Heritage uniqueness

[Tom Adams]

Not sure why this thought hit me but have you guys ever considered the uniqueness of design/execution of PWK's original Heritage line? I mean, each speaker delivered what he wanted but each in it's own unique way. The Cornwall - only one that's ported; Belle - double folded bass horn; LaScala - single folded bass horn; Klipschorn - multi-fold, corner-loaded bass horn; etc.

Contrast that to the typical speaker models of many manufacturers where the difference from one model to the next is maybe an extra driver or bigger driver.

Anyhow.....just some mental drivel for this rather quiet Friday morning here at work. []

Tom

[kaiser SET say]

I'm with you 100% on that Tom, I think Paul built everything to not be homogenous and for it's special purpose within the Heritage line[]

Not to diss todays group and technology because based on that (Overkill) 600 system Trey will be setting up in Hope for us all the new pro line also seems to cater to different applications[H]

I really like your comment on other manufacturers just adding a driver or slight cabinet change only makes the line all sound the same or negligeable in difference really.

No doubt PWK truly was a pioneer in sound reproduction to the highest level and we here are all very lucky for that fact[]

[Tom Adams]

Thanks for the comments kaiser. The other thought that hit me was that I can just see him sitting there after inventing a particular model and saying, "OK - been there done that" and literally pulling out a clean sheet of paper. While many today take the same design and start modifying it.

Tom

[colterphoto1]

Yes, and one of the manufacturing beauties of it all was that there were only a modest amount of components needed to build the entire original Heritage line. With tweeters and mid drivers shared, and woofers the same except for the Heresy, the only changes were mid horns, crossovers and cabinetry.

That's what I call excellence in design!

Michael

[MarkBK]

Yes, and one of the manufacturing beauties of it all was that there were only a modest amount of components needed to build the entire original Heritage line. With tweeters and mid drivers shared, and woofers the same except for the Heresy, the only changes were mid horns, crossovers and cabinetry.

That's what I call excellence in design!

Michael

Not to downplay PWK's contribution to ausi but, I would suspect there was a siginificant amount of thought to economy of scale - cheaper to build with similar parts than inventory all sorts of unique drivers. PWK was ALSO a business man.

[MarkBK]

Yes, and one of the manufacturing beauties of it all was that there were only a modest amount of components needed to build the entire original Heritage line. With tweeters and mid drivers shared, and woofers the same except for the Heresy, the only changes were mid horns, crossovers and cabinetry.

That's what I call excellence in design!

Michael

Not to downplay PWK's contribution to audio, but, I would suspect there was a significant amount of thought to economy of scale - cheaper to build with similar parts than inventory all sorts of unique drivers. PWK was ALSO a business man.

[colterphoto1]

Yes, and one of the manufacturing beauties of it all was that there were only a modest amount of components needed to build the entire original Heritage line. With tweeters and mid drivers shared, and woofers the same except for the Heresy, the only changes were mid horns, crossovers and cabinetry.

That's what I call excellence in design!

Michael

Not to downplay PWK's contribution to audio, but, I would suspect there was a significant amount of thought to economy of scale - cheaper to build with similar parts than inventory all sorts of unique drivers. PWK was ALSO a business man.

That's precisely what I was alluding to. Not only do they all sound great, but being manufactured with a minimum of inventory. That is design BRILLIANCE! (and yes profitable too)

[Malcolm]

Not to knock PWK, but the use of the same tweeters and squawker drivers for all the models in the Heritage line was no brilliant move. It was the only way to get them to sound similar with off the shelf parts. And it certainly wasn't always economical. The Heresy didn't need the same efficiency in the squawker and tweeter as the rest of the line. Hence the move to the K-52-H and K-53-K squawker driver in the last of the Heresys and the introduction of the Heresy II compete with MDF cabinet, all in a move to cut costs to make product competitive in its niche.

As far as the differences in design of the bass sections (horn loaded, ported, sealed) go, PWK was an engineer. He used what looked like it would work well enough for the job. But note that he wasn't always successful. Remeber the Shorthorn?

[BEC]

But, it is nice for the customer if a manufacturer uses the same parts widely in the product line. The set of parts used in the heritage insured that someone needing a part for a 70s model Lascala, Belle, Khorn, Cornwall, or Heresy can still get that part or a suitable replacement.

If the RF-7 is being discontinued now, take a look at the speakers that are still being sold. If you don't see exactly the same parts still being used in some speaker, you have just 5 years (or whatever the warranty period is) to be able to get a part.

Bob Crites

[chops]

Contrast that to the typical speaker models of many manufacturers where the difference from one model to the next is maybe an extra driver or bigger driver.

And this is exactly what all the Klipsch lines after the Heritage series have been doing ever since the mid 80's unfortunately.

[colterphoto1]

Not to knock PWK, but the use of the same tweeters and squawker drivers for all the models in the Heritage line was no brilliant move. It was the only way to get them to sound similar with off the shelf parts. And it certainly wasn't always economical. The Heresy didn't need the same efficiency in the squawker and tweeter as the rest of the line. Hence the move to the K-52-H and K-53-K squawker driver in the last of the Heresys and the introduction of the Heresy II compete with MDF cabinet, all in a move to cut costs to make product competitive in its niche.

As far as the differences in design of the bass sections (horn loaded, ported, sealed) go, PWK was an engineer. He used what looked like it would work well enough for the job. But note that he wasn't always successful. Remeber the Shorthorn?

Was the 52 ever used in Heresy? I have it in several CW configurations (as the K57 assy), but only have seen the 53 in Heresy. And would there have been any drive toward having different speakers in the Heritage line sound 'similar' in the pre-HT days?

We have no way of knowing, but there could have been such a huge economy of scale in purchasing thousands of K55's and K77's that it still made sense to use those in the earlier models despite there not being the need for their efficiency. Was the K52 or 53 designed or available in the mid-60's? There may not have been that many driver designs to choose from when the Heritage line was first conceived.

My point is that we may all be making a lot of assumptions about why PWK used what he did.

I would dare say that product engineering is not merely the scientific venture in designing the product itself, but working in the manufacturing environment towards least costly production methods, flow of materials, simplicity of inventory, etc. PWK was as much businessman as engineer in many respects. That he could have both of these seemingly opposing characteristics acting in concert was a sign of the man's sheer genius.

Michael