RobBeam

It's even better when you go back the next day (because you obsessed the entire previous night wondering if you had looked for long enough) and find the sequential serial number mate under a stack of furniture in the back probably destined for the junk yard. Minor surface problems but a little better than bozak number one and it refinished pretty nicely I think (photo attached). I'm sure these things sat in someones basement dormant for decades but they sound stunning. I have to excercise a lot of self control to keep from wetting myself every time I look at them. The pix don't really convey it but they're really big. A few inches shorter than my fortes but the fortes look small in comparison overall.

funky driver configuration and one of my socks. If you scroll down in this link they have the description of the design features of the drivers in another model ... if anyone's interested. http://community-2.webtv.net/KerrB/VINTAGETUBEAMPHORN/page7.html

pretty cool crossover

Had a great rummage sale find today. Huge sale they have every year and I was about to leave when I saw this big guy staring out the door of the last building I hadn't been in yet. Called a friend who found a pair for sale for over 1200 online. Since it was a big old speaker they charged me a whopping ten dollars. Picture here and in the posts that follow are before any cleanup but it's actually in really good shape and sounds amazing ... been listening to it with my little adcom setup upstairs set to mono for a couple of yours and really a nice sound. Going to work on a couple of the little finish problems tonight and clean the grunge off the components tonight. Found some info on one of the larger speakers they put out that uses more of the same drivers and they were pretty advanced for the time ... found another link that suggested that PKW had a lot of respect for Rudy Bozak the founder of the company. Anyway, sorry it's a little off topic but I was excited and there just aren't that many places where you can go on about this kind of stuff without people's eyes not rolling back in their heads.

Thanks for the offer Gil but I think I'm set. Have one diaphragm on the way and am going to order another one or two tomorrow as spares ... I have four fortes in my 6.1 setup and nothing I've heard that I want to replace them with so want to make sure I don't have to rely on Klipsch to continue to offer support.

Thanks for the reply Gil ... I'll check but the mid diaphragm and the little pile I have of klipsh memorabilia is a part of a stash we were allowed to grab when the shop I was working part time in college closed down. Thinking I wouldn't still have the instructions. Maybe I'll get lucky and find them or maybe someone on the forum might be able to give us some knowledge here. Anyone? Anyone from Klipsch monitor this board and can give anything a little more specific than 'it might be a day or a year' before the diaphragms are off backorder??

Apologies for the cross post but I'm a desparate man Klipsch was not much help ... more info in my post in the odds and mods section if you happen to have one of these. Thanks in advance Rob

Broke off the wire connections while working on the speaker. Didn't think it would be a big deal ... just call Klipsch and buy a new one but was told they were back ordered and when I asked for a general idea on how long til they'd be available was told 'anywhere from a day to a year'. Not quite the kind of customer service I used to get when I sold Klipsch way back when ... or even when I had to order parts just a few years ago. Guess with PWK not looking over their shoulders any longer customer service isn't as big a priority. Too bad. I could probably repair the one I have ... or more accurately .. I could have someone else repair it but thought I might get lucky here. Might have some old Klipsch stuff for trade .... might even have a spare mid diaphragm (cost a bit more than the tweeter I think) I could trade but I'd have to plug it in to make sure it works. You can post here or email direct at rob@musictoday.com thanks in advance for any help Rob

I think I have someone that would give me 500 if they were sold as a pair so 250 for one + what if anything it would take to get it to the buyer. Still can't decide what I want to do though.

nope ... original version. Sorry.

I have a mismatched set that I'm moving around after changing part of my setup. Both are walnut but completely different grain patterns and slightly different modded crossovers (bought from someone else). Thinking of using one with some sort of support system as a center speaker over my widescreen so I'd have matching mains and center but I'm not at all married to the idea. Just thought I'd test the waters to see if I could get a few $$ for the other if I went with the idea. post here if interested or email rob@rlc.net if you want a faster response. Rob

Thanks from me as well leok. That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. As I try to progress further along the audiophile curve maybe you can keep an eye out for me in my quest for knowledge.

