Decorator CW’s Motor Board / Driver ??

[ThomasD.]

These ‘72 Vertical Decorators are on my list for upgrading this winter. Planning on new x/o’s and veneer. Am I correct in thinking these drivers have been worked on?  Bright black and pooling at bottom of cone?  And the driver cutouts are really rough cut. The drivers aren’t well centered in the cutouts either. Was this normal from the factory?  Hope these aren’t a ‘homemade’ motor board. They’ll take some hand filing to square up the cutouts.

X/O’s are untouched.  Listening to them now and  like their fullness at lower background levels but can really tell they aren’t up to their full potential. 

[ThomasD.]

Just trying to get some feedback if this was really "Klipsch Quality Control" in the early '70's, even for a Decorator?  Was really wondering if these were a home built version except that one still has a tag on the back.

 

 

[Frzninvt]

The woofer was intentionally offset.  The pooling liquid is most likely from heat over the years causing it to run down and pool there it was to protect the pleats from decaying.  Looks like someone tried to widen the tweeter and midrange hole as they typically left the factory square cut.  Those are made of fir plywood they were the bargain basement version Cornwall. 

[JJkizak]

My 1965 Decorator Cornwall had no such problems.

JJK

[ThomasD.]

5 hours ago, Frzninvt said:

The woofer was intentionally offset.  The pooling liquid is most likely from heat over the years causing it to run down and pool there it was to protect the pleats from decaying.  Looks like someone tried to widen the tweeter and midrange hole as they typically left the factory square cut.  Those are made of fir plywood they were the bargain basement version Cornwall. 

@Frzninvt I get that these were the bargain basement version.  Just that all the driver cutouts including the woofs are cut out of round/square.  I'll clean the openings up as best I can.  My 5 other pairs of older Klipsch speakers have seemingly perfect cutouts and these really surprised me with their jagged edges. Just went to look at a pair of '74 Decorator Heresy's and the cutouts were all spot on.  I meant that the K33's were slightly offset in the cutout not the cabinet.  Guess I thought the woofer pleat treatment seemed strikingly black after all these years but maybe it is original. Will have to peel off the original owner applied  laminate & glue to see if the ply is salvageable or if they'll need veneering.  Also, trying to decide on either new Crites or ALK X/O's. 

IMG_6070.HEIC

[Frzninvt]

ALK does not offer a Type B network better to just update the one you have with premium components.  

[Khornukopia]

On 9/7/2020 at 10:06 AM, ThomasD. said:

These ‘72 Vertical Decorators are on my list for upgrading this winter...  And the driver cutouts are really rough cut. The drivers aren’t well centered in the cutouts either. Was this normal from the factory?  Hope these aren’t a ‘homemade’ motor board.

 

3 hours ago, ThomasD. said:

 My 5 other pairs of older Klipsch speakers have seemingly perfect cutouts and these really surprised me with their jagged edges. Just went to look at a pair of '74 Decorator Heresy's and the cutouts were all spot on.

 

I think you have answered your own question, and I agree with you.

[CECAA850]

8 minutes ago, Khornukopia said:

I think you have answered your own question, and I agree with you.

Yes, that's definitely not factory.

[jjptkd]

18 hours ago, ThomasD. said:

Just trying to get some feedback if this was really "Klipsch Quality Control" in the early '70's, even for a Decorator?  

 

 

 

Can you post a picture of the full front of one of the speakers? Just curious if the horns are vertical or not as they should be for that model

[ThomasD.]

[OO1]

On 9/7/2020 at 12:06 PM, ThomasD. said:

Was this normal from the factory?  Hope these aren’t a ‘homemade’ motor board.

 

no - someone has tampered with the cutouts-

[OO1]

Here is a picture of  a  Vertical Cornwall with trim added to add a set of Cornwall grilles -