My System as a 20 year old "kid"

[ClaudeJ1]

Started building speakers at 13 years old in Detroit. Jr. High School, I had a big cabinet with twin 15" Electro Voice SRO's and some no brand thing on top playing MONO cassettes with an amplifier I can' remember (PA or guitar??)!! Moved up to Stereo with bass reflex built inside 2 Empty TV cabinets each with Twin 12" Utah CoAx drivers (so 4 woofer with 4 concentric tweeters) Sounded pretty darn good until I got REAL SERIOUS with Pro Components. 

 

This is 1974.............the world's first "CornScala" after building PWK's Resistor Box to get a mono center channel. This was in my mobile home with Xpando Living room. The center "CornScala" before it was ever called that, contained Speaker Lab "K" components including a copy of the Klipsch K-400 you see here. Tweeters were EV T35's which were like K 77. The woofer was by Eminence and used in their Khorn copy.

 

The "Big White Altecs" port was tuned to a 40 Hz. peak by ear (I recently did the simulation over 46 years, recently, in software, to prove it) The woofers were  421-8H, 511B horns with 808-8A drivers and a home made network (I wound my own Air Core Chokes). I made a little bit of money with those speakers and had over $1,000 invested in drivers alone, which was a small fortune for me back then as a kid . The cabs (in feet) were 2D x 2.5W x 4H, or 20 Cubic feet on the outside. I used an Alex Badmeiff/Don Davis Nomogram. Don Davis was former President of Klipsch and Associates, and PWK told he never could sell anything, but Bob Moers did!!    Modern software would have allowed me to build a smaller box, but this was early 70's and I was barely an adult then.

 

The Big White Altecs were replaced by KCBR Klipschorns in 1977 and the "CornScala" was replaced by a matching LaScala, all 3 with Homer Formby's Satin Tung Oil Finish, all natural Birch Color. That PWK approve 2PH3 system lastet over 30 years until I got into HT, which I now have 11 channels plus 3 subs!!

 

Excuse the Primitive 2-shot pano shot on 35mm film on my first camera with the prints taped together. Hey, I was just a kid with a Minolta SLR film camera then, so cut me some slack!

 

 

[OO1]

10 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

 

This is 1974.............the world's first "CornScala"

LOOKS LIKE  ALTEC  811B   HORNS

[ClaudeJ1]

1 minute ago, RandyH000 said:

LOOKS LIKE  ALTEC  811B   HORNS

511 B, the bigger ones. 500 Hz. Xover. I even wound my own Air core coils!! 808-8A drivers. The Raw Components cost me over 1,000 dollars, which was a FORTUNE back then to me.

 

[OO1]

14 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

511 B, the bigger ones. 500 Hz. Xover. I even wound my own Air core coils!!

 

Yeah   ,  I wans't   sure ,   I was  looking at how small the tweeter was , in reference to the horn    , these cabs  look  like  the VOTT cabs  but they are 3 ways time aligned  which is really nice --- sure must have been a great sounding speaker -

 

-74 was the era of the Vietnam War ,   the Problems in  Northern Ireland ,   the Draft ,  and the Peace and Love movement -------

[garyrc]

1 hour ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Started building speakers at 13 years old in Detroit. Jr. High School, I had a big cabinet with twin 15" Electro Voice SRO's and some no brand thing on top playing MONO cassettes!! Moved up to Stereo with bass reflex built inside 2 Empty TV cabinets each with Twin 12" Utah CoAx drivers (so 4 woofer with 4 concentric tweeters) Sounded pretty darn good until I got REAL SERIOUS with Pro Components. 

 

This is 1974.............the world's first "CornScala" after building PWK's Resistor Box to get a mono center channel. This was in my mobile home with Xpando Living room. The center "CornScala" before it was ever called that, contained Speaker Lab "K" components including a copy of the Klipsch K-400 you see here. Tweeters were EV T35's which were like K 77. The woofer was by Eminence and used in their Khorn copy.

 

The "Big White Altecs" port was tuned to a 40 Hz. peak by ear (I recently did the simulation over 46 years, recently, in software, to prove it) . The Big White Altecs were replaced by KCBR Klipschorns in 1977 and the "CornScala" was replaced by a matching LaScala, all 3 with Homer Formby's Satin Tung Oil Finish, all natural Birch Color. That PWK approve 2PH3 system lastet over 30 years until I got into HT, which I now have 11 channels plus 3 subs!!

 

Excuse the Primitive 2-shot pano shot on 35mm film on my first camera with the prints taped together. Hey, I was just a kid then, so cut me some slack!

