La Scalla serial # date of production

[tk49]

I'm looking at a pair of La Scalla's with a serial # of 27W549 & 27W250. Best I can tell from a search on the forum is that the W stands for the year producted, which I think is 1981. Can anyone advise?

t

[ByteWrangler]

'W' indeed indicates 1981 according to the decoder I have.

- tried to attach it, but the forum won't accept Word files, and I'm too lazy to convert it tonight.

A is 1963, Y is 1983. I (capital i), O (capital o), Q, V and Z were not used.

[tk49]

Thanks BW for the input.

t

[Groomlakearea51]

KLIPSCH S/N FORMATS

DATES DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

1946-1947	### 001 		(ending #021)

1948-1961 #### 0121 (starting #0121)

1962-1983 ##letter#### 20Y1234

1984-1989(?) YY WW #### 89281234

1990-1997(?) DOY Y2Y1 #### 135791234

1998-2000 YY WW #### 00281234

1962-1983 Letter format

A = 1962 	F = 1967 	K = 1972 	R = 1977 	X = 1982

B = 1963 G = 1968 L = 1973 S = 1978 Y = 1983

C = 1964 H = 1969 M = 1974 T = 1979

D = 1965 I = 1970 N = 1975 U = 1980

E = 1966 J = 1971 P = 1976 W = 1981

NOTES 

1946-1961 dates can only be found in log book (Klipsch Library)

DOY= day of the year

YY=year (i.e. 99,00)

Y2Y1=2nd digit of year, 1st digit of year

WW=week of the year

Date code on drivers Example: 9429 = 1994, 29th week of the year / YYWW

[kentamcolin]

I'd be interested in figuring out mine as well, but I have a seven digit serial number which doesn't seem to fit the formats. Numbers are 8413863 & 8413864.

[Groomlakearea51]

Look at the sheet:

Go to the line "1984-1989(?) YY WW #### 89281234"

84 = YY which in your case = 1984

13 = WW, which in your case = the last week in March 1984, probably sometime between Monday the 26th, and Friday the 30th (?) of March 1984.

863 & 864 = ####, or the serial numbers assigned. The serials can be 3 or 4 digits. The serials for Heresy's often are the 4 digits.

Hope that helps.

[kentamcolin]

This totally helps; I didn't know the numbers could be three or four digits. Thanks!

[Islander]

My La Scalas have only 1 digit before the letter. One is 2M370 and the other is 2M389. I'm wondering if the first digit is the month of manufacture. The M will represent 1974 and the last 3 digits should be sequence of assembly.

The drivers' numbers are sort of mix and match, with one speaker having a lower numbered K-77, and the other one having a lower numbered K-55V. I guess the assemblers weren't obsessed with lining the drivers up on the shelf with their numbers in sequence.

[Groomlakearea51]

Anomalies..... It appears that in the 62-83 region, prior to about "P" (1976 - there are no "O" or "Q"), some production run prefixes had only a single digit. Generally (key word = generally...) after 1976's "P", the first 2 digits were almost always 2 digits. These prefix digits are production codes which I'm still working on.....

I've noticed the same thing on drivers. Look at it this way:

In 1981, as a possible example, on Thursday, the 16th of April, there are 4 Klipschorns, 6 LaScalas, 12 Cornwalls and 36 Heresys on the "line". The LaScala assembler goes to "K-77's" and grabs 4 of them, BUT, they still have 400 from their 1979 contract. So he grabs four "7952's (December 1979) and heads back off. While he's back at the bench, someone else grabs 72 more 1979 production K-77's on the roll-around cart for the Heresys.... LaScala assembler then goes back and now picks up the next batch of 8 to finish up that day's work, etc... BUT now he just picked up a bunch of 1980's, say 8024's., etc. Thus sequential serial numbers are now not sequential.....

That being said.... and here's where it can become of potential importance to a forum member looking to get into "vintage" Heritage stuff.

Let's say someone has a set of 1979 Heresy's on eBay..... Claims mint, original, etc. Those drivers, especially the K-55's, better start with 79## or earlier, or the question now arises how a driver with a later date than the speaker date (at least the year...) got into them. I've encountered this "situation" a couple of times in the last several years. By the time the Q&A was over, either the price was reduced, or the seller refused to answer my emails... No sale, no loss to me. I've walked away from really good deals because of a less than forthcoming seller. Same thing for the K-53 driver. Unless the Heresy is late production 1983 (the last of the H-I's), there should not be a K-53/701 horn in the midrange. In 1984, however, the 53/701 was the standard for the H-II's.

In all of the Heritage stuff I've ever owned (alot....), I only had one pair that had sequential driver numbers, and then only on the woofers.....