Hersey Question

[Jay Registrar]

I just bought a pair of Hersey's off Craigslist. The labels on the back say HWB 57S840. According to my Klipsch file, they were made in 1978. It is the WB which I have a question about. W stands for Walnut, and I guess B stands for Black. However, I don't see a designation for WB in my file. They are Black, but it is/was not laquer. It almost looks like a stain, or maybe just one coat of paint, as the grain shows through. There is a sport the size of a quarter where the paint is gone, and the wood looks like Walnut. But what do I know.

Is this possible?

Thanks in advance for all who answer. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

No, these aren't the Ones, and she didn't come with them. Darn!

[HDBRbuilder]

HWB=heresy walnut black. Here is the lowdown on these: There were times when the mitered walnut Heresy cabinets just did NOT meet the requirements to go out the door as walnut oiled or walnut clear-laquered, so they were shot with the same black laquer used on the speaker fronts, and sent out as black-painted ones. Yes, it was black furniture laquer, just not high gloss black, and the speakers were not prepped with lots of sealer prior to the black being shot onto them, so you can easily tell the grain of the walnut veneer underneath the black paint. The cabinets are good sound units, but for some reason were culled in the sanding room, prior to going to the finishing room. They may have had minor veneer blemishes, have walnut sapwood veneer showing, have been sanded too much in a spot to the point of the veneer becoming too thin to go out oiled or clear laquered, maybe there were some chips along the miters which would not finish out properly after repairs, etc...the list can go on and on. This was not that uncommon for the mitered heresys, and sometimes occurred on the mitered Cornwalls, but was very rare on Belles.

[colterphoto1]

Andy, what's in the the photo with the nice lady? Is that HI Heresy Industrial's (no port) or specialty models of some other sort?

[HDBRbuilder]

Appears to be white industrial heresy slant monitors.

[Jay Registrar]

I would like a pair of those industrial cabinets, but I have never seen a pair for sale. I have even thought of making and attaching another front to make an existing pair flush like that.

[colterphoto1]

why do you say slant monitors? because of the radius edge?

[Jay Registrar]

Thanks HDBR, that makes sense. I will probably strip. If the walnut is bad, I can always veneer over it.

[HDBRbuilder]

Mike, aren't you a photographer? Geez, dude! Think about it...that pic was taken from OVERHEAD, with the model facing upwards while laying back on a surface (see how her hair falls back and lays out in a radius??), the speakers were also laying on that surface, BUT the motorboards of the speakers were NOT perpendicular to the surface their sides were laying on...AND that can only mean that the sides they were laying on were NOT perpendicular to the motorboards, right? Because a fisheye lens or extreme wide-angle lens was NOT used for the pic (obviously!), then those speaker cabinets must have been slanted stage monitor cabinets, right??

The radiused edges of the cabinets have nothing to do with my analysis of the pic, but the industrial woofer motorboards (with the painted aluminum grating) do.

[colterphoto1]

Good point on the camera's vantage point. The hair gives that away.

Not to be argumentative, but the speakers and model are all lying on a satin sheet. The speakers are tipped back at a slight angle, much less than even the 60 degree angle of the HSM. I think they are full sized cabinets that are propped up slightly on their front edge to show the motor board to the camera.

Even with the exposed motorboards and expanded metal grille, they could well be HI's no?