 

 

 

Is that a Crown R to R up there?   Loved mine.

[garyrc]

57 minutes ago, RandyH000 said:

Yeah   ,  I wans't   sure ,   I was  looking at how small the tweeter was , in reference to the horn    , these cabs  look  like  the VOTT cabs  but they are 3 ways time aligned  which is really nice --- sure must have been a great sounding speaker -

 

-74 was the era of the Vietnam War ,   the Problems in  Northern Ireland ,   the Draft ,  and the Peace and Love movement -------

 

 ... today there is no Draft, Ireland may have decided it's better to talk than fight, Vietnam is quiet & apparently stable, and we are in the midst of radical change once again.  May we have health, love, peace and Joy!

[Marvel]

8 minutes ago, garyrc said:

Those were the days.

 

You mean they're gone? Dang!

[Seadog]

Wow, I started HS in 1974 and no one I knew had any kind of audio system even close to that, not even in college.  That is serious audio gear for anyone, much less a 20 year old.

[ClaudeJ1]

17 hours ago, garyrc said:

 

Is that a Crown R to R up there?   Loved mine.

Yep, Big Crown 800, I think. not the top of the line, but the second one down. BEAST. My buddy and I used to drink a 6 pack and record slect, danceable songs, from Albums onto the Crown.  2 or 3 fast dance songs for each slow one. Took only 2 Big reels to cover a 6 hour gig at the local college. Hooked up the speakers, the Mac, the Dynaco, and the Crown. Hit the play button, drank beer and danced with the girls and got paid $150 for it. Great Gig in 1974! Now DJ's get over a Grand and they have to talk on a mike and take requests. 

[ClaudeJ1]

2 hours ago, Seadog said:

Wow, I started HS in 1974 and no one I knew had any kind of audio system even close to that, not even in college.  That is serious audio gear for anyone, much less a 20 year old.

Well, I was serious. I made money with the White Ones, see above post. Then 4 years later I photographed my first Wedding of over 1,400. Now I'm done with all of that.

[kevinmi]

I think you should post some pics of your current setup to see how far your journey has taken you.

[ClaudeJ1]

On 8/9/2020 at 10:10 AM, kevinmi said:

I think you should post some pics of your current setup to see how far your journey has taken you.

I joined this forum in 2006 and in 2007, when I heard MWM bins with K-402 horns, I sold my Khorns and went down a different path. Ironically, I sold my Khorns and original center LaScalas to HPower, who, 11 years later sold me his Gorgeous Tigerwood Jubilee Clones. I guess it might be interesting to do as you suggest, especially since Yesterday I just picked up a pair of Walnut Lacquer Forte's for side channels! This is at least 3 different setups evolved from what you heard exactly a year ago. BTW, I have all the lumber cut for a second "big white" TH-50 Proto Clone that shook up everyone last year!! So, OK, I will post the evolution of my systems in different domiciles and room since the day I sold my Walnut Khorns (which was my second pair in 30 years). It was after that that things started to get REALLY Interesting!

[artto]

Hey Claude, that R2R deck and center speaker look a little jacked out

[ClaudeJ1]

18 hours ago, artto said:

Hey Claude, that R2R deck and center speaker look a little jacked out

I know, right? Should have used a tripod for the two shots, but I didn't own one yet, so hand held. Besides I only had a "normal" 50mm lens back then. Of course when I became a Pro Photographer about 4 years later I began a journey which, over 46 years later, I have owned over 130 cameras, and countless lenses, Mamiya, Hasselblad (I'm still friends with the former President of Hasselblad USA), 4x5, 8x10, etc.. Sold all my Film Cameras in 1999 when I opened the very first All Digital Studio in Michigan using a $50,000 Foveon 3-sensor Prism Camera (still have it) given to me by the founder of the company and Silicon Valley Guru, Carver Mead!

Today, the iPhone has ruined what was formerly the "magic" of Pro photography and reduces the viable market to about 25% of it's glory days in terms of cash flow.

[artto]

3 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I know, right? Should have used a tripod for the two shots, but I didn't own one yet, so hand held. Besides I only had a "normal" 50mm lens back then. Of course when I became a Pro Photographer about 4 years later I began a journey which, over 46 years later, I have owned over 130 cameras, and countless lenses, Mamiya, Hasselblad (I'm still friends with the former President of Hasselblad USA), 4x5, 8x10, etc.. Sold all my Film Cameras in 1999 when I opened the very first All Digital Studio in Michigan using a $50,000 Foveon 3-sensor Prism Camera (still have it) given to me by the founder of the company and Silicon Valley Guru, Carver Mead!

