Cabinet supplier for KLH, Advent, Bose, EPI and Acoustic Research

[DaveD]

In reply to another post which poses the question of what company manufactured cabinets for KLH and Acoustic Research, I wrote that I remembered being told that it

was a company in my home town of Jasper, Indiana. The company is now called Kimball International. The name comes from the W.W. Kimball piano company which was purchased by the Jasper Corporation in 1959. They manufactured pianos and also electronic organs under the Kimball brand name. The company also had other lines and did contract work.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Boar...?showtopic=5132

After getting a "we don't know" answer from the public relations department of the company, I contacted the wife of the former CEO and present Chairman, Doug Habig. His family is one of the principals in the company. She wrote back to say that the Stylemasters division of the Jasper Corporation did make cabinets for KLH, Advent and Acoustic Research. She suggested that I phone Dick Lampert, who managed that division during the 1960s, to get some details.

Mr. Lampert was happy to talk about his company's work for the hi-fi giants of the day. After he had been at Stylemasters for a few years, they contracted to supply wood veneered cabinets to KLH in 1962. This venture was a success for both companies and in a couple of years Stylemasters started supplying cabinets to Acoustic Research. When Henry Kloss left KLH to form Advent, cabinets were supplied to that new company by Stylemasters from the very start. Dick also mentioned supplying amplifier and receiver cabinets to H.H. Scott and others. Bose also became a customer during this time period. When EPI started, that company contracted with Stylemasters for cabinets. Stylemasters perfected the tight sealing technique for acoustic suspension cabinets and a testing procedure for finding and rejecting leaking ones. Stylemasters had special assembly lines and conveyors for the speaker cabinets.

The best customers for wood veneered cabinets were KLH, Advent, Bose and EPI. Stylemasters may not have made all cabinets for these companies, because it was in the interest of the speaker manufacturers to always be looking for another supplier and a better price. But, it was a very large volume of business and many, many different models over many years time. For Acoustic Research, Stylemasters made a much lower amount of their cabinets for only a couple of years. This company was not as interested in marketing quality wood veneered cabinets as the other four speaker companies were.

The hardwood veneers became thinner over the years due to cost and this made the manufacturing more difficult and expensive. When the hi-fi companies started to want vinyl wrapped cabinets, Stylemasters built a new plant to accommodate the special techniques needed to produce a good looking vinyl wrapped cabinet.

After Singer bought KLH, they had the idea to have their own Singer line of speakers to sell in sewing centers. These Singer models contained drivers supplied by KLH and were fully assembled at Stylemasters, with help from the Kimball Electronics division. The line of speakers was a flop because nobody shopping for a stereo ever thought to look for speakers at a sewing machine store! I asked if these Singer speakers were exact re-badged versions of regular KLH models or different designs with different drivers, but he wasn't certain of the answer.

Up until 1981, when Dick Lampert left Stylemasters for the corporate main office, a large volume of cabinets were being produced for KLH, Advent and EPI. Bose was also still a customer, but had moved some of its cabinet production to its own Canadian plant at some point. Work for the audio companies continued for some years past 1981. There was a constant flow of cabinets from Jasper to New England for about 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of cabinets. He traveled to meet with customers often and spent time with Amar Bose, Winslow Burhoe at EPI and with Henry Kloss. He was in Kloss' lab during the development of the Video Beam projection TV, right after the screen itself had first been successfully produced.

Stylemasters also manufactured television cabinets for the major brands for many, many years.

Mr. Lampert told me that he is available to answer in more detail any questions about his work with these companies, if he is able to remember. Apparently no records have been kept. He doesn't want me to post his phone number, but members of this forum can contact me by personal message. I can relay a message to Dick and help to put him in touch with forum members. So, even though southern Indiana feels like the audiophile wilderness to those of us who live here, woodworkers in Jasper did play a large part in the manufacture of the equipment that we all appreciate.

[trask]

Thanks, Dave, for being interested enough to preserve this bit of American audio history. These are exactly the kind of recollections that would eventually be lost if concerned folk didn't track them down and record them for us all to appreciate. You done good!

[dick]

Many thanks for digging this out. A question or two for you: 1) Did AR and KLH wood veneer come from Indiana forests? If not where from? 2) What were the key special techniques used for sonically tight cabinet production? Was the focus the type of glue or the joinery?

Fasinating stuff, even for a CSP novice. Thanks again.

