rickriley

Thank you!

Thank you! In the condition they are in, since I can't open the box's up, any idea what you would offer this person for the four?

I had posted this in ‘General Questions’ but wasn’t getting much response, so I’m reposting here. A friend of a friend recently passed away and since I’m the only one my friend knew that had worked on Klipsch speakers (recently restored some Klipschorns) he wanted to know if I’d be interested in what this person had in his garage. Two sets of Cornwalls. Don’t know the date they were made as serial numbers on the newer ones were blacked out and tags for the factory on the older ones were pretty well gone. I don’t need them. I would just be purchasing them to refurbish and sell. When I refurbished the corner horns I bought tweeters, mid-range drivers and crossovers from Bob Crites. I’ve been extremely happy with the performance and would be willing to update these as well, but should I? What I would like to know. · What era are they are from? · What I should pay for the set of four or should I just get two? · What expense I should look at in updates? · What I would get for them on the market? · Is there is even a demand? Thanks in advance for your help!

Any idea what I should offer? Or what they might be worth if refurbished?

Actually, a Garage find. A friend of a friend recently passed away and since I’m the only one my friend knew that had worked on Klipsch speakers (recently restored some Klipschorns) he wanted to know if I’d be interested in what this person had in his garage. Two sets of Cornwalls. Don’t know the date they were made as serial numbers on the newer ones were blacked out and tags for the factory on the older ones were pretty well gone. I don’t need them. I would just be purchasing them to refurbish and sell. When I refurbished the corner horns I bought tweeters, mid-range drivers and crossovers from Bob Crites. I’ve been extremely happy with the performance and would be willing to update these as well. What I would like to know. · What era are they are from? · What I should pay for the set of four or should I just get two? · What expense I should look at in updates? · What I would get for them on the market? · And is there is even a demand? Thanks in advance for your help!

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Busy Christmas season. 320 grit was a good call because there was a lot surface damage to get through. 220 would have been too much and 400 I don't think would have done it. As far as finishing it with 400, 320 on wood ended up as smooth as glass, so that's all I needed.

First, thank you!!! Second, not knowing what I was getting into, I found disassembling the speakers quite easy. A lot of enclosures are glued and sealed permanently in order to maintain integrity. Every piece on the upper midrange / tweeter unit was held together with wood screws only, so I was able to work with each piece of wood on its own, away from the grill cloth and other pieces that were all part of the structure. Once the top assembly was off, the woofer section, as far as refurbishing, is just a large panel of veneer, in my case, walnut. I took off the side grills with two wingnuts each, laid the box flat and it too was easy to work with. The only thing you have to be wary of is the veneer is very thin. I used a Makita random orbital sander with 320 grit Diablo Sandnet discs, which are a new product and IMO, much better than sandpaper. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-5-in-320-Grit-SandNet-Disc-with-Free-Application-Pad-10-Pack-DND050320H10I/301439867 I sanded with long light strokes enough to take off the finish but not go through the veneer, then used two coats of Watco Medium Walnut Danish Oil to finish it off. I was hesitant going into this because these are high value speakers and I wanted to restore them but not screw them up, and since they were already screwed up from storage and a flood, the choice was pretty simple. I found the project was fairly easy and I was very pleased with the outcome. I have the other speaker yet to do, but one down let me know exactly how to handle the second. Hopes that helps someone who may be thinking of doing the same.

Thank you for going to the trouble of taking those apart and providing pictures. Very much appreciated! It appears that those are not the same drivers as mine. This is what I have.

I thought about that and I have the router to do it, but one slip or having the material get into areas that I couldn't vacuum out because the grill material is stretched to tight, would cause another problem I really wouldn't want to tackle. After completely disassembling the first speaker, cleaning out and sanding everything, then restaining and reassembling, I'm pleased with the outcome and I'd like to leave it at that. If someone has any input on solution 1, as you recommended, I'd like to hear it. I'm up for changing the drivers if it won't damage anything, otherwise I will attempt to return these or resell them on eBay. (picture of speaker 1, finished and picture of my original tweeters)

If you wouldn't mind doing that, that would be great!

Good idea. Not sure if the bolt pattern is the same or if the process of changing the driver is as simple as uncoupling one driver and replacing it with the other. Anyone with advice on swapping the K-77-D drivers with my original K-77 tweeters?

I posted recently about my long possessed and recently stored KHorns in a garage that was flooded. The speakers were saved from the actual water, but the humidity along with rodent damage took their toll. So far, the project is going well. However, since I have them apart, I asked advice about updating crossovers, drivers and such. One person recommended I purchase K77F tweeters which he had spotted on eBay, which I did. Unfortunately, upon receiving them I found out the flush mount requires a 4 ½” opening, and on my 1977 Klipschorns, the tweeter opening is only 4 inches. I declined to widen the opening as it looks like the grill cloth was tacked in place with about 100 staples, and pulling them out and restapleing looked like it would do more damage than good. Normally, I would have checked the opening size vs the tweeter size before I made the purchase, but in contacting the seller and noting that I had Khorns, he said they would fit perfectly. Just curious, are these the wrong tweeters for the Kornerhorns or did Klipsch change the tweeter opening along the way? And if so, when? As always, thanks for you knowledge and expertise!

