Kappa 9 finishes

[okeeteekid]

I bought this pair of K9's in 1989, I'm the original owner, when I was in the store I couldn't decide between the black and the golden oak, I thought the oak was too light in color for my living room decor so I got the black.

Well when I got them home the black didn't match my decor either so I decided to sand them down but leave the black color in the fluted grooves.

I then stained them in a medium walnut color and cleared them with 4 coats of polyurethane (I know what was I thinking sanding down a brand new pair of speakers).

Well all I can say is that I was glad I did because they turned out really nice, way better than I thought they would turn out.

That was 28 years ago and the finish still looks the same as the day I did them.

They weren't that hard to do either, I didn't remove any of the drivers, you can also tape plastic tupperware bowls over the drivers for extra protection, I just used masking tape and newspaper to cover the front and backs of the speakers, I used an orbital sander to sand them, I started with coarse sand paper and worked my way up to finer sandpaper until the wood was smooth, you don't really have to worry to much when your sanding because the wood is solid oak not veneer so you will never wear through the wood, you just have to try and not run the sander through the masking tape areas on the speakers and just be careful not to bump into any of the drivers if you didn't cover them with the bowls.

It probably would have been a lot harder if you wanted to sand the black color inside of the fluted curves so that's why I decided not to do it Lol.

All in all it wasn't that hard to do if anyone is thinking of doing theirs, A dark rosewood or cherry pair of k9's would look awesome.

 

[deni$]

I made the mistake of buying K9 in black. Because it is easier to take care of a light oak, and light K9 that I saw on sale still look like new ones. All black speakers I saw in the photos have problems with the paintwork due of age (I see this on your photos too).

I tried to hide the defects with the lacquer retouch on a water basis, however it was useless. The paint continues to fall off even in those places that looked good. I'm going to engage professionals to completely remove old paint and make new one. I think this can be done without removing drivers. Edges of the front carpet can be easily separate and glue back after repainting.

 

[okeeteekid]

I made the mistake of buying K9 in black. Because it is easier to take care of a light oak, and light K9 that I saw on sale still look like new ones. All black speakers I saw in the photos have problems with the paintwork due of age (I see this on your photos too).

I tried to hide the defects with the lacquer retouch on a water basis, however it was useless. The paint continues to fall off even in those places that looked good. I'm going to engage professionals to completely remove old paint and make new one. I think this can be done without removing drivers. Edges of the front carpet can be easily separate and glue back after repainting.

There is no problems with the black paint on my pair, no paint is falling off, in fact the black paint looks the same as the day I bought my pair, I coated the black paint with 4 coats of poly when the speakers were new, what you're seeing in my pics is the hairline stress cracks in between the idividual flutes, the reason for this is because the thin fluted wood is bent to fit the curved shape of the cabinet causing hairline stress cracks in between each individual flute, That's normal, I just took a close look at my speakers with a 5x magnifier and I see nothing wrong with the black paint.

Here is a close up pic, only thing I see is light reflections on the shiney black painted wood grain.

 

[goodolpg]

I like that look.
The black recesses go well with the grille cloth, plus it's different.
I like different.
Sometimes.

 

[okeeteekid]

I like that look.
The black recesses go well with the grille cloth, plus it's different.
I like different.
Sometimes.

Thanks

 

[7.62]

I think it looks great, I agree on the rosewood. I think the Oak on the 90's i bought is dated, they're so original though I struggle constantly with the idea of stripping the cabinets and taking them to a professional shop to have them stained in a cherry or rosewood and finished with a high gloss.

 

[deni$]

I think it looks great, I agree on the rosewood. I think the Oak on the 90's i bought is dated, they're so original though I struggle constantly with the idea of stripping the cabinets and taking them to a professional shop to have them stained in a cherry or rosewood and finished with a high gloss.

It will be look ugly because oak has large and relief structure. Уou need perfectly smooth surface for high gloos finish.

 

[okeeteekid]

I think it looks great, I agree on the rosewood. I think the Oak on the 90's i bought is dated, they're so original though I struggle constantly with the idea of stripping the cabinets and taking them to a professional shop to have them stained in a cherry or rosewood and finished with a high gloss.

Ren 90's would look awesome in Rosewood or Cherry, I'd be worried about taking those apart because of the rarity of the drivers.

 

[7.62]

I don't want to thread jack here, deni$, comments like that motivate a guy like me . Thanks okeeteekid I've stripped them before it's not difficult it's paying close attention to details. The pair Jazzman owns I did a stain job on and I like it, we've discussed trading and if I get serious I'm going to trade with him that way this pair stays original, Jazz would prefer that cause he's OG. It just means I have to get into those cracked top plates, right now I'm in enjoy the music mode.

Oh yeah, that speaker next to your 9's, I'd sure like to hear something like that I bet they sound magical.

 

[okeeteekid]

I don't want to thread jack here, deni$, comments like that motivate a guy like me . Thanks okeeteekid I've stripped them before it's not difficult it's paying close attention to details. The pair Jazzman owns I did a stain job on and I like it, we've discussed trading and if I get serious I'm going to trade with him that way this pair stays original, Jazz would prefer that cause he's OG. It just means I have to get into those cracked top plates, right now I'm in enjoy the music mode.

Oh yeah, that speaker next to your 9's, I'd sure like to hear something like that I bet they sound magical.

I had a pair of ren 80's where the cap was lifted off about 1/8" for about half of the cap, I dripped elmers wood glue in the top with the speaker laying on it's side and then used large claps to hold it down over nite.

