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'54 & '56 Khorns! What are they worth?


DizRotus

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A friend recently inherited two Klipschorns from her father, who bought them new in 1954 and 1956. I've offered to help her place a reasonable value on them. Unfortunately, she already got rid of the McIntosh tube gear that powered these.

When a fair price is determined, they'll be offered first on this forum. If they don't find a good home through this forum, they'll be listed on Craig's List.

As the photos demonstrate, they're in decent cosmetic shape but they don't match. Remember, in 1954 stereo was not yet a reality so speakers were rarely purchased in pairs. That being said, her father bought the second one in 1956, still prior to the general availability of stereo.

All of the drivers are functioning. The crossovers are original, i.e., they're crying for new capacitors, although there was no evidence of leakage. I didn't open the bass bins (which gave no evidence of ever being opened since built) to confirm the woofer manufacturers, which would probably be University or Stephens, as I don't believe Eminence were used in '54 or '56.

There's no better place than this forum to get informed opinions regarding the value of these vintage Klipschorns. While I understand that opinions are like navels (everybody has one) please resist the temptation to merely suggest what they would be worth to you. I'm not soliciting bids at this time. When a fair market price is determined, these will be listed in the Garage Sale Forum with a stated price and they'll go to the first person who agrees to pay that price. I want to avoid a situation where Forum members bid against each other.

The attached photos identify the left speaker (1954) and the right speaker (1956). The front of each seaker will be displayed below in separate posts.

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The Zip file attached to the initial post contains several photos. If you can't open the Zip file, or if you'd like higher resolution versions, please send me an email or private message through the Forum, I'll send the photos via email.

The photo attached here shows the EV T-35 tweeter in the 1954 (left) speaker. It surprises me that the older speaker has a T-35 while the 1956 speaker has a University tweeter. I'd be interested in informed explanations for the difference.

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Those are beautiful speakers! Interesting about the tweeters. I thought the T-35 was Klipsch's replacement to the university tweeter. Since it is an early T-35, I would expect the Frequency response to be similar to the University. This is all if my memory serves me well.

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Nice looking cabs, I really like the later one, it has the same finishas my first run Heresy cool.

I think the tweeter show in the pic above is not orig to the speaker. all the early khorns I have seen always had them mounted in the middle right of the mid brace in the mid horn. It's real hard to put a value on theses as the prices are all over the place and shipping can be a big big factor in value. I would think near a grand each would'nt be out of line if they have the orig speakers.

BTW I use to be khorn58 .

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Nice looking cabs, I really like the later one, it has the same finishas my first run Heresy cool.

I think the tweeter show in the pic above is not orig to the speaker. all the early khorns I have seen always had them mounted in the middle right of the mid brace in the mid horn. It's real hard to put a value on theses as the prices are all over the place and shipping can be a big big factor in value. I would think near a grand each would'nt be out of line if they have the orig speakers.

BTW I use to be khorn58 .

Neil, I think this pretty much exactly echoes my thoughts re the tweeter position and the values per our phone chat last week.

Michael

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Insurance value and market value are two different things

The only way of determining market value is to sell them. Put them on ebay, start at .99, no reserve, you will quickly find out what they are worth.

......this story line is a frequent one here on the fourm...someone comes in and ask for an opinion of value and folks who are not shopping for gear jump in and start pie in the sky assesments.

We recently had a case of someone who had some gear for sale and admitted months later that they would have been more than happy to get 500 - 800 bucks, but held out for 1800 - 2000 that never happended based on over stated value assesments from forum folks who were not in the market.

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I think SF was just trying make a point with the "no reserve..." suggestion (maybe not). I'd definitely put a reserve on them, but don't aim too high. If the bidding doesn't hit your reserve, then you can re-evaluate.

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I'm not some guy who just wandered into this forum to get a valuation on something I know nothing about. I owned my first Khorns in 1976 and have traded in Klipsch speakers ever since. From the moment I saw them I had a pretty good idea what they should fetch. That figure has been confirmed by several people--Forum members and not--whose opinions I respect.

Nonetheless, I feel it’s worthwhile to expose these speakers to knowledgeable Klipsch enthusiasts to get additional opinions as to a fair market value, if the market includes informed Klipsch aficionados.

As has been said, something is worth what someone else will pay for it. An eBay auction is not necessarily a good indicator of the value of any specific item to the right interested party.

Many times on this Forum, members have posted links to eBay auctions regarding items that might be of interest to other Forum members, only to suffer the scorn of someone who was already aware of the eBay auction and was hoping to steal the item. That Forum member doesn’t welcome the sudden competition from others willing to bid the item up to it’s “true market value,” but the seller certainly welcomes the interest and the bidding.

This Forum is not eBay. Klipschorns are not typical speakers and these are not typical Klipschorns. They're more likely to be appreciated by people who frequent this Forum.

I’m helping my friend get a fair price for the speakers, not necessarily the highest obtainable price at a real auction (which eBay is not).. There's no danger that an opportunity to sell them for a fair price will be lost while holding out for an unrealistic target price.

They'll shortly be offered on the Garage Sale Forum with a stated price. If they’re not worth that stated price to anyone who frequents this Forum, they’ll be listed on Craig’s List. They'll not be “auctioned” on eBay to be eventually stripped and parted out again on eBay.

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Neil, they're gorgeous! I have no accurate idea what they're worth, but the fact they're not an exact match doesn't bother me. It adds value, IMHO, given the mono/stereo timeline, and their historical nature. I could see them set up as a stereo pair, or singly in vintage '54 and/or '56 mono systems.

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They'll not be “auctioned” on eBay to be eventually stripped and parted out again on eBay.

Just to temper that, plenty of people buy klipsch from e-bay, and appreciate them. Not everyone on e-bay is a vulture just out to make a buck. Only some.

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Ebay certainly isnt perfect BUT, It is the biggest trading place in the world bar none. Right now 734 auctions with Klipsch in the title. To be fair, the garage sale section here only trades a small fraction of the Klipsch products that get traded on Ebay each and every day. I would image there are alot more "educated" folks looking for Klipschorns on Ebay than here as well, but thats just my humble opinion. Forum members always appreciate the chance to buy first I'm quite sure.[:)]

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...I would image (sic) there are alot more "educated" folks looking for Klipschorns on Ebay than here as well, but thats just my humble opinion. Forum members always appreciate the chance to buy first I'm quite sure.Smile

First I'd like to express my appreciation to Neil for the way he is handling this sale. I think it is the best way to get a good home for the speakers and a fair price for the seller.

Secondly, in response to JL Sargent, eBay has a larger audience of people trading in Klipsch products, but you'd be hard pressed to convince me that there are more knowledgable ones. The folks who know a lot about Klipsch typically know about this Forum (same for JBL, Maggie, and other special interest groups).

Counter to prevailing wisdom, I don't think that eBay determines the true market value of items. There are plenty of examples where the outcome of an eBay auction doesn't make any sense at all. I'm not a statistician, but I know that the sample size is not large enough on vintage items, and there are too many variables in location, condition, feedback, description, photos, ending time, etc. to determine an established value from a handful of auction results. In fact, I get my boxer shorts in a bunch when someone will find a single auction result on eBay and use that as the undisputed value of their item--you see this on Craig's List all the time. It is refreshing not to see it here.

Back to the speakers--the first generation of the T-35 was narrower than the one we are all so familiar with in later Khorns. Ironically, it is still labelled T-35 but looks different (two screw holes like the University tweeter instead of four). The T-35 in the picture is a later addition for sure.

This is a beautful pair of Klipschorns with a cool history. I hope someone here gets them. Nice to see so many folks commenting on these.

triceratops

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