Klipsch custom speaker builds...what to look for when buying used

[HDBRbuilder]

Klipsch Factory

Custom Speakers

Although the possibility of running across a nice pair of

Klipsch speakers that were a custom build from the factory would, in MOST

cases, be more apt to occur within a close radius arond Hope, AR, that isn't necessarily

written in stone.

Klipsch has been in business for over 65 years, and

throughout at least the first 30 years or so (and likely its entire existence),

the company has produced many custom single speakers and pairs. These were normally built for employees or

for close friends of employees, but not always.

Sometimes they were built for customers who asked for a special finish

or a special veneer...and sometimes it was a special APPLICATION of a

finish...or other appearance enhancements desired by the customer. The employees also quite often had their own

speaker purchases embellished in some form or fashion.

For instance, when I was building speakers there, employees

would often stop by and tell me they were planning to buy a pair of Decorator

Heresys, for example, and ask me to save back some unique panels that may make

a very unusual or pretty combination for a pair for them. So, as I built the cabinets, I would hunt for

panels that would have something in common with each other and hope for enough

to make a matching pair for them. The

plywood panels for the decorators were not cut as pairs, but sometimes the

ripping and cross-cutting ended up with a lucky accident of pairs of panels

that matched. So, I would hold these

back and, during break periods, try to match tops/sides, etc, until I had what

I needed to make a matching pair of speakers.

Just by the nature of things, this procedure to acquire a matching pair

of speakers was much less likely to be successful than using panels that were

manufactured specifically as matched pairs, as on the mitered cabinets.

It wasn't long before I was matching up interesting fronts

as I routed those motorboard panels, and pulling out pairs of sides and tops

which I found to be matched for each other as I built HDBRs. Understand that I didn't dig through the

stacks of panels to do this, I just pulled them as matches randomly showed

themselves while I was building the speakers for general consumption. And, if I found pairs that were

interesting/unique, then I would put them face to face and store them under my

workbench. So, after a time, I had

numerous stacks of panels for unique or interestingly appearing speakers, and

the employees were always coming around during break to pick out something

special to be built up for their purchases. I would put a piece of masking tape

with the name of who wanted it, and keep it aside until the individual was

ready to have them built.

Birch plywood veneers can come in any color or combination

of colors imaginable, depending upon many factors. What many found unique is how, with birch,

the lines or swirls of color may not have a thing to do with the flow of the

grain of the wood, which can cause optical illusions as the light plays on a

gloss finish with depth that has been applied to the wood. It may appear that the wood is alive and

grain is moving or the color is moving and any other imaginable kind of weird

effect you can think of.

So, I would build these designated pairs for the individuals

and the next step was the sanding room.

Many employees directly involved with the flow of the manufacture of the

cabinets either had a particular worker in the sanding room whose work they

liked best, or a buddy there who would do an exceptional job for them. For

example, the Heresys I built for myself were sanded by Ola Mae Davis, but the

sanding in the sanding room was just the first phase, once they were shot with

sealer, then she did finish sanding on that, and another three coats of

sealer..sanding between each coat.

Then the cabinets would go thru the paint room, either to be

lacquered or to be stained or to have nothing at all done to them. If being clear lacquered, then the employee

who was buying them would pick the painter .

I tended to pick the most experienced painter for that for mine. After my Heresys were shot with four coats of

sealer, with sanding done beteeen each coat, they were shot with 5 coats of

clear gloss laquer…with a light spray between coats of laquer thinner to level

out the finish before it dried. When my

speakers were new, they had an unbelievable depth to the finish! It was like seeing the wood through an inch

or so of calm clear water! A really FANTASTIC

job of finishing!

The next stop was final assembly, where the innards horn lenses/drivers/networks/rear panel(back) were

installed in the cabinets. Lots of

possibilities were at this phase. For

instance, an industrial motorboard (metal grille) for the woofer could be

installed to give the paper cone protection but minimally effect the sound wave

from it. Mine have this feature(installed a few months after the purchase). Another fairly common practice was for emloyees to have a matched pair of rear panels (backs) installed...often clear-laquered. Also, it was normal to have the drivers

custom-matched and paired for near-as-possible exact performance prior to installation, and

of course the final speaker assembly was also tested for a pairs match prior to

release for pick-up or shipping.

