HDBRbuilder

I probably built those...face the rear of the speakers, then look at the side panel REAR EDGE to your left, about an inch down from the top...if you see a stamped-in letter "A", then I built them.

Coffee wasn't my main source of caffeine ...when I went onto BP meds...Mountain Dew was!! That's why I actually went thru caffeine withdrawal...at the advice from my doctor! Nowadays it is coffee once each day...then WATER the rest of the day (occasionally supplemented with a few beers or sips of whiskey!!).

I haven't brewed a pot of coffee in about 6 years....just run down to the Kum&Go convenience store and get a 20 ounce cup of their house blend each morning...that's all the caffeine I get nowadays, except for an occassional glass of iced tea at a restaurant with a meal. When I got put on Blood pressure meds in the mid-1990's, I cut out almost all caffeine...actually went thru withdrawal!! Just one large cup of coffee each day and that's normally it!.

I misspelled it...mermite cans....in Bavaria in the winter it got pretty damned cold! Even the water buffalos(water trailers) froze solid every night! Had to put a mo-gas heater under them to thaw out the water! We all carried ESBIT folding solid fuel stoves...so, we would just skim the grease off of the top of the coffee served into oiur canteen cups and fire up the esbit to make it hot again..it still had a few grease globules floating in it tho!

Late Cornwall I models also had three front ports....we changed over to three for the drop-in fronts along with the change--over from the decorators to the CBR models due to more structural strength after built....for the CDBR series the cabinet build provided more than enough structural strength, the additional "vertical strut" between port-holes became necessary for structural integrity of the birch cabinets, so....since all the motor-board panels were the same for all Cornwalls, after the introduction of the CBR build began, they all got the new change.

Ever try ten days of ice cold marmite coffee with congealed grease on top of it while trying to shave with frozen canteen water? Quitcherbirchin….comes to mind!😮

The options for veneers available changed over the years....when yours were built, ebony and rosewood were still very much in the "availability zone" which changed over time as "the powers that were" decided to avoid offering veneers from "declining tropical rainforest" areas...a decision which never made sense to me, anyway...because if they are gonna cut those trees down to make more farmland, then how is not offering the veneers gonna make any difference, anyway? It was what it was!

They have a nematode for killing fire ants.

"raw" meant no finish was applied. Gum "balls-up" when trying to sand it prior to application of a finish...instead of just making a sanding dust, it actually has enough "gum-resin" in its wood fiber to actually create tiny dust balls, which required scraping to completely remove for a finish to be successfully applied...and the gum resins in the fiber don't want to allow a laquer to "stick to them"...or a traditional oil finish to penetrate them! Gum trees are called that because people used to the sap from them to chew just like chicle (the sap from the sapodilla fruit tree) is used for chewing gum.

Actually, wearing the watch on the right hand isn't being "ODD" at all. Many people find that in the jobs they have, it is more comfortable being worn that way...because, for instance, if you have to bend your wrist upwards many times throughout the day, the crown will not dig into your flesh if worn on the right hand, instead of your left hand...especially so if you like your band slightly loose when wearing a watch. As for wearing a watch on your right hand with the watch face on the opposite (down-side) of your wrist, that is also quite often because of job-related reasons...simply to protect the crystal from damage that would more likely occur if the watch was worn on the other side of the wrist. Many Scuba Divers used to get in the habit of wearing their watches on the right wrist also...due to the crown being away from the wrist joint...lessening the possibility of tearing the flesh at the wrist joint....no blood in the water means no chumming of the sharks nearby...plain and simple....and if you are a WORKING diver, then wearing the watch that way becomes a habit, both in and out of the water. Many welders who wear a wristwatch also wear it crystal down on the right wrist...if right-handed...because the tool, as in the torch, etc., is in the right hand while the welding rod/wire is in the left hand...so the watch is better-protected when on the right hand, if right-handed. There are many other instances that are job-related...I even wore my watch on my right wrist when building speakers...to eliminate scratching the veneer when building speakers....because my tools used were in my right hand while my left hand generally handled the box panels, glue blocks, etc....and yes, I generally work right-handed.

