How Many K-Horns (and Heritage) Have Been Manufactured?

[WMcD]

This question is also left over from the first pilgrimage.  (Sorry if I'm being a nudge and over taxing Jim Hunter's time.)

 

IIRC Jim told us that some thousands individual K-Horn units  were made.  IIRC he said 10 times as many Heresy were made. 

 

Perhaps Jim can give us a clarification.  And then there are other the other Heritage units.

 

Where the heck are all this units? these days, I ask somewhat rhetorically.

 

PWK must have been keeping driver manufacturers and veneered plywood suppliers in business.

 

WMcD

[dtel's wife]

3 hours ago, WMcD said:

This question is also left over from the first pilgrimage.  (Sorry if I'm being a nudge and over taxing Jim Hunter's time.)

 

IIRC Jim told us that some thousands individual K-Horn units  were made.  IIRC he said 10 times as many Heresy were made. 

 

Perhaps Jim can give us a clarification.  And then there are other the other Heritage units.

 

Where the heck are all this units? these days, I ask somewhat rhetorically.

 

PWK must have been keeping driver manufacturers and veneered plywood suppliers in business.

 

WMcD

Another good one!

[Budman]

4 hours ago, WMcD said:

 

Where the heck are all this units? these days,

 

a few of them reside at my house

 

[HDBRbuilder]

Here is a clue:  Including K-horn sub-assembly build time into the mix, for every K-horn produced between 1976 and 1983, about 200-400 Heresys were produced (maybe MORE, depending on the mitered box number fluctuation)...and for every K-horn produced, around 30-80 Cornwalls were produced.  For every K-horn produced about 6-18 LaScalas were produced, and for every ten K-horns produced there anywhere from 1-2 Belles produced.  This is based on memory from seeing them built during THOSE years, ONLY!  The Belle took LOTS MORE TIME to build than a K-horn, and was ALWAYS a SPECIAL ORDER!

 

[WMcD]

Thank you HDBR,  Those numbers for Heresy are astounding.  

 

I should have reviewed articles I posted including the Vacuum Tube Valley.  Here is what they say. The number of K-Horns in the article was probably what Jim H. told us in that the VTV came out not too long before.

 

 

 

 

[babadono]

On 9/11/2016 at 2:46 PM, Budman said:

 

a few of them reside at my house

 

Yea me too! As for the rest they're in some other old geezer's homes and will be sold at estate sales when we pass

[HDBRbuilder]

Actually, the Heresy was originally designed to BE a supplementary speaker, and during those days VERY few K-horn owners even HAD a stereo system, much less a three-speaker stereo array.  So the Heresy "filled the bill" for those having a monaural system of a single K-horn in one corner, and with the addition of a single Heresy in the diagonally opposite corner, its diminutive size made it easily very unobtrusive (WAF!) as a supplementary speaker within that monaural system, provided needed Mid-Hi performance to fill the room with sound so that no matter where you walked within that room the music was full.  The other side of the Heresy VOLUME sales is what PWK would do when going to dealers to demonstrate the K-horn to customers:  He would put a Heresy in front og the bass bin of the K-horn and proceed to discuss what made the K-horn unique as the listeners were actually just listening to the single Heresy...then, when he finished his spiel, he would announce that "Let's listen to the Klipschorn, now...", which was a surprise to the group of listeners who were already sold on the sound they were getting from the Heresy without even realizing it was NOT the K-horn they were hearing.  PWK was always the wry trickster!  What he had not ORIGINALLY planned on was that those very demonstrations is what sold the Heresy in large volumes (it had a huge bang for the buck for those without the financial means to purchase a K-horn!), even though it was designed as a supplementary speaker.  The simple fact that the Heresy was selling so well pushed its further development to a BETTER speaker that had as full of a range as its diminutive size would allow for.

[WMcD]

I recall something about early Herseys.  The tweeter and mid had a crossover so that their output matched the K-Horn, and not match the output of the woofer which was about 8 dB down.  (Not good for using them as a stereo pair of course).

 

At the time of reading I thought this was good as a center to the K-Horns because the missing bass would not be noticed.  As you say, we see the Heresy in "the other corner" in some photograph.  I've pointed out from experience that when one woofer of a K-Horn pair (or probably any stereo pair with low crossover points) goes out it can be difficult to detect at first listening. Therefore the supplemental Heresy, could be perceived as working well.

 

Back in the early stereo days there must have been some consumer resistance to the cost of an additional big speaker. 

 

Re PWK's presentation.  During a demo at Indy years ago the folks started with smaller speakers which sounded pretty good and then went on to bigger ones.  Yes, better still but it didn't knock you over.  I wonder how it would be perceived if the demo went from large to small rather than small to large.

