Speakerlab K Horn Rebuild

If you look at my avatar you will see the biggest sonic improvement IMHO to them. EV HR90 horns still using the Atlas drivers, and EV ST350 horn tweeters. They really open up the sound stage !! JOHN
 
Made some progress. Pretty much all exposed wood on these puppies is getting replaced and upgraded. First we removed the tops and fronts by chiseling away the blocks and through the darn glue. Had to pry staples out along the way of course so as not to rip apart any of the wood. The intent is to re-use the big front panel, but to re-veneer it. It will also be cut down in width and height to facilitate adding a solid wood strip on the edges so when the veneer is added on the surface, the exposed ends/edges will also be finished wood and not a thin veneer strip.

The tops will be completely re-built so again we don't end up with edges requiring veneer.

I need to make some changes to allow for better grilles on the side. The existing depth for the grilles isn't great enough.
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Got the Crites C-120 tweeters today. Dennis wanted to get them in the fold before pushing start on the CNC for the cutting of the horn and tweeter motorboard and not simply rely on the published dimensions. The old "Measure twice, cut once" thing.

One of the little odd-ball poor design aspects of the original build was how thin the side grilles needed to be to fit within the inset created by the width of the front panel and width of the top. To allow a better more structurally stiff frame for the grilles we made everything 1" wider (1/2" on each side), including the motorboard.

Plus the previous pot adjustments that these used stuck out on the front of the motorboard. With a new ALK or Type A/AA crossover they are no longer needed so the new baffle wont have those holes.

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Looks good! It's nice that those Crites horns can be removed from the driver. I have an earlier version of the Crites 120's, some EV T350's and EV T35's and all of them are pretty solidly attached to their horns which makes flush mounting them difficult. Hence the Popsicle sticks in a lot of the Speakerlab speakers that used them.
 
Been trying to determine finish stain color for the White Oak Flake Figured Tiger wood veneer to darken it up a little and get the grains to pop a bit. Gong to apply some Pecan to it. Really wanted to avoid any of the overly golden colors, but brown all by itself was kinda boring.
 
Just posted somewhere,on AK, I picked up my Speaker Lab clone horns this past Friday, down in Reno. I've been cleaning on then, lots of deep dust. So far I've found the following
K-55 M
PR 991 VT
TW-35 8 ohm.

Is this good, decent, I don't have a clue, all new to me.

Whoever built these had finish carpenter skills, I've got at least a week of cleaning and getting the bright work whinning the way I want.

Dirk
 
Been trying to determine finish stain color for the White Oak Flake Figured Tiger wood veneer to darken it up a little and get the grains to pop a bit. Gong to apply some Pecan to it. Really wanted to avoid any of the overly golden colors, but brown all by itself was kinda boring.

I hope you achieve the color you are looking for.

I just wanted to give an idea maybe since I'm going to try it on one of my projects. Normally after sanding out imperfections and splicing in some veneer patches I will apply Natural color Watco Danish Oil with very good results. I now have a set of cabinets that required me to use Oxalic Acid to remove water damage, then I needed to bleach them to remove color that was applied with stain or in the finish coat. Long story short, they had a reddish hew to them and I need to get it back. My current idea is that I will apply the first coat of Danish Oil lighter than usual, but I am going to use Red Mahogany Danish Oil for the second coat or more to achieve the desired color. It may be possible for you to achieve the color you're looking for in a similar manner using some experimentation and different colors. I could use a dye, but I'm not familiar with them, but that may be another option for you. Sorry to ramble on, but I wish you luck and I'm looking forward to seeing them completed! :thumbsup:
 
I too have applied different tones of Watco on projects where I wanted just a little more of the color, but not a lot with the 6 or 7 layers of oiling and sanding between.. Worked fine.
On these I am going with a little stain (considered some dyes) that will help make the great grain in the veneer pop and stand out nicely. In my sampling, some do and some didn't. I mainly have been trying to avoid that typical golden oak tone that many of us associate with oak of the 80's. This is a very light color naturally so I really just need a lighter tone stain. All will be lacquered after to get that depth that oil can give when done well.
 
The 991 are in three locations under the 55. All have red coiled think wire? Assume their cross overs.

I don't know, I just purchased these. I'm not into it enough to know what I'm looking for.

Thanks.

Dirk
 
Oh My, cant believe I failed to post to this for a year! I've been slowly getting things done this year and they are now in my lounge playing. Still have to finish the grilles.
So to recap, all that remains of the original K's is the bass bin, woofer and mid horn and driver. I have rebuilt all the rest including the entire top hat and a new front.
The crossover is basically a Type AA with some high grade new caps and coils etc. Followed the lead of Deang over at the Klipsch Community forums on that.
Like I said earlier I am fortunate to have found someone that knows what the heck they are doing with woodworking to help me, and it shows in spades. We went with White oak and I used some Pecan stain to give it just a little color before spray lacquer.

Here are some photos from along the way:

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This is exceptional work! Now we get a look back in time, an idea of how these looked when new 50-60 years ago!
The oak grain is gorgeous as well as the color you picked.
 
I spied this in one of your pics. Emilar EH800 horns with dual Altec 414 woofers? Nice.

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And nice work on the Speakerlabs too. They turned out great
 
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