CaptnBob Posted July 15, 2002 Share Posted July 15, 2002 I am about to enter the dark side of speaker ghouldom, after deciding it's better for the crossovers and horns to be used by someone who will enjoy them rather than just sitting in my basement waiting for the day when I'll actually have time to rebuild the cabinets and move into a house with enough corners to use them. But my question is this. When one cruises the murky waters of ebay, one sees an awful lot of raw drivers. I find myself wondering - what happened to all the cabinets those speakers must have been in? Is there some landfill slowly filling with Stephens-Trusonic Charles Eames-designed boxes? Are there vast arrays of Jensen Imperials and University Classics sitting in woodpiles somewhere? Is there someone readying a JBL Paragon for a Viking funeral? And most importantly, if people are setting their Electro-Voice Patricians out by the curb for pick-up, why aren't they doing it in my neighborhood? Just thought I'd ask. Capt'n Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShapeShifter Posted July 15, 2002 Share Posted July 15, 2002 captnfxr has them in Minneapolis. He's cornering the market on Academy's too! ------------------ KLIPSCH IS MUSICf> My Systems f>s>c> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluless Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 LOL, and if you are missing a dog, he has that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLUngurait Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 Could this be the very same deviant who keeps stealing my left sock?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 the cabinets were probably torn up over time, but everything was ok, so they trash teh cabinets and sell the insides. i have a friend who is interested in building horn speakre cabinet clones. he works for teh cabinet company my uncles manages and has all the equipment, and is working on getting the plans for the cabinets. do you think that he would be able to make any money on this? how much would you think a la scala, heresy, cornwall, khorn, belle, university horn, would sell for if it was just the cabinet? to see what this guy can do, check out this... http://osbornecabinets.com/ (i built that BTW ) do you think ppl would actually buy them since they were not made by klipsch? i hate to be the middle man, but he asked.... cheers ------------------ -justin SoundWise Support A technical help site created by me and my fellow Klipschers promediatech@Klipsch.com /1-888-554-5665 - RA# 800-554-7724 ext 5 s> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Warren Posted July 16, 2002 Share Posted July 16, 2002 quote: I find myself wondering - what happened to all the cabinets those speakers must have been in? Is there some landfill slowly filling with Stephens-Trusonic Charles Eames-designed boxes? Are there vast arrays of Jensen Imperials and University Classics sitting in woodpiles somewhere? Is there someone readying a JBL Paragon for a Viking funeral? And most importantly, if people are setting their Electro-Voice Patricians out by the curb for pick-up, why aren't they doing it in my neighborhood? This is a good question. Three reasons come to my mind -(1) market was small (low demand), (2) expensive and (3) a large fraction sold eventually ended up in the hands of individuals that really didn't appreciate them. Couple that with the probabilities of water damage, fire damage, cat piss, dog chew, dropped, etc. means that few survive in good condition. Regarding expense, in 1955 an E-V Patrician cost $800, an Klipschorn $600, a Jensen Imperial $900. These costs are considerable with the median salary in 1955 at $4500. In terms of production quantities, the Patrician IV sales numbers were dismal (to boost sales, EV introduced a kit version). One final reason-they didn't sound that good and the example here is the Paragon. A slick looking, 700 lb gorilla system that sound like sh*t. Of all the *vintage* commercial systems, the exceedingly rare Stan White 4-D (theater version) is the best sounding system I've ever heard ($1500 in 1955). This message has been edited by John Warren on 07-16-2002 at 05:39 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 Justin, I hope your friend realizes that there is much more to building speaker cabinets than just getting a set of plans like I have seen offered up on eBay and slapping them together...none of these plans I have seen so far mention the important little things like WHICH PARTS need to be cut slightly oversize to allow for sanding flush after the construction...among other things they don't tend to mention...and most of these plans deviate from the original designs in at least one aspect or another so that they don't infringe on patents, too!! So far, I haven't seen a single set of plans that matches the factory version of the LaScala in its entirety...NOT ONE SET!! Same for the k-horn!! Once again, there is much more to it than just grabbing up a set of plans and beginning to slap out cabinets, expecting to make any money from it. Especially when you consider that horn lens mounting points have changed here and there over the years...among other things...the cabinets HAVE to be built for the particular components involved...and various of these components have had subtle changes over the years that entails being able to adjust things for the particular version of components the prospective customer intends to utilize in the cabinet being offered. This means literally having to custom build at least portions of things for each customer...according to what components the customer intends to use...from which version of the cabinet the customer has...it ain't as easy as one may think...at a minimum for