LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Meanwhile, Paul, Jr. (Loves etc.) has spontaneously decided to have his crossovers and tweeters replaced on the spot, and Bob and Mike Crites (background) have spontaneously decided to accommodate him! Ssh helps Paul III rest a K-horn top on the countertop, just prior to trying to rub out scratch marks left by the protruding bolt shafts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 While BEC gets ready, Michael and Paul III huddle together in amazement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Enjoying the results -- about midnight Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 At the tour on Saturday, Mark Kauffman presented many of the newly-current Heritage models (the Cornwall III's came later). As I had come to know over a decade's correspondence with him, Mark had been central to the continuation of the Heritage line, the recovery of production of the K-horn after TWO drivers had been discontinued around 2000, and navigating and steering the return of the Cornwall through the Klipsch organization. Mark also announced that the La Scala II will be reviewed by Sam Tellig in Stereophile this fall!! Almost an equal milestone in my book was the appearance for the first time in Klipsch demos of TUBES!!!! Mark came to like Cayin products on Heritage... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 ...And here is a close-up of the neat electronics array: a Cayin TUBE CD player on top, the TUBE integrated amplifier just below (KT-66's, I believe), a switchbox below the amp, and a Monster Cable power conditioner at the bottom. My comment is that this was a very nice-sounding combination, which synergized very, very well (by synergize, I mean that everything sounded clean, well-unified, and in good balance without apparent response peaks). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Our group's next stop was at the little, rather neglected museum across the street. In no particular order, we saw the following items, beginning with a pic of Paul and Belle Klipsch with Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops conductor. This is the only picture of Belle I can remember seeing -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 And this was Fiedler's K-horn, a startling battleship gray. We assumed it matched his decor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 I didn't try for a comprehensive roundup of the museum, but 1960's-era models and finishes are often of interest. Here is a Shorthorn in the lighter, rather golden mahogany like my '62 K-horns. A utility model "S" is to the right. I always thought this, the model "S" Shorthorn, should have been made larger so's it would go below 60 Hz (the powerful 15WK woofer option would probably compensate for that some). The larger but lower "T" Shorthorn, outside the pic to the right, would continue on down to 35 Hz or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 The little guy on the left (which model?) is a rare finish from that period, Prima Vera or Blond Prima Vera. This looks darker than some that have appeared recently on Ebay or A-gon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 We were taken on a tour of the incredibly musty basement, cluttered with interesting, well, crap for the most part. PWK's earliest manufacturing was done in this basement, and this is a hand-cranked elevator to move product to the main floor: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popbumper Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Not all "crap" in the basement - actually there was a quite large pile of speakers of various type/vintage - I readily spotted the passive radiators of at least two pair of Forte II, several KG's, and others. Two of the Forte II had the numbers "Forte II 001" and "Forte II 002" scrawled on the back - could it be the actual first units? These were veneered..... When asking Jim, I was told that these speakers were all "mules and standards", apparently modified to some degree for testing and/or evaluation purposes, only to the extent that they could be modified "back" to original. Pretty neat stuff. Interestingly, one of the side rooms also had a BUNCH of early "metal can" woofers hanging on a large metal grid against the wall, and an interesting "machine" in the corner. Jim commented that he had "always intended to ask why Paul had an electroshock machine" down there. Given the dark, damp environment and metal grid on the wall, the unit seemed to fit. Scary....[] Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 In any event, the basement seemed frozen in time. Following the museum and lunch, we went on a tour of the plant. The following pics were taken at both the Friday working and Saturday tours. Although we were given a tour of the entire facility, including the higher-line reference models and the pro line, much of our attention was directed toward production of the 60th Anniversary Klipschorn. After getting almost no interest from domestic US dealers, Klipsch worked with European distribution to come up with a dramatically different K-horn -- extremely glossy black top, Australian lacewood veneer surfaces, and the little diamond-embellished PWK logo at the bottom center, on the kickplate. This is a head-on view: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 This shows how glossy the top is. It had to be carefully dusted a second or two before clicking the pic -- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Klipsch for some time now has purchased ready-made, pre-veneered wood panels. These are the front panels for the 60th Anniversary K's, showing raw lacewood veneer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Matching front panels are pre-numbered on the edges, to preserve the historic careful matching of right and left veneer in K-horn pairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Larry, Thanks for the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 We saw the factory's amazingly automated precision tools for cutting holes and routing grooves. We were told that manhour labor and production time for making K-horns has been massively reduced from the past. This is a simple example, showing the bass horn motorboard woofer slot as well as the positioned T-nuts to hold the woofer. This took seconds for the machine to cut! While the exterior panels including those veneered are now MDF, this central structural piece is still made of strong plywood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 This shows a partially-constructed horn. A big difference from standard models is the partial enclosure of the back -- effectively a portion of false corners! This allows the K-horn to be pulled somewhat out of the corner and toed in or out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 These are a finished 60th's crossover (note the grill to the outside faces downward) and an incomplete reject in the foreground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 20, 2006 Share Posted June 20, 2006 Preparing to ship overseas. Note the huge protective outside boxes. Incidentally, I hope it's OK to post these inside pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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