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  1. Hello, I am new to the Klipsch community and I have been listening to Klipsch speakers my whole life, love them, and I have something I would like to share with everyone so here is my story. About two years ago I was online looking for a pair of Klipsch speakers. I wanted a pair of La scala or Cornwalls but I didn't have a lot of money at the time and just wanted see what was out there and what the going prices were. Then I found a listing for a pair of Cornwalls that were pretty rough looking and had blown speakers but they were only $500 and for some reason I had to have them, so I bought them. I live in Dayton Ohio and the seller lived in Chicago. He wouldn't ship them so I rented a SUV and headed to the windy city. When I got to the sellers house he greated me and we talked for a bit (really good guy, Klipsch nut) and then he said, well let me show you your speakers. When I turned the corner and saw them the first thing I thought was, I made a huge mistake and it's to late to turn back now. The cabinets looked like they had never been cleaned, covered with a dark film and dirt. The grills were both broken and there were some pretty deep scratches. This guys cat was sleeping inside one of the cabinets and had been using them as a cat scratcher too, they were in bad shape. He helped me load them up and I headed home thinking all the way, I screwed up big time. When I got to my home there were two of my buddies waiting on me to help me unload them and take them in the house. Man did they give me a hard time, laughing and ribbing me about how bad they looked and, You rented a SUV and drove all that way and paid $500 for these, and to make things worse we unscrewed the back panels and they had Radio Shack woofers in them. Everything else was there and all original but Radio Shack woofers, Really. After making the drive there and back and getting razzed about how bad they looked and the RS woofers it was time for a beer and let that day go. The next morning I started working on my diamonds in the rough, taking everything out of them (the RS woofers went right in the trash) and started to clean them up. They had the correct crossovers, tweeters, horns, drivers so things were starting to look up. I started wiping the cabinets down with some Murrphys oil soap in warm water but this stuff wasn't coming off. After getting them as clean as I could they still looked a little dark. I could start to see the gain and the real color of the wood starting to come out but I didn't know what kind of wood it was. It didn't look like any finish on a Klipsch speaker that I had ever seen. I got some very fine sand paper and started sanding them down very lightly, taking my time and being very careful not to go to deep. As I was sanding I suddenly realized these were something different, something very different, and I was right. After doing some research on Klipsch web site I knew I had found some diamonds in the rough and it was all well worth it. The cabinets have consecutive serial numbers and were made in 1973. They are made with Zebra wood and according to Klipsch they are very rare. Only a few pairs were ever made using this type of wood and Klipsch never used it again. In 1973 a lot of groups were protesting about the destruction of the rain forrest and all the trees being cut down. Zebra wood comes from the rain forrest and Klipsch wanted to avoid any bad publisity for importing this exotic type of wood so they stopped using it before they really even started to. I don't know how many they made but I have never seen a pair like it and probably never will. I was able to find a nice clean pair of the correct 15" K-33E woofers along with replacing all the diaphragms in the K-55 and K-77 drivers. I sent the crossovers to Bob Crites to replace the old capacitors and make sure everything was up to spec. I went to a local wood working/ cabinet shop and talked to them about what would be the best way to refinish the cabinets and make that zebra wood pop. They were very helpful and told me what to do and what not to do. It has taken some time and money but it was well worth it. In the sun light the zebra wood looks awesome, very detailed lines and color running through the grain, sometimes I just stand there and look at them. After I got them back together and started listening to them on my 10wpc set tube amp I was amazed. Nothing sounds like a Cornwall powered by a single ended tube amp and nothing looks this good either. So that's my little story about how my diamonds in the rough became to be the crown jewels. I have some pictures of the whole process they went though and I just wanted to share them with everyone. Let me know what you think and thanks for taking the time to read my post.
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