John Warren

I did this years ago, 511Bs on the K-55V and later M and I thought it was time (and money) wasted since distortion is driven by throat size. Once the ears came off "Beraneck learning curve", the Altecs sounded "just as good" as the PWK horn. The headaches started to come back, too. I eventually sold them to a theater owner in Medford, MA. The place burned and was then torn down to make way for a senior center.

Here are copies of the EV Georgian which was the 50s version of the Klipschorn. Klipsch allowed EV to manufacture the horn for a while. The construciton is a little different than PWKs design. The Georgian was outfitted was the EV 15 WK. For the K 33E woofer items 10 and 11 must be "notched" to allow the extra air volume in the ramps to add to the air chamber behind the woofer.

back in the early 70s when I was a college student, I spent a summer at a company here in the Boston area that made telescope systems for satellites. Some designs were Newtonian. And the mirrors were ground at the plant. They were not ground from quartz blanks. The blank was metallic. The mirrored surface then created by evaporating gold onto it. The biggest ones were 3 or so inches. they would not tell me anything about the resolution of surface tolerances because I had no "need to know". they scoffed at hand ground mirrors and referred to them as "carvings" and/or "primitive art". Maybe it was just in fun but I got the impression that these guys knew something that the rest of us didn't.

Gil- The LEE Catenoid, constructed as an exponential instead of hyperbolic, makes more sense to me than the bifrucated PWK design. I am working out the construction details (thanks again Bruce!). It is large for a 35Hz cut-off but not "much" larger than PWK's design.

My pleasure Gary. The University "Classic" is the next best thing to Imperial and (IMO) rivals the Klipschorn. Some pics attached. This message has been edited by John Warren on 12-05-2001 at 06:05 PM

don't think this is the Frazier of vintage era

The mouth of the horn exhausts into my living room. I don't remember the SPL characteristics but the LF output is lethal, sort of like standing behind an F18 at take-off.

other than having different phase plugs, both have captured the Klipsch signature "cheasy look".

I was told by an astrophysists that hand ground telescope mirrors larger than 4" in diameter, even done well, are a complete waste of time because the tolerances are piss poor for decent resolution and the advantages of the extra light gathering capacity are lost.

Ray- Look at the numbers-->17 people have died from confirmed naturally occuring Anthrax between 1945-1978. Most of them were elderly living in rural, agricultural communities. Since "complications" associated with pneumonia is a leading cause of death for most Americans in their 90s, it is likely that hundreds of cases of Anthrax death in farming communities have gone unrecorded since (remember pneumonia was the first diagnosis). The "cross contamination" argument is plausible since statisitically, at 94, the immune systems response to a bacterium is about 1/18th as potent as that of an 18 year old. And, now that the CDC is testing "everybody" for Anthrax, when in the past no one was tested, means that the occasional naturally occuring hit will be registered.

and to you This message has been edited by John Warren on 11-21-2001 at 06:33 AM

In the 30+ years I've been in this "hobby" I have never met anyone that purchased Klipschorns new.

Thank you justin! Bigdnfay- here is a couple of other pics to give you a "feel" for what your in for. 012-2 -> this is what you are trying to get, all compound angles add up to this "imaginary plane" in space. If you are off anywhere, you get caught at this VERY LAST ASSEMBLY STEP and the horn is a junker. 019X -> Rear chamber illuminated from within. 022X -> you never can have too many screws. There is a real trick to installing screws this way, 1. dry assemble 2. outine fit with pencil 3. pilot drill (making note of how the boards come together and where the pilot should go) 4. load screws in panel 5. bead glue joint, both surfaces 6. fit and then drive screws.

don't chemical clean them too often, ear wax serves a purpose, its a thermal insulator and protects the ear drum from dehydration. the wax is also a barrier to virus, bacteria, skin mites.

Christ! I must be stone deaf......I can't hear the difference between oil or electrolytics, wire or even chokes. You guys are down to preferences in network caps and chokes!! very impressive Jumpin-Geezus!! I can't even tell the difference between tubes and solid state half the time. HEll, I've got a mother EV T-350 sitting atop a Patrician IV and I realized about two weeks it had a broken voice coil lead wire. I only found out because the wife wanted to remove the 3" of dust on it. You guys must be real audiophiles, I admire all of you. This message has been edited by John Warren on 11-10-2001 at 04:29 PM

is this in a private, detached house or a condo complex? The column in the center of the room looks large enough to support a 4 of 5 story complex. The ceiling also has a boxed in I-beam.

be ready for a let down. when I was a college kid in the 70s I worked for a hifi retailer in Cambridge, MA. it was the biggest Klipsch/McIntosh dealer in the area. LaScalas routinely came back in "trade-up" deals, usually for a pair of big JBLs or even Klipschorns. customers weren't pleased with them. at one time we had so many returns that we had more than one "tent" sale to move them (what deals we gve back then!!) it is no mystery why LaScalas are everywhere on ebay, and in the audio classifieds. the reason people bought them had less to do with what they sounded like and more to do with owning something made by PWK. most people didn't even audition them. they came in, wrote a check and picked up the speakers. a purchase based on emotion. the Lascala as a folded bass horn is inadequate. the mouth is tiny. the folding is classic PA, highly compromised. worse than that, the thing is sensitive as hell above about 80Hz so to couple it to a subwoofer creates too many problems. what you really are listening to is a mid-range dominant loudspeaker system that, at moderately high volume levels produces prodigious amounts of 2cd order harmonic distortion. the LaScala has established a prominent place in audio, unfortunately it is in the ceiling-to-wall corners of your local disco, sports bar or train station.

"mink" oil? what is that and what is it doing to the surround, adhesives? Rule#1: if it has a name other than what it is, you don't really know what it is AND you don't know what you doing. Rule#2: Any treatment to make a raw driver look "appealing" eventually ruins it. Rule#3: Oil (whatever the generic implies) and loudspeaker cones don't mix. Rule#4: "Better" is the enemy of "Good".

Tubes today are noisy, they are made from gassy refractory metals obtained on the Chinese open market. This message has been edited by John Warren on 10-26-2001 at 09:57 PM

Gil-Eventually, I think I need to purchase a new camera. My Mavica seems to be on the frits. John

Gil- Thank you! Once I made jigs to cut a few of the "difficult" panels AND established an assembly method, probability of success is greatly improved. Chris- All seven units are gone, sold. I own one factory unit that is circa 1958, and another that is 1983. The 1958 unit is factory white and the 83 unit is a KDBR not to mention that ALL of the drivers are different. Main rig is a pr of EV Patrician IVs.

been there, done that. This is why I love PWK's creation, I've made 7 units in my life and they NEVER get ANY easier. This message has been edited by John Warren on 10-23-2001 at 07:22 PM

your full of it!

use what JBL used for 40 years. 2 parts boiled linseed oil to 1 part terpentine.

tubestore sells military grade tube and chinese knock-offs. all junk, all noise, sound like sh*t.