Today, the iPhone has ruined what was formerly the "magic" of Pro photography and reduces the viable market to about 25% of it's glory days in terms of cash flow.

Yeah, I know. The photographer who came over to do the Stereo Review shoot of my room did the same thing, except his picture came out more distorted - as in curved, but he spliced it well. And of course had a tripod.

 

Nice rig for that age! At that point in time I was just stepping up from a top-of-the-line Zenith console (which I naively thought was the best you could get at that time, DUH) to a Thorens/JBL L100/Crown D60 & IC150.

 

I don't I even knew anyone at that point who had a setup like yours.

 

Love those Hasselbad.

[garyrc]

I'm older.

 

Can't find old pictures (yet).

 

On 8/8/2020 at 4:52 PM, ClaudeJ1 said:

Started building speakers at 13 years old in Detroit. Jr. High School...

3 hours ago, artto said:

...his picture came out more distorted - as in curved...

 

In 1974, I had two Thorens T Tables (124/125), a DH1 mixer, a McIntosh c28 SS preamp, and borrowed McIntosh 40 watt tube amps, feeding JBL 030 speaker systems (D130 extended range and 075 tweeter) in C34 rear loaded horn enclosures, with Crown R to R, DBX, and a single U47FET mic, and a single RE15 mic.  Friends pooled equipment when necessary.  The speakers were the weak point, balance wise, but they were very clean and dynamic.

 

When I was 20, I still was stuck in mono.  A Components brand T Table, a Lafayette copy of a Gray viscous damped tone arm, a horrible Arkay 12 watt amplifier, and a Karlson speaker enclosure containing one of the 030s.  As an aside, about that time I was salivating over the Hasselblad "Super Wide" 90 degree angle of coverage lens.  Of course, I had no camera body to put it on, just a cheap 35mm with a 50mm lens.  I heard a fox nearby saying, "Yeah, but Todd-AO has a 128 degree angle of coverage lens."  Talk about curving lines!

 

Since the Karlson was built for me by my Dad, "theater black," It still holds a place of honor in my current room, in the rear, with no speaker in it.

.

[ClaudeJ1]

14 hours ago, garyrc said:

When I was 20, I still was stuck in mono

I was also in mono as a 13 year old in '67. I had a cassette player recorder with AC adapter, which I took the headphone output to drive speaker though various used amplifiers of unknown brads. Just an inexperienced kid tinkering away. The first speaker I built was just a box I nailed together with leftover lumber I found. I put an Olson Electronics 8" Driver in it (with whizzer cone), then  and I bought stereo cassette tapes as my medium (which worked out well for my Aiwa cassete player later on). The real revelation "aha" moment was when I added a Tweeter, this little black thing with a capacitor on it. I had Tommy by the Who in the mono player, and when I hit play, I heard all this treble, including Tape Hiss (this was before Dolby Noise Reduction was invented) and just went: WOW. Also, with my paper route money (started delivering newpapers at 11, before I could fully speak English) I bought a little Zenith AM radio that ran on batteries and fit in my jacket pocket. I also bought a female 1/4 socket in it's own black case, cut off the mono earphone that came with the unit, and soldered the remaining wire with 1/8" plug to it. I could then plug in the 1/4" plug from my Koss Headphones, and......................TA DAA!.............the worlds first Walkman. My dad thought I looked like an idiot doing my paper route wearing those things, but I still think some Japanese guy who worked for Sony saw me and got the idea! LOL.

[Marvel]

19 hours ago, artto said:

Nice rig for that age! At that point in time I was just stepping up from a top-of-the-line Zenith console (which I naively thought was the best you could get at that time, DUH) to a Thorens/JBL L100/Crown D60 & IC150

 

My first move to a real system included some JBL 4311s, around '73-74. I've still got them.

[Marvel]

Remembering the rest of the gear...

 

A Philips GA-212 turntable, a JVC integrated (solid, nice amp), plus a Teac TCA-40 4 track rtr with sync and outboard electronics (pic attached, although not mine).

 

 

[jorjen]

Got sucked into this little hobby of ours at the age of 11 in 1968. Started working in the stereo business in the Summer of 1973. By my graduation year in '75 I had bought my first pair of new Klipsch La Scalas which were connected to a Pioneer Spec 1 and Spec 2. Source was a Sony PS-8750 Table with a Stanton 681EEE and a Shure V15 Type III. *** kicking system, especially for a kid.