Speakerlab Cornerhorns

[tom b. 57]

I found a pair of Speakerlab Cornerhorns that have been stored for awhile. The crossovers are there but have been removed from the speakers. All of the components are there. The cabinets are in fair shape and one of the mid horns needs to be glued , as it is coming off of the motorboard. It is still mostly attached. One side of it is lifted off the motorboard. The seller only wants $100.00 for the pair. He states that the crossovers need to berebuilt or replaced. They are mine if I want them. I am torn between picking them up and storing them until I have the means to deal with them or just pass on them. I really want Klipschorns, but, I am thinking this might be a way to hold me over for a few years until I can get what I really want. I think the price is preety darned good and if need be, I could sell them for more or sell the parts. I just don't know when I will get to fixing them. I don't have any experience with these so I am not sure if I should jump.

Feedback please

Tom

[seti]

I would rather have Klipschorns over speaklab any day of the week but $100. I would do that and it could be a fun project. These could tied you over until khorns show up.

[Guest " "]

where are you located....

you should go for the 100 dollar deal....you can always sell

[WMcD]

I would say you can't go wrong for the price. This is particularly if they are nearby.

I'm a little concerned that you are calling them Cornerhorns rather than SpeakerLab SK's. The SK was so-so copy of the Klipschorn. PWK took some manufacturer to task over the use of "K" and it was probably SpeakerLab. Maybe they dropped the K on that model for a while.

Sometime later SpeakerLab came out with something more narrow which was more like a tall Shorthorn, from the pictures I've seen. Do the units look like a Klipschorn?

SpeakerLab SKs came with some variations Some fiberglass mid horn, some metal. Some with a cheaper tweeter and some with a non-branded EV similar to the K-77. Some crossovers had L pads, some had three way switches for level. None with autotransformers that I know of. Some units used MDF for the bass unit, some used fir ply. Probably all used the Atlas driver similar to the spring loaded terminal K-55.

Bruce Edgar (a major proponent of horn loaded construction) had bad things to say about the woofer used but I don't think it was a fatal problem.

I can send you some info on one of the crossovers. It may be that the owner fooled with them and can't get them back to the original or something like that is going on.

I'm a bit puzzled that you say a midhorn is unglued. On the SK they were screwed to the front panel.

A good friend has a pair of SK and it is tough to say they are lacking in performance. There is a problem that all SKs look a bit cheapo compared to the Real McCoy. It is easy to niggle about the SK. Still, it has the bass horn, and a near copy mid, and the mid driver.

Again, for the money, it will be a good learning experience. It will fill the gap until you find some real K-Horns. Chances are you'll never be content with less than the SK or real K-Horn.

Let me suggest you do use some foam pipe insulation on the bass bin to get a good seal against the wall. This goes for real K-Horns too. You'll see that the bass horn needs a good seal against the wall. Walls are almost never plumb and have baseboards, etc. The pipe insulation is the type for insulating 1.5 inch (or so) water pipe and one variety at Home Depot is split and has a sticky surface at the split (with pull-off guard tape). That is what you want. You'll need four lengths. They cost $1.25 or so a length. This is doublessly the best performance tweek possible, and costs $5.00 total.

Keep us all informed.

Best,

Gil

[tom b. 57]

I am located in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington. The speakers are about 15 miles north of where I live and I have already checked them out. They are plywood for the most part. When I sit back and think about it, it seems to me that there may have been some mdf incorporated in the cabinets. They are full size replicas of the Klipschorn except for a couple of differences that I picked up on right off the bat. The tweeter horn is mounted along side of the mid-horn and the crossovers have attenuation pots or range controls, so you can adjust the frequency. I can't remember if there was two or three of these controls for each crossover. And yes the mid horn is glued to the motorboard with what looks like black latex caulking. Perhaps it was screwed down at one time and they switched to latex. I don't know. The story I got was that this seller purchased them from a friend several years ago and used them mainly when he threw parties. He did mention that they were played loud and there was plenty of drinking happening at these parties, so, I am thinking they probably got one hell of a work out from time to time. I think I will grab them tomorrow and throw them in the garage for a , hopefully, near future project. I am still sitting on some Cornwall (replica) cabinets that I thought I might use for a diy project. I've been sitting on them for a good year now. I am hoping that I will be more motivated towards the corner horns. Oh, and the seller did advertise them as Speakerlab K's.

Tom

[DizRotus]

Go for it! You can't go wrong for $100. I used four of them in the 70s in a mobile DJ business. They had lots of bass. The following link might be useful.

