PWK anecdote

[Marty65]

HDBRBuilder, Enjoyed reading your post. I once went to Hope to see the Klipsch factory. I saw the museum and then asked at the front desk if Paul Klipsch was around to ask a few questions, they told me to come back in an hour. I returned and one of the secretaries took me down to his office. It was unbelievable to finally meet this man sitting across from his desk asking him a bunch of questions that I had thought of on the way down there. He was polite and very interesting to listen to. Something I'll never forget. It was funny seeing K-77 tweeters on his desk acting as paper weights, and there was also a bird house outside his office window shaped like the PWK symbol. Thanks again for the enjoyable posts.

Dan

[QUiKSR20]

HDBRbuilder - Awesome story i had to read the whole

thing.. Cant wait to get my PWK Book.

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Thanks,

Daryl Gregg

MY Home Theatre Page

Sony STR-DE975 HT Reciever

Sony DVP-NS400D DVD

SB-3 Mains

SC-1 Center

Quintet Rears

KSW-12 Sub

AR Proseries Interconects

[sgarrott]

HDBRbuilder

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your fascinating story about PWK. I have a mint set of Cornwall's I bought new from a dealer in Little Rock sometime during the middle 70's. I was told they were built in 75 and you said you started work after that. They have the following serial numbers C-WO, 7N506 and 7N507. However, one has the initials BB stamped in the upper corner. Was this a set you had a hand in constructing? If so, what a rare opportunity and treat to meet the individual who has given me years of listening pleasure. One additional note, they were tested by Devin (or Kevin)Cox and inspected by NW Bradford.

Thanks again for the fascinating story!

Steve Garrott

Troy, Alabama

[HDBRbuilder]

Thanks folks,

Glad you enjoyed the story, and even better is hearing of others' experiences meeting PWK!!!

Steve,

Your Cornwalls were indeed built before I began building them. Roy Byers and Ronnie Barhams built them based on the "BB". Ronnie eventually became co-foreman of the cabinet shop for awhile, and then foreman for awhile. Roy had been there for a good while and stepped up to become a Belle builder about the time I got there, and a year or so afterwards the "BB" became the code for Ronnie and me. I imagine the dealer you bought them from was Custom Audio. GWIN Cox was your inspector...I understand how hard it is to figure out her first name from her handwriting...she was about the best installer in final assembly...paid serious attention to detail when installing the components(I had her do the final assembly on mine). Glad to hear you are still enjoying your Cornwalls-walnut-oiled(CWO) after all these years.

This message has been edited by HDBRbuilder on 04-27-2002 at 11:21 AM

[sgarrott]

HDBRbuilder

Thank you so much for your kind reply. You were correct, it was Custom Audio. One of my former classmates from the University of Arkansas, Jan Thurman, was working there at the time. I drove over from Alabama and picked them up because of the deal he gave me. I had worked with him in Fayetteville (also in a store called Custom Audio) and got hooked on Klipsch there.

I got back into audio (AV) recently and started to sell them as they were only minimally used for many years as my kids grew up and my interests were elsewhere. They were set in a built-in area in our den and were basically untouched during that time. I came across the Klipsch forum and simply inquired as to what they might be worth. Due to the kind responses of many forum members I realized I had a "treasure" and then made them the focal point of my home theatre system along with an RC3II, a pair of RB-3's, and a KSW12. Some forum members disagreed with my mixture but so far I couldn't be more pleased.

Again, thank you for your reply. I now know that the marriage vow statement "only unto death will we part" now applies to my Cornwalls as well.

One final note--after looking closer at the inspector's name, it is indeed Gwin.

SCG

PS--To other forum participants who read this, I'm sure it meant little to you--but this series of posts literally "blew me away"!

[HDBRbuilder]

SGARRETT,

I'm glad I was able to help you out some.

I have been "telling on Engineer Jim" in the 2-channel forum, lately...in case you are interested.

As for the builder and sander codes used in production:

Sometimes the same code will be found for different builders. Since alphabetical codes are limited in number when only one or two letters are used, they end up being repeated over time. The only way to differentiate between these codes is to know WHO was working there at the time the speakers were being built, the type of speaker, and the year of manufacture. These codes were primarily used for "in house" quality control purposes, and this information was readily available from the notebooks the foremen kept.

On rare occassions a speaker would be returned after purchase, and if the reason was due to problems in the manufacturing process, the serial number would tell when it was made, and the notebooks would tell who built and sanded it.

Once or twice I was told a speaker I had built was returned, but it turned out that a builder who worked there previous to me had the same code, or the problem had nothing to do with the building. Not to brag, but, I never had a single speaker returned to me for something involved in the cabinet-building process...I take great pride in that!!

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If you want to send a private message, or have already done so, be aware I have not as yet been able to retrieve them. Send e-maill instead, please...just note Klipsch forum in the heading so it doesn't get deleted.

This message has been edited by HDBRbuilder on 04-27-2002 at 11:40 AM