Church sale KLH 17's could be tweeter donors for 5's?

Kahoona

Kahoona

Super Member
Hi
On Saturday Sally and I were yard sailing and hit a Church Bazaar. I saw KLH 17's for $10 and reacted instinctively with lightening speed. It was only after I got them outside that I realized that they had done hard time on a damp concrete floor and were disintegrating on the bottoms. I thought it might make an interesting experiment to see if I could bring them back from the grave.One Question though. Is that tweeter the one I would need to make my beloved KLH 5's original again? If so can I fuse them if I decide to transplant and what size fuse should I use? I think they were limited to 45w but I have fed them 100 for years. I'll post pics tomorrow.
 
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Well, technically it's a different tweeter even though it looks the same and fits in the hole the same way. If you change both of them and don't listen very closely they will work, but they don't sound the same as the Model Five, Twelve and Twenty-Three tweeters. The Model Seventeen, Six and Twenty tweeters are more forward and squawky sounding compared to the correct tweeters for the above mentioned models. They all measure a dcr of 3-4 ohms, but there's more to it than that.
 
Well,well.....

Howdy,kahoona..... When I saw your post, I thought I had the answer..........it said YES....

However I defer to, and agree with audiojones........I feel he has the authority here..........I have KLH Model Thirty-Two (32)....

My 32's are amazing, for their size.........this era KLH are cool,indeed......

Very good find, Sally sounds cool, too........I say, plug 'em in, see what they do for ya'......doesn't have to be permanent....

P.S. Fusing them......Use Fast- Blow .....Around .5 amp( that is Point 5...1/2 Amp)..... If they blow (fuses),then work up....I dont have a specific value for you......If driving with 100 WPC, you wanna be careful........

Just don't trash 'em......willhowl:nono:
 
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Thanks. I don't think I'd drive the 17's at 100. Perhaps 50. Since those aren't the tweeters I need for my 5's I will see if I can't repair the boxes but one of them is very bad. It will be an experiment to see what I can do! I'll post pics.
 
Too far gone?

Here are the pics. Has anyone here tried to repair a speaker box that is this bad? The bottom board is held in with a complex joint that I could not duplicate and the side board is bad too. I love old KLH though and I would love to rescue them.
 

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When I see that I think of all the water that has got in there and the mold issues that can arise. I would put the tweeters in the other KLH's and part those speakers out for spares and maybe some epay money. The only good cabinet suggestion I have is too build whole new cabinets.
 
Once MDF absorbs water there's no going back, and all four sides are affected. You'd need to replace the whole cabinet.

Or just salvage the parts.
 
I was afraid of thet. I could resurrect them for my use only by basically grinding down and casting in 2 part filler like we do with boats but would still look sike snot. So sad. Like putting a pet down! Parts it is I guess.
 
That's a real shame. I LOVE my 17s, but I also suggest you put them cabs down. Everything has to die sometime. :sigh:
 
I believe it is worth trying the KLH 17 tweeters in your KLH 5's.

I have restored 3 pairs of KLH 5's, and two of the 3 pairs were equipped with the KLH17/20 tweeter. The other (earlier manufacturing date) pair had identical looking tweeters with a dcr of 5+ohms, instead of the more typical 4 ohms. I did not find the difference in sound to be significant, although I was not able to compare them directly.

The contour switch settings and room placement are likely to have a greater sonic effect than the subtle differences that may exist between KLH tweeters. KLH tweeters will be sonically much closer to each other than any other replacement.

Roy
 
Yep, you can try putting them in your Fives - that's why I said you should probably change both of them out if you do. There is an audible difference when listening side by side (although it's not earth shattering), and the Model Five tweeter is smoother and more articulate sounding. However, if both are replaced and you don't listen too closely or aren't too accustomed to how they used to sound you will probably be satisfied with them.

The cabinets for Model Twenty and Model Seventeen speakers are identical other than the crossover plate in the back. You could wait until a pair of Twenties show up (which they often do) and use the cabinet to restore your Model Seventeen by popping the crossover plate out and re-installing it in the Twenty cabinet. The Model Twenty speakers are as common as dirt around here, don't know how common they are by you. Just my 2 bits.
 