Is lense another term for the actual horn part of the driver? Regardless, all the bits and pieces are the same except for the crossovers. This is not something that I'm particularly worked up about ... just curious. I've upgraded the various parts of my system to the point that I'm hearing some of the differences they talk about in the magazines so curious about the potential tweaks available. Here are the particulars though: I have one set of Fortes that I posted pics of a few weeks back ... last pair of Ebony produced, signed by PKW ... that I've owned since I sold klipsch part time back in college. These are stock. I have a pair that I bought a couple of years ago that are very obviously not the same grain pattern and do not sequential serials so they are mismatched although all the components except for the crossovers are the same. He told me before I bought them they weren't matched so this wasn't a surprise ... he also told me he'd modded the crossovers which is why I opened them up to see how much different they were than stock since I'd already had my ebony's open while refinishing them. I posted three pics but they were only of the two crossovers from the mismatched pairs. The first two were of the same crossover .. the second being a picture of the whole crossover in response to DeanG's post. I haven't spent a lot of time a-b'ing the two sets but spent some time with one of my stock speaks on one channel and one of the modded ones on the other (not ideal but I don't really have the time to get too complicated right now). In my very limited, very unscientific testing the stock speaker seemed to have a little more detail. I realize there could be number of other factors in the different histories of these speakers that could impact their sound and I might try putting one of the modded crossovers in the ebony klipsch to see what that sounds like in the next week or two but I just didn't have time to take everything apart and put them back together again right now. Before I start dedicating some time to spend swapping out caps and doing whatever mods might be available wanted an idea the intended results of some of these mods are and also get educated about the science behind it. Getting additional detail is always a good thing but if a certain mod only provides more warmth or smoothness I wouldn't really be interested because my current combination of source/pre/cables/amp is already incredibly warm and smooth. Can someone explain the science behind why a different cap creates a specific result or is it more a subjective thing because the science is a little to subtle to pin down the exact explanation? Do you really just need to get in and experiment and see what sounds better to your particular ear?

And what's up with this board? Knew that these weren't a matched pair but this is big different than the other three that I have.

Here's the whole pic ... think I might have already decided that I like the stock x-over better but still curious.

Bought a second pair of Fortes from someone here a year or two ago and they had modified the crossover by changing three caps ... I think. Can't remember the name of the person I bought from so if anyone (including him) can tell me what the intended affect of changing these is supposed to be I'd appreciate it. Attached is a pic of the mod'ed crossover. Thanks for any help.

If interested ... from the hand of the man. Top sig is PKW.

Very nice.

Greg, Know this is off topic but I'd love to see a picture of your guitar. I swear I think I remeber seeing a picture of Ebony Khorns once ... wish I'd saved it.

Absolutely sure .... PKW wouldn't lie. Actually had a couple of friends question the wood since I took that picture. A lot of companies describe a wood as being ebony that really is just some blackened wood. Without seeing your guitar the rosewood I've seen has a similar contrast but the grain is completely different. Here's a nicely done sampling of extoic wood veneers. Look at and click on the Macassar Ebony link. http://www.woodveneer.com/exoticveneer.html

jhawk92, It was whenever they stopped offering the exotic finishes ... thinking 84ish. You did a beautiful job on the Belles Cut-Throat ... in the next year or two I want to do a very through refinishing of them which would involve some sanding and but was afraid of screwing up the veneer not knowing what I was doing. Used a 3 step Homer Formby kit that did an amazingly good job considering cost was 17 bucks and about 1.5 hours of my time then drying overnight. Still have enough stuff to do another piece of furniture if I want to as well.

I think God probably has a pair of Ebony Khorns in his basement listening room.

Thanks for the compliments. I was going to school and selling klipsch at a high end store part time when they stopped doing the exotic wood options. I'd always wanted a pair of the ebony fortes and called hem up when I found out they wouldn't be doing the special orders any longer. They had the last pair left and, at my request, took them out of the boxes and put a new inspection sticker on that Paul and the other two inspectors had signed. Gary ... your speakers look great. When I was selling klipsch we had samples .. about 5 x 7 inch ... of the exotics above the door in the listening room. In the small sample size the zebra was completely unimpressive but when you add the real estate it's really lovely (wanted to think of a more manly word but that's the one that first came to mind).

Sorry ... did a stop gap refinish job on my ebony Fortes and wanted to share. Last pair ever produced in Ebony .... inspection stix signed by PWK. Crappy lighting, mediocre camera ... best I could do.

I worked part time at a shop that sold klipsch when I was in college and both the Heresy and kg4 were available. If you like the sound of the kg4 and it has to be either/or (you can't keep both) then make sure you take a listen to the Heresy first before switching. They aren't even close in the way they sound.