My Vintage Klipsch Speakers ???

Options
MontereyMusicClub
MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
in Vintage Speakers
Hi out there,

I own a pair of vintage Klipsch speakers and I'd like to find out more about them like rarity and value. See link. They're about 4 ft. tall and sound great.

http://montereymusicclub.com/images/klipsch.jpg

Thanks,
gs
· Share on Facebook
«1

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    Options
    They very well could be kit DIY speakers. I think there were more DIY K-horns made back then than there were Klipsch production.

    The usual scenario. Grandpa built them when he retired from a magazine article in Popular Science in the 50's. Then dad got them when gramps kicked the bucket. Dad passed them on to junior and the story is they're very expensive audiophile speakers. They're loud as a Who concert and can make you hurt with 30 wpc but I personally have never thought they're "audiophile" by any means as some others do. Just loud and dynamic.
    · Share on Facebook
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 52,406
    Options
    https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/150883-please-id-these-old-klipsch-cabinet-speakers/
    · Share on Facebook
  • mrbigbluelight
    mrbigbluelight Posts: 9,878
    Options
    It would be interesting to see what baffles are inside of the box.
    I don't know if it would be possible for you to remove some lag bolts from the back plywood and post some pictures of the innards ?
    Any identification anywhere ? Serial #'s ?
    Sal Palooza
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    Options
    From what F1nut found, they're not even K-horns. They still look to me like DIY cabinets with too much decorative foo-foo stuck on front to church them up. Then when taken apart, gramps skipped the internal baffles and used EV, Altec, or Jensen PA woofers instead of Klipsch.
    · Share on Facebook
  • pkquat
    pkquat Posts: 748
    Options
    F1nut wrote: »
    https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/150883-please-id-these-old-klipsch-cabinet-speakers/

    Masterful find. FYI the OP's pic is the same as the first pic in the Klipsch post, just cropped. Same person??

    I would have to go with the "Cornscala" guess, or someone put Heresy parts in the University speaker. Although the rear port / horn looks different.
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited February 2017
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • oldmodman
    oldmodman Posts: 740
    Options
    Damn!

    And I thought my K Horns were old!
    · Share on Facebook
  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,083
    Options
    Xcapri can't stay away.
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
    · Share on Facebook
  • MontereyMusicClub
    MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
    Options
    Attached are 18 pics of my pair of vintage Klipsch speakers. These were definitely made by a cabinet shop, not home made. I'm interested in finding out model, year, rarity and value. They work and sound great. I recently ordered a coil off eBay for one of the horns was bad.

    0n2pjbqa9gwi.jpg
    ffgrumewncq4.jpg
    anjwrgfy685m.jpg
    iu78yc809phn.jpg
    227qq9gtj020.jpg
    tm9fn73qpz26.jpg
    5j8r8glwxis6.jpg
    ooqlnupoqprs.jpg
    k0xe1m5wbv66.jpg
    aou890b0wfqx.jpg
    7oswi75sebdl.jpg
    rjnbq7dx6g8i.jpg
    9uq74180w537.jpg
    v3nfvx845ww8.jpg
    y5wt6pc57fbn.jpg
    szxguj4hsktr.jpg
    rbq77vcyhzq3.jpg
    34t3608e3vcs.jpg

    · Share on Facebook
  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,584
    Options
    Welcome? Try the Klipsch forum.
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,562
    edited March 2017
    Options
    If they're not bespoke cabinets (in which case they're probably untraceable) they might be third-party cabinets (see comments below). The OP might do well to peruse 1950s catalogs at www.radioshackcatalogs.com and www.alliedcatalogs.com and he (or she) might find them there.

    Another good place to look is www.hifilit.com

    They're not Klipsch per se, though. In those days, hifi buffs often bought drivers and enclosures separately (or just built their own enclosures, many plans were available). If the enclosures in question weren't home-made or bespoke - they could have been Klipsch licensed and made by Brociner, Cabinart, or other hifi cabinet makers -- even EV sold kits, plans, and enclosures that were "Klipsch-licensed". They look home-made to me; the poor quality of the cutouts and the offcenter mounting of the woofer(s) look like something I'd do. In the post-war/Eisenhower era, the Popular Mechanics culture was widespread in the burgenouing suburbia of the Fifties.

    -- like this happy guy, building his Altecs (way better sounding loudspeakers than the Klipsches, BTW) :)

    Page13.jpg

    Since there are two, they're probably not that old -- stereo in home hifi wasn't a "thing" until the late 1950s (and really not until the '60s). Pre-stereo, there are very, very few who would have invested in a pair of real loudspeakers.