[tysontom]

In reply to another post which poses the question of what company manufactured cabinets for KLH and Acoustic Research, I wrote that I remembered being told that it

was a company in my home town of Jasper, Indiana. The company is now called Kimball International. The name comes from the W.W. Kimball piano company which was purchased by the Jasper Corporation in 1959. They manufactured pianos and also electronic organs under the Kimball brand name. The company also had other lines and did contract work.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Boar...?showtopic=5132

The best customers for wood veneered cabinets were KLH, Advent, Bose and EPI. Stylemasters may not have made all cabinets for these companies, because it was in the interest of the speaker manufacturers to always be looking for another supplier and a better price. But, it was a very large volume of business and many, many different models over many years time. For Acoustic Research, Stylemasters made a much lower amount of their cabinets for only a couple of years. This company was not as interested in marketing quality wood veneered cabinets as the other four speaker companies were.

DaveD,

"This company was not as interested in marketing quality wood veneered cabinets as the other four speaker companies were." I assume you mean that AR wasn't as interested in marketing quality wood-veneered cabinets as the other companies. I know you are relaying what this fellow told you, but regarding AR, this is incorrect. AR cabinets were, if anything, more expensive to manufacture than any of the other cabinets, such as KLH, EPI, Advent and Bose. The main reasons: (1) AR required the use of extensive bracing inside and (2) AR used solid-stock wood for the cabinet moldings on top-of-the-line models, something that (except for some versions of the Advent) none of the other companies did. This gentleman from Stylemasters may have some hard feelings regarding AR, but the company really didn't use Stylemasters cabinets to amount to anything. The primary supplier (of AR cabinets) was Cab Tech of Nashua, New Hampshire (owned at one time by the family of Senator Warren Rudman), and as many as 10,000 cabinets-per-month were supplied to AR by this company alone. There were other suppliers, as well. These cabinets were principally wood-veneered cabinets in Mahogany, Birch, Walnut, Cherry, Teak, Korina and Utility Cabinets in Ponderosa Pine. By the way, the Walnut veneer mostly came from Indiana, the source of most of the quality American Black Walnut for many years. The Walnut veneer "flitches" were supplied to panel companies (usually not directly to the cabinet companies), formed into 4 x 8 plywood or MDF panels, then supplied to the cabinet shops.

--Tom Tyson

[genek]

I assume you mean that AR wasn't as interested in marketing quality wood-veneered cabinets as the other companies.

I'm thinking that Lampert was speaking literally: that AR was not interested in marketing quality wood cabinetry, that is, in making the cabinetry a selling point of its products. At AR, the sound was everything, in an era when consoles with woodwork that cost more than the electronics often outsold component audio. AR never made much mention of cabinetry in their advertising, except to inform you that certain models were available in different veneers, and if you compare AR cabinetry to the other brands mentioned the ARs are definitely styling minimalists: square-edged boxes with no bullnoses or routing and mostly low-gloss oil finishes vs multicoat high gloss lacquer finishes (the finishes of lacquered AR boxes were nothing like a piano-gloss paint job). AR's idea of "trim" was the solid wood face frame on the AR-1 and AR-3 series, and that was a flat strip with an almost unnoticeable tablesaw-cut bevel on its front surface. Perhaps Lampert is recalling unsuccessful attempts to sell AR on the idea of more elaborately styled woodwork?

[dick]

DaveD,

By the way, the Walnut veneer mostly came from Indiana, the source of most of the quality American Black Walnut for many years. The Walnut veneer "flitches" were supplied to panel companies (usually not directly to the cabinet companies), formed into 4 x 8 plywood or MDF panels, then supplied to the cabinet shops.

--Tom Tyson

This gets to the heart of what interested me for the Indiana cabinetry: was the walnut local, and was it in flitches or already adhered to the impregnated particle boards? I was sort of hoping that the local walnut came to the shop, was cut into flitches, glued onto the cabinets, finished off. Nice, though, to largely have confirmed by Tom Tyson that my early 3As cabinets probably come out of New England (i.e., NH). Out in the shop I still have a box of flitch samples from US plywood company -- samples are from great woods, including US walnut, from around the world. But I'm still intrigued about quality sound-sealing of a cabinet. Was the trick no more than careful control of joinery and perhaps some fooling around with wood glues by bulking up an aliphatic glue for bridging plus binding? Or?