After de-nesting and de-webbing on the outside, the inside looked pretty good and very clean. The cone is not deteriorated at all and the suspension still seems flexible when I press on it. Again, I’m not sure but I may have replaced the woofer in 1987. Maybe those more experienced can tell by the pictures. Considering it’s 30 years later… opinions? Thanks!

When I was 21, I heard Khorns for the first time. When I was 26, I could afford them. For over 35 years they’ve given me more weekends and late nights than I can count. I figure I owe them and I’m going to do my best to pay them back. We’ll see how it goes. 😉

FYI, here's where I am at present.

Your advice is being monitored and I really appreciate your input as I know the depth of knowledge in this forum is great. Sanding out the water stains is a fine line between knowing when to stop vs making them disappear, and it's a little nerve wracking because I don’t want to through the veneer but I figure 320 grit will keep me safe. Not knowing how the enclosures were put together also makes taking them apart a little dicey as I don’t want to reassemble them and have a box that rattles or buzzes, but I’m taking out what I can, repainting the braces and such and sanding all the wood for re-staining, and making everything that I can look new again. I have a nice shop, all the tools and am pretty good with my hands so with a little blues on my shop stereo, I'm enjoying the project. As an aside, I’m going to use Watco Danish Oil to refinish unless there are better suggestions. And if I do use Watco, I presume it will be the ‘Natural Walnut' and not the ‘Dark Walnut’ stain I would use. When I open the Bass section I’ll shoot a picture and share. Again, thanks for ALL your help!!!

This is long so please bear with me. I’m tackling a big project in salvaging my Klipschorns from top to bottom. I wrote two people that I have come to find out produce crossover upgrades. I will start with my email to them and follow with an answer from each. What I’m looking for, is I have NO experience with either of these two shops and hope to run into those who have who can shed some light in which way to go. I sent this to ALK Engineering and Critesspeakers.com. They were both nice enough to reply the following day. Again, I know it’s long and really appreciate your help! ------------- Hello, In searching out new crossovers for my Klipschorns I ran across your website. I bought my speakers in 1977 and have moved them around the country with me. In 1987 I updated the crossovers from Klipsch and have done nothing with them since. Five years ago I moved into a new home where there was no place to place them. I was going to build a room in an outbuilding but that has yet to materialize until now. As you can see from the picture, everything is a mess. The storage garage they were in had a flood and while they were untouched by the water themselves, the humidity did a number on them. And there were rats. I love these speakers and they have served me well and when I put them in storage five years ago they, in my ears, were flawless. Now, about me. I’ve been in radio / audio all my life. I do voiceover work and I deal with sound all day, every day. At 60+ years old, I don’t know how much of my hearing is diminished. I do know that I love audio, clear, clean audio and I get a great deal of enjoyment out of reproduction as close to the source as possible. With that being said, I am going to go through these speakers meticulously, wet sanding the walnut, cleaning out the insides and replacing what needs to be replaced. Some guys are audiophiles beyond what I think they can actually hear and I don’t want to go that route, but I do want to get the most accurate and homogenous sound that I am able to appreciate with these speakers. I know this is a long email. Short answers are fine. With what I’ve described both with what you see and my personal information, what would you recommend. Thanks! Rick Riley ------- Reply from ALK: I am not sure what effect humidity has on a speaker, but it certainly isn't good! In any case, the crossover needs to be upgraded since all Klipsch crossover are poor designs to begin with! The AP12-AK3 and ES5800 is a good choice. You might pop the woofer hatch to see the condition of the woofer driver cone. Humidity might not be so good for a paper cone. I doubt any serious damage to the K55 or K77 though. -------- Reply from Critespeakers.com: Rick, The upgrade you did in 1987 actually created some future problems you would not have had without the upgrade. The upgrade to the AK-3 also made the Khorn essentially non-user serviceable with all connections soldered and with part of the crossover inside the bass bin and the rest visible on the shelf. Originally, the Khorn was made with consideration for easy service with a terminal strip on the crossover and easy to connect terminals on all the drivers. Some of the problems created in the upgrade are not really the fault of Klipsch. They did not know the monster cable they used was poor quality and often after a few years you can see the wires turning green inside the clear insulation. They also did not know that the supplier of the midrange drivers would go bankrupt and no longer supply the drivers or any spare parts like diaphragms to repair them. When that bankruptcy happened, Klipsch went back to the exact same driver you replaced and still uses it even today in the new Khorns. And the AA crossovers you replaced with the AK-3 are still considered by many the best crossovers Klipsch ever built. My recommendations to you would be that you put them back to a condition where any future maintenance is easy again with the following parts. Pair of CT120 tweeters. These new tweeters go all the way to 20khz and are a lot smoother and cleaner sounding than the K-77. The best if the K-77 tweeters can only go up to around 15khz. Pair of Type A crossovers. The type A is a very simple crossover but many consider it the best sounding crossover. It has no tweeter protection and none is needed if you go to the CT120 tweeters. You can read about them here: https://critesspeakers.com/new-tweeter-replacement-for.html Pair of A-55G midrange drivers. These have only about half the distortion of the K-55 drivers and have a smoother frequency response. You can read about this new midrange driver here: https://critesspeakers.com/k-55-replacement-the-new-a.html You could continue to use the K-33E woofers you have if they are working well. If you do want to change them, we have our CW1526C woofers. These have a nice heavy cast aluminum frame and that frame does not drain off any magnet power like the steel frame you have now does and the effect is slightly better performance at the lowest frequencies. Prices would be: Pair of CT120 tweeters $225.00 Pair of Type A crossovers $210.00 Pair of A-55G midrange drivers $350.00 Pair of midrange horn to driver gaskets $2.00 Pair of CW1526C woofers $295.00.

