advertisement


Mystery Speaker

Mike Hanson

Mike Hanson

Trying to understand...
My friend has a small antique shop selling mid-century modern furniture and trinkets. I was visiting today, and noticed a little set of speakers, but I didn't recognize the logo. I asked him how they sounded, and he reported that he hadn't had a chance to test them. He knew I was a stereo guy, so he shoved them into my hands, asking that I check them out for him. They almost look like little siblings of the much larger Klipsch Cornwall IV:

ke1.jpg


Here's closeup of the logo:

ke2.jpg


I've put a meter on the posts, and both hover around 10Ω. I've not had a chance to hook them up to an amp yet. I will say, though, they weigh very little, so I don't expect them to sound great. I'm also not sure if it's populated by a single full-range or a 2-way. The grills don't come off, but the back is held on by little wood screws, so it would be easy enough to open one up and see.

Anyone have any insight into what these are?
 
Don’t know about the two small bookshelf speakers but the big one is definetely a Klipsch Cornwall 4 and I bet it sounds great if they are in good condition.
Klipsch may have made satellite speakers for home theater kit but I'm not a 100% sure about that.
 
No clue here, which is rare! Have you figured out how they open? There will likely be further clues on the drivers or crossovers.
 
Tony L said:
No clue here, which is rare! Have you figured out how they open? There will likely be further clues on the drivers or crossovers.
Click to expand...
Yes, I can definitely open them up. There are 6 small wood screws in the back panel with Phillips heads. I'll open them up and see what can be seen. In the mean time, I should really hook them up to an amp and give them a spin.

From the style of the build, I'm guessing they're at least fifty years old.
 
After dealing with a stripped out screwhead, I was able to get a few pictures of the inside, and it's a 2-way:

inside.jpg


Not much for identifying marks. The woofer says 4W8Ω, so they won't be featured in any dance parties. Both drivers are paper cones, and look pretty good from the back.

The crossover is interesting. I haven't quite made sense of it, but the caps look like newish Nichicons. I'm also perplexed by the thin white and gray wires sliding under the edge of the woofer.

crossover.jpg


Thoughts?
 
Likely a co-axial tweeter, Mike, rolled off in the LE by the 2 x 3.3mfd(?) caps in parallel (giving a circa 2k 1st-order crossover point).

Don't see any inductors, so likely to be some overlap between the two drivers that can be seen.
 
Last edited:
Kenwood had a line of speakers called KE, but that logo isn't theirs.
Sent the logo through Bing Lens search - nothing came up.
It couldn't be LKE could it? - not that anything comes up there either.
 
Craig B said:
Likely a co-axial tweeter, Mike, rolled off in the LE by the 2 x 3.3mfd(?) caps in parallel (giving a circa 2k 1st-order crossover point).

Don't see any inductors, so likely to be some overlap between the two drivers that can be seen.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was pondering that, but wouldn't it be odd to have a coaxial woofer and tweeter, with a midrange off to the side?
 
Rosewind said:
Kenwood had a line of speakers called KE, but that logo isn't theirs.
Sent the logo through Bing Lens search - nothing came up.
It couldn't be LKE could it? - not that anything comes up there either.
Click to expand...
I also did an image search and game up empty handed. (I even cropped the image to include only the logo, and still no good.)
 
Mike Hanson said:
Yeah, I was pondering that, but wouldn't it be odd to have a coaxial woofer and tweeter, with a midrange off to the side?
Click to expand...

Yet that's what it must be.

I find it odd that they're using back-to-back polarized electrolytics. But then that's what's inside a non-polar 'lytic anyway.
 
Have you tried them yet? I’m amazed there are so few clues, e.g. no branding on the drivers.
 
Tony L said:
Have you tried them yet? I’m amazed there are so few clues, e.g. no branding on the drivers.
Click to expand...
Not yet. I need to reassemble the one first, including finding a replacement screw for the one with the stripped head (although the other channel is missing one screw, that part isn't really stopping me.

I'll next have a chance to play with them on Wednesday evening.
 
I tried to look up similar mid/woofer drivers with the square "magnet":
Kanazawa, Pioneer, Sansui, Jensen, Isophon all made or used drivers with a square magnet. The front looks similar to the Sansui "Kabuki style speakers." Are they Japanese made speakers?
 
Rosewind said:
I tried to look up similar mid/woofer drivers with the square "magnet":
Kanazawa, Pioneer, Sansui, Jensen, Isophon all made or used drivers with a square magnet. The front looks similar to the Sansui "Kabuki style speakers." Are they Japanese made speakers?
Click to expand...
Japanese was my hunch too.
 
At this point I have no idea, although they certainly are stylish. I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening, when I'll have a bit of time to try playing music through them.
 
Very interesting. I still have the Sansui SP10 that my father bought in 1969 together with a Sansui 300L receiver (which I also still have:). But the SP10s were full range.
Back to the topic. Although "square" could it also be an Alnico magnet? The magnet of the small driver looks very much like Alnico...always a nice warm and differentiated sound.

One detail I find particularly interesting: the baffle is virtually freely suspended and attached only at a few points, at least in the upper section. Thus, the speaker is probably not a bass monster. But maybe they really thought of something with this construction? Maybe the air gaps work similar to a bass reflex box? Or it reminds of the broken bell system of the BBC boxes? Or it simply provides drone-free mids similar to an open baffle? I am very curious to hear your sound impression.
 
I like the way they look, but I'll readily admit that when my friend asked me to test them, I fully expected them to sound awful. With all of our visual observations so far, though, I'm starting to think they might surprise me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top