Big horn speakers called Beta Sound ??? Look like Klipsch

[Charivari]

Whats funny now is that the bad tweeter started working again!

Dirty/corroded connections on the tweeter?

 

[kfa888]

I like it! :yes:

Those look like EV T35 tweets which is a good thing.

 

[bear-hifi]

I pulled out the mid horn and its a Atlas PD-5VH ..... any good?

 

[bear-hifi]

Well the cabinets cleaned up pretty good… Now they need a coat of lacquer…

 

[shrinkboy]

very cool, bear. you've got me curiosity way up, now. i can't wait to see 'em finished.

 

[bear-hifi]

made some mods to the crossover and got them all cleaned up... They are sounding pretty good with the W-5s!!!!

 

[MLarx]

Anybody Know what model Beta these are? I know they had a version with a 12 inch low frequency, possibly a 15 inch version, but I've never seen this version with a 10 inch.They still have the paperwork on their backs,but no model number just serial numbers, that are not sequential.

 

[bowtie427ss]

Your woofers are 12 inch. Measure them.

The owner of Beta Sound Inc posted on the Klipsch forums a few years back, you might still be able to reach out to him(or his associate who's email is posted) there.

to the guys with the Beta 045s, the tweater and midrange are the same as what Klipsch used as did some other speaker manufacters, the Electrvoice T-35 is the tweater and the Atlas PD 5 is the mid range driver which was used by Klipsch as well as Beta and others, the woolfer is made by Eminence Speakers as per Beta Sound design. The cross over that you showed a picture of is the crossover that Beta used which was hand made to speck. The picture of the two 045s appears to be factory new and yes they sound great. If you have any questions please feel to contact me as i am the owner of the Beta Sound Inc. Company which was shut down around 1980.

Phil Clements worked for me and funny you ask as i just emailed him at solusaudio@gmail.com where he is now, Beta build the 045, 065, 075 and 1001, all but the 1001 used 12 inch wolfers and the 1001 used 15 inch which crossed over at 400 cycles with front loaded Conncal Horn design.

 

[elitopus]

Man, I wish I had some of those woolfers build to Beta speck.

 

[bowtie427ss]

Man, I wish I had some of those woolfers build to Beta speck.

LOL, ditto that!

The OP's woofers appear to be exactly an early K-22 with a vented paper dust cap instead of the K-22's fiber dust cap.

K-22:

 

[DAVID 1954]

From what I have looked up they are the 075's but that is my opinion

 

[MLarx]

From what I have looked up they are the 075's but that is my opinion

Thanks, I can’t find any info on them other than here and a blurb on the Klipsch forum. All of the front ports are dummies, how wierd is that. They sound good, not all that, low frequency wise. They do seem to make more bass sitting on the floor. They look nice sitting on those stands, and the subs under them more than cover for any low end deficiency’s they have.

 

[Nat]

I believe Stereophile reviewed a pair of Betas long ago. While they were not entirely enamored - the audiophile beau ideal of sound is not an exact match for horn speakers - they acknowledged their merits, and, if I recall correctly, thought that they were the best horn speakers available. If Paul Klipsch worried about obscure magazines, I doubt he would have been happy.

 

[twiiii]

We sold Beta speakers back in the mid-70's. They used the same drivers and tweeter as Klipsch but made their own midrange horn a very simple crossover and a short front horn with ports running up and down the sides that could be opened or closed to match the voicing of the speaker to the speaker placement in a room. We used them for smaller discos so we wouldn't have to use sub woofers like we did with Klipsch La Scalas. The worked well with Mcintosh MC 752, 754 and 2120 and 2125 amplifiers. Some folks used them with their 275's they Had bought previously. There were 3 models as I remember. The small out performed the Hersey the middle was not quite a match for the Cornwall and the largest one compared favorably with the La Scala but couldn't match a Klipschorn,, The advantage the LA Scala had was the big midrange horn. My chief engineer had a pair of the biggest Betas replacing his A7-800's. They were set just away from the corners and against the rear wall using a Quad Sansui amp pushing two of the smallest betas for the rear speakers. They sounded very nice. Especially when he played his own live recordings in Quad. He sold quite a few Betas demonstrating them in his home. I'll dig around in his slide collection as see if he took any photos.

I would up grade the crossovers quickly as they were the weak link in the speakers. A 3 way Corn wall Crossover might be just the ticket to success.

 

[MLarx]

We sold Beta speakers back in the mid-70's. They used the same drivers and tweeter as Klipsch but made their own midrange horn a very simple crossover and a short front horn with ports running up and down the sides that could be opened or closed to match the voicing of the speaker to the speaker placement in a room. We used them for smaller discos so we wouldn't have to use sub woofers like we did with Klipsch La Scalas. The worked well with Mcintosh MC 752, 754 and 2120 and 2125 amplifiers. Some folks used them with their 275's they Had bought previously. There were 3 models as I remember. The small out performed the Hersey the middle was not quite a match for the Cornwall and the largest one compared favorably with the La Scala but couldn't match a Klipschorn,, The advantage the LA Scala had was the big midrange horn. My chief engineer had a pair of the biggest Betas replacing his A7-800's. They were set just away from the corners and against the rear wall using a Quad Sansui amp pushing two of the smallest betas for the rear speakers. They sounded very nice. Especially when he played his own live recordings in Quad. He sold quite a few Betas demonstrating them in his home. I'll dig around in his slide collection as see if he took any photos.

I would up grade the crossovers quickly as they were the weak link in the speakers. A 3 way Corn wall Crossover might be just the ticket to success.

I thought the Beta 045s sounded better than the Heresys. I don't know if there is any truth to it, there was a rumor that Klipsch Threatened to sue over the 045 box.
The Betas were an estate sale find, as for as their sound its cool but dated. Technology left them behind along time ago, the horns were mounted behind the baffle,
and the horn design is old school, great for slicing ham at 50ft but annoying to listen to, constant directivity rules. Funny, we never noticed until we were introduced
to the difference.

 

[DAVID 1954]

I think i read that the side ports can be opened or closed depending on bass requirments.

 

[MLarx]

I think that's the 100s , these speakers are smaller and are ported in the back . I remember the 50s and the 100s, I don't remember seeing these at all.

 

[MLarx]

Man, I wish I had some of those woolfers build to Beta speck.

How bad do want a pair. Call me crazy, but I have an arsenal of speakers, IE JBL, Eminence, P Audio EV. If I don't sell these, I would love to try out some different components.The P audio 12" I have would most likely sound great in these boxes. In other words I want experiment, I love doing that. If my hunch is correct I would be willing to part with these pristine speakers. P audio speakers are made in Taiwan and are very impressive speakers.

 

[bgwilkins]

From what I have looked up they are the 075's but that is my opinion

You are correct they are the 075's

 

[twiiii]

My wife's first husband, Jerry, traded his A-7's in on a pair of the large Betas. They sounded better than Cornwalls and didn't need corners like a Klipsch horn. We sold quite a few of them to small clubs and to make small disco systems with EV or JBL subs on the floor. They used basically the same drivers as Klipsch but with a tunable slot for different placement in your man cave of listening room. Like I said Jerry powered his pair as front speakers with Hersey's as the rear pushed by his Sansui Quad amplifier. It was great sound.