 

WMcD  

 

 

 

 

[garyrc]

7 hours ago, WMcD said:

Back in the early stereo days there must have been some consumer resistance to the cost of an additional big speaker. 

There was, but the resistance melted away at the 1959 Hi Fi fair when people heard either the JBL Paragon (two independent 3 way speaker systems in one grand looking 104" wide box with a curved, polished hardwood reflector between the speakers, OR, in another room, two Klipschorns in the two corners of the room.  The Khorns presented a wider image and a little deeper bass.  So, many of us had no more resistance, but no money either, being Jr. high or high school students.  Our one affluent friend got two big speakers for stereo about a year later, and the rest of us put a big speaker in one corner, and a smaller speaker in the other.  In about 1964, I had a balanced soundstage with two home made JBL C34 enclosures.  It took another 18 years to get a pair of Khorns.

[HDBRbuilder]

Although it was the Klipschorn that started it all, it was the diminutive Heresy that kept the company alive and EVENTUALLY very profitable...and this profitability was fact for at least two decades (mid-1960's through mid-1980's)...the same two decades that saw the demise of many speaker companies and even more speaker models.  Look around and see how many long-time companies are still manufacturing an in-house design that they were manufacturing in the 1950's...I know of only ONE company which can claim that:  Klipsch (correct me if I missed another company).  And Klipsch is STILL manufacturing THREE in-house designs which ORIGINATED in the 1950's:  the Klipschorn, Heresy, and Cornwall (albeit they have had numerous upgrades since originally being manufactured...mostly with the Heresy, then the Cornwall, and lastly the K-horn).  The LaScala came along by the mid-1960's with the Belle coming out at the turn of that decade to the very early 1970's (but the Belle is TECHNICALLY no longer in manufacture by the company).

[JJkizak]

I always remember the Bells Labs test in the early 1960's or so with the Khorns in a 35 x 35 foot room with Cornwall center channel. It was a very big deal which was instrumental in the purchase of my K-horns and Cornwall. I said if it's good enough for Bell Labs is good enough for me.

JJK

[WMcD]

JJK, was that ever written up anywhere?  Was it a demo to the Bell Labs Phonograph Club?  Did PWK say he was bringing "coals to Newcastle"?

 

I was thinking.  If the room wasn't good for K-Horn bass, the CW would have added some bass umph.

 

WMcD

[JJkizak]

Yes it was written up but I don't recall by who but it might have been Popular Science or Popular Mechanics magazines and I believe they labeled it "King Klipsch". . I do remember that they tried different room sizes and ended up with either 30 x 30 x 30 or somewhere around that.  They also mentioned the huge sound stage it provided. It had to be the early 1960's or late 1950's. When I read the evaluation I just reached for the checkbook because I worked with Bell Labs designed stuff (Western Electric).

JJK

 

It could have been one of the audio magazines popular at the time also.

JJK

[JRH]

Again late to the party.

 

1.  As for how many have been made, in about 1983 Klipsch went to electronic shipping records (Radio Shack!). Of course they went thru the natural "upgrades in technology" many times.  The records since then are lost. 

 

2.  I sure would like to get a copy of any write-up of the Bell Labs demonstration.  I have been trying.  Don Davis (Klipsch VP of Sales at the time) accompanied PWK on this demo at Murray Hill, I believe in 1958 or 9.  Here is a Pocket Facts from 1960 referencing the demo.

 

 

[twk123]

On 9/30/2016 at 5:55 PM, WMcD said:

I recall something about early Herseys.  The tweeter and mid had a crossover so that their output matched the K-Horn, and not match the output of the woofer which was about 8 dB down.  (Not good for using them as a stereo pair of course).

 

At the time of reading I thought this was good as a center to the K-Horns because the missing bass would not be noticed.  As you say, we see the Heresy in "the other corner" in some photograph.  I've pointed out from experience that when one woofer of a K-Horn pair (or probably any stereo pair with low crossover points) goes out it can be difficult to detect at first listening. Therefore the supplemental Heresy, could be perceived as working well.

 

Back in the early stereo days there must have been some consumer resistance to the cost of an additional big speaker. 

 

Re PWK's presentation.  During a demo at Indy years ago the folks started with smaller speakers which sounded pretty good and then went on to bigger ones.  Yes, better still but it didn't knock you over.  I wonder how it would be perceived if the demo went from large to small rather than small to large.

 

WMcD  

 

 

 

 

If I am not mistaken doesnt the original HIP with the bottom slot port have this feature? I know the crossover is different than an normal Heresy and the sensitivity is higher.

[JRH]

All Heresy's were changed to a balanced crossover very early on.  The HIP was balanced, but with a much more efficient woofer, it was "nearly balanced" inherently.