It remains the industry standard and is rock solid for Voice Recording from one studio to another. While 'digitally' it's slow, with two ISDN lines and an ISDN Codec, like the Telos Xstream that I use, voice is transmitted at 128k MP3 and is crystal clear. For internet, I have Comcast Cable with about 125 mb down.

Basically the same thing as a music studio but on smaller scale. Don't need as many tracks or as much room. I use Pro Tools software. Outside of the hardware, everything is digital and with ISDN, I can be recorded in other studios from my studio as well, so if they want to produce off site, my voice can be there even if I can't.

Hi Bruce, I do not. I believe they cater to musicians and I do voiceover. With my new digs I never have the need to do anything outside my studio. Before, on occasion, I used to work with Whitehorse here in Portland, but they're gone now. Tell you what though, if you know Larry, tell him he needs to have someone besides himself narrate the introduction on the website for his studio. Not necessarly, me, but someone other than him. A lot of my work is with the NFL. I've been the commercial / documentary voice for the Minnesota Vikings for the last seven years, narrate features for NFL Films and also do work for the Oakland Raiders as well as numerous college teams. Don't know if it will play, but I've attached a demo. NFLPromo_RickRiley.mp3

Great information. I will spend some time reading the links and digesting it. Thank you very much!!!

I would use a block and wet sand with 400 paper just to see how it goes. Valuable information. Thank you very much!!!

You are correct in that, and thank you! I met her when I did an afternoon radio talk show on WIOD, Miami, the station that broadcast the Miami Dolphins. I would have players as guests throughout the season, but once a year on the season opener, we'd take the show on the road to the stadium. It was then that we'd talk to a number of guests involved with the game, including a couple of the cheerleaders from the new squad. One year, she was one of them. That was 25 years ago.

Correct. The studio is done. Khorns are not appropriate for 'producing' sound. Steve Miller tried that once at Kaye-Smith studios, one of my former employers. Found they were mixing forever as the Khorns were colored in their own way, as the should be, and extremely critical. Khorns are for listening, not producing. Khorns will be on either side of the projection screen, whatever that turns out to be.

Your opinion / suggestions are very much appreciated. To address your concerns, often design is a result of function mitigated with politics. We moved to this home about three years ago. It’s on four acres with two outbuildings. I live with three women. My wife and two daughters. The wife and daughters claimed one of the outbuildings for pets, which now include about 60+ chickens, all named, a mini-horse named dumpling, a sheep named rose and a peacock named Peabody. The other outbuilding I claimed for myself, at least in design. Doing voiceover for a living, the outbuilding was more than a blessing. Being about 100 feet away from the house and even further from the neighbors, with not a minor investment, it became a studio that is a daily pleasure to work in. I also wanted a media room, which is the next project. The left third of the building came about as my wife noted, ‘Well, if you get a studio and a media room, don’t you think I should get a craft room?’ It didn’t matter what I ‘thought’, it was then divided in EQUAL thirds. Please note, that she DESERVES a craft room. She sheers the sheep, dye’s the wool, spins the yarn and knits, well, a number of things. She also has three sewing machines and clothes my daughters as well as just making gifts and such. In fact, we live just outside of Portland, Oregon, and this year one of her friends encouraged her to enter some of her projects in the County Fair. She entered eight. Won six first place blue ribbons and two third place white ribbons. She’s good at what she does. Right now she has a room upstairs in the house and is waiting for her craft room. To say that craft room has a lot of unused space may just get you an unsolicited phone call in order to reassess your opinion. Or as she says, ‘Would you please call him and give him a piece of my mind’. So bottom line, there will be NO unused space and that wall will not move an inch in any direction that would cause that space to diminish. That’s my story and I have no choice but to stick to it. And again, thanks for your input! And FYI, this is a 'before' picture as the previous owner was moving out.