kumayama

I applaud Arktype for his post, and applaud Klipsch for having allowed such an open discussion in this section of the forum. I too am disturbed by the tone of Mr. Hunter's comments, as delivered through Amy. Arktype and Al have presented a strong case for why those comments have struck a nerve in some of us. I'd like to comment on another aspect of the remarks that simply seems to overlook a bit of Klipschorn development history, a history that involves changes in the Klipschorn design that it seems (at least to me) came from my own early modifications. I've never talked about this on this or any other forum before, but when I read a sentence from Mr. Hunter like "While we allow suggestions to be made on this forum and certainly want to foster creative freedom, we neither condone nor approve of any "improvements to our design, and stand firm in believing our designs are the best they can be (until proven otherwise)" I am disturbed at the lack of acknowledgment that Klipsch has learned from owner improvements and previously has used that knowledge to modify, and presumably improve, its designs. So I hope you'll indulge me in this little bit of history. I bought my first Klipschorn in 1970, bought a second pair in 1973, and a few years later bought a Belle. They were used with Audio Research equipment until 1980 when I met a young electrical engineer by the name of Carl Staub. Carl helped me improve my Audio Research pre-amp, which led to us to other audio projects. We were some of the first people to be involved in modifying the new Hafler amplifiers for improved performance. At that time P. Woody Jackson was the Klipsch rep for the Western States. He was interested in us modifying a Hafler for him, and though he lived at the time in Santa Cruz, he spent quite a bit of time over at my house in Carson City, Nevada listening to my Klipsch system and talking audio. He would often rather enthusiastically comment that my system was the very best Klipsch system he had heard, and how much of the increased realism seemed independent of the amplifiers we switched between. Between 1976 and 1981 I had made quite a number of modifications to my Klipschorns and Belle, most of which none of us (Carl, Woody and myself) were aware of having been applied to any Klipsch product previously. I may have been the first to enclose the backs with sheet lead lined plywood, mount the horns to the front of the panel, and I know that Woody was unaware of anyone else having modified the crossover design and upgrading its components to polypropylene capacitors, large gauge air coil inductors and the like. I showed these all to Woody and gave him the explicit instructions on making these modifications to the speakers. Carl and I made for him new crossovers for his Cornwalls as well as modifying his Hafler. There were many other modifications I showed Woody, including our early efforts at dealing with the time delay, but these were the one's he was most interested in applying to his own speakers and he told me he was taking these modifications to the factory. In the next couple of years I went off to become a neuropsychologist and Woody went on to become National Sales Manager for Klipsch. Interestingly, at this same time Klipsch made changes in its (now) Heritage line that closely followed on several of the modifications I had shown and provided to Woody. In 1988 Woody became President of Klipsch and Associates and continued in that role throughout the 90s. Now I have no idea if Woody ever explained to Klipsch where these ideas came from--and just maybe they were being developed coincidentally at Klipsch at the same time I was making them available to Woody, but the changes in the production models did occur, and within a couple of years after Woody became aware of them. I haven't felt there was any point in commenting on this for over 25 years, but in the context of my knowledge, Mr. Hunter's remarks were particularly grating. I suspect my early modifications are not the only one's that were translated into factory production changes. To imply that modifications are not to be taken seriously if they don't arise from the Klipsch engineering staff simply does not jibe with my own understanding of Klipsch history. Lyn J. Mangiameli

The Formby's finish (which you correctly identify as a varnish) is a well known and fairly respectable wipe or brush on finish. Like most varnishes, it creates a film that will be resistant to dirt and water, thus giving much more protection than the raw finish. However, if you don't like it, it is somewhat difficult to remove. If it were me, I'd first just wipe down the surface of the wood with some mineral spirits. While still wet, it will give you a good idea of what the grain will look like with an oil or varnish, and in the process provide a light cleaning. If you like the look given by the mineral spirits wash, I'd personally start with wiping on a thin coat of polymerized tung oil (not a varnish) that will surely bring out the grain and provide a very modest level of protection. (BTW, a good mail order source of polymerized tung oil is Lee Valley). The first light coat or two of PTO, especially if you cut it 50% with mineral spirits, will largely soak into the wood, but can be removed without too much trouble (far easier than a varnish) should you wish to reverse things. Should you like the tung oil look (I do), you can build more coats of PTO over time, to build the classic oiled finish, or you can wipe on a thin coat of your Formby's varnish. The key to a good finish with either of these is to wipe on very thin coats with a lot of drying time between them. Hope this helps. If you want to research this for yourself, I'd recommend obtaining or borrowing a wood finish book by either Bob Flexner or Jeff Jewitt (available through Amazon, and likely your library). Both authors provide some of the best books on wood finishing for amateurs and will give you a lot on information that will allow you to decide between the different kinds of finishes and finish techniques.

There are a number of books on woodworking finishes that you can get online or through your library. Both Jeff Jewitt and Bob Flexner have excellent books on the subject that will allow you to make a very informed decision. I have a lot of experience finishing furniture and woodturnings, as well as my Klipschorns, and recommend prepolymerized tung oil. It is easy to put on. It offers a lot more protection than any nondrying oil like lemon oil. It will not yellow or darken as much as boiled linseed oil will over time. A good source available online is from Lee Valley.

Bruce, Love the organ pipe in the corner. Is there a story that goes with it?

About 25 years ago I had a friend who owned a body shop paint my midrange and tweeter horns. He first smoothed them of the sand cast and mold marks (these were the aluminum horns) with sand paper, filled all the irregularities with body filler, then cleaned them, and finally sprayed them with gloss black epoxy paint. Before reinstallation I wrapped their exterior with mortite and used a couple of cans of satin finish black paint over the Mortite (which makes it very easy to touch up if this is ever required). They were then front mounted to the original baffle (a little router and file work was required on the baffle) which had been been covered in black felt on the outside. Then everything was covered with the stock grill cloth. The baffle and entire cabinets both upper and lower had a layer of 1/8 inch sheet lead laminated to them. From the outside, there was no evidence any of this At the time I thought it made a considerable sonic improvement, and looked nice visually as well. Since several things were done at once, it's hard to know to what to attribute the sonic improvements. Alas, the two Klipshorns and center Belle were lost in a forest fire about five years later. Anyway, regardless of any actual sonic differences, I think you will find the outcome satisfying (assuming you have aluminum horns), if you sand, fill and prep the surfaces as if they were autobody surfaces, then spray with epoxy, which should last forever. I suppose too, if you wanted to be really high tech, you also could have them powder coated, but I'd ask around first if their was any chance the heat involved in the powder coating process could result in any warping of the horn.