Klipschorn nirvana (euphoria)

[blindman]

My life is complete! After lusting after Khorns since the 1st time I heard them in 1970, I "f-i-n-a-l-l-y" own a pair!

The model is K-D-FR (Klipschorn-Decorator model-Douglas Fir, unfinished). The serial numbers: 8P127 and 8P128 (1976). AA crossovers, K-77M, K-55V, and K-33E.

When I was in high school, a buddy and I made frequent road trips to Dallas to shop at all of the "big city" stereo dealers: Hillcrest Hi-Fidelity, MidWest Hi-Fi, Marvin Electronics, Heath(kits), and Arnold & Morgan.

I heard my 1st pair of Khorns powered by Mcintosh amplifiers at Hillcrest Hi-Fi across the street from Southern Methodist University. Since they were completely outside of my budget (I worked as a bicycle mechanic after school and weekends), I had to settle for a Dynaco kit Pre-amp/amplifier, and an AR turntable and speakers.

But I never forgot my 1st experience with Klipsch. When Ebay came around, I, like many other baby boomers, started buying some of the things that I had missed out on during my youth. That lead me to buy a trio of La Scalas a couple of years ago. In the process of completing that purchase, I "googled" Klipsch, and found this forum. I have been almost a daily lurker for the past 3 years, and I can not express in words how much I have enjoyed reading and learning everything that the rest of y'all have had to share.

Some of you may recall that last month a pair of Khorns went up for sale in the Dallas area, but the seller (milesgt3) was out-of-pocket for a while tending to the funeral for one of his wife's grandparents. (Miles was kind enough to offer them to forum members before he listed them on Ebay.) Well, I missed his original offer, but caught the Ebay auction: # 5732254872.

I was the high bidder (out of 25) at $800 for the pair ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

As Miles mentioned in his listing, the appearance had a very low "WAF".

To see just how low, click on the attachment. (They have been "marbelized". In other words, they were painted to look like fake marble.)

The best part of the deal was that since it was a local sale (36 miles one-way according to yahoo maps), there was no shipping or packing cost.

Miles was a great person to meet, and I want to offer a public thanks to him for helping me load them into my pickup. While we were chewing the fat, he did make a comment that his wife did not think that the Khorns provided enough bass to suit her taste. Therefore, he used a subwoofer with them. (I filed this comment under the category of, "things that make you go, "hmmm".) While I did audition them prior to completing the sale, I did not put much credence into their sound at the time. The conditions were "less-than-ideal" (fair-to-middling electronics and very poor corner placement in a garage with mounds of stuff in front of or immediately adjacent to the sides of each speaker). But that did not hamper my enthusiasm, since I knew that anything that I found wrong with them once they were home, I could fix or replace. Besides, I already knew I would probably be replacing the crossovers and internal wiring. To my way of thinking, that is one of the advantages to owning Klipsch Heritage products, you can tweak them to your hearts content.

Since they're decorator models, I have decided to modify them to look like "B models" with the 1 inch riser between the upper and lower cabinets. I also plan to strip the faux marble paint and give them a black piano finish (I will post photos) and add grills.

Before stripping the paint, I removed the drivers, and I found the reason for the reduction in bass output. According to the seller, these speakers came out of an old theater. It seems that some mice had set up homes in each cabinet. The woofer cones were "packed or stuffed" with pieces of insulation, fabric, dirt, paper, and feces. This "stuff" prevented the woofer cones from moving properly. The cones were also riddled with hundreds of little holes.

Bob Crites to the rescue! I already have in hand 2 replacement K-33E woofers. Thanks, Bob!

Now for my question. I plan to construct side grills. But I do not understand the dimensions for the side grill frames or the frame supports. Believe me, I have been studying as many of the photos as I can find, as well as some diagrams of cut-away models. But so far nothing has been detailed enough. I would really appreciate someone posting a few close up photos. And if someone would take a few measurements, I would be forever grateful. My biggest stumbling block seems to be what to do where the grill frame meets the front face of the cabinet.

[3dzapper]

blindman, Congradulations on your "new" Khorns!!

I'll take some pictures and measurements in the morning for you.

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Rick

[J M O N]

Congratulations!!

Regarding the side grills, why don't you utilize the DFW Hornheads as a resource. You might be able to check out some grills in person instead of by photos. If I still lived there, I would show you my grills. There are "literally" tons of K-horns in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Please post pics of your Piano Black K-horns. I once was thinking about doing this as well, but have since changed my mind. Would love to see the photos when you're done though.