One other thing often occurred at final assembly for custom

builds: The serial number was stamped

into the rear edge of one of the panels, usually a top panel, but purchasers

could request that their name also be stamped into the back edge of one of the

cabinet panels on each speaker cabinet…usually this was done to a side panel

rear edge. AND, the final assembly worker would normally "pull" a special pair of serial numbers for the purchaser...easily remembered by their ending in either 00 and 01...OR...99 and 00!

SO, how can you tell if you have come across a custom pair

from the factory? Well, the match of the

panels would be a good start…and matches as pairs, is something to look for…ALSO,

look for unique BOOK-MATCHING of the side panels if they are not the same on

both sides of the individual speakers within a pair.

This is easily recognized and most often denotes a custom pair. Easy way to tell this is to put speakers side to side

with h tweeters at top, then if the outside panels of the individual cabinets

match each other, but not the panel on the opposite side of the individual

cabinet, AND the inside panels of both cabinets match each other, like a mirror

image of each other, then you have a book-match! Also, matching speaker backs, can be a MAJOR sign of a custom factory pair, ESPECIALLY if those panels are clear-laquered! Here is another thing to look for:

Employees would often request PWK to sign their speakers, normally on the backs but sometimes on the sides or the fronts...PRIOR to the laquer going on! Running across these would be the "holy grail" for many of you! My Heresy backs have the signatures of all the plant employees on them, in different colors of "flair" pens prior to the clear laquer application...VERY UNIQUE!

Of course, finding a name stamped into the back edge of each

speaker is also normally a dead give-away of the speakers being a factory custom

pair! And don't forget the serial numbers!

I will continue with more on factory custom speaker builds further

along in this thread in a few days.

-Andy

[JerolW]

Fun read.

I remember when I ordered my Cornwalls in 1976, I was offered some custom veneers and /or finishes. But budget would not permit it.

jerol

[sunnysal]

Thanks for that Andy! very interesting reading and adds to the communities knowledge of "back stage" at Klipsch. I wonder whether a Klipsch Heritage registry is possible, like they do with classic automobiles? to allow people to register and track those Klipsch treasures out there. Keep the stories coming! Warm regards, Tony

[juniper8]

HDBR, wish you had posted this about a year ago..... My cornwalls seem to fit the criteria for being custom made and outside the Arkansas area, if you search "gave away my cornwalls" the right hand sides match,and the lefts did,and the wood seemed to be unusual. I never thought there was anything special about that. Thanks for posting, I love hearing these types of stories. Might be time to get them back!!!

[HDBRbuilder]

I edited the original post with added info a few minutes ago in the last two paragraphs. Sorry if you missed it guys!

-Andy

[juniper8]

Thanks for that Andy! very interesting reading and adds to the communities knowledge of "back stage" at Klipsch. I wonder whether a Klipsch Heritage registry is possible, like they do with classic automobiles? to allow people to register and track those Klipsch treasures out there. Keep the stories coming! Warm regards, Tony

This is a fun idea, great for insurance purposes and maybe with can get HDBR to authenticate what appear to be custom models?

[mustang guy]

This is great information. History is often lost when people die. You are keeping it alive forever!

Tell me, did Paul Wilbur Klipsch frequent the manufacturing floor as I have been led to believe? Just how big was the place you worked? If I remember correctly, the offices were connected to the manufacturing areas...

[Daddy Dee]

Andy, thanks for posting. Interesting read, indeed.

[garymd]

Great thread, Andy.

My '80 Zebrawood Cornwalls (that you built) have 4 initials down the back side edge on each:

M

M

K

A

I assume the "A" is Andy and "K" is the sander from a conversation we had many years ago when I first joined the forum (however I can hardly remember yesterday let alone 2003).

Do you remember "MM" and is it unusual to have the extra initials? They were sent to Myer Emco in MD to be used as floor models before I intercepted them as they were being unpacked.

[HDBRbuilder]

Great thread, Andy.