[Steve F]

As I posted in the KLH section a few weeks ago:

post Mar 13 2009, 04:59 PM

Post #3

The vast majority of Classic AR cabinets were made by a company called Pine and Baker, located at the time in Medford Mass, about 1/2 hour north of Cambridge. They are still in business, second-generation ownership, doing retail displays for stores, etc. They did supply many wooden cabinets to Boston Acoustics in the late '90's/early '00's, especially for their VR floorstanding units.

AR did use some other cabinet vendors as well. There was one in southern NH, whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think Tom Tyson told me that former Senator Warren Rudman was associated with them.

Adrian cabinets of NY was a highly-regarded cabinet maker that specialized in wooden veneer cabs.

Groovefold of Ohio was the premiere vinyl-wrapped cabinet make for US speaker companies in the '80's and '90's. They probably supplied cabs to AR during that time period, but I'm not sure if they're still in business, since the US speaker manufacturing industry is virtually non-existent these days.

I have no knowledge of KLH's cabinet supplier(s).

Steve F.

[3/30 sf]--I will defer to Tom and amend my characterization of Pine and Baker as the "vast majority" cabinet supplier. I'm taking the owner of Pine and Baker's word on that, rather than looking at specific production records from the 1960's. I don't know if those production records exist, but if anyone has them, it would be Tom! I do know that P&B was a SUBSTANTIAL cabinet supplier to AR and I'll let the descriptions beyond that fall to someone else.

Steve F.

[tysontom]

I'm thinking that Lampert was speaking literally: that AR was not interested in marketing quality wood cabinetry, that is, in making the cabinetry a selling point of its products. At AR, the sound was everything, in an era when consoles with woodwork that cost more than the electronics often outsold component audio. AR never made much mention of cabinetry in their advertising, except to inform you that certain models were available in different veneers, and if you compare AR cabinetry to the other brands mentioned the ARs are definitely styling minimalists: square-edged boxes with no bullnoses or routing and mostly low-gloss oil finishes vs multicoat high gloss lacquer finishes (the finishes of lacquered AR boxes were nothing like a piano-gloss paint job). AR's idea of "trim" was the solid wood face frame on the AR-1 and AR-3 series, and that was a flat strip with an almost unnoticeable tablesaw-cut bevel on its front surface. Perhaps Lampert is recalling unsuccessful attempts to sell AR on the idea of more elaborately styled woodwork?

genek,

Well, this might be the implication, but I don’t ever remember seeing KLH, Bose or EPI brag about their speaker cabinets other than to comment on finishes. With your imaginative perspective, I think you are reading something into this comment. Why would EPI, KLH and Bose be more interested in marketing the box itself than AR? Give me an example of an EPI or KLH bookshelf speaker with a more-detailed cabinet. The impression I got from this posting was that AR was more interested in getting a less-expensive, lower-quality cabinet. But it’s all in how you interpret the comments, I suppose. It is also possible since AR chose to use other vendors for cabinets, that Stylemasters had rationalized that AR wasn’t interested in their cabinet designs.

You are right about one thing: AR was not in the business of marketing wood cabinetry, nor was KLH, EPI or Bose for that matter, so I don’t see the distinction in Lampert’s comments. Each company was in the "sound" business, not the cabinet business. It is probably academic anyway, but I don’t ever remember these specific companies bragging about the quality of their boxes or consoles other than to comment on the finishes about in about the same fashion as AR. However, other companies, such JBL, University, Jensen, E-V, Altec Lansing, etc. did brag about their console styles and finishes -- it was part of their marketing strategy since the big consoles had to fit in with the décor. These latter companies were also in the “console” business and built their own cabinetry for the most part, and therefore did put more emphasis on cabinetry.

By the way, the (AR) “mostly low-gloss oil finishes,” as you say, came much later and were available for walnut and teak only; the lacquered finishes preceded the oil finishes, which, incidentally, are supposed to be low gloss. Just so you won’t think AR’s lacquered finish was some slapped-on paint-brush application, the AR cabinets were sanded, stained, filled and then finished with three sprayed-coats of clear lacquer, rubbed with steel wool and finally waxed before packing for shipping. I think that KLH did mostly the same thing with their early lacquered finishes. AR’s lacquered finishes may not have been the equal of Steinway’s lacquer finishes of the 1950s, but I can assure you that Steinway & Co did not go to much greater lengths to finish their pianos (my first cousin owns three Steinway Concert D Grand pianos, one in Lacquered Walnut and the other two in black) than AR did in the 1950s and early 1960s. The early AR lacquered finishes were satin finish, just as Steinway, not “high-gloss paint job” you mention. The process that was used by AR was labor-intensive and costly, and the lacquered finishes were eventually discontinued by the late 1960s.