[Daddy Dee]

Congrats! You are doing a noble thing as well by restoring these venerable speakers.

[ricktate]

Since mice have been in there and you plan to do complete restoratin,,,make sure the bass bin is airtight,,,mine were not,,,the test is easy to do and i posted how to do it before.Rick

[edwinr]

Congratulations. I thought mice were only interested in clocks, as in Hickory, Dickory, Dock!

[Parrot]

Way to go, Blindman! Welcome to the Klipschorn Club and may you stay in it for the rest of your life.

Decorator Klipschorns were the first Klipschorns I ever heard and I knew immediately the Khorns were the speakers for me. I hope you have a lot of fun giving them a new look. Piano black is the most ambitious choice you could make. Do you have a paint booth?

[colterphoto1]

'Congrats! You are doing a noble thing as well by restoring these venerable speakers.' Well spoken, DaddyDee!

Great find on your Horns and congrats as well. I love a good cheap find that needs a little TLC! My Corns survived a house fire! BTW, you are a fine, loving Klipsch owner to refer to the speaker 'cabinet' in the photo as decorator model LOL!

Re mice, I recall working at Calliope Sound in 80's which was a local PA rental and sound/light installation shop. John the owner always kept a cat on the premesis to keep the rodent problem to a minimum. Thar's lots of paper in them thar cones! Living on a farm, our tenant farmer kept lots of poison around. Did you know mice will eat through a tractor tire just to get at the cords? I had some stage lighting stored in a barn and the mice ate through the woven 'fibreglass' wire insulation!

Have fun - Post pics

Michael

[3dzapper]

Here are some pictures of the Khorn sides:

The deminsios are:

Overall 12x38 1/2"

Inside cut outs 9" wide x 6 1/2, 20 1/2, 6 1/2

Triangles: 6 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 12"

The panels are angled on the front to fit behind the 1/4" lip on the back of the front panel and are secured with "L" brackets and wing nuts to studs in the side of the bass bin.

Rick

[blindman]

Many thanks to all who have responded so far to my excitement at finally becoming the proud owner of a pair of Klipschorns

3dzapper: You da man, man!

Those pictures you took are the perfect answer to all of my questions about the side grills. And the measured dimensions you included are the icing on the cake. No matter how hard I looked at pictures of Klipschorns, I just could not piece together in my mind how the grills were constructed until you provided the photos taken from the inside out. I also was very confused about how to attach them to the bass bins. Angle brackets are the simple solution that I did not think about...I was thinking about gluing the triangles to the sides. Now for the tricky part: I will have to bevel the frames so that they tuck in behind the 1/4" overlap at the front? Sounds like I will need to take them to someone who owns more sophisticated wood working tools than I. Or, I could learn to use a hand plane...

JMON: Thanks for the tip about the DFW Hornheads. I had almost forgotten all about them. I tried to join their Yahoo.com group last year, but no one ever responded to my inquiries. Ill look for the contact info and try again. Do you happen to still have any contact info? I seem to remember that someone named Mallet(?) used to post here on the Klipsch forum, but I havent seen anything from him lately.

Daddy Dee: Thanks for the vote of confidence. Yes, these speakers need some TLC to turn them from frogs into princes or "princesses"?!. If it'll help, I'll even resort to kissing them!

ricktate: I remember reading about your recent experiments to check the air tightness of your bass bins using compressed air. This is an excellent example of sharing knowledge on this forum. I will definitely follow your lead and check for missing glue in my speakers.

edwinr: LOL!

paulparrot: I humbly accept your welcome into the Klipschorn club. I hope I dont screw up the s-e-c-r-e-t h-a-n-d-s-h-a-k-e. My attempt to refinish my decorator model Khorns will be my winter project. Fortunately I have La Scalas to keep me company while my Khorns are in rehab. I have a friend who owns an automotive repair facility with a spray paint booth. Hes promised to teach me some of the trade secrets on how to apply multiple layers of light coats, and a hand rubbed, sanded and buffed, finish.

colterphoto 1: As I said before, I feel I will be turning a couple of frogs into princes, so a noble deed it will be indeed. Pun intended.

[IndyKlipschFan]

See... You can have a successful 2nd childhood! hahahaha

Congratulations get them snug in a corner listen to Bob Crites too. You may want to have him check out and restore your x overs first, before any major tweeking. He is very highly regarded here.

If you like other mods Dean G has some serious followers as well. With your nice other gear already, I would for sure go stock first BEC way, live with it a few months.. then decide if I were you!