PWK was indeed a Mason...a Scottish-Rite Mason. He confided this to me, himself, during a conversation when he was talking about making an upcoming trip to Scotland, with one of his goals of that trip: "I'm a Scottish-Rites Mason and plan to visit where the Scottish-Rite Masons got their start" while on this trip...." I wasn't surprised at all in this about PWK. After all, he was a retired Army Reserve officer, and had probably been a Mason for most, if not all, of his time serving as an Army officer. A huge majority of Army officers are Masons....this was especially common during his time as an officer! As for the Holy Grail...good luck with that! I personally don't think it was ever a term used for a "drinking cup", myself! A "grail" is translated to mean "vessel"...which has many other connotations than just a "drinking vessel". My father was stationed at FT Meade, MD....we lived in Odenton until he retired in 1964 and we moved to Arkansas! As for PWK's wearing more than one watch...he was a PILOT! He needed two watches...one set to GMT, the other set to current time zone he was in....or flying over. Although many pilots opted for multi-dial chronometers for that, it was much easier and more readable to use two watches instead.

Finally made my road-trip to pick-up my Klipsch SW-15 subwoofer purchase from e-bay.....from Jonesboro, AR to Plano, TX ...over 450 miles one-way! The unit is fully-functional, and cosmetically excellent in clear oak finish. The only thing that needs replacing are the feet (currently three un-covered spikes with one covered spike!), and I already have that parts "replacement" covered. The plan is to eventually use this up front with four Heresy speakers and an additional SW-8 in clear oak (which I already have NIB) for use in my "quad" room set-up in my retirement home. I just need to give this new unit a good cleaning before packing it for the up-coming move of all of my stuff! SW-15 subwoofers are getting harder and harder to find in great condition! The power source for this system will be my H/K 900+ quad receiver that I bought new in 1975! Their top-of-the-line for the quad era! It is really a very amazing piece...with built-in CD-4 demodulator!...32 WPC in quad mode! Can anybody say "Back to the Future"??

Actually, Buffalo Milk is a mixed-drink from Catalina...which has also obviously been bastardized by the young crowd as a doorway to alcohol poisoning at parties.😒 My system can't tolerate mixed-drinks well...especially so for the sweet ones!!….I end up loudly advertising "Rory O'Rourke Buick" as I decorate shoes of those around me with whatever was in my stomach prior to drinking!🤢

IIRC, PWK had a closet nearby his living room converted to house his audio equipment at his Hope, AR residence, and there is a pic somewhere of what was in it...you might want to move this post to the "Ask the Historian" section of the forum, because, JRH may have that pic in his archives. Just like any other audio enthusiast, PWK updated his upstream equipment numerous times over the years!! So the answer to your question would ACTUALLY depend upon what time-frame during his life-span you are the most interested in. I would venture to guess that he had Mac amps/pre-amps/tuner, with likely a ReVox 577 reel deck...turntable might have been Empire Troubador 598...at least at one time that is what he had at home, IIRC!

Use of rope caulk was always a waste of time and money, IMHO! The easiest and least expensive "fix" for the metal mid-horns was always that "liquid rubber stuff" like you dip screw-driver handles into in order to insulate the handles from electric shock and such! Since you just need to clean the outside surface of the horn lens...then just take a cheap paint brush and coat the outside of the horns with it! It accomplishes the exact same thing as rope caulk does without all of the hassle and extra added weight of all of that caulk which will eventually come loose anyway!

Actually I REALLY DON 'T WANT TO DO IT...right or any other way...LOL!

1/4 shot Creme de Cacao, dark 1/4 shot Creme de Cacao, white 1/2 shot Kahlua 1 shot Vodka 1/2 shot Cream 1/2 piece Banana 1 sprinkle Nutmeg Fill with Ice 1 splash Whipped cream IOW...a projectile-vomiting contest waiting to happen! Or...at least for ME that would be the result!!

Actually, theses speakers are NOT ones which Vitavox "built under license"...they just have Vitavox drivers in them! The label clearly shows that they were actually built in Hope, Arkansas, instead. BTW I knew Portus Gilley...he was still working at Klipsch when I started there in 1976...and he unfortunately passed-away before I left in 1983. One day he was at work, the next day he wasn't...no extended illness or anything...just gone! Everybody in the plant was in mourning over his death! We were all told that we could attend his funeral, which had been scheduled in the middle of a work-day! And the vast majority of us did so! He was a wonderful guy...everybody loved Portus!! He was a "gentle-giant" kind of guy...always smiling with kind things to say to everyone!! He had been one of the very first employees at Klipsch! BUT, I also agree that those speakers should remain intact...vitavox drivers and all! Sell them whole if you don't plan to keep them...just be sure to list them noting that the drivers are all working(I hope) and they are all Vitavox….that will justify your asking price with those drivers already installed!!

