Ohighway

No I didn't buy them together. #618 circa 1954 came from a local yard sale and #1069 circa 1956 from an "off ebay" ad from a lady near NYC. Interestingly Klipsch still has some records for these older speakers. Per their records they told me when 618 shipped out, and to what store. (They also told me #619 shipped the same day to the same store, and was identical to 618, though that was way before "stereo".) On 1069 they had the name of the person it was shipped to, and the store they'd bought it from. I'm having fun with these. I've posted updates to crossovers elsewhere on this site.

And here's the re-capped #1069 crossover.

Got my crossover capacitors from Parts Express in the mail Thursday, and attacked the crossover for #618. Opted for the Solens as they seem to have a good reputation, but aren't horribly expensive. Basically I bypassed the old oil capacitors, but left hem in place on the boards. I can't say I notice a huge difference in sound, but then again I'm told that the newer film capacitors need some break in time. We'll see.... Now, on to giving the crossover on #1069 the same treatment.

Yes it was Steve. Nice that he could put his hands on whatever information they'd logged back in 1954. I doubt many other speaker companies ( maybe none) would have records going that far back. Interesting thing about record keeping. There was more detail logged for my 1954 speaker than for the 1956.

Bill, I don't think 617 and 618 are generic numbers used for various assemblies. I'm talking serial numbers for specific complete speakers. I'll use my Klipschorn 1069 as an example. The serial number 1069 appears on the factory tag located on the bass bin. 1069 is also stamped in the wood of the bass bin, and also appears stamped in the wood on the top hat. Additionally, 1069 is written in pencil on the squaker tag. All numbers match on that unit. On my Klipschorn serial #618 ...... the number 618 appears on the tag mounted on the bass bin, and is also stamped on the wood on the bass bin. However, on the top hat the number 617 is stamped in the wood, and the number 617 appears in pencil on the squaker tag. It's as if Klipsch mixed up parts between Klipschorn #617 and #618.

All, has anyone out there in Klipschland had the experience of numbers not matching on a speaker? I recently resurrected Klipschorn #618 from my garage. Well #618 is what the tag says anyway. After giving the speaker a thorough dusting off, wipedown, etc. I noticed something peculiar. The tag on the bass bin says 618, and the number 618 is stamped in the wood on the bass bin. However on the top hat any wood sections that have a number stamp say 617. Ditto pencil markings on the squaker tag......617. I've been around audio equipment for a number of years, and I feel like more often than not I can spot something that has been tampered with. It doesn't appear to be the case here. The finish is identical and consistent throughout the speaker. So what gives? Probably a long shot, but if anyone owns the Klipschorn tagged #617 I'd like to hear from you.... just to help solve this mystery. I'll even extend that to 619 as (according to tech support at Klipsch) 618 and 619 were shipped to the same place at the same time. 617 was shipped at a different time. I guess the point I'm making is that per Klipsch records, 617, 618, and 619 were all shipped, so they're all accounted for. ( as opposed to maybe one getting damaged at Klipsch and the remaining parts just being shoved into other Klipschorns.) Let me know what you think.

Technically speaking my first experience with Klipsch wasn't with one of the speakers, but a publication describing various audio equipment at the time, .........around 1974, 1975. Along with many other speakers, the Klipschorn was described in some detail. It was pretty apparent from both the description and pictures that it was something special, and definitely stood apart from most other speakers. I found it intriguing. During that period of time I really didn't have any money, nor a place for large speakers, so.............nothing. I just lived with some decent equipment, turntable, receiver, and bookshelf type speakers for many years. Fast forward to 1996. I got the bug to hunt down some replacement tubes for a couple old radios that I owned. That in turn led to being exposed to, and subsequently acquiring some vintage audio equipment. In 1999 I went to a local garage sale touting old audio equipment. I quickly grabbed a few goodies. Fisher 50c preamps, Dynaco ST70 and MKIV power amps, and other various items. After paying for the items I asked the person who was having the sale if they had any other equipment laying around. I was taken to a room in a basement, and there in front of me was a dusty, dirty Klipschorn. We struck a deal. Came back a few days later with my truck, and my wife and two of her girlfriends got the beast loaded up, taken to our house, then unloaded in the garage. I ran a quick check on the speaker and it sounded good, but was lacking in high frequency output. And then.......nothing. The speaker sat in my garage. About a year later I had a chance to pick up another Klipschorn of a similar vintage, and it too just sat in the garage. I now had two but realistically nowhere to put them Fast forward again to 2006. After a couple years of discussions and discarded designs, my wife and I finally add on to our house. One thing I insist on is having a large family room. By 2007 the room is inhabitable, but it isn't until Jan. 2009 that it's finally carpeted, and has new furniture in place. I go out in my garage to retrieve a file cabinet to put in my home office area, and .............there they are. Virtually forgotten. "NO MORE" I say. I've got a new family room with two corners just SCREAMING to be filled. So I have my son help me get one into the house. I knock off the cobwebs, wipe and vacuum off the dust, hit it with a little furniture polish,then into the corner it goes. For two days I listen and am beginning to get excited. This thing sounds good. So next..... I get my wife and boys to help haul in the second. It gets the same treatment and into the opposite corner it goes. I scab on an auxiliary crossover and tweeter on the one with no HF output. I spend the next two days planted in front of these for hours on end listening. THAT'S what got me hooked!

Well I darned well wish you would have told me that BEFORE I epoxied them to the walls ![:|] What area of the country are you in? What brings you to Klipsch land?

It wouldn't be so bad if they were using Hospital Grade receptacles. But Nooooo. They need the ones that are "audiophile" grade and probably cost 5 to 10 times more than the Hospital Grade receptacles. Oh and then there's the record clamp made from Jojo-somethingoranother wood. ( I call it baloney wood) and that has a genuine gemstone embedded in it that is supposed to magically "drain" away vibrations. I wish I was kidding about this but I'm not. A friend of mine was seriously considering buying one of these............. What are they thinking?? (or drinking?) Well hey, nice chatting but gotta' go. I need to go put some spikes under my record mat, and maybe some cones under the "on/off" switch on my turntable.

You got that right brother. They spend outrageous amounts of money to put spikes and cones under everything................ and I mean everything. The one that really gets me is the $150++ wall receptacles. Pure magic I'm sure.......NOT!! Probably put spikes under those too...

Thank you kind sir. I think it's those klunky old mismatched speakers that really pull it together !! []

UPDATE: I took the original 1uF oil capacitor that feeds the tweeter out of the circuit. I replaced it ( for the present time until I get better components) with a Radio Shack 1uF metal film capacitor. Problem solved. High Frequency output has now returned to #618. I'll be ordering all new capacitors for the crossovers on 618 and 1069. I'd like to thank Bob Crites for explaining ESR, Equivalent Series Resistance (in capacitors) to me. My old capacitor tested ok for capacitance value, yet there was an extremely small amount of signal coming through. ESR would explain that. I'm not sure I'm real happy with the Mid-T tweeters. Wondering if anyone ever tried University HF-206 tweeters in their place?? Any other tweeters that have the small thread to screw into the horn? (looks like about 7/8" ??) Oh, and I'd also like to thank Steve Phillips at Klipsch for looking up and passing on the information they had on record for my two speakers.

Thanks for that input. That looks like my crossover, though it doesn't have any identification plate on it. Ok, I'll bite..... what's with the red line?

Capacitor that feeds the tweeter.

Pic of crossover network.