    -- but, yeah, I don't know why the OP bothered to ask here. If the Klipsch forum isn't turning up what s/he wants (maybe just trolling for someone to buy 'em?), the OP might want to try audiokarma or audioasylum.



    · Share on Facebook
  • MontereyMusicClub
    MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
    Options
    Here's a pdf of 19 pictures of my vintage Klipsch speakers.
    I'm looking for information about model, year mfg., rarity and value.

    http://montereymusicclub.com/klipsch/klipsch.pdf

    Thank you.
    · Share on Facebook
  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,584
    Options
    You keep asking the same thing over and over. We don't know! Ask other places. Or are you just a troll?
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • MontereyMusicClub
    MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
    edited March 2017
    Options
    It always amuses me why some people on these boards use them to post derogatory remarks to belittle the poster. That my friends is what trolling is. If you don't have anything to contribute but your sniping stay out of the conversation. And no, they're not for sale.

    Thanks to the rest of you that posted useful info.
    · Share on Facebook
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 52,406
    Options
    You amuse me.

    Your speaker cabinets have no value, they are homemade. Since you haven't provided any info on the drivers it's impossible to say if they are worth anything and that is where any value would be. However, the value, if any, is not going to be Altec, Tannoy, etc. type money.

    Instead of worrying about value, etc. and seeing how you think they sound good why don't you put a lot of time and effort into restoring the cabinets to make them presentable. Don't forget to clean the dust and cobwebs out.
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,562
    edited March 2017
    Options
    F1nut wrote: »
    You amuse me.

    Your speaker cabinets have no value, they are homemade. Since you haven't provided any info on the drivers it's impossible to say if they are worth anything and that is where any value would be. However, the value, if any, is not going to be Altec, Tannoy, etc. type money.

    Instead of worrying about value, etc. and seeing how you think they sound good why don't you put a lot of time and effort into restoring the cabinets to make them presentable. Don't forget to clean the dust and cobwebs out.

    It's got a pair of EV T35s (Klipsch K77), a pair of (presumably) Klipsch MR horns with, most likely, the Atlas (PA grade) 1" compression drivers (I think Klipsch called them K55) and -- maybe a pair of 15" EV woofers. Klipsch in the early years used various woofers. By the 1970s, they were using commodity woofers, but in the '50s they used decent ones. The XO networks look like they could be Klipsch parts -- if they have Klipsch tags on them, the precise network version might help date them, in fact.

    The Klipsch cast aluminum MR horns were all nasty, resonant, shouty things.

    But, yeah, not Altec, Tannoy, JBL-grade. Not even close.

    Pretty dismal sounding MR drivers and tweeters (as a former Klipsch owner -- now thankfully in remission!); the woofers might be OK -- but we ain't talkin' Altec 515s ;)

    The weird thing is that the OP doesn't seem to want to know anything in particular about them(?). I can't imagine why anyone'd be generically curious about them other than "what's it worth", frankly. I mean, the XOs could be spiffed up, maybe some cabinet stiffening -- but otherwise mediocre high-sensitivity loudspeakers. A single-ended 2A3 or 300B amplifier will make them sound about as good as they're capable of sounding.
    · Share on Facebook
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,562
    Options
    Oh, and the L-pads look like they might have cadmium oxide (the thick coat of white powder) on them -- moderately nasty stuff requiring some care while handling.

    https://rais.ornl.gov/tox/profiles/cadmium.html
    · Share on Facebook
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,562
    edited March 2017
    Options
    If the woofers are EV, they "should be" EV 15WK drivers. This is a beefy 15" woofer designed for "Klipsch" (folded backhorn) enclosures. Again, not a 515, but a fairly good woofer. The OP can check eBAY for the going rate; they come up regularly.

    Good point on the vintage cobwebs ;)
    · Share on Facebook
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 10,716
    Options
    Duh, look at picture 3. Samsung.
    · Share on Facebook
  • MontereyMusicClub
    MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
    Options
    Duh, that's the bottom of a Samsung big screen TV sitting on top of the speaker cabinet.

    Doh !
    · Share on Facebook
  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 35,562
    Options
    Samsung woofers -- don't think that Col. Paul Wilbur Klipsch used those.

    ;)
    · Share on Facebook
  • MontereyMusicClub
    MontereyMusicClub Posts: 7
    Options

    I found each one has this Klipsch ID tag on the bottom edge of the elec board assembly.

    ms7pbkoycv20.jpg
    p19tr6ic26yk.jpg
    99y02w1nijiw.jpg
    pyv6601jlto5.jpg
    ybsgkxcvj1j1.jpg
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 10,716
    Options
    Can't be that old. They didn't use hand made nails. :#
    · Share on Facebook
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Options
    This content has been removed.