Greetings

[fendervan]

Hi Guys

This is my first post.

I work in Burlington Ontario and my boss came in the other day and asked us if anyone wanted some old speakers? I, being a musician, said I'd take a look at them. His neighbour worked for the UN and picked up these speakers sometime in the 60's. He died and his widow and her daughter were renovating the home and thought these old speakers, that were built into the corners were garbage and had them removed. They are a pair of Klipschorns.

Can you help me find out what they are?

The crossover said TYPE 1 R

The model is K-D-FR and the serial Number is, well different. The paper guled to the box states that it is 1C956, but the stamp on the wood is 1C959. I guess the inspector listed, a "Partus Gilley" had mistaken the 9 for a 6 when he was signing off the boxes.

So, any info on these would be greatly appreciated.

My next task is to clean them up and take them for a test drive.

[Daddy Dee]

They are "decorator" unfinished Khorns, purchased unfinished and no top hat. The "C" in the serial number indicates 1964 manufacture.

Great potential here for good sound. Crossovers will need new caps, or an alternate crossover to preserve the original. Not a huge project there though. The drivers all may work just fine.

welcome to the forum.

[Arky]

Welcome to the forum. Congrats & enjoy getting them back in shape.

[Islander]

Did you bring them home right away? Free Khorns, what a score! They may need some work and you'll need to find some suitable corners in your listening room, but they're Khorns! Let us know how you like them.

[fendervan]

Hi

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Well, when my boss told me they were out the back of the shop, I did the unforgiveable. I opened them up and un wingnutted the 15" speakers and tossed the cabnets in the dumpster until I got onto Google and found out what they were and what I had done. A sick feeling came over me and I rescued them and stuffed them into my mini van(just barely fit) and brought them home. I am still married!! Yeah I know, dumb *** move but I have them now and I will post a photo of them once I find my AA batter recharger for my digital camera.

I think the horns (K400) are shot. The crack at moderate volume. One of the 15" speaked do as well. The tweeters seem to be okay.

[Daddy Dee]

Bob Crites (BEC) on this forum. You could check with him on parts for advice on your mid driver. Probably just needs to have a diaphragm replaced. He can also offer help on a replacement woofer. Also, replacement woofer is available from Klipsch parts.

Great story. Glad you rescued the sweethearts.

[WMcD]

The FR probably means Fir Raw. This is in keeping with the D model to my understanding.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions about the drivers themselves being bad, though that might be the case. My thought is that the caps in the crossover may be cranky. And we really don't know if previous owners have made changes.

We all look forward to pictures.

Gil

[Marvel]

First thing to try is to lossen and re-tighten all the connections on the crossover terminal block. Sometin=mes the wires get some tarnish/oxidation on them. This can help. The diaphragms for the mid and tweeter driver is inexpensive compared to replacing the whole driver. WOofer replacements can be had if they are really bad. Nice thing about the woofers is they use a cloth or treated paper surround, so they don't come apart the way the early foam surrounds did. They pretty much last forever. Newer foam surrounds last a lot longer.

Bruce

[Islander]

Here's a price list that shows the decorator model:

[WMcD]

FV,

Comments by Marvel Bruce snapped me back to reality. Thanks, Bruce.

I have gotten a bit guarded and jaded. Good people come to the forum with problems which we all like to help with. But often the situation is described without much background. "I have these speakers and they don't sound good, what should I do?" Really.

Of course we and you don't know the history of the speakers. There is no reason to think the worst.

As Bruce points out, the drivers themselves are quite robust and based on your description, they are working to some extent. There are plenty of 50-year-old K-Horns which function well, stock. That is to say, wonderfully.

There is an item which consistenty comes up. The screw down connections or push-on connections (more rare) suffer from corrosion. 95 percent of problems reported come down to this.

The corroded or mechanically loose connect has an odd effect. Sound is non-exsistent or distorted at low levels. Then, when the volume is high, things turn-on. Then, when the level is low, it drops out.

And, contrary to what I said previously, it is not a capacitor problem, most likely.

It is my thought that you have a fairly easy task. This may state the obvious. No offense.

Blow out the dust or vacuum, just to get these beauties clean.

Take pictures or make notes on the electrical connections in the crossover board or whatever you're fiddling with.

Then, back off every screw on electrical connections by half a turn, and snug them down. This may solve the problem.

Gil

[fendervan]

Thanks so much for the sound advise coming form you guys. I think I'll have some time in the next few days to check the screws on the crossovers and do the loosen tighten thing and test them out again. Thanks for all the great advise. I think this forum will be a great source of information for me. I am not a electrical type fiddler, being a musician however I know what sounds good and correct.

My wife found the battery charger for the cameras rechargeable AA's. I'll take some photos tonight and post them. I have stached the bins on top of eachother as space is a luxury in my recroom at this time. I managed to squeez one of the "tops" with the tweeter and mid on the top. The height is up to ceiling. Theses babys are huge. I just hope that the sound will be the same after I get them sorted out.

Oh another question. Can I use them as external speakers from my Fender Delux Reverb tube amp? Will they handle the power?

Cheers

[JJkizak]

The maximum design life of those caps is 20 years when the technology was good for 5 to 10 years. You are 23.9 years passed that date. I have two of those 1R networks out of my 65's (2C022, 2C023) that you can have for free (plus shipping), as that's what I think of their performance after installing the new Dean networks. Don't even think of trying to use those old caps. Mine were the decorator models also and are pictured in the I think it was the "lets see your HT thread". I still have all the old drivers and they seem to work just fine. (My hearing is from 19hz to 12.5 khz)

JJK

[fendervan]

As promised. Here are some images of the Khorns.

http://www.flightlevelpub.com/khorn/

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Daddy Dee]

fendervan,

In the pics, am I seeing one bass bin stacked on top of another? Perhaps the Khorn is sitting on a really tall riser?

[Marvel]

Dee,

He mentioned stacking them to conserve on space for the moment.

Bill,

You could use them with your guitar amp, but the Fender is voiced to work with the drivers in the cabinet, and not the full range you would have in the Khorn. I.E., most guitar amps have a bit of high end boost, to compensate for the high freq. rolloff from the high impedance pickups.

Depending on the crossovers, you could overdrive the mid and tweeter. The tweeter can only handle a very few watts, like 3 to 5 if I remember correctly off the top of my head.

The cabinets look awful don't they? But you have Khorns, so who cares. You can always make them look pretty (which the wife might like - hint, hint). Then again, you are a musicina and she might not mind at all.

And a Merry Christmas to you!

Bruce

[soundbound]

You got them free. It would be worth putting some money in them to get them back to sounding good. Give them a coat of paint to make them look better. Satin black would look good. Bob Crites is a forum member here and an eBay seller who sales items for rebuilding Klipschorns and other Klipsch speakers. He'll have everything you'll need. I rebuilt my Klipschorns which were like yours. I used Bob's components and it worked out great. He'll even rebuild your tweeters and mid drivers for a small cost.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZbobcrites