triceratops

I don't have them anymore, but over the years I've owned a couple pairs of Cornwalls in Walnut Raw (WR) and a single Klipschorn in Mahogany Raw (MR). In the 60's and 70's there was apparently a Klipsch dealer in Portland, Oregon who ordered some speakers in unfinished hardwood veneers to save customers money. I have some old price sheets around that I'll try to dig out that show what the savings were. It was significant, not as great a bargain as Birch Raw, but a good savings over Walnut Oil. It also gave owners the opportunity to personally finish their speakers in a way they liked. The Mahogany Klipschorn I had was finished by the owner in a homebrew Prima Vera (bleached) finish. Forum members who are guitarists might recognize Prima Vera as similar to the "TV Yellow" finish of slab body mahogany Gibson Les Paul Specials from around 1960--which interestingly was about when the speaker was made.

You're correct, I overstated my point. I retract "none will ever" and will leave up my original post so I remain responsible for putting that statement out there. My apologies. It is possible for a talented, dedicated woodworker to build a Klipschorn with the same or better precision as someone who has experience building many of them over a period of years at the Klipsch factory. I do think that is unlikely, but it could happen. You are correct. As I said above, I overstated my point. My apologies. Even though you have a beautifully-built pair of factory Speakerlab-K's, I would still have reservations about encouraging others to try and find a pair like yours. My biggest gripe is with the seller who advertises Speakerlab K's as Klipschorns and says the labels fell off.

Not trying to beat a dead horse, but I think the most important point is not which generation of Speakerlab K's these are. The most important point is that these were not built by Klipsch and they are NOT Klipschorns. Many of these Speakerlab K's were built with knock-down kits made of particleboard. Those kits were built with widely varying degrees of competence by audio hobbyists, but none will ever be built with the precision or structural integrity of a real Klipschorn, even the Speakerlab K's that were assembled by the Speakerlab factory. Because Speakerlab was a Seattle company, we see many of these in the Pacific Northwest, and about half the time the sellers advertise them as Klipschorns and THAT pisses me off!

Welcome to the Forum! Congrats on a great score of some very rare speakers.

Welcome to the Forum! Congrats on a great score of some very rare speakers.

Thanks Indy! I received the email and replied--hopefully you received it. I really appreciate your informative contributions to this Forum!

Hi Indyklotz--thanks for the reply! I'd love to see more photos whenever you have time. I have CF-4's and the idea of making stands strong enough to support them is daunting for me. But hopefully I will pick up some tips from your photos. I'll send you a pm with my email in case that is easier than posting multiple photos on the forum. It's amazing to me that the bass was louder with spikes, even with the speaker so far off the ground! -triceratops

Thanks, Shiva--appreciate your help! I didn't notice that detail until you pointed it out. Seems like a good design for the stands. I wish I could hear them!

Hey Indyklotz, What kind of stands are you using for the Epics? Are they homebrew or manufactured? How tall are the stands? Nice music room! triceratops

Pats, I finally found my parts and sent you a pm.

Congrats on a quick sale, wganzer! You can edit the title of the original post to say "sold" I hope someone on the Forum scored.

it is possible to "touch-up" a bubble like that, because the bubble doesn't intersect with any of the labeling. Somebody said you can carefully scrape the paint off the bubble and then fill it in with fresh black paint. It may not be a perfect solution, but it could make the blemish less obvious. It appears there are a lot of empty screw holes in this amp. IMHO it's usually a good idea to button things up after exploring the guts.

The ad says "call for info" but no phone number is posted?

Dear Snorkel, As Iteachstem said, the term "squawker" describes a midrange device. Since it fills in the audio spectrum between the "woofer" and the "tweeter", Paul W. Klipsch thought "squawker" was a better word to use with those whimsical terms. Although I never had the privilege to meet PWK, it seems clear that his sense of humor was right up there with his technical brilliance.

These are now posted as sold

The Craigslist ad is now deleted. I hope someone on here got them!

