Limey K-horns

[HDBRbuilder]

For those of you who have never seen the 1967 version of England's Vitavox Corporation's version of the Klipschorn, here is a pic of a pair. The bass bin had been manufactured by Vitavox under license from PWK for a number of years by the time of this cosmetic re-design of the speaker cabinet. It was powered by Vitavox drivers and, in its top-end, Vitavox's multicellular horns. Vitavox also manufactured some of its speakers in Canada for a number of years. The company had a fairly large following of the "rich and comfortable" Big-horn-loving-audiophiles in the UK for a number of years! Vitavox also manufactured large bifurcated "W"-style folded basshorns for theater and sound reinforcement purposes...not too much unlike the MWM of the current Klipsch MCM GRANDE theater speaker system. Another of their basshorns was a monopathway model similar in design to the University Classic (which Q-man likes so much). All I can think of to say when I see these PWK-K-horn-derived beauties in this 1967 re-design is "Warning!... Will Robinson... WARNING!"

[space_cowboy]

I looked at the attachment before reading the last sentence of your post, and agree, these things may start walking!

[Guy Landau]

A friend of mine has 3 pairs of Vitavox Khorns. 2 of them are the LAST pairs that Vitavox ever manufactured and are still in their original, sealed boxes. I hope that I'll finally be able to listen to them soon.

[hoggy]

Very interesting, thanks. I think Pauls look much better though.

hoggy

[DRBILL]

One might have guessed that they were English! Could they be had in stone?

DR BILL+

[Chris Robinson]

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On 2/25/2004 12:13:33 AM Guy Landau wrote:

A friend of mine has 3 pairs of Vitavox Khorns. 2 of them are the LAST pairs that Vitavox ever manufactured and are still in their original, sealed boxes. I hope that I'll finally be able to listen to them soon.

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Guy, wouldn't it make sense from an investment standpoint to keep them sealed up? (Unless, of course, he has no plans for selling them).

Given that they're out of production, I would think that a truly MINT, NIB pair would fetch a handsome premium.

Just a thought ...

[BackBurner]

This is an uglier and much earlier version with S2 drivers, 2 way system using the k15/40 bass driver.

The cabinet on this one pictured was manufactured in ontario canada.

However if were on the topic of clones or other cornerhorn speakers then the hartsfields are hands down winners in the looks department.

[WMcD]

Thanks for the post Art.

I can appreciate the robot comment. For some reason the LiS robot (any name?) does not come to mind as close. Robbie was a bit more art deco, as these are.

I'd say they resemble R2D2 disguised as an art deco juke box.

OTOH, very very cool.

Gil

[mungkiman]

Guy, if you didn't mean that you might soon own this boxed pair, my suggestion follows:

Convince your friend to NEVER open the boxes, and then switch what is inside, leaving the "full, intact" boxes where they are.

If this works, you only owe me one! If this is not your plan, then I hope you DO get to listen to them soon.

[Guy Landau]

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On 2/25/2004 11:27:16 PM mungkiman wrote:

Guy, if you didn't mean that you might soon own this boxed pair, my suggestion follows:

Convince your friend to NEVER open the boxes, and then switch what is inside, leaving the "full, intact" boxes where they are.

If this works, you only owe me one! If this is not your plan, then I hope you DO get to listen to them soon.

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My friend is a collector. He doesn't plan to open the sealed boxes, but has another pair in his living room.

He's got some nice stuff like original Tannoy Autograph and Klangfilm Bionor, as well as JBL Olympus, paragon and Hartsfield.

[HDBRbuilder]

I feel sorry for the fine wood veneer of the speakers in those boxes...I bet it is dried out so badly by now that it may never look as it should have when built. "New In Box" may be important for SOME things, but if you can't see what is going on in those boxes, then there may be some MAJOR NEGATIVE surprises in store for the person who finally opens them, Unlike today, where things are sealed in plastic with concoctions to absorb humidity in an attempt to keep down corrosion and other bad things that occur from moisture in the air and such...at the time those were manufactured, I sincerely doubt the same precautions were taken....since the boxes were only to provide protection for shipping purposes and short-term dealer warehousing. Fine wood veneers actually BENEFIT from handling, especially if they are in an oiled finish. Dried out veneer can begin to split and separate from its substrate if it gets TOO dry. New in box, in this instance, may actually NOT be a "good thing"! Add to that the possibility of corrosion setting in on the aluminum of those particular speakers' multi-cell horn lenses, and there may just be a big mess in those boxes. Remember, those particular h/f horn lenses were aluminum and, if I remember correctly, tarred in each cell. That tar could have become "alligatored" and begun to curl away from the aluminum surface of those horn-lens-cells by now. I am not trying to be overly negative...but when was the last time YOU saw something that was made out of THOSE kinds of materials come out of its box after a quarter of a century looking like it just came from the factory? Think about it! It isn't corked wine in a bottle, after all! Know how many of those wine collectors break open a bottle of something very old they paid dearly for just to find it is now just so much high-dollar vinegar?

[ZAKO]

The sagging of the woffer cones would be the first thing I,de be worried about. Also check xover components. Wood needs to breath. Keeping it boxed up is not good. Have you ever seen paper money rot in a tin can? Aluminum can be sand blasted & refinished but its a messy job.