Who made the Drivers for the Speakerlab K's

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/533168.aspx

[WMcD]

That sounds correct. The SK did have the tweeter at the side. SK was and is in Seattle.

This is a good purchase, in my view.

Gil

[tom b. 57]

Go for it! You can't go wrong for $100. I used four of them in the 70s in a mobile DJ business. They had lots of bass. The following link might be useful.

Who made the Drivers for the Speakerlab K's

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/533168.aspx

I read all five pages, and I do believe I am sold. I will certainly let you guys know how the acquisition turns out tomorrow. Now, all I have to do is run down that old elusive friend with the pickup truck. I talked with him earlier and he is game for letting me use his truck tomorrow, but, being a confirmed bachelor, he is hard to find on occasion. He still loves to play.

Tom

[whamo]

Hurry, I would've had them home and playing by now. Anyways, good luck, keep us posted and maybe even put up a pic. Mark

[TimFromMass]

I purchased a pair of Speakerlab SKs from a member here a few months ago. I have been thrilled with them. Mine have the upgraded EV T-350 tweeter so I can't comment on how the top end of yours would sound, but mine are amazingly detailed and not bright at all. I would say that the bass is also impressive. Mine originally came with the tweeter oriented vertically beside the horn, so I redesigned the top cabs to mirror the K-horn configuration.

Long story short, I couldn't be happier with my choice. I knew going in that the x-overs were the weak link, but I'll be converting these to active x-overs soon enough. I think I got a steal on my pair, but I didn't get them for $100. Jump all over those at that price. If you hate them then you could chop them up and still not have wasted very much Get them home and enjoy!

Oh, here's a link to a thread detailing my find at S&V forums. LINK

-tim

[tom b. 57]

Well, I got these big beasts home to the garage yesterday evening. One cabinet is in fair shape and the other has a piece broke off of the bottom in the back. They are constructed of mdf except for thr top part that houses the high and mid horns. The fronts are covered with either a very thin veneer or contact paper. I didn't check to see if the front of the bass bin is plywood like the tops or mdf like the rest. I am going to guess mdf. One of the mid horns is loose from the cabinet.and I need to construct a base for the horn and driver to rest on, since that piece is missing. If I have time today I am going to connect one of the crossovers and see what happens. I don't know much of anything about crossovers but these things look kind of cheesy compared to others I have seen in the past. All of the drivers on the horns have no markings, so, I don't know what type they are. I know that they do not resemble the drivers in my Cornwalls at all. I haven't opened up the bass bins to check out the woofers yet. I hope to do that today. If I decide to invest any money in these I will start with the crossovers. I am thinking I could take a drive up to Seattle and visit Speakerlab to find out if they would be willing to either rebuildor make new ones for these things. But first I think I need to find out if the drivers are any good and if the woofers need to be reconed or replaced. This could entail spending more money that I am prepared to. I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Suggestions on testing drivers?

Tom

[DizRotus]

Please try to post some pics. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

If the bass bins are solid, they alone are worth the purchase price. If they have EV tweeters (whether or not functional) they alone are also worth the purchase price; same if they have Atlas mid drivers and aluminum squawker horns. I would be most inclined to replace the woofers with BEC sourced woofers and to replace the x-overs. That said, functioning Speakerlab woofers have some value to many who dabble with the Klipsch-style corner horn.

One difficulty in assessing Speakerlab corner horns is the many changes they went through during their relatively short (compared to Klipschorns) production history. What you find in terms of MDF or plywood, drivers and squawker horn (aluminum or fiberglass), etc. can be a surprise. It's my understanding that the "standard" SKhorn was 4 ohm, but that 8 ohm versions were an option (I had four 8 ohm SKs that I used in parallel to produce a 4 ohm load on a Dynaco ST-400). If you replace the woofers and x-overs, you needn't concern yourself with whether the SKs were nominally 4 or 8 ohm.

"Cheesy" is too flattering a description of the Speakerlab crossover networks. If you're seriously thinking about "restoring" these speakers, I would suggest obtaining a used pair of Klipsch networks (mostly for the autoformers) and then refreshing them to A, AA, ALK or another desired configuration. IMHO, restoring the Speakerlab x-overs would be a waste of time and money.

Regarding a trip to the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Emerald City, I would be surprised if anyone at the current incarnation of Speakerlab would be able to provide any useful input. It would be interesting to see and hear what they're up to, but since they abandoned their interest in horn-loaded designs decades ago, it probably won't help with this project.

Enjoy the process and please keep the forum posted with photos and results.