My first Klipschorn

[walloffound]

Someone found this in a storage unit and someone else i know tipped me off. The friend of a old man that passed away was getting rid of the storage space contents. I hooked it up to my garage amp and they work. University tweeters and Stephens 15" woofer. This is my first experience with anything Klipsch. It was covered in dust, mice crap and other junk. Just cleaned off most of the dirt and dust I would like to it restore this. I appreciate any advice. Thanks. Its a single unit, but anyway Im into mono so that works for me.

 

[sheltie dave]

There also is an Electrovoice T35 tweeter that is bolted vertically in the mouth of the wood K5 midhorn. You will be very pleased if you get an integrated mono like an Eico HF12 or the Heathkit Packard looking integrated. Both work quite well with the KHorn.

 

[walloffound]

I forgot to mention that this thing is amazing, its huge and one of my most interesting finds. Now I know why this section is called Klipsch Korner !

 

[sheltie dave]

Don't push it hard, five to ten watts tops.

 

[Jirachi]

Don't push it hard, five to ten watts tops.

Why is this? Other than obvious ear rape

 

[vinyldavid]

There's actually a University tweeter lurking inside that horn. I saw the Facebook thread

 

[walloffound]

That is correct the tweeter is also University.

 

[Champco]

Why is this? Other than obvious ear rape

Man ya got that right. Ol buddie had a pair pushed by a Marantz. Both our wives were gone and we had the house to ourselves and he cranked em up. They were actually louder then I could stand. I enjoyed em more from the other room around the corner. Not one bit of distortion.

 

[Ohighway]

Congrats and nice find ! You should enjoy that unit..... what will you be driving it with ?

Looking at your pictures, that woofer is indeed a Stephens, but it's not the 103LX-2 that I'm used to seeing in those. Any chance we can get a close up of the tags on the side to see what drivers were included in the build?

Also, what serial number is your unit?

EDIT : If that woofer is working DO NOT try and remove it. Stephens have a nasty habit of having the cork glued to the perimeter of the cone stick to whatever surface it's mounted to. When you try and remove it it will very likely stick to the enclosure and pull the cone away from the speaker frame ripping and ruining it.

 

[walloffound]

Thanks for that info, i was actually going to try and remove the woofer to at least flip it over, so i guess i will not do that. The serial number is 458, made in 1952

 

[walloffound]

As far as an amp, im not sure i have a heathkit w-5m that needs to be looked at Ive never turned it on, so once i have it restored maybe that would be a good match. I also have a magnavox mono tube amp from a console. Im looking for recommendations. Also if someone has advice regarding the crossover. I want to keep things more or less original since its very old, but is it safe to run with the old caps?

 

[Champco]

I thought that speaker looked famlier. That's the pair my Daddy sold to pay the doctor for my birth!!!! Been looking for those

 

[Ohighway]

Actually the oil caps are preferable. The only reason to replace them is if one is malfunctioning.. I had that problem with the cap feeding the HF horn and just replaced it with an equivalent poly cap. Merely left the old one in place but took it out of the circuit.

Your idea to flip the woofer is a sound one. If you are super, super careful you might be able to get it out intact and rotate it. or it might be no problem. Just depends...

Yeah, that magnet structure is definitely a P52, and the LX2 designation is for the 4 ohm woofer....Correct for the Klipschorn.

I have one each of 1954 and 1956 Klipschorns. 618 and 1069 IIRC.

 

[Ohighway]

Heath W5M would be a great choice. Find a WAP2 preamp meant to run with it and you'll be in business!

As an aside I wasn't quite 3 months old when your speaker was built. Klipsch still maintains records on these old Klipschorns.

 

[Ohighway]

That's a University SA-HF driver on the big Horn. Probably a 4401 / MID-t for the small one.

 

[Ohighway]

Can we get close ups of the rest of the tags/ stickers?

 

[walloffound]

Thats all the photos I have, i can get more tomorrow. the back of the cab has the number 380 stamped into it in a few different places, also 380 is written across the lable as you can see.
The badge is an etched clear plastic

 

[Ohighway]

Hey just had a thought. Regarding rotating that woofer. I've never been in the bottom end of my Klipschorns, but by chance is the woofer mounted on a symmetrical motorboard? If so maybe the whole woofer/motorboard assembly can be removed and rotated, that way you wouldnt have to mess with trying to separate woofer from the wood. Just a thought. Not sure if that's how it's actually constructed.

Regarding the tags, werent' there more tags on the lower portion that you didn't show close ups of? Somewhere on my Klipschorns they named the mid and woofer drivers used.

 

[macyjrm]

Your Khorn is a historic treasure. Gosh, I wish I could stumble across one or more of those. She will clean up nicely. Please restore only, no mods.

 

[walloffound]

Your Khorn is a historic treasure. Gosh, I wish I could stumble across one or more of those. She will clean up nicely. Please restore only, no mods.

Thats the plan! When i realised how old these are, these are like a museum piece in my book. I have a lot of furniture restoration work so rest assured they are in good hands. Definitely going to keep them original. I feel very lucky that they found me.