques dealer. I suppose they'll get a quick polish and be put on eBay or Craig's List. I really don't have the right room for them anyway, but it would have been fun to try to restore the finish and bask in their beauty. Widget

I guess '82 was a good year for Klipschorns in BRL. Here is an image I snagged from this site sometime back. The most beautiful Klipschorns I ever saw in person were some done up in Macassar Ebony... they were a demo pair at a local dealer... he would not sell them at any price. Widget

I am certain based on Frzn's post that these are pau ferro. This is the only species of "rosewood" that you can get these days. The Brazilian rosewood that used to be available hasn't been exported in lumber or veneer form since the mid '80s. That said, with all of these exotics, the grain patterns do vary quite a bit. I am hoping that Michael's suggestion that the lacquer yellowing may also be a contributing factor. I dropped by the auction house this morning to put in an absentee bid. They looked even better in person than I had remembered. Fingers crossed. Widget

I guess I didn't read your post as carefully as I should have initially. So apparently even back in 1977 Klipsch was using pau ferro as well as genuine rosewood. That might explain the fading. When new both woods can look pretty similar though pau ferro which is also called South American Rosewood, Bolivian Rosewood, and sometimes just rosewood is typically not as wildly striped with the classic fine black lines woven through the wood and while it can be red I have seen quite a few examples fade significantly with time. This post was exactly what I was after... I knew there would be a Klipsch expert here who could help me sort through this... still, these are really quite nice... I only have a couple of hours to decide if I want to bid on them... I know I want to, but then I also know I shouldn't. Thanks for the help. Widget

These images look on my computer very close to the way they looked in person... and far from old rosewood veneer samples that I still have and far from my memory of the rosewood Klipschorns I saw 30+ years ago. Widget

Second image

These are definitely rosewood. See pics... I agree pics can be misleading, but I have worked with Brazilian Rosewood and I remember Klipsch using some excellent examples of the stuff back in the '70s. I have to believe that these were significantly different looking when new. These are at a local estate auction and I am tempted to bid on these and refinish them even though I have no need for yet another pair of speakers. That said, they will likely go for more than I am willing to pay and besides that I'd prefer to avoid putting my marriage on the rocks again for some beautiful speakers. Widget

Thanks for the input... I am a regular over at another discussion forum and folks there can get quite testy towards "What is this worth?" posts from newbies. The main thrust of my inquiry though was about the wood. Does anyone know why some rosewood speakers stay red and others turn brown and will refinishing them possibly return some of the original color? I remember seeing these when Brazilian Rosewood was available and they were simply amazing looking... this pair is nice, but not quite so amazing. Widget

I have a few questions about these rare beauties. I have recently seen a pair that might be available and was wondering why the rosewood of this pair has turned medium to light brown somewhat in the color range of Teak. They are RL (lacquered rosewood) and the grain is certainly rosewood, but they are no longer that deep red color that I am sure they were when new. I have seen photos posted on line of other vintage rosewood Klipschorns that are similar in color, but others are still the deep red color. Is this lacquer vs. oil? Is it due to the amount of sun they were exposed to? These are from 1977, so I am sure they are genuine Brazilian Rosewood and not the Pau Ferro that is used these days and called rosewood. Would it reduce their value if the lacquer was stripped and they were refinished in oil? There are numerous light scratches in the lacquer but the wood below seems fine. The hope would also be that sanding the wood lightly might bring back the color. Anyone have experience in this area? Finally, these are not mine... what would be a fair price to offer? They seem to be in average condition... used, but not abused. Thanks for any input. Widget

I have to agree about it's usefulness (or lack thereof) in the reproduction of music... for HT one could make an argument for it... but in the demo playing several DVDs it became obvious that the mixing engineers didn't have subs that were flat down to 5Hz so they crank up the deep bass so that lesser subs will shake the room to great effect over the frequencies that they do cover. The end result was peculiar sounding at best and down right nauseating at worst... hearing a shotgun blast where he deep resonate shock wave was louder than the initial crack just sounded wrong. It wasn't that the Fan Sub is wrong or exaggerated... it is simply accurately reproducing the soundtrack that was mixed on a system with a roll off below 20-25Hz. Widget

Looking for the ultimate subwoofer? I saw, heard and felt, the Eminent Technology Model 17 Rotary subwoofer at CEDIA last September. The damn thing looks like a fancy room fan. It is essentially a fan that has a woofer voice coil on it and as the coil moves back and forth it changes the pitch of the blades... the result is bass from around 1 Hz up to 30Hz... it has a sensitivity of 94 db/watt at 10Hz. When they demonstrated the subwoofer with a sinewave generator, the entire room was excited numerous times... the drop ceiling was bouncing up and down a couple of inches, the DLP projector that was ceiling mounted was swaying back and forth... the closed door to the room vibrated violently on it's hinges... we heard/felt 4Hz like you've never experienced it! http://www.eminent-tech.com/RWbrochure.htm Widget

I wish... heck, I'd be thrilled to have those digs! I am afraid my system is a TAD more humble.[] Widget

The bar is high... have you heard these AvantGarde subs? I think you should go for it! Widget