Shive Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 I have a pair of older Heresy 1 (I think) speakers. S/N: 132X134 & 132X135 (stmaped on back upper endgrain), they have USA stamped on one corner and a J on the other. They have a Type E crossover, K-22-R Woofers,K-55-V medrange drivers,& K-77 M tweeters. They appear to not have had labels...is this possible? Thanks, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 Yes, they are heresy ones, and likely did have labels which disappeared sometime during their lifetime… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shive Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 OK, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted August 1, 2017 Share Posted August 1, 2017 hey Mark, welcome to the forum the X in the serial number means they were built in 1982 the J is the first letter of the name of the person who built the speaker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 On 8/1/2017 at 4:53 PM, Budman said: hey Mark, welcome to the forum the X in the serial number means they were built in 1982 the J is the first letter of the name of the person who built the speaker NOT necessarily...here is the reason WHY: The builder(s) stamped his(or their) initial in PRIOR to the cabinet going to Sanding Dept. When the speaker was in the hands of one of the sanding dept. people, the sander would putty up the edges (to include the REAR edges) of the panels, prior to sanding the cabinets. The process of puttying up the REAR panel edges, more often than not, got putty into the stamped initial(s) of the builder(s). If the rear edges were not PERFECTLY aligned, when the rear edges of the panels were BELT-SANDED, and the corner where the builder initial(s) were stamped in ended up being sanded down considerably, it may well have REMOVED the stamped-in initial(s) of the builder(s). When the person sanding the cabinet was finished with it and it was ready to head to (or THRU, in the case of "raw" models) the finishing Dept., the SANDER would stamp his or her initial into that same corner...NORMALLY BELOW the initial(s) of the builder(s). In THIS particular case above, it is the initial of the sander ("J" was Judy Clayton in 1982), NOT the builder....which was noted by the originator of this thread. IFthe new owner looks more closely at that same REAR corner, he MAY be able to see one or a pair of initials just above the "J", which MAY have been filled with putty, or even sanded down enough so that the builder(s) initial(s) are barely visible. It is WAY MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, that the builder was ME...and even MORE likely that there is a second initial beside mine ("A"), according to who was working with me (if anybody!) when the cabinet was built. The vast majority of birch Heresy speaker cabinets were built by me with a helper installing the rear glue blocks, and the motor-board, then puttying up the rear glue blocks at their joints. That was the reason why the builders normally had to stamp THEIR initials so deeply into what they built. Problems with the sanders sanding them off due to a "proud" corner rear edge necessitated it...and SOMETIMES they were STILL not deep enough to keep from being sanded off. The serial number stamping was done in final assembly. There was nobody in the cabinet shop building birch Heresy speaker cabinets in 1982 with the letter "J" being used....but there WAS a sander in the sanding dept. using the letter "J"...Judy Clayton...who later ended up over in final assembly for a number of years...usually testing the speakers by running the frequency sweep to verify they met the standards to get out the door of the plant. Judy made that move sometime after I left Klipsch (in September 1983). A bit more on the initials used to designate builder or sander: If somebody already was using a particular initial at the time (in either the cabinet shop or the sanding dept.), then the initial of somebody who just started working as a builder or sander MAY very well have NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR NAME AT ALL! The initials were for quality control...so that final assembly could take the cabinet back to whomever built it or sanded it to get something fixed that did not meet shipping standards. So they always took it back to whomever had that designated initial to do the "fixing". The initial really never HAD TO BE part of a person's name, but most often it was. Every builder and sander had an initial "assigned", and none of them could be used by another sander or builder while that original designee was still working at the plant. Here is yet another bit of info on builder and sander initials: Everybody who started working at the plant assigned to certain other departments, such as dealer representatives, and the engineers and such in R&D....had to learn how to build everything. AND whatever that particular individual built was initialed by THAT builder, too! Now, guess which initials on speakers might be the RAREST...how about maybe Jim Hunter's or Roy Delgado's???? HMMMMM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.