My '80 Zebrawood Cornwalls (that you built) have 4 initials down the back side edge on each:

M

M

K

A

I assume the "A" is Andy and "K" is the sander from a conversation we had many years ago when I first joined the forum (however I can hardly remember yesterday let alone 2003).

Do you remember "MM" and is it unusual to have the extra initials? They were sent to Myer Emco in MD to be used as floor models before I intercepted them as they were being unpacked.

MM was probably the sander...not all builders/sanders had a single initial code...if there was already an "M", the the next logical thing was to create an "MM" if a new sander with those initials showed up on the scene. My memory fails me as to who "MM" was tho!

I really don't think the M's had anything to do with the vendor, because the codes where just used to "apply the shark bite" to the builder or sander if there was some kind of quality issue found in either the build quality or the sanding quality (i.e., sanding the veneer too thin in a spot, etc.).

-Andy

[dtel]

Thanks for the story, it's rare to hear it from the inside prospective. [Y]

Here are some pictures from 06 of Cornwall's being built, you may not recognize anyone ? Maby Mrs Barbara Miller or Mrs Judy McBay, I think they have been there a long time ?

http://www.cyclonecj.com/dtel/Dtelcorns-small/index.html

[HDBRbuilder]

Jim Hunter is the last person working for Klipsch who was there when I was there. Robert (Bois d'Arc) Wyatt was the last person working for Klipsch who was in the cabinet shop with me. We started working there within a few days of each other. He retired a few years ago and was manager of the warehouse/shipping at Oakhaven when he retired. He now works at the Klipsch Museum in the old train depot at Hope. He was a damned good builder. We teamed up quite a few times to build Heresys, but mostly Cornwalls. There is nothing in common with the way Cornwalls are assembled today and the way they were assembled when I worked there, to include the materials used. Sorry!

-Andy

[Don Richard]

That was a very interesting history lesson. The behind the scene look at the building/finishing processes was quite informative.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

That was a very interesting history lesson. The behind the scene look at the building/finishing processes was quite informative.

Yea, very interesting. My old K Horns, in factory tigerwood, or zebrawood, died a horrible death in a flood after I sold them. They were my first pair of Klipsch speakers. [:'(] I guess that means that there are no more than maybe 5 pairs max left out there.

[bsdme2]

Hi everyone,

Andy, I'm curious about the wood veneer spec of Klipsch. I know I read about B-Stock RF7-II speaker

often but I want to ask anyway. How often do Klipsch make RF7-II speaker and declare RF7-II speaker

as B-Stock because of the wood spec? I like B-Stock RF7-II due to cheap price but if Klipsch

keep selling B-Stock RF7-II wouldn't that hurt the revenue? THanks for the insight information.

[HDBRbuilder]

Hi everyone,

Andy, I'm curious about the wood veneer spec of Klipsch. I know I read about B-Stock RF7-II speaker

often but I want to ask anyway. How often do Klipsch make RF7-II speaker and declare RF7-II speaker

as B-Stock because of the wood spec? I like B-Stock RF7-II due to cheap price but if Klipsch

keep selling B-Stock RF7-II wouldn't that hurt the revenue? THanks for the insight information.

I left Klipsch in 1983. The only speakers made when I left were "Heritage" line and KG series and pro models. Reference series came along over a decade later. Klipsch never sold unpainted seconds when I was there. They did, for example, paint walnut-veneered speakers black and sell them as "BB" models if there was a blemish in the walnut veneer or if there was sapwood in the veneer.

Klipsch also donated many shipping-damaged speaker cabinets, which had been repaired and painted black, to churches in the area for many years, partly because the speakers could be used as a tax write-off to non-profit organizations at the list price value, whereas if the cabinet was scrapped due to a bad corner or something, they could only get a percentage as a scrapped item write-off for tax purposes. The added benefit of donating to churches was the free advertising they got from doing so. But by the early 1980's so many churches were getting broken into and the speakers stolen, most churches never even bothered to ask for replacements due to the other damage done by thieves who knew the speakers were inside. Most country churches have nobody close by watching over them like city churches have.

-Andy