Howard Emerson

Here you go:

My proof of membership started out as a very, very rough pair of Heresy I that a good friend gave me back in March of 2021. They'd been used as a PA system for a local guitarist/singer we knew, and they had been beat up, but still worked fine. I refurbished them in white oak veneer and Tru-Oil, and along with a Sony STR-7045 & Tascam CD200BT I'm enjoying them a lot! I did post a build thread about them while it was happening if anyone is interested.

And it looks even better in the atrium than it does on a makeshift workbench!

For those who did not see my other thread during the reconstitution of a sad pair of Heresy speakers, here are a couple of reminders of what can be done on a budget with an Exacto knife and an emory board......

This is my refurbished pair of spatter paint Heresy speakers along with a small stand I built for a Tascam CD-200 BT disc player/Bluetooth and an early 1970's Sony STR-7045 receiver. I veneered the speakers in white oak veneer, as well as the CD player box, but I used red oak for the stand legs. All pieces are finished with Tru-Oil. I'm very pleased with the results, sonically and visually. At some point I'll duck the Apple TV HDMI cable in the wall. Both the speakers and the stand have adjustable height legs to compensate for the bluestone floor which was laid on an outdoor concrete slab patio, pitched downhill to the left.

The Silk Purse gets an update of sorts........with pictures...... This morning I'll finally be putting them in the atrium where I've imagined they should look perfect. Hopefully they'll sound at least half as good as they look:-)

The drivers and crossovers are all back inside the cabinets where they belong, and yes: There were gaskets on the woofers after all! The Klipsch badges were very discolored, and I assumed that they were made from anodized aluminum, and I believe that is incorrect. Having seen many older Fender Precision basses from the 1950's, anodized aluminum shows plain silver aluminum when it's worn, so I was concerned about using any abrasive to remove the discoloration I was seeing. I threw caution to the wind and started rubbing with a light grey Scotch Brite pad, and the more I worked it, the more coppery the color became! I then switched to a white 1200 Scotch Brite, and it really polished up quite well! Maybe the badges are actually copper to start with? In any case here are some shots showing the detail: Clearly I have to spend a little more time on the ends so I'll have to mask the cloth so I don't mess that up. Here's a shot with the drivers loaded:

Hello, Although it's way too late now, in preparing the cabinets for veneering I actually used a cabinet scraper on the front and back 3/4" edges to be more precise in the the removal of the paint. Believe me, there was NOTHING there, and I've since seen several black Heresy originals where the serial # or initials are clear as day. The MI on the back side edge was the only vestige of anything, and it now resides under veneer. Regards, Howard Emerson

Hi Bruce, They're finished with Tru-Oil, a polymerized linseed oil that dries very quickly. I did it with 3 coat, lightly sanding in between coats. It basically looks like the wood is wet, but really doesn't change the color much. Howard

Thank you kindly, Billybob! The final product looks good to me, and I'm sure it'll sound really good too! I should have them loaded up and situated in a day or so. Now I have to make a worthy 'hi-fi table' of some sort..........It's always something..... HE

Hi Bruce, Thank you! I'm in Huntington Station, NY on Long Island. Here's the pair finally side by side, empty, waiting to have all the drivers, crossovers, etc re-installed:

While I'm at it: A question regarding the Logo badges on the grill cloth: What are they attached with? I'm reasonably sure they're anodized aluminum that was then filled and wiped with black lacquer. The anodizing is funky on mine, and before I go doing something stupid it would be helpful to know what I can possibly do to 'renew' them just a little bit. If not they'll just be a badge of a life lived rough. Thanks! Howard

Thank you, Neil! You have excellent taste:-) Howard

Thank you Mark! HE

Thanks for the kind words! I guess my reason is that I wanted something small, and when I saw these units that only required a round hole to install, I got them. It was simple and inexpensive, and frankly if all the JBL drivers I own have spring clips to hold the wire, then this is good enough for me! Long ago when I worked in a hi-fi store, I quickly grew immune to the nonsense products that people swore up and down would 'improve' the sound, but I'm in no way inferring that about binding posts. I've spent over 40 years touring & recording with major acts, doing studio work, and 5 CD's of my own compositions, etc, and if it sounds good to my ears then that's all that counts. 14 gauge lamp cord is all I need. It ain't sexy, but as long as I can feel the ridges on the 'positive' leg, I'm good:-) The other thing was that in searching older Heresy speakers I saw some really basic speaker connectors, compared to which the ones I got are high-tech. The ones mine came with were thick panel Switchcraft 1/4" jacks for phone plugs, although there were 2 small holes on either side which hints at something different from the factory. I did see some rather large binding post units on some newish Heresy models. Anyway.......thanks again! Howard