BerndH Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 Three years ago i bought from a discothek these two klipschorns. Please see my picture showing from left to right the serial no. (13S161 and 13S173) and the box front panels. The both right pictures shows different K 400 horns. One picture shows the horns welded in the middle without the pwk-logo. On the other picture, taken from my actual setup, you can see, that the horn is not welded and has the pwk-logo. The welded horns i received from a guy, who sold me the K-55M drivers, the EV T35 tweeters and the type AA crossover for only 500,- $. With these i replaced the one K-55V driver, the Cervin-Vega driver VP-100D and the both JBL 2404 tweeters, which i bought earlier with the bass bins. I've never seen klipschorns with these front panels. My question is, is this finish ever made by Klipsch or is this maybe selfmade? Are the welded K-400 horns from Klipsch or not? Many thanks for your replies. Bernd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 The attached helps only a little. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 The PWK horn is obviously a Klipsch. The other one, is not. It COULD be a Speaker Lab knock-off. BTW, Real K-400s are welded, but alomg the "horizontal" seam. It would appear you have a pair of KC-BR bass horns with other manufacturers' top end. Since they came from a disco, the other parts are probably replacements for failed components. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 The speakers are KCBR models. Which means("C") that they ORIGINALLY were built with no "riser" between the top section and the bass bin. And they ORIGINALLY ("BR") came in birch plywood with no finish on them..."birch, raw". The signatures on the labels of the bass bins are genuine, so the bass bins are the real thing. I knew Mr. Bradford quite well. He tested your bass bins, before they were shipped. As for the K-400 horns, the one with "PWK" on it was a later model one that was cast in one piece, with a two-piece core used in its casting process...look up inside it and you will see a line around the inside about halfway between its mouth and throat...this is where the two halves of the cores used in the casting process were glued together before being put into the mold, prior to the aluminum being poured. After the horn lens arrived at Klipsch, its "parting line" flashing around its horizontal outside was ground off and the face of the flange at the mouth was also ground flat, the throat was drilled and tapped to accept the k55 driver, then it was painted black. The other horn MAY have been one of the prototypes at one time, since they were sometimes used in production just to keep from wasting them when done testing them. Other casting companies were sometimes asked to send some horns to the company for testing...after they had been given the dimensions in order to make up a pattern and produce a few...this was because there was always a possibility that Klipsch would go to a different foundry for having its horns cast up...for various reasons...cost, quality, etc. The position of the weld on this second horn is about where the joint of the two-piece core on the other one is located. I have never seen one of the K-400 horns that looked like this one with the weld on it...but that doesn't mean that there weren't any like it. When I worked at Klipsch (76-83), the Cornwall mid-horns and such were cast in two pieces, and welded together...but the k-400 arrived in a one-piece casting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndH Posted October 9, 2002 Author Share Posted October 9, 2002 Thanks all of you for your replies. I uploaded as attachment a closeup picture from my left klipschorn. This bin is the only one from my two cornerhorns with the top section with no raiser like style C. The second cornerhorn i bought without the top section, which was removed from the former owner for disco use. Please take a closer look to the finish of the bass bin. It's an PVC film with about 2 mm thickness, oliv coloured with silver speckles. The big front plate with measurements about 29,5 x 10,5 inch seems to be an original Klipsch part. What do you think about the origin off the PVC film and the Klipsch-logo plate? John, you are right about the driver mismatch, when i bought these klipschorns from the discothek owner. There was one Beyma 15G450 and one Multicel B15A in the bass section installed, one mid driver was an original K-55V and the other was a Cervin Vega VP100D (8Ohm) mounted on the K-400 horns with the PWK-logo. The tweeters were two JBL 2404 baby butts. First it sounded really much better than my previous ACR BK 202 backloaded horns (like the Jericho horn or the Lowther Acousta 115). But after a while i was not completely satisfied. The mid bass was weak with the replaced bass drivers, and the Cervin Vega driver was two less loud and has an estimated frequency range from 800 Hz up. From Vienna i bought 2 K-33E bass drivers (got much better price from the Austrian Klipsch trader as from anyone else in Germany - about 180 $ incl. shipping). From a seller in Nuremberg i bought the two AA networks, the two K-55M mid drivers with the welded horn and the EV T-35 tweeters. Now it sounds really satisfying as i compared with a stock klipschorn at a local store. I believe i will never sell or replace my klipschorns. I'm really "horny" from my first days of hearing music. My first experience with horns were at the age of 16 in a discothek with four JBL 4520, four JBL 2470 mid drivers with 2395 horn lens (like Tom Brennans) and eight JBL 2405 slot tweeters. Still today in my memories it sounds fantastic or maybe in better words h o r n y. For my home use i build at the age of 17 two Klipsch La Scalas, but with any cheap Beyma 12" drivers, because i had as student to less money. I realized after destroying the DIY La Scalas, what wonderful speakers they could be, after i found this speakers years later on the Klipsch homepage. Then i owned for three years the Swiss made ACR BK 202. With 33, three years ago, my early dream became true, when i bought the klipschhorns. Best sounding for home use. Horns forever!!! Has anybody experience how Martin bins or Shearer horns sound? I have two 15" drivers here and don't know what to do with them? Room is enough, my sitting room is about 26 x 20 x 10 foot. P.S.: Great forum! Bernd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted October 9, 2002 Share Posted October 9, 2002 Those Klipsch logo's sure look out of place on the speakers! Are you going to redo them? Or do you like it that way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndH Posted October 10, 2002 Author Share Posted October 10, 2002 Hi Kenratboy, What i will do with the big PWK-logo plates after refinishing the bass bins i don't know. It makes me a very proud owner of klipschorns, when i see the big Klipsch logo. Maybe i mount them back again after refinishing. I thought many times of refinishing them, perhaps in a black finish instead of the PVC-film. But in my rented home it is difficult to do any woodworking, especially how to avoid waste from sawing in your living rooms. Furthermore i need to rebuild the top section, which the former owner removed, for the second cabinet. The third reason is, that i wait for some EV SM120A horns to test with the K-55M and then i need to build new top sections for each cabinet. Bernd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cornell Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Berndh Click my avitar and look at my designer decorator Klipschorns Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m00n Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 Damn those look old... Not that thats a bad thing, just that they look like they have been around the music block a few times. I love the hand written serial numbers.... Makes you feel as though each speaker being made got special attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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