Welcome to k horn land!

[J M O N]

DFW Hornheads

[greg928gts]

Blindman - remember that the preparation for the black finish is the most important part. Be very careful if you sand the speakers, even the slightest little ripple will show up with that shiny finish. I don't know if you realize it or not, but piano black is a very difficult thing to "pull off" on an old set of speakers.

Greg

[garymd]

Congrats Blindman! Welcome to the Klipschorn Club. I'm a fairly new member myself. Seems there's been a run on '76 Khorns lately.

[blindman]

Please permit me to indulge in a little more background info behind my decision to buy decorator model Klipschorns.

My tastes regarding my interior furnishings are rather simple. I like the style that was called "modern" in the 1950's & 1960's. Lots of chrome and glass and black leather. Personally, I do not care for any of the veneers found on the more expensive models of Klipschorns (i.e. Oak, Walnut, Mahogany, Maple, Teak, Cherry, or even Rosewood). My goal has always been to own a pair of perfectly black "piano finish" Klipschorns. Had I purchased a pair with any other veneer, I would still want to paint them black. And I would have considered that to be a form of sacrilegious wastefullness; to spoil a perfectly good piece of wood veener. So I have been patiently waiting for the past 3 years for the ideal pair of decorator model Khorns to come along.

I may be the exact prototype of the customer that Klipsch had in mind when they introduced the decorator model of Klipschorns. The decorator model is perfect for me. I can finish them anyway that I desire. It doesn't matter to me that the previous owner may have already finished them in a style that contradicts my choice. I know I can re-finish them. Actually the uglier the better. I always figured ugly cabinets would be seen as a liability to competing buyers, and I would be able to find a bargain. Which is exactly what happened since I bought my Khorns for a total price of $800.

Yes, I will have to be careful during the sanding operation(s) to avoid sanding through the original veneer to make the surfaces as smooth as possible to avoid "telegraphing" any surface irregularities in the final finish.

But I am prepared to re-veneer them with a relatively inexpensive (but free of blemishes) material if I have to. Then I'll have a new surface to apply the piano finish to, if it comes down to that.

Sounds crazy? Maybe, but if it is crazy to lust after Khorns for 30 years, and to want to refinish them the way I have always wanted, well yeah, I am crazy. As far as the resell value is concerned, I don't plan to part with these speakers as long as I am alive, so.......

Please excuse me if this comes across as sounding arrogant or defensive. That was not my intention. I just know what I want. And I certainly did not mean to cast aspersions toward the owners of Khorns with Oak, Walnut, Teak, Cherry, Rosewood, etc., veneers. I am merely stating that is not my preference.

[garymd]

Sounds good to me. I'd love to see a pair in piano black. To do it right, I have a feeling you might have to veneer them unless you're really good. Please keep us posted on your progress.

[edwinr]

You've got a great project, Blindman. Any progress pics would be excellent. By the way, who mentioned the secret Klipsch handshake to you? Anyway you've been misled, it's not hands that we shake.

[Woodog]

Yeah! Welcome to the club! I'm a one week old member of the '76 Khorn club. These monsters are fantastic!

Pics of your project will be fun to follow.

Forrest

[blindman]

It is interesting to note that many of the forum members who have purchased Khorns in the last month have all purchased 1976 models.

Out of curiosity, I was wondering just what else was going on in the world outside of that happy little factory in Hope, Arkansas in 1976 (in no particular order):

1) The Apple I computer was invented as well as the first ink jet printers.

2) It was the year that the "BoomBox" was introduced.

3) Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale were elected into office.

4) The first "Rocky" movie was released.

5) The Pontiac Fire Bird "Trans Am" ruled the auto market.

6) According to Billboard magazine, these were the top hits in 1976:

1. Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Kiki Dee

2. Dream Weaver - Gary Wright

3. Love Machine - The Miracles

4. Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers

5. Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

6. Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers

7. Fooled Around and Fell in Love - Elvin Bishop

8. I'd Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley

9. All by Myself - Eric Carmen

10. Theme from S.W.A.T. - Rhythm Heritage

7) I earned $8,444.80 as a laboratory technician in a Chemical factory's R&D department.

8) I met my ex-wife.

[khorn58]

perfect black finsh=

Lots of sanding build a smoth finsh with sanding prime filler.

use a guide coat over you primer (like gray primer over black) when you sand the gray color off and not through the black primer you have a perfect smooth base.

you can finsh the final coats the same with a guide coat.

best to use cabnet grade laucure.