"A" means that I built that one..."RB" means that Ronnie Barham built the other one....I was probably taking a day of vacation time on the day Ronnie built that one.

A coujple of years after I gave that rifle to Dad, he told me that he hated seeing it gather dust on a gun rack and that it should be getting used during black powder rifle deer season! He pretty-much ordered me to make meat with it....It was an Italian-made Armsport mountain rifle kit...basically the barrel, hook-breach, action and sights were identical to what Thompson Center was selling....so I prepped it for accuracy...removed the rear adjustable sight (had too much play in it!)….replaced it with a Thompson Center primitive rear sight and filed a notch down into it where the front sight blade was barely visible in the bottom of the "V"...with the rifle dead-on at 50 yards...then modified that "V" with a wider flare-out further-up...so that I could raise the front blade up to the start of the flare-out and it was dead-on at 100 yards. After that it was just a matter of hunting with it! Every time that rifle was fired at a deer, it was a clean heart shot! I won some blanket meets at rendezvous with it too!!...card-cutting contests were a breeze, also! 75 grains of FFG black powder behind a .50 cal Buffalo Bullet was my load for it! Groups were one raggedy hole!! Very accurate!! I hunted with that rifle every year until 2004. It put lots of meat in the freezer! When I left for the desert in 2004, I left all of my guns with my brother. He moved to a different location while I was gone....a small rent house. He failed to change the locks before he moved into that place and a few days afterwards that house was broken into using a key...most of my guns were stolen, including that black powder rifle! What wasn't stolen was only because he hadn't finished moving them all at the time. About 5 years after Dad told me to hunt with it...I was hanging a deer up for skinning behind his house...and he remarked that he was amazed by how accurate the rifle was, since all the deer had been heart-shot with it! He said "I sure wish my eyesight was as good as yours is now...I'd show you how accurate it REALLY IS!" So I loaded the rifle...handed it to him...put a beer can in the crotch of a tree about 30 yards away...and told him "Show me what you got! Take off those glasses and squint a bullet thru the middle of that beer can! Just cock the hammer to full-cock...set that rear set-trigger, and as soon as the front sight blade shows up in the craw of that "V" of the rear sight...let the bullet fly!" He did it...sure enough...half-inch hole in the middle of that can! He never let me forget it, either...BUT...I never expected him to!😉

Yep, that Powers Irish was some pretty strong stuff!! As for getting a chance to get on my knees and pray to the God of porcelain...haven't had to do that in decades! Although I have come very close to it a few times!

I dunno...I distinctly kinda remember passing out in a chair downstairs for awhile and as my eyes roiled back into my skull, my very last vision was of THE BOTTLE with about two fingers still left in it, and I was thinking I was never gonna finish it....then SOMEBODY woke me up a bit later and my FIRST vision was that same bottle with NOTHING left in it...and thinking, there is no way that I drank that while passed-out!! So either that is what happened (which I sincerely DOUBT!) OR there was another guilty party involved in the final Irish disappearing act! Soooooooo...I wonder who or what might have been the "another guilty party" involved?? So, I guess that I just need to fall into my "Sergeant Schultz syndrome" maneuver and say: "I know NOTHING!...I see NOTHING!"...huh??🤐 I have actually insisted on a ground floor room ever since then, tho!😏 And we WERE ACTUALLY using those PWK etched glasses that night, too!😀

At least you helped me get back up those damned stairs to my room after the bottle was empty! Every time I tried to make another step up those stairs, I would sway backwards instead of forwards...so there you were right behind me... pushing against my back...one step at a time...until I got up those stairs...and we had some VERY CLOSE CALLS where we BOTH almost went rolling back down those stairs, too! I learned my lesson though...GET A DOWNSTAIRS ROOM!! Somebody shoulda made a video of that joint-endeavor on them stairs!! Too Funny!! "You OK Andy??" "I think I am...how many more steps are left NOW??" "Too damned many to count...just keep climbing, Andy!!" "OK, let me know when we are getting close to the top because right now my eyes ain't working too good!!"😂

Johnny Walker is rot gut...even Lynyrd Skynyrd says so! LOL! "Don't drink poisoned whiskey...." For the price of blue-label you can get AT LEAST FOUR bottles of Dalwhinnie 15 year-old highland single malt!! MUCH BETTER STUFF!!...Dangerously smoooooooth!

I think you are right! Black Bush! Which was available at that time stateside. I remember now!