KLH SIX Restoration

[notdigital]

Ten years or so ago I came to own a pair of Sixes, one having a screwed in woofer, the other being the earlier baffle fixed version. Along the way I sold the later version to a fellow AKer and the early one has lived in my attic, alone, ever since.

When I got the pair I recapped both but the early one remained undoped and leaky, not wanting to destroy the front grill. Well, I finally decided to go for it given the almost universal "home bound" nature of life and more so to mate with a Fisher Model 500 receiver I picked up a few months back. The restoration I've employed may well have been done before but below is a brief pictorial of my effort.

 

[Penn42]

That's a pretty classy looking speaker if I do say so myself. Good job!

 

[notdigital]

Thanks P!

 

[GD70]

Ten years or so ago I came to own a pair of Sixes, one having a screwed in woofer, the other being the earlier baffle fixed version. Along the way I sold the later version to a fellow AKer and the early one has lived in my attic, alone, ever since.

When I got the pair I recapped both but the early one remained undoped and leaky, not wanting to destroy the front grill. Well, I finally decided to go for it given the almost universal "home bound" nature of life and more so to mate with a Fisher Model 500 receiver I picked up a few months back. The restoration I've employed may well have been done before but below is a brief pictorial of my effort.

View attachment 2197053

Those look great, and a clever way to reinstall the grill fabric.
I’ve never seen quite so much sealer on the dust cap like that. Is that factory applied?

 

[alteclipsch]

Way to go! Looks great.

 

[notdigital]

Those look great, and a clever way to reinstall the grill fabric.
I’ve never seen quite so much sealer on the dust cap like that. Is that factory applied?

Yup, all I sealed was the surround. The cap was already glopped.

BTW: You met this very speaker when you stopped by my house years ago

 

[hornbostel]

Your 6’s look fantastic and likely sound just as good! I like your solution to the fabric. I have an early pair of 6’s. I replaced the caps through the back. They sound pretty darn good. But nowhere near as good as my KLH 23’s. Of course I was able to redope the surrounds on my 23s. It’s not even close. The 23’s blow at least my 6’s out of the water.

I’ve been hesitant to cut off the grill fabric on my 6’s because the fabric is almost perfect. My 6’s are one of the only speakers my wife tolerates in the public areas of our house! But I am super tempted to try your method of reusing the fabric. I’ll certainly report back to AK if I do!

Thanks for this great post!!

 

[notdigital]

....I’ve been hesitant to cut off the grill fabric on my 6’s because the fabric is almost perfect. My 6’s are one of the only speakers my wife tolerates in the public areas of our house! But I am super tempted to try your method of reusing the fabric....

The dilemma I had with this speaker was that the cloth was so wonderfully patina'd that I couldn't see replacing it. So it sat, for years! When I recently came across some walnut wedge scraps left over from Fisher cabinet builds, it hit me: Cut the fabric, seal the woofer, and cover the cuts with the wedges. BINGO! With the woofer now sealed, and the mod apparent only to a knowing eye, I'm very happy with the result. Thanks for the compliment and good luck with yours!

 

[Tim D]

Well, I just learned something and the solution you did is rather obvious in hind-sight to use the trim pieces. Allow re-use of the original cloth after cutting it out. Excellent job!

What kind of trim is that? How do they sound? You said you have a Fisher 500. The original mono version?

 

[notdigital]

Tim: When I build a cabinet for a Fisher unit, I use solid walnut boards for the bottom rail/feet part. In an original cabinet, the "feet" are cut at an angle. So as to replicate the original construction as faithfully as possible, I cut the square stock at the same angle which results in the wedge. Typically, I throw nothing away that could be used later so, finally, I've found a use for the scrap. Stained and finished like the speaker cabinet, the scraps have a new purpose in life!

My main speakers are Sixes. Before the doping, this particular speaker sounded bass anemic when compared to the others. Now doped, it is performing at par with my mains. Something to be said about adequately sealing an acoustic suspension design.

And yup, I have a MONO 500. I started restoring it and got maybe 95% done but that effort was temporailily put on hold. My hope is to be able to finish it off, and FINALLY, mate this speaker with the Fisher.

 

[Tim D]

Very impressive.

 

[45rpmspinner]

I've thought about trying to trim-in the cut grill cloth, but wasn't convinced it would look good....but now I see that it looks just fine.
Nice job.

I've still got the cloth for my Model Sevens.
Might be worth a shot.
Could at least try it on my "odd man out" single.

 

[45rpmspinner]

Trim pieces were veneered?
Sure looks like a good match.

 

[notdigital]

Trim pieces were veneered?
Sure looks like a good match.

First apologies to Tim. The scrap pieces didn't come from the feet cuttings. They were scraps from the fascia cuts. And 45: as you can see from the attached pic, the leftover wedge comes from a solid piece of walnut board. The trim pieces were stained and finished with the same products used on the cabinet, ergo the match.

 

[Dswankey]

... I recently came across some walnut wedge scraps left over from Fisher cabinet builds, it hit me: Cut the fabric, seal the woofer, and cover the cuts with the wedges. BINGO! With the woofer now sealed, and the mod apparent only to a knowing eye, I'm very happy with the result. Thanks for the compliment and good luck with yours!

Knowing nothing about working with wood am I understanding that the wedges will be permanent? if so will you stain them to look like the original cab?

 

[notdigital]

Sorry D if the methodology isn't clear. What you're pointing to is another piece of triangular scrap used to provide a flat surface to clamp to. (When you put the two together, a square is formed.) The clamps and the unfinished wedge puts pressure on the already cut and stained wedge underneath. If you look at the bottom of the cab in the pic, you'll see an already installed wedge trim. The big picture I posted in #1 is the finished product.

In order to provide future access, I used Aleene's Tacky Glue to glue down the trim pieces. It is more forgiving than wood glue. Hopefully, if/when access becomes necessary, I'll be hangin' out with Lennon, Satchmo and Miles leaving it as someone else's problem

 

[Dswankey]

Thanks for the clarification and congrats on figuring it out in order to keep the original cloth.

 

[alteclipsch]

It appears you really thought this through. Looks factory.

 

[notdigital]

It appears you really thought this through. Looks factory.

Thanks. Actually, it's been on my brain for years, processing many options. Then, while recently cleaning up the shed, I found the scrap wedges. Solution hit like lightning

 

[Patrick_W]

Really simple and elegant solution George. Your Fisher is going to sing!