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Should I buy these Vintage Klipsch?


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I saw these in a second hand store.. and it said on the tag to "see manager"

Assuming they work, what would be a good price?

I have smaller Klipsch 5.2 and 3.2 running in parallel with nice success off a restored 1964 HH Scott Tube amp (340 B?)

What kind of Klipsch and what year would these be if anyone knows?

Should I buy them and for how much?

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Yes, by all means buy them. Belles are getting harder and harder to find.

Nice Belles can go for as much as $2500. I'd say $800 would probably be a pretty good price on them. I don't see how you can lose.

There will be a tag on the back with the serial #s for dating these.

And yes, they're very effecient and can be driven easily with low wattage tube amps. As a matter of fact they'll sound fantastic on low watt tube amps.

You'll love them.

Don't walk! RUN!

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Apparently the shop owner wants $1000 plus CA tax for them..

Tomorrow is the day I would buy them if I do... what are the basic characteristics of these?

Are there any upgrades that would be highly suggested or are they best left as is?

I am not sure I would be able to demo them with my gear, so the challenge would be hearing them

with other junk they have in the store like cheap SS amps and CD players. I don't mind buying them and

giving them a try.. it sounds like if they don't work to my tastes, I would be able to sell them fairly easily for about

this price?

I am not very educated on these, so I thank you for your advice. Hopefully I can get them and they will sound great.

If not, get them into the hands of someone who would fully appreciate them..

thanks

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What would be the difference between the Belle and the La Scala? or are they essentially the same thing with only very sublte differences?

I will be down there tomorrow and see what I can negotiate..

thanks..

astralography,

The same model year Klipschorns and La Scalas have the same woofer, midrange compresion driver, mid range horn, and tweeters, the main differences being a longer Bass Horn in Klipschorn with corner loading and pretty veneer.

This Model is called Belle Klipsch after Paul Klipschs first wife who died.

The main difference between a Belle and a La Scala, is the Belles have pretty wood veneer, a very slightly different Bass Bin, and the mid range horn is shorter, so the cross over points are slightly changed. The La Scala/K-Horn midrange horn is too long to fit in such a shallow depth speaker. It still has the same K-55 midrange driver as La Scala and Klipschorn, just a shorter horn lense, same as used in Cornwall.

Klipschorn, La Scala, and Belle all use the same tweeter, and 15 inch compression woofer in there respective Bass horns.

On vintage Klipschorns, La Scalas, and Belles of this production, sensitivity is 104 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 meter on Klipschorn and La Scala, and 103 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 meter for the Belle Klipsch speakers.

That means those Belles will produce 106 dB at 2 watts, 109 dB at 4 watts, 112 dB at 8 watts, 115 dB at 16 watts. For low power tube amps, these are what you want, and if they are as good a condition as they look, you might almost double your money if you get out of them in the future. It is a win, win, you willl probably love them, and if not, you can make money at that price.

Don't screw arround, jump on them! [Y]

Roger

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Mission accomplished. $1080 brought them home...

They hooked them up to a small boombox, and they sounded fine in fact they really blasted.. so it will be fun to listen to them later with real gear.

Is there any way of telling what year they are? There are no stickers anywhere, just some #'s on the tweeter and the back of the woofer, which I took

a peak at through the access board underneath.

The woofer appears to be in excellent condition, and I would think the horns would last a long time without degredation.

Are people upgrading them? any suggestions from here?

thanks

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On the back of the woofer it says K 33E 67 5450 or it might be 8450?

The small teeter says

14 824 0137 K-77

not sure if that would give a clue or not, assuming those numbers just define the speakers.

Is there a number stanped into the wood on the back of the speaker on the horizontal wood just under the midrange speaker, if so, that will be the serial numbers, one on each speaker, and will define the year of production. Speakers without the tags at pawn shops worry me.

Regaurdless, enjoy them for a while. Get used to them before you even think about doing anything to them. With modifications, you generally loose your investment on resail, just like modifying a car. If they need anything at all, the capacitors could be old, and you might change them out, but not before you get used to their sound, so you can see if the change out is truely an improvement or not.

I'm a purist, if it isn't the way Paul built it, it is flawed as far as I am concerned!

Enjoy your new girls, and give us an update once you've enjoyed them a while on your tube amps.

Roger

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These have RP stamped there.. but I can't see any other stamping. Most of the boards have U2 stamped on them.

I don't get any kind of feeling that these are faked or forged. The amp that apparently came with it that I did not buy was

an old Magnavox with tubes, might be mono... and had shortwave radio dial on it..

Is there no way to date it based upon the speakers or markings on the cross overs?

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