AR bookshelf-speaker cabinets were indeed square-edged boxes, but what else should they have been? “AR's idea of "trim" was the solid wood face frame on the AR-1 and AR-3 series, and that was a flat strip with an almost unnoticeable tablesaw-cut bevel on its front surface,” as you say, was at least more than KLH, Bose and EPI offered at the time. The early KLHs, for example, did not even use molding on the front. I don’t think EPI used molding, and the Bose cabinets were mostly veneer over MDF with no molding except for the special versions with the wood-panel front face. AR's solid-stock molding was not cut on a table saw. It was cut with a special planer. And if you are looking for an elaborate, difficult-to-manufacture cabinet, how about the AR-10π cabinet? This cabinet had all sorts of panels and solid pieces and hinges, etc.

--Tom Tyson

[tysontom]

As I posted in the KLH section a few weeks ago:

post Mar 13 2009, 04:59 PM

Post #3

The vast majority of Classic AR cabinets were made by a company called Pine and Baker, located at the time in Medford Mass, about 1/2 hour north of Cambridge. They are still in business, second-generation ownership, doing retail displays for stores, etc. They did supply many wooden cabinets to Boston Acoustics in the late '90's/early '00's, especially for their VR floorstanding units.

AR did use some other cabinet vendors as well. There was one in southern NH, whose name escapes me at the moment, but I think Tom Tyson told me that former Senator Warren Rudman was associated with them.

Adrian cabinets of NY was a highly-regarded cabinet maker that specialized in wooden veneer cabs.

Groovefold of Ohio was the premiere vinyl-wrapped cabinet make for US speaker companies in the '80's and '90's. They probably supplied cabs to AR during that time period, but I'm not sure if they're still in business, since the US speaker manufacturing industry is virtually non-existent these days.

I have no knowledge of KLH's cabinet supplier(s).

Steve F.

[3/30 sf]--I will defer to Tom and amend my characterization of Pine and Baker as the "vast majority" cabinet supplier. I'm taking the owner of Pine and Baker's word on that, rather than looking at specific production records from the 1960's. I don't know if those production records exist, but if anyone has them, it would be Tom! I do know that P&B was a SUBSTANTIAL cabinet supplier to AR and I'll let the descriptions beyond that fall to someone else.

Steve F.

I think Steve F is right about Pine and Baker; I think they were the predominant supplier, with Cab Tech being an alternate supplier. I do know that even in the early days AR was getting 2500 cabinets a week from one or two suppliers. There were several other suppliers over time as well, and by the time AR got to Norwood, there were new suppliers.

--Tom Tyson

[genek]

Well, this might be the implication, but I don’t ever remember seeing KLH, Bose or EPI brag about their speaker cabinets other than to comment on finishes.

They didn't, but most of the other companies seem to have applied a bit more styling to their cabinets than AR, if not in their early days then later. Not that I ever needed any more than there was.

When did AR start phasing out the lacquer finishes and optional veneers? By the time I made my last new AR purchase there was only one wood and finish available on everything. Perhaps the period that Stylemaster was trying to sell to AR was this same time?

[tysontom]

They didn't, but most of the other companies seem to have applied a bit more styling to their cabinets than AR, if not in their early days then later. Not that I ever needed any more than there was.

When did AR start phasing out the lacquer finishes and optional veneers? By the time I made my last new AR purchase there was only one wood and finish available on everything. Perhaps the period that Stylemaster was trying to sell to AR was this same time?

genek,

1973 was the last year for the lacquer-finish cabinets (or "glossy" as AR called it) and different wood types such as Teak, Birch, Mahogany and Cherry. By 1974 the only options for the AR-3a were Oiled Walnut and Unfinished Pine and in 1975, the last year of manufacture for the AR-3a (and other "Classic" AR speakers such as the AR-2ax, AR-5, etc.), the only finish available was Oiled Walnut. All of the utility finishes were discontinued. Oiled Walnut was also the only finish available available for the AR-10Pi, AR-11, AR-MST and so forth. The AR-LST was available in Oiled Walnut and Black, but the black finish was a painted finish on walnut veneer.

