Is this an early Klipschorn?

[Yznhymr]

Hi Jim,

I'm hoping you can tell me about this corner speaker  - specifically if it is indeed an early Klipschorn.  Other than some handwritten figures on the crossover unit, I can find no manufacturer's identification. It does appear to be dated 1952. It looks very similar to a few of the early corner Klipschorns seen in your museum videos (very well done btw) but I didn't see an exact match to this specimen.  

 

Any info about this speaker would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[WMcD]

I’ve been waiting to see what Jim Hunter has to say about this. 

 

I’ve never seen this photograph despite decades of following Klipsch. Colors are so true I’d think it is modern electronic camera or an old Kodachrome.

 

It looks to me that the treble driver is an Altec.  One time that appears is in the K-Horn owned by Mr. Fairchild during WWII. But his bass unit was later sacrificed as a test rig for what was the modern K-Horn.  It wasn't walnut from the only photo.   [Addition by edit: Now that I turn up the monitor I see it is a K-5 with the tweeter on the central vertical member.  Of course the photos of the throat end really help.]

 

The wood used looks like walnut with a lot of craftsmanship to make the curved front and what I’ll call banding.  Wow.

 

I see that there seems to be an enclosure on the back of the K-Horn bass unit in the photo.  This is not to say that Klipsch could not have the source of the bass bin, unfinished. OTOH, the patent on the K-Horn had claims that the back was not enclosed and the walls of the room provided that element.   I surmise this why PWK didn’t enclose the back even though it made a lot of sense.

 

Can you give us any info on the dignified gentleman, or the “hand” in the photo?  Fr. Bill, Roy?    [Addition:  I'm glad I was nice to your dad.]

 

WMcD

[Yznhymr]

Good morning, WMcD,

 

Thank you for your thoughtful response. 

 

This is indeed a digital photo taken by yours truly - this week. The dignified gentleman (?) is my dad :).

The enclosure is a combination of solid walnut and plywood in non-visible areas. The pie-shaped horn top just rests on the enclosure base. The crossover is obviously out of the cabinet - just resting on the top for a photo op. There used to be speaker cloth covering the horn area.

 

I would have added additional photos in my first post but I hit the site limit of 2MB. So the the good news is there is room for two more in this reponse. 

 

Hope these help.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

[LarryC]

It seems to have some hallmarks of Klipschorns, such as the University treble drivers including what looks like the SAHF that was used into the late '50s or early '60s; the bracket holding up the back end of the mid horn; and the quality x-over design using large air-core coils.  Those things look like they could have been part of early K-horn evolution.

 

I wonder if the SAHF replaced the other University driver with the cut-off leads?  Or was the latter a tweeter?  The crossover looks 3-way to my untutored eye. 

[WMcD]

Thank you for the additional pictures – is the handle, wisen-himer?

 

BTW can you give us any additional information on the speaker’s provenances.  Not to be too grumpy but sometimes new posters hold back and we here have to go into pointless speculation sometimes with awkward guesses.

 

My thoughts (going out on a limb) are that the original owner bought a set of Klipschorn type D maybe before 1962 and then did a smashing job of making the walnut additions.

 

A nice fellow posted a price list in the gallery and please take a look.

 

https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/gallery/album/165-1963-literature/

 

It appears to me that the price list shows an EV-35 tweeter rather than the University tweeter you have.  So yours is maybe a year of two earlier.

 

The crossover filter you have is somewhat  different physically and I attribute that to it being designed for the earlier University version of the tweeter. Still, please consider the many similarities.

 

Overall, from the photos you’ve posted you have all Klipsch-sold components in the mid, tweeter, and crossover. Evidence is mounting up.

 

The next issue is whether the bass bin is from Klipsch at Hope.  If you look at the price list the D (decorator) please.  Taking a close look at the photo you posted of the throat / driver end of the mid, there seems to be some grain of the bass horn shown and it looks like fir to me.   The D bass horn was fir.

 

Therefore, the final issue is whether there is Klipsch manufactured bass horn under the walnut, or in contrast, a home built unit which technically would not be a Klipschorn, not having a genuine bass horn.  

 

You’ll have to dig into the innards for any marking indicating they were made in Hope.  I don’t know anything about such markings.  Further, you’ll have to determine whether the bass driver is marked as from Klipsch.

 

Overall, I doubt this walnut came from Hope.  It seems that a skilled workman bought a decorator version and did a wonderful job.

 

WMcD

 

 

 

 

[Yznhymr]

Thanks for following-up,  WMcD -

 

Starting to get optimistic over here based on your observations/insight coupled with the 1963 price list. The photo of the Klipschorn Style "D" Decorator's Model found on the bottom of page one looks amazingly similar. Reading fine print on the very bottom left of the page, it clearly states "Exotic woods and finishes on bid (submit sample for estimate) is helping as well. 

 

There is an encyclopedia-sized plywood inspection / access cover on the speaker's base cabinet right hand side where I imagine a woofer can be found. It hasn't been removed - probably since it was originally installed so I can't help you there.

 

As far as provenance - I can't tell you much other than it has been sitting in in dry storage for a very long time. I've been given the opportunity to purchase this single speaker "as-is where-is". It's not cheap and I can't test it for obvious reasons. I know nothing more which is why I'm reaching out to this forum.

 

I was really hoping that someone could tell me if it was indeed a Klipsch product and whether there was even a remote possibility of finding a mate. It's been an orphan too long. 

 

Finally yes. My Grandmother used to call me that when I got on her nerves - fairly often, many moons ago.

 

Kind regards.

 

 

 

 

 

[WMcD]

Pardon my spelling.

 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wisenheimer

 

WMcD

[Yznhymr]

I did.

[ClaudeJ1]

I had a K5-J horn in fiberglas and wood. It had only a single support brace in the center and hole for a tweeter, which was gone since it came with a JBL driver. I would not be sure about this one.

[JRH]

Sorry for the belated response.  I think WMcD is pretty much on track, and would bet a hypothetical sum (PWK-ism) that it started out as a stock Klipsch product and received some skilled modifications.  Further internal pics might provide the final proof.  Highly unlikely to find a mate.

[Yznhymr]

Thanks Jim. I appreciate you taking a look and weighing-in.