DIY Klipsch Aristocrat Towers (corner horn)

[MechEngVic]

@Tomtastic 

 

Any progress to report?

[Mitch Lee]

I just replaced the more modest EV 12TRXB "triaxial" (actually woofer, tweeter, and wizzer cone) with the more robust 24 lb "coffee can" AV 12TRX driver in one of my Aristocrats. Used the original AV crossover and volume control on the tweeter. I'll do the second speaker tomorrow, but took advantage of having a mismatched set today to compare them.

 

Well, surprise! The biggest difference is not that the B version is less efficient and does no go as deep. The tweeter is the most striking difference. The 12TRX has a much better tweeter that gives it really sweet vocals and more solid bite to trombones on Sinatra's Summer Wind. Vocals on Morning Has Broken are to die for sweet and convincing. 

 

We will see tomorrow when I replace the other 12TRXB, but my sense is (from a few minutes of listening to some Buxtehude Trios, lounge jazz, older folk-pop, and a little Cream White Room Ginger Baker magic) that these Electro-Voice Aristocrat cabinets with the better tweeter in the 12TRX speakers are one of those amazing combinations that actually reproduce the human voice in an utterly convincing manner. 

 

And that is no small feat! SO even if they have some obvious deficits (being from over 50 years ago) of dynamics, sheer volume, and transient snap; it is likely that for the sheer joy of listening to singers such as Nat King Cole and Maria Callas they will find a permanent place in my home. They are stunning vocal speakers!

[the real Duke Spinner]

Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂

[billybob]

18 hours ago, Mitch Lee said:

I just replaced the more modest EV 12TRXB "triaxial" (actually woofer, tweeter, and wizzer cone) with the more robust 24 lb "coffee can" AV 12TRX driver in one of my Aristocrats. Used the original AV crossover and volume control on the tweeter. I'll do the second speaker tomorrow, but took advantage of having a mismatched set today to compare them.

 

Well, surprise! The biggest difference is not that the B version is less efficient and does no go as deep. The tweeter is the most striking difference. The 12TRX has a much better tweeter that gives it really sweet vocals and more solid bite to trombones on Sinatra's Summer Wind. Vocals on Morning Has Broken are to die for sweet and convincing. 

 

We will see tomorrow when I replace the other 12TRXB, but my sense is (from a few minutes of listening to some Buxtehude Trios, lounge jazz, older folk-pop, and a little Cream White Room Ginger Baker magic) that these Electro-Voice Aristocrat cabinets with the better tweeter in the 12TRX speakers are one of those amazing combinations that actually reproduce the human voice in an utterly convincing manner. 

 

And that is no small feat! SO even if they have some obvious deficits (being from over 50 years ago) of dynamics, sheer volume, and transient snap; it is likely that for the sheer joy of listening to singers such as Nat King Cole and Maria Callas they will find a permanent place in my home. They are stunning vocal speakers!

My Aristocrat was exceptional with vintage blues and jazz.

It had a super tweet and an Norelco 12 coaxial.

@Mitch Lee

[pnort]

I started in on hi-fi when I was about 13 back in the mid-50s and little phono players weren't cutting it playing Elvis or Cash or Hank Snow. At my local record store I saw some Aristocrat speakers that I liked the idea of and one weekend I built a knock-off of the design out of some 3/4-inch plywood (I think back then it actually was 3/4-think  -- now now quite so much). I was able to convince my parents to buy me a University model 312 tri-ax speaker that served me well until the end of the 60s when the power transformer in my 24 Watt amplifier died and I could find an exact replacement. My scepticism of stereo was also wavering because all the amplifiers for sale by that time were stereo rather than predominately mono. I wound up building a Heathkit AR15 stereo, but now I needed two speakers and couldn't find a University 312 so I started auditioning speakers at audio stores. Nothing seemed satisfactory until I listened to Klipshorns at a store in north Syracuse. After some correspondence with Paul Klipsch (attached) I bought one and paired it with my Aristocrat knock-off until I could the second one. I don't have the homemade Aristocrat anymore but my favorite memory of it from back in the 50s was wanting to know how far away the music would carry. I put the speaker in our back yard, ran a wire up from the 24 Watt Knight amp in the basement, dropped the needle on some rock&roll, jumped on my bike an got a couple blocks away before the record--a 78--ended. Back home there was a crowd of neighbors standing around the speaker listening to the 78-cycle thump of the record end groove, not knowing how to turn it off.

Klipschletter1.pdf Klipschletter2.pdf

[billybob]

Well, that is a cool thing. Only reason I did not start possibly was my diapers. Like Hank Snow...Tell us more about the speaker s...

[Travis In Austin]

On 2/22/2023 at 10:08 PM, pnort said:

I started in on hi-fi when I was about 13 back in the mid-50s and little phono players weren't cutting it playing Elvis or Cash or Hank Snow. At my local record store I saw some Aristocrat speakers that I liked the idea of and one weekend I built a knock-off of the design out of some 3/4-inch plywood (I think back then it actually was 3/4-think  -- now now quite so much). I was able to convince my parents to buy me a University model 312 tri-ax speaker that served me well until the end of the 60s when the power transformer in my 24 Watt amplifier died and I could find an exact replacement. My scepticism of stereo was also wavering because all the amplifiers for sale by that time were stereo rather than predominately mono. I wound up building a Heathkit AR15 stereo, but now I needed two speakers and couldn't find a University 312 so I started auditioning speakers at audio stores. Nothing seemed satisfactory until I listened to Klipshorns at a store in north Syracuse. After some correspondence with Paul Klipsch (attached) I bought one and paired it with my Aristocrat knock-off until I could the second one. I don't have the homemade Aristocrat anymore but my favorite memory of it from back in the 50s was wanting to know how far away the music would carry. I put the speaker in our back yard, ran a wire up from the 24 Watt Knight amp in the basement, dropped the needle on some rock&roll, jumped on my bike an got a couple blocks away before the record--a 78--ended. Back home there was a crowd of neighbors standing around the speaker listening to the 78-cycle thump of the record end groove, not knowing how to turn it off.

Klipschletter1.pdf 774.99 kB · 2 downloads Klipschletter2.pdf 628.54 kB · 3 downloads

Wild that you kept those letters all those years. Although, many other who got letters from him have saved them as well.

 

@JRH The Historian should take a look at those letters.

[pnort]

Here is the third letter from Paul Klipsch that you may find interesting.

Klipschletter3.pdf

[Travis In Austin]

6 hours ago, pnort said:

Here is the third letter from Paul Klipsch that you may find interesting.

Klipschletter3.pdf 680.1 kB · 8 downloads

Another gem, the LS III in 1970 for the best option/flexibility for a bridged center channel.

 

How to clean oil finish speakers-Lemon oil. How to darken oil finish

 

Priceless

[Marvel]

50 minutes ago, Travis In Austin said:

Another gem, the LS III in 1970 for the best option/flexibility for a bridged center channel.

But there wasn't an LS III anywhere near 1970.

[YK Thom]

I'm so glad these old papers are still around.

[Travis In Austin]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:28 PM, Marvel said:

But there wasn't an LS III anywhere near 1970.

I think PWK's numbering system was a bit different then Sale/Marketing's. 

 

We would have to post those letters in the "Ask A Historian" Section to get Jim Hunter's take on it. All of the letters actually. 

 

Travis