I had to constantly use a damp sponge to clean up the excess glue that squeezes out, when they dried you could still see that seem in the top of the cap where they glue the two halfs of the cap together, don't know why they didn't use a single piece of wood on them.

Afterwards I sanded the cap dawn and applied 2 coats of semi gloss poly and they looked good, like they were never worked on.

The epsilons do sound nice but they would sound a lot better in a larger room that I don't have for them.

 

[jazzmans]

I had a pair of ren 80's where the cap was lifted off about 1/8" for about half of the cap, I dripped elmers wood glue in the top with the speaker laying on it's side and then used large claps to hold it down over nite.

I had to constantly use a damp sponge to clean up the excess glue that squeezes out, when they dried you could still see that seem in the top of the cap where they glue the two halfs of the cap together, don't know why they didn't use a single piece of wood on them.

Afterwards I sanded the cap dawn and applied 2 coats of semi gloss poly and they looked good, like they were never worked on.

The epsilons do sound nice but they would sound a lot better in a larger room that I don't have for them.

yeah? I have a big room, 15 X 25 that they'd sound great in.

Just sayin'.....

d
I will have to do something about the oak lifting on my Ren 90's eventually, since it looks like a full opening will compromise the enclosure being acoustically sealed.

What I am finding really interesting, is my ren's as fantastic as they are, don't get played nearly as much as my maggie 1.6qr's, the maggies have -90% of the sound the Rens do, (they fail spectacularly on the very top end where the EMIT shines) but most of my listening is all over the room, and not sitting in the magic triangle, and for such, the maggies just kick arse.
Part of it is definitely the fact that replacement drivers for the ren's are hard to get, and maggies are plentiful, but I find it interesting that after the inital (dulling) of the top end sound when I switch over to the maggies vs rens, I don't really miss anything and the maggies really excell at midrange and mid-highs.

 

[okeeteekid]

yeah? I have a big room, 15 X 25 that they'd sound great in.

Just sayin'.....

d
I will have to do something about the oak lifting on my Ren 90's eventually, since it looks like a full opening will compromise the enclosure being acoustically sealed.

What I am finding really interesting, is my ren's as fantastic as they are, don't get played nearly as much as my maggie 1.6qr's, the maggies have -90% of the sound the Rens do, (they fail spectacularly on the very top end where the EMIT shines) but most of my listening is all over the room, and not sitting in the magic triangle, and for such, the maggies just kick arse.
Part of it is definitely the fact that replacement drivers for the ren's are hard to get, and maggies are plentiful, but I find it interesting that after the inital (dulling) of the top end sound when I switch over to the maggies vs rens, I don't really miss anything and the maggies really excell at midrange and mid-highs.

I thought the the rens whole cabinet was made out of MFD board with veneer on the sides and back and solid oak wood on the two front sides with a solid oak wood cap glued to the inner MFD cabinets top?

My room is 15x19 was good for the ren 90's but too small for the epsilons.

Thanks for the interesting info about the maggie 1.6, if I didn't have infinitys maggies would be my next choice of speaker.

 

[Bahamayellow]

I saw there was someone on the forums that have the all black K9s. I like the way those look as well. A bit more sinister. Lol

 

[7.62]

That is correct okeeteekid, the only piece (MDF) untreated is the bottom plate for the mid, highend crossover. My wife likes your Kappa 9's too. I asked her what she thinks about going with a color change, she likes the oak and I better not touch them....... so that's that LOL.

She also asked about the Epilsons, to which I replied when we knock the bedroom wall back 10 feet and it better happen soon cause we ain't getting any younger.

 

[okeeteekid]

That is correct okeeteekid, the only piece (MDF) untreated is the bottom plate for the mid, highend crossover. My wife likes your Kappa 9's too. I asked her what she thinks about going with a color change, she likes the oak and I better not touch them....... so that's that LOL.

She also asked about the Epilsons, to which I replied when we knock the bedroom wall back 10 feet and it better happen soon cause we ain't getting any younger.

If you pull the top cap off is there MFD under it sealing the cabinet? when I repaired my ren 80's I thought I saw MFD under the cap.

As for the epsilons you do need a big room for them to sound their best.

 

[7.62]

Ya know I'm not sure, I had jazz's completely stripped an I don't remember seeing one,

 

[okeeteekid]

Ya know I'm not sure, I had jazz's completely stripped an I don't remember seeing one,

I guess the only way we will ever know is if someone gets brave enough to lift up a loose cap and take a look inside, wait couldn't you just pull out a tweeter and push the stuffing away and look at the top of the speaker from the inside to see if it's MFD? if I still had my rens I'd do it right now just to see.

 

[7.62]

I've been thinking about what I did on the other 90's and it finally hit me, there's nothing under the caps. I distinctly remember turning the speaker upside down and running tape on the bottom side of the cracked cap so when I turned it over and filled it with glue it wouldn't run out into the cabinet.

 

[okeeteekid]

I've been thinking about what I did on the other 90's and it finally hit me, there's nothing under the caps. I distinctly remember turning the speaker upside down and running tape on the bottom side of the cracked cap so when I turned it over and filled it with glue it wouldn't run out into the cabinet.

I guess there is nothing under the cap then, just strange that the caps allways come loose.

 

[7.62]

Yes it is, I don't understand why it wasn't made from one solid piece of Oak. I think it was slimpikins that mentioned the cupping when it warps and that's a tough issue you have to deal with. You can close the gap but then your sides and rear are short of being even with the body of the speaker.

When it cools down I'm going to make copy's of the grills so I can run mine with the drivers exposed, while I'm doing that I may try my hand on some well cured Oak and copy that cap as a one piece unit.