Hey Bobcat, Congratulations! Those 1st generation RF-7's are really great speakers. I had a set a while back, then my son used them for a while, then they eventually got sold to a family friend--so I get to visit them regularly, and still love them. The bolt-on plastic outriggers for the spikes are fragile, so threat them gently. The other weak spot is the grille attachment pins, so be careful not to stress the grilles when moving them. Best to have a friend help if you ever need to move the speakers from room to room. I think the threaded receptacles on the outriggers you identified are 1/4 x 20 thread, but check to be sure. I personally don't like spikes (we have hardwood floors) so I put screw-in appliance feet on mine from the local True Value hardware store. Then I put stick-on felt pads on the appliance feet to allow sliding them around for fine tuning the position. A lot of folks prefer spikes, and forum member Woofers and Tweeters has identified some really nice and relatively inexpensive spikes that are available from Parts Express. They come with a little metal floor protector to use if you have hardwood floors. I don't have the link right now, but if you browse the Parts Express website you'll find them. I had the same concern as you about the "free-range" acoustic foam floating around inside the cabinet, and received the same reassurances not to worry about it! Just look at it as another thing, like speaker position, that you can play with to get them dialed in to your tastes! Have fun! triceratops

The ad was taken down from Facebook Marketplace yesterday, so I suspect they are already sold.

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave...

If we're talking reasonably-priced, vintage tube integrated amps that play well with Klipsch, there are lots of Scott enthusiasts on here. The Eico HF-81 integrated also has its fans. Search the 2-channel forum for more information.

Mighty McIntosh, I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer to the question about the K52K driver. However, I want to remind you that the graph you posted is an impedance graph relative to frequency, not a dB graph relative to frequency. So this does not represent a spike in 2K volume. It's true that impedance variation does present a more difficult load for the amp, but it is quite common for impedance graphs to be erratic like the AA example you posted. An Al K. crossover is a significant expense, which I do not think you should undertake until you first hear the speakers in their original design. Please, please, please have the drivers tested before you spend money that you may not need to spend. One should always go slowly and methodically with updates and upgrades. It helps to look at this as an opportunity to not only diagnose the problem, but also to get a seat-of-the-pants education while you are doing it. Please be patient. I'll bet that Crites can test those drivers and get them back to you quickly. He is a great resource and has helped many of us over the years. Good luck, triceratops

Yes, if Roger shows her cane as an option, he'd better have a source. If he has a source, I'd love to know!

I agree with Tom's observations 100%. I'm not a tech, engineer, or golden ear, but I'll give my 2 cents anyway. Look at the rust on the caps, coils, squawker magnets, etc. If the outside looks like that, what about corrosion inside the voice coils of the squawkers and tweeters? I would ask Crites test those 4 drivers before chasing room treatments. Secondly, I agree with Coytee regarding the McIntosh MC-240. It takes less power to get a painful sound out of Klipschorns than Heresy's, so you're listening to a fraction of the first watt coming out of the MC-240 with the Klipschorns, and it has to be squeaky clean. You're listening with a bigger lens that magnifies every imperfection in the signal. So even though the amp sounded fine with the Heresy's, it still could be contributing to the problems with the Klipschorns. Maybe a helpful forum member lives nearby and they could bring over a substitute amp to find out if that improves the sound.

Here's the link: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/187633-jubilee-k-31-e/&tab=comments#comment-2444078 The part number is #1067961

This thread has gotten pretty confusing because three different people have asked for help dating their Epics. The second one was Epic-Heritage: Although Dave knows more about Epic speakers than I ever will, I think he missed the part in your post where you stated that you had red and black colored wire visible through the ports. So my understanding is that your first guess of version 3 was correct. I'm certainly no expert, so if there is another reason Dave @wvu80 thinks it is not V 3 hopefully he will help me out and clarify. Also nobody bothered to respond to a third request for Epic info, this one from newbie derbygoose, probably because it seemed this thread was finally concluded. Derby, it looks like your serial number is from early 1996, so I think that definitively means Version 3, if I'm reading the Epic dating guide correctly. If I'm wrong, hopefully someone will post a more accurate assessment. I'm apparently trying for the title of OCD posterboy today.