Stylemaster might have been trying to sell to AR during the late 1970s when several of the newer AR speakers were offered in vinyl-clad finishes. No matter how well executed, all of the vinyl finishes (any manufacturer) looked cheap to me.

--Tom Tyson

[genek]

Stylemaster might have been trying to sell to AR during the late 1970s when several of the newer AR speakers were offered in vinyl-clad finishes. No matter how well executed, all of the vinyl finishes (any manufacturer) looked cheap to me.

I think it actually started earlier than that. The first vinyl-covered ARs that I remember were the 7's, which came out a year or two before I graduated in 1975. I didn't like it either.

[DaveD]

Perhaps it was a mistake for me to post this under five different speaker manufacturers, but I wanted to be thorough. I am unable to keep track of things this way, if there are any posts to which I am requested to reply.

Please, let us continue this topic on the KLH forum, for any questions directed to me.

I should have set it up this way as a consolidation at the beginning, and I apologize for my ineptitude. So, all AR, Advent, Bose and EPI readers, jump over to the KLH posting of this topic if you want me to reply.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Boar...?showtopic=5269

I have subscribed to the email notification for personal messages and topics. This service is not working for me, with regard to topics for sure, and I do not get the notifications. I have checked my junk mail and my ISP's spam filter. I will return to this topic occasionally as time and physical ability permit.

[tysontom]

I think it actually started earlier than that. The first vinyl-covered ARs that I remember were the 7's, which came out a year or two before I graduated in 1975. I didn't like it either.

genek,

You are exactly right here. The first vinyl-clad cabinets were introduced in 1974. The AR-7 (introduced in 1973) was first finished in "walnut-stained" birch or a similar wood, but was not real black walnut. By 1974, the AR-7 was only available in vinyl, or "Walnut Grained," as AR called the finish. Also that year the AR-8, AR-6 and AR-4xa were only available in vinyl. This was close to the end of the line for the Classic Series, and the cabinets did become less "elegant." The AR-3a, AR-5 and AR-2ax continued to be available in Oiled Walnut finish (and Unfinished Pine) in 1974.

I also think that by the time AR moved production over to Norwood from Cambridge in 1973, the quality of the cabinets and general construction quality of the classic models had declined. From Norwood, I used to see hard-dome ¾-inch tweeters for the AR-3a with the domes off center, and for sure those tweeters were hastily constructed.

--Tom Tyson

[tysontom]

Stylemasters perfected the tight sealing technique for acoustic suspension cabinets and a testing procedure for finding and rejecting leaking ones. Stylemasters had special assembly lines and conveyors for the speaker cabinets.

> “Stylemasters perfected the tight sealing technique for acoustic suspension cabinets….”

Well, this might have been true for Stylemasters, but the original acoustic-suspension cabinet was actually perfected long before this by none other than Henry Kloss in 1954 with the original AR-1 and its cabinet. Kloss was responsible for approximately 75% of the mechanical design of the AR-1’s cabinet, although Villchur determined the dimensions, wall thickness, braces, crossover and so forth. What Kloss did was to eliminate the removable cabinet-back and the front speaker baffle-board (standard practice in the 50s and before), and he had these panels glued to the side panels for an integral, air-tight fit. This brilliant method had never been done previously, and all of these first cabinets were very air-tight and did not leak except for the intentional small air leak to equalize barometric pressure. This glued box did pose a dilemma for Kloss, as the conventional method of mounting the woofers was to mount them on the inside of the front panel. There was no easy way to do this with a sealed cabinet (no way to get the driver through the hole to the inside of the front panel), so Kloss engineered a method of cutting an oblong vertical slot in the center of the woofer cut-out hole, and then he fashioned a jib assembly to pass the woofer through the hole into the inside of the cabinet, seal the larger oblong hole, turn the speaker around inside the cabinet and put it in position to be screwed to the cabinet. Kloss struggled with this complicated assembly method; Ed Villchur then figured out the method of simply routing-out a recess for the speaker flange, put T-nuts in place and install the speaker from the front side using Mortite. All AR speakers from the first AR-1 were made this way using machine screws, Mortite and T-Nuts to fasten the drivers in place. I suspect this incident, along with problems with the AR-2 woofer, might have been the beginning of the somewhat sour feelings between the two men that resulted in Kloss leaving AR in 1957.

