kdepot Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Looking through the forum it seems that an emphasis is placed on what production year speakers were made in. Is this just pride of ownership in older classic products or were certain vintages better. I've pick up already that the earilier crossovers are reprotedly better. Is there a website where a running account of the production changes is reported. I just bought a pair of '88 Belles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Congrats !!!! on the Belle`s do you have piucs of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Congrats !!!! on the Belle`s do you have piucs of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Congrats !!!! on the Belle`s do you have piucs of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Hallwalker That's one hello of a stutter you've developed ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 I know my pc froze up while I submited the post not knowing i hit it 2 more times...sorry...Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Not complaining just teasing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundog Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 If you search the updating old speakers forum you will find many references to changes in Heritage speakers and the relative merits of former and latter configurations of horns, drivers, driver magnets and crossovers. Their are a lot of different opinions. Many of the older configurations are considered preferable to the newer. On the other hand, some very good things have been said about the changes made in the current models. And then of course some older Klipsch models are no longer in production. There is also a great deal of material on the desirability of using tube amplification with Heritage speakers as well as the desirability of old vinyl records vs. CDs. I have found that using a tube pre-amp along with a solid state amp of good quality produces a desirable result. I have also found that upgrading old crossovers to ALKs have had a favorable result. Using a high quality DAC and jitter reduction on CDs has also produced a noticable improvement of my CDs. The new SACDs also produce an improved sound. Changing some horns and dampening others has produced a favorable result. Each mod has produced a better sound IMHO - I learned about all of them from this site. I also found that room acoustical treatments - reflection, absorption and defusion considerations have all made noticable differences. It has taken a lot of trial and error and experimentatation. I am now very pleased with the result and now spend most of my time listening to what I consider some real great systems which I could not have put together without the help of the people on this site. Good luck - like everything in life it's a great adventure and learning experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdepot Posted February 1, 2004 Author Share Posted February 1, 2004 Thanks for the replies. I was hoping that there would be a web site with the running changes listed by serial number, date of manufacture. It would certainly be much easier than looking through all of the old forum listings, as interesting as they may be, and such a site would be valuable when looking to purchase vintage speakers. Perhaps Klipsch could consider adding such a feature to the web site. I'm having trouble with the file from my camera so no photos for now. The belles do look great against the wood paneling in my den. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 There are records there, or were records there of that nature. However, a lot of the older records would be in Paul's handwriting......which would make the job difficult. Some of the older models had hand wound "Air Core" Coils that Paul always prefered I think. However the differences were so so subtle. The Hope factory had a real nice little museum with older Klipsch products, as well as ground breaking products by Western Electric and Bell Labs. I don't know what ever happened to that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggy Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 Hope you like your Belles as much I like mine. Bought them new in '76 and never regreted it. hoggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 There have been changes over the years by PWK. He had written that they are for better protection of drivers. But then he's also written that he preferred the older, initial designs which were very minimalististic. In those cases he was speaking about K-Horns. Whether this holds true of the Belle's, I don't know and it doesn't seem to be written anywhere. My thought is that these crossovers may make things sound a bit different. But different is not necessarily better. It is like re arranging the same furnature in the same room. What you've got is what you've got and there is not much bad to do with it . . . short of something really radical. In my view, the three-way horns (like the Belle, K-Horn, and LaScala) share common characteristics which set them apart from other all other speakers. The variances in crossovers don't affect that very much. So I wouldn't worry. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 Horns seem to be like wine. Some years are better than others, and some people have strong opinions about what they like or don't like. I have read that the "most preferred" Khorns are from the 1970's. Like Gil said, probably the one thing that changes the sound most notably is the crossover network. Not much else has changed since then. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 k, It would be tough to build a list of the running changes, because there are so many exceptions to the rules. For instance, 1982 is supposed to be the first year for the K-55-M, but I've seen later K-horns that still had the K-55-V and associated crossover, yet were supposed to be original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdepot Posted February 2, 2004 Author Share Posted February 2, 2004 Great posts by all. Wise words of wisdom ..."like fine wine" (subtle differences which can appeal to many tastes at many different times and moods)and "don't worry" (just enjoy). I'm certainly enjoying the Belles and I'm having fun with this forum. Linn LP12, vintage Koetsu rosewood, Counterpoint SA-2, ARC SP3A, ARC D76 Best regards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 John, I believe you are right about '82 being the beginning for the K-55-M (for "Mud Magnet"). When South Africa was having all of it's upheaval, the K-55-M was designed to replace the Alnico magnet model, because South Africa is the only source of the material for the Alnico Magnet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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