the LaScala it would take a number of different drilling jigs for just the horn flange mounting points to pre-drill the mounting holes so everything lines up correctly!! Also there are several slight differences in the openings for the midrange horns on them over the years. Same for Cornwalls and Heresys. There is a good reason why a good LaScala builder only put out about five cabinets or so a day...even though every part was already pre-cut, drilled, t-nuts installed, routed, etc..and even though the builder could probably pretty much build them blind-folded...it ain't as simple as it seems!! And that doesn't even include that the sanders only put out about 4 cabinets a day!! And, to add to that...there are certain procedures that MUST be followed in order to ensure a solidly built bass bin on them...and none of the plans I have seen so far go into those procedures...such as laying down excessive glue lines AFTER a part is assembled and wiping the glue INTO the seam on particular construction points of the doghouse to ensure a good seal!!...then ensuring that the seam never shows that this has been done!! There is alot more to it than to general home-type cabinet building!! Even if I built them...there wouldn't be any fortune to be made in doing it...but just a decent living...and I HAVE BUILT EM ALL BEFORE!! LOL! The secret would be to offer up something that the customer will like MORE than what he/she already has...and that is what I would do if I built them....modify the cabinet without changing its basic design as per FUNCTION, but change its design to increase its aesthetic qualities WITHOUT compromising its design as a speaker!! That requires more than just following even a factory set of plans for them, too!! ------------------ I can now receive private messages This message has been edited by HDBRbuilder on 07-20-2002 at 10:35 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 Last weekend, I emailed the guy in Seattle who parted out the two sets of Heresys on Ebay to ask about the cabinets. They were damaged and had paint overspray and he did not think anybody was interested. I told him I was, and negociated a price after he emailed me pictures etc. I am going to use them for the bass section of my center channel of my heritage HT. I figured it was easier to refinish those than build my own cabinet at HDBR pointed out. So sometimes the cabinets are out there, you just need to ask. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted July 20, 2002 Share Posted July 20, 2002 not trying to make a living off this, just make some extra money for a/v. i really just want to build some for myself and my friend who has own klispch since the very first cornwall was released, sold them in college for $350 the pair, mint condition.... oh well ------------------ -justin SoundWise Support A technical help site created by me and my fellow Klipschers promediatech@Klipsch.com /1-888-554-5665 - RA# 800-554-7724 ext 5 s> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted July 21, 2002 Share Posted July 21, 2002 Rumor has it that the "speaker cabinet graveyard" is just a mile or so away from the fabled "elephant graveyard" near where Tarzan resides...but you don't wanna go lookin for it...Tarzan don't like folks sneaking around there too much!! ------------------ I can now receive private messages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted July 24, 2002 Author Share Posted July 24, 2002 The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had the answer to my own sad question. 1. I returned to the college where I used to work and got into a conversation in the with one of the people working in the auditorium. I noticed the movie speaker (an ancient but still formidable RCA folded horn with a wooden multi-cell on top - think LaScala after treatment by Dr. Colossus' expanding ray.) was missing from the theater stage, and he told me (I quote here) "I'm proud to say I chopped that up myself." His rational was "There was nothing wrong with it but it was old." My teeth still hurt when I think of that. 2. Downstairs I've stashed a pair of Electro-Voice Sentry IIIs. One fell off a stage (the same stage mentioned above, come to think of it) and had the top third completely broken off. (Another reason to prefer plywood to MDF. I've seen LaScalas take worse falls and sustain no damage a few nails and black paint couldn't fix.) If I wasn't so determined to get them up and running again someday, I would have parted them out long ago. 3. I visited the local Klipsch dealer about a year ago and noticed - it was hard to miss - an "antiqued" Patrician 800 in the corner. The store owner told me it had been donated to Goodwill, but since they didn't really have room for it ... 4. I have heard from a usually reliable source that somewhere in downstate Illinois (we're drifting into urban legend here) was a farm owned by a theatre equipment supplier. Whenever a theatre closed or redid its sound system, he'd strip the Western Electric, or Altec or RCA cabinets and take them out to his farm, where he used them to dam creeks. Well, I'm good and depressed now. I think I'll go listen to some Mahler... Capt'n Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted July 25, 2002 Share Posted July 25, 2002 Bob, ya know?...them old RCA folded horn theater speakers make damned good river flat boats if you just remove that wood outta the middle of em and paint some roofing tar on the outside of em...great for running the trot lines at night for yer catfish!!! ------------------ I can now receive private messages This message has been edited by HDBRbuilder on 07-25-2002 at 11:29 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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