--Tom Tyson

[genek]

I also think that by the time AR moved production over to Norwood from Cambridge in 1973, the quality of the cabinets and general construction quality of the classic models had declined. From Norwood, I used to see hard-dome ¾-inch tweeters for the AR-3a with the domes off center, and for sure those tweeters were hastily constructed.

I think that was probably a temporary "growing pains" issue. By the time AR built my 1975 2ax's, the cabinets are as solid as any older ones I've encountered (albeit with definitely thinner veneer than my Cambridge-built 6's and 3a"s), the drivers are quite neat (my 3/4" dome tweenter even has an AR logo molded into its front flange) and when the velcro-fasted grill is pulled off the front baffleboard is a nice, even shade of black, with no sign of the rather sloppy application of blackout paint that one often sees on older ARs.

[Carlspeak]

> “Stylemasters perfected the tight sealing technique for acoustic suspension cabinets….”

.................Ed Villchur then figured out the method of simply routing-out a recess for the speaker flange, put T-nuts in place and install the speaker from the front side using Mortite. All AR speakers from the first AR-1 were made this way using machine screws, Mortite and T-Nuts to fasten the drivers in place. I suspect this incident, along with problems with the AR-2 woofer, might have been the beginning of the somewhat sour feelings between the two men that resulted in Kloss leaving AR in 1957.

--Tom Tyson

After struggling recently with T-nuts coming loose in a pair of late model AR2ax's made with poor quality particle board, I would tend to side with Kloss. I think the T-nut concept was fine for the earlier plywood baffle boards, but low density PB doesn't seem to hold together as well under the stress of re-assembling of woofer screws. It seems the slightest downward pressure (which is hard to avoid with phillips screws) loosens the T-nuts before they have a chance to be pulled back up tight with the last few turns of the screw.

[tysontom]

After struggling recently with T-nuts coming loose in a pair of late model AR2ax's made with poor quality particle board, I would tend to side with Kloss. I think the T-nut concept was fine for the earlier plywood baffle boards, but low density PB doesn't seem to hold together as well under the stress of re-assembling of woofer screws. It seems the slightest downward pressure (which is hard to avoid with phillips screws) loosens the T-nuts before they have a chance to be pulled back up tight with the last few turns of the screw.

Carl,

I think you are right regarding the tendancy for T-Nuts to work loose on the low-density MDF boards used on some models of the Classic ARs. The particle board is excellent acoustically, but the thin layer of wood under the routed flange make the T-Nuts fragile. I always used the largest-size Phillips bit and tried to avoid any downward pressure when removing the screws, but that is not always possible. If the Phillips screwdriver is too small for the screw size, it can move out with only slight downward pressure. Anyway, once all of the screws are out and the driver removed, I usually epoxy the T-nut into place from the backside to hold it firmly in position, being careful to keep the epoxy out of the threads.

Any way you look at it, the T-nut is more secure than a wood screw -- especially if the wood screw was also used in MDF. Wood screws would not allow much tightening before something wanted to break loose, so you had to be very careful. Several times I have had to rotate the woofer a few degrees in an Advent or KLH and start new holes for the wood screws -- after they had stripped out the original holes.

--Tom Tyson

[genek]

After struggling recently with T-nuts coming loose in a pair of late model AR2ax's made with poor quality particle board, I would tend to side with Kloss. I think the T-nut concept was fine for the earlier plywood baffle boards, but low density PB doesn't seem to hold together as well under the stress of re-assembling of woofer screws. It seems the slightest downward pressure (which is hard to avoid with phillips screws) loosens the T-nuts before they have a chance to be pulled back up tight with the last few turns of the screw.

A couple of drops of construction adhesive fixes that problem pretty easily.

[zcon67]

While following this thread, I thought I would look a little closer to my 3a cabs. To my suprise, they are not the same.

99013 has lock miter joints on the carcus and, on the front, particle board partial strips to allow the mounting of the woof. Top strip full length, routed for the tweet.

99352 has no evidence of the lock miter and solid strips full length, routed for the woof and tweet.

I would guess these cabs are from different makers as THEY are very different. And NO, I will not break my cab to find out about that miter joint . :-) There must be a physical method of locating that joint I can't see.

PeteZ