KEF B160 drivers - worst case scenario...

[slimecity]

Hi - won a pair of KEF 103.4's and the tweeter and mid are fine however I knew the surrounds of the bass drivers were likely to be shot. I also knew if the last owner had driven them with perished surrounds the bass drivers could be shot.

Worst case scenario in at least 2 of the drivers extracted so far - totally open circuit in the drivers and the cone is rubbing stiffly in the VC gap.

I managed to knock the price down for this as the owner had them in a cafe and hadnt tested them for years and I really need another project (lols).

As I got them so cheap - Im happy to tolerate a "close enough" approach. I already have a pair of 104.2's that are close to 90% good, so if these come close to 100% thats fine.

It doesnt seem like I can get a recone kit for these drivers. Sending them to and from KEF (from NZ) isnt an option due to weight.

Anyone know of a potential DIY fairly generic recone kit that could fit these drivers? It seems a shame to replace the drivers entirely as my reluctant 2nd option will be this.

cheers

 

[greymatter]

Well you won't find drivers of any type for many of the older models , etc 104.2 , 103.4 . Don't ask me why I know . I would send a pm to Gordon W and talk to him about a fix , he might be able to help you out . But finding any old drivers it being the tweeters, drivers , mid / tweeter combo is damn near impossible . It took me about 4 months and a lot of pm to different member here to find 4 drivers for some 104.2 . So I did get the 4 completely rebuilt , Vc , spiders , cones and surrounds . Good luck with your hunt .

 

[slimecity]

Hmmm cheers.

I have found the specs for this driver:

KEF B 160 / 8 Ohm

8 Ohm
50 W
woofer

thiele-small data:

Re 7.4 Ohms
Le 0.61 mH
fs 40 Hz
Qms 5.45
Qts 0.30
Qts (8Ohm) 0.33
Sd 131 cm3
Vas 42 Liter
Cms 1.75 mm/N
Mms 9 g
B*l 7.3 N/A
SPL 91

I think I will go down the road of putting in some good replacement drivers. A recone may not be possible.

What are the most important specs in the above to find a similar driver, impedance and fs? How important is Vas, as I currently cant find that comes close to the B160 figure.

 

[greymatter]

Go to the Kef museum. Mids are SP- 1314 , tweeters are NT -25 , # SP-1353 . Theses are for the 103.4 speakers .You might try SimplySpeakers in Tampa Bay.

 

[greymatter]

Wrong spec they use a Nt25 tweeter, they are 4 ohm

 

[slimecity]

The closest driver that I can find (where the cost is also right) is this one. Any thoughts on this?

https://www.parts-express.com/visat...eated-paper-cone-8-ohm--292-568#lblProductQ&A

The Vas is close, the resonant freq is close, the only issue is the spl is 86db, compared to the former 91. This is disappointing but its been very difficultly trying to find a driver with close vas.

If Im bi-amping too, this shoudnt affect things too much, I'll just have to turn the bass drivers up louder than the top end.

 

[Brandon.j]

The closest driver that I can find (where the cost is also right) is this one. Any thoughts on this?

https://www.parts-express.com/visat...eated-paper-cone-8-ohm--292-568#lblProductQ&A

The Vas is close, the resonant freq is close, the only issue is the spl is 86db, compared to the former 91. This is disappointing but its been very difficultly trying to find a driver with close vas.

If Im bi-amping too, this shoudnt affect things too much, I'll just have to turn the bass drivers up louder than the top end.

Hi, any chance this went anywhere? I'm working on a pair of 102/2s and may need a replacement driver.

 

[slimecity]

Hi, any chance this went anywhere? I'm working on a pair of 102/2s and may need a replacement driver.

Do your speakers also take the KEF B160?

Yes, these were an absolutely perfect replacement in my 103.4's - but I had to cut the speaker frame to size to match the B160's shape.

Looks like the Visaton driver is OOS at Partsexpress currently however

​

 

[Brandon.j]

Do your speakers also take the KEF B160?

Yes, these were an absolutely perfect replacement in my 103.4's - but I had to cut the speaker frame to size to match the B160's shape.

Looks like the Visaton driver is OOS at Partsexpress currently however

​

Yes they are the b160 sp1301. I replaced the foam on the woofers today and one of the drivers wasn't moving right so i think they have some damage.

I saw a backorder for later this month I think. Not too bad.

 

[slimecity]

Yes they are the b160 sp1301. I replaced the foam on the woofers today and one of the drivers wasn't moving right so i think they have some damage.

I saw a backorder for later this month I think. Not too bad.

So you did the refoam OK? (ie: the cone & voicecoil isnt out of alignment?

I suspect mine were overdriven without foams and they had stopped pushing air - then they over-excurted and fried the VCs. I had to replace all 4 frozen drivers so maybe your situation is less dire.....

 

[Brandon.j]

Yea the refoam went alright. I just got them hooked up after letting the glue cure and there is a definite rattle coming from that damaged driver. I most likely over did it before replacing the foams.

My speakers are 4ohm so I'm gonna have to do some digging around. I see they have a visaton 4ohm option as well.