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What was Klipsches Very first speaker system? Earliest Lascalas? When


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The first Klipschorns produced were from around 1947.  A number of speakers were designed and manufactured in the 1950's, but have been out of production for decades, but the Heresy and Cornwall are still in production, with both of these models ORIGINALLY coming out in the 1950's, the Cornwall following the Heresy.  The first LaScala speakers produced were from around 1962 time-frame....with further refinement they went into REGULAR production a few years later.  The best seller by far has been the Heresy over the years.

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8 hours ago, Don Richard said:

The Klipschorn was the first commercial Klipsch product, and it looks very much like the Khorn that is sold today. The midrange and tweeter horns, all of the drivers, and the crossovers have changed over the years but the basic design is the same.

Wasnt referring as much to his design as i was to the actual unit and components. Was there a particular model that was first issued way back that was his first and what was in his cabinet? Brand of speaker and horn. Was it Jbl Ev Jensen Altec etc...?

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5 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said:

The first Klipschorns produced were from around 1947.  A number of speakers were designed and manufactured in the 1950's, but have been out of production for decades, but the Heresy and Cornwall are still in production, with both of these models ORIGINALLY coming out in the 1950's, the Cornwall following the Heresy.  The first LaScala speakers produced were from around 1962 time-frame....with further refinement they went into REGULAR production a few years later.  The best seller by far has been the Heresy over the years.

Thanks 1947 then. Is there a photo of what was inside those earliest klipsch cabinets? Woofer Drivers and horns. What Manufacturer made those drivers in those early Klipsch. Thanks

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2 hours ago, VintageSpeaker said:

Wasnt referring as much to his design as i was to the actual unit and components. Was there a particular model that was first issued way back that was his first and what was in his cabinet? Brand of speaker and horn. Was it Jbl Ev Jensen Altec etc...?

The folded bass horn design is what the Klipschorn is all about to begin with.  A good part of PWK's genius was that he did not NEED to use the most expensive components to meet his performance needs in his speaker designs.  VERY Early K-horns used University compression drivers for the mid horn and tweeter.  A number of different woofers COULD be used in those days, but manufactured K-horns often had Jensen Coax woofers early on...the coaxial horn on the Jensens was really not doing much when powering the bass bin, though....Eventually, early-on the tweeters used in the K-horns settled into the Alnico-magneted Electrovoice T-35 produced to meet Klipsch minimum-requirement specifications. This same tweeter was used in the K-horn, LaScalas, Belles, Cornwalls, and Heresyss for years.  The horn lens for the mid-range compression driver varied both by Klipsch speaker model and over time FOR those models, but the same compression driver powering those horn lenses eventually was used in all the afore-mentioned speaker models...just attached to different mid-horn lenses.  Called the K-55 compression driver, it was made under a few different manufacturers over the years, to include the Alnico-magneted K55V, made by Atlas...which evolved to a mud-slurry magneted K55 made by Electrovoice.  

 

Think about the components used in the Heresy, Cornwall, LaScala, Belle, and Klipschorn like this...same tweeter in all of them, same mid-range compression driver in all of them, and same woofer in all of them, except the Heresy which used the 12-inch woofer.  The "Genius" of PWK in this is based upon COMMONALITY OF PARTS for a full range of loudspeaker models...with none of those COMMON parts being EXTREMELY expensive or considered the very utmost in performance or quality according to "audiophiles"...but when combined together in any Klipsch model used, they performed EXTREMELY well.  The COMMONALITY of parts also allowed for LARGE purchases since almost all the speakers used the same drivers...which saves on shipping costs from manufacturers of those parts...and in no way caused problems that occur when each speaker uses completely different internal parts, but customer orders  numbers of each separate speaker design vary throughout a fiscal period.  Make sense?

 

Mid-range horn lenses were designed by Klipsch.  With the Klipschorn and Lascala sharing the same lens, whereas the Heresy, Cornwall, and Belle all used different mid-horn lenses, also designed by Klipsch.

 

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Yes, Stephens 103LX woofers were used for a while.  Even the excellent E-V 15W was modified for Klipsch and called 15WK.  That seems to be an exception to the inexpensive components rule.  To my knowledge, no Vitavox components were used by Klipsch.  The basshorn was licensed to Vitavox for their own production. 

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17 hours ago, JohnA said:

Yes, Stephens 103LX woofers were used for a while.  Even the excellent E-V 15W was modified for Klipsch and called 15WK.  That seems to be an exception to the inexpensive components rule.  To my knowledge, no Vitavox components were used by Klipsch.  The basshorn was licensed to Vitavox for their own production. 

 

Didnt realize they used stephens. Klipschorn was vitavox drivers

 

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On 4/6/2018 at 3:18 AM, VintageSpeaker said:

 

 

What does this mean?  "Klipschorn was vitavox dirvers"   Somewhere, probably in Dope from Hope, there is a replacement parts list to use to update Khorns that includes a list of formerly used components, year by year.  Also, there is the "Klipschorn timeline"    https://2d73e25b29782b6d6766-9c8af5cbfef16739445bc76457060528.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/KhornTimeline_635116436015580000.pdf

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On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 5:18 AM, VintageSpeaker said:

 

 

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 5:18 AM, VintageSpeaker said:

 

He probably doesn't know that Vitavox built Klipschorn bass bins under license from Klipsch for a short time...and thinks all Klipschorns used Vitavox guts in them.

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On 4/5/2018 at 12:49 PM, JohnA said:

Yes, Stephens 103LX woofers were used for a while.  Even the excellent E-V 15W was modified for Klipsch and called 15WK.  That seems to be an exception to the inexpensive components rule.  To my knowledge, no Vitavox components were used by Klipsch.  The basshorn was licensed to Vitavox for their own production. 

I have a 54 with the EV and a 56 with the Stephens. Listening right now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The first Khorn (X-3) had a Jensen A-12 woofer and a WE 555 HF.  I'm sure many substitutions were made over the years.  The next 12 made by Baldwin (1947) had WE 713 A's for HF, and at least one had a JBL woofer.  From 1948 on Stephens was a standard woofer.  Bob Stephens was a personal friend.  Some units used the drivers that the customer supplied!  Stephens, Electro Voice and Jensen were the main players in the 50's.  JohnA is correct that Vitavox was the first licensee of the Klipschorn, and PWK did not to my knowledge ever sell a product with Vitavox drivers, unless possibly supplied by the customer.

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