Kahoona said:
I was afraid of thet. I could resurrect them for my use only by basically grinding down and casting in 2 part filler like we do with boats but would still look sike snot. So sad. Like putting a pet down! Parts it is I guess.
Click to expand...

You can fix it this way: saw or grind out the bulk, re-clamp with filler, seal from the inside, and reinforce and seal on the inside until it once again is square and tight. Then repair (or most likely replace) the outside veneer.

Honestly, when there is serious separation or large/multiple areas affected, it's not worth the work, except for the rarest or most valuable speakers.

There are factories in China where, if you know the owners, they'll wait until there is idle time on their production line and slip your speakers in for re-straightening/squaring and veneering, using automated machines that do "perfect" work. They can take a speaker like yours and make it look brand new again, within a fairly short time. You CAN do the same job manually, but it is a lot of hard work and might require making special jigs and such.

ONE IMPORTANT TIP: If you do decide that you must trash those speakers, remove the veneer in the largest pieces you can. Heat it up with a blow drier to soften the glue, as you gently slide a wide paint-scraper underneath; once you get it started, aim the hot air underneath it, where you are sliding the scraper. Proceed carefully, and the veneer should peel right up without splitting.

This will give you a good supply of vintage walnut veneer to use when patching splits and chips in other veneered gear from around the same time. New veneer may be a less-close match. Having large areas of veneer allows you to find a good grain match for small repairs, as well as large sheets to replace larger areas. I was able to replace a whole side of a TT plinth (which had been "chewed up" with multiple strips missing) with a solid section of veneer removed from a speaker that way. I lightly sanded and refinished the whole plinth after the veneer replacement, and you wouldn't know it wasn't entirely original, the match is so good.

(The plinth had a Lenco in it, but probably was an after-market (not Lenco) plinth, and the veneer came from Marantz Imperial 5Gs. The speakers looked a shade darker originally, but that lightened with cleaning/sanding, and after refinishing, they all looked the same shade.)
 
Absolutely save the speakers, crossover, back plate, grill cloth frame (or tracing of it) and if you are really a pack-rat, cut out the solid wood front edge moldings if you have a table saw. Trash the carcase with vigor. Making a replacement cabinet out of veneer ply really isn't that difficult, just need a good set of measurements, watch a couple episodes of New Yankee Workshop and have at it. Or find a buddy with a good workshop.
At the very least, you will have a full set of spares in stock for future replacements... or sell 'em if you must... somebody will want 'em.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the tips. I actually had ground out the worst of it and made a sort of form with wood and clamps to pull in glue joints which were being re-glued and to maintain the original measurements. I poured 2 part Minwax filler ( next time I'll mix my own with the West System boat epoxy products) and poked and prodded it into all of the small spaces then tightened the clamps till it squeezed out. I had the 2 bottom side joints solid and soaked the bottom with thinned wood glue to prepare it for grinding flat and just below final grade. After that it would be a matter of milling and filling with epoxy filler until it was smooth and flat and then putting veneer on the bottom and using pieces of the old veneer to piece in the bottom sides. I have the boxed solid and stable now and the insides were 90% Ok. The end came when I decided to put power to them before putting any more work and see what I had. One Tweeter was totally dead and one worked but had a suspicious color (black) and no #s on it. I am guessing possibly a knock off though it was identical otherwise. Without a tweeter the project was dead in the water and so I abandoned it and pulled the Grills,woofers and the cloth behind them. I hate fiberglass so I was going to abandon the xovers since these are stuffed hard with the "Pink Panther." One strange thing though the one with the blown original tweeter looked like it had a xover berried undet the fiberglass and on a board on the back but the other one with the black tweeter had a cap soldered between the wires to it and also to some other wires that disappeared inside as if someone had cobbled up a crossover on the fly. Not only that but the two woofers had different colors of coatings on the surrounds the back plates were silver on black for one and black on silver for the other. Everything looks genuine but perhaps they were from different years. Now that you have mentioned it I will take off the veneer and pull the 'glass for later reuse and see whats up with the crossovers. Thanks for all the help. This has been a bry run to see if it was possible because I have a pair of ESS's that were damaged similarly but not nearly as bad and I want to see if I can do anything with them. I'll post photos when I get there.
 
FWIW these xovers tend to look very amatureish. So they may be original despite their appearance.
 
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