Project Restoration

Flanking the giant horn in the engineering lobby are two more items brought from the museum for restoration.  On the left, we have a Lowther corner horn from the 1960s, and on the right, a prototype of the very rare "Little B*stard" (LB-76), which is somewhere between a Heresy and LaScala, from the 1970s.

I don't know about you, but I can totally envision a room with shag carpet, metallic pea green wallpaper, rabbit-eared television, and martini-sipping party-goers in very uncomfortable suits and dresses listening to Perry Como on that Lowther.  

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Published 26 February 2009 02:47 PM by Amy Unger
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Comments

# Daddy Dee said on 26 February, 2009 03:44 PM

That is a nice thought for the imagination. One more, just to expand from the living room.... HDBRBuilder tells a story from the 70's about a group of Klipsch factory folks who would "borrow" the LB's to take with them for partying outdoors. Folks could hear them from some good distance away for sure.

# colterphoto1 said on 26 February, 2009 05:52 PM

ooo, that white LB is cool, we used to use them upright for side fill monitors, that guy actually has a base for use in the horizontal position. Can we get a nice close up photo of the LB?

That Lowther has some severe wood damage if memory serves. I think it sat near a window where it got a lot of sunlight over the years. That old building was not kind to some of the pieces. Glad to see they have a new home.

# seti said on 26 February, 2009 06:34 PM

The wood on the Lowther was really dry but totally intact. It was one of my favorites in PWK's Audio History Museum. Voigt and Lowther were very important hi-fi pioneers. Never saw that LB in Hope. I didn't the LB was actually a production speaker.

www.lowthervoigtmuseum.org.uk

# Andy W said on 26 February, 2009 11:08 PM

Tung oil smells really bad.

# colterphoto1 said on 27 February, 2009 05:56 AM

There's nothing I like better than the smell of BLO in the morning.

# Andy W said on 27 February, 2009 04:55 PM

www.lowthervoigtmuseum.org.uk/voigt.html

So that's what the ticket booth speaker is!

# colterphoto1 said on 01 March, 2009 05:27 AM

are we SURE that the white cabinet is a LB? Or could it be something ELSE?

# greg928gts said on 02 March, 2009 03:01 PM

I've heard it said that PWK called a lot of prototype speakers LB's.  We all know what LB stands for right?

Two years ago I was talking to Tommy Crouch about some LB's for sale.  It turned out to be a pair of unusual Heresy's, but not LB-76's.  Tommy claimed they were built as prototypes at the direction of PWK, and that eventually they were given to one of the engineers at Klipsch.  I don't know if the story is true.  I passed on them, too much money and dealing with TC was a real PIA.  

From a separate source, I was told that there might still be a pair of LB's around, and I was given the place where they might be.  I never did get around to contacting the place to see if they had some funny looking speakers hanging around.  

I"d like to build some someday.  

Greg

# Trey Cannon said on 03 March, 2009 12:18 PM

The "LB" is labled "T-867". It has the H700 lable as well as all the drivers. The net is an "AA".

It curves a lot like the LS but with a more "funky" impedance curve. Min Z = about 5 Ohms.

LF roll off = 75 Hz and drops like a rock. 50db / oct

SPL is about 90 db / 2.83 V @ 3 meters

Looking at the curve, you can see the family, LS, H700,KH, REB...they all look a lot a like.

# colterphoto1 said on 04 March, 2009 04:13 AM

Thanks for the specs Trey. So then this is not the standard LB Pa cabinet as shown in Hope in the BG configuration? I think that one was 15" woofer with Belle K500 horn, yes? This would make one heck of a HT center if the SPL was higher.

# colterphoto1 said on 04 March, 2009 04:14 AM

oh 90 db at 3 meters- that's 10 feet. what do we add, 5 db for that distance. so real normalized spl would be 95 at 3 FEET?

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