Massive Lee
Active Member
That fabric is extra stretchable and cheap. One order was enough for two 104/2 grills. I don't know if it is enough for the two larger 105/3 grills.
KEF owners thread
- Thread starter matteos
- Start date
Yes, about 5 miles away and they're great.
I'd bet you could find what you need there. Since they're so close, why not check them out.
Good idea, though I don't know the parameters of what may make one fabric acoustically transparent and another not quite so.
If you can somewhat see through it, it should be fine (especially the lycra type). I can barely see the ribbon part of my tweeter through the fabric. Since fabric is relatively inexpensive, and the store is close, buy enough (of what looks like it would work) for one speakers. Drape that over one speakers and see if you can hear a difference between the two. If no difference, buy enough for the other and have at it. If there is a difference, try a different material.
steve59
Active Member
I owned the R105/3 for 25 years and the R107/2 from 2015 to 2020 and now own the Blades. The Blades offer a room filling sound without sacrificing any detail or image specificity that's in the music. While not appearing to have bass as full as the 107 they do sound every bit as full with room reinforcement. They will play with any source, but they sounded DYNAMIC after plugging the MC611's in. I think the reason some people don't care for KEF speakers is because they don't add their own flavor and the Blades might be their best effort yet. I've tried a half a dozen in this price range and these are my favorites. The Meridian DSP 8000se are for sale.
I did find exactly that kind of fabric, it's very stretchy and seemed to work well for one that I did finish and test fit.
Lou G
Super Member
Looks good Ken. Where did you get the material and what adhesive did you use to attach it to the frame.
I went to a lovely privately owned fabric store in nearby Auburn Massachusetts, the "Auburn Fabric Outlet" and got 3 yards of 50" wide fabric of exactly the density and elasticity that I knew I needed.
Asv for the adhesive, I used Gorilla Glue Clear, but it's not right for the application. I really need something much faster-drying.
Looks good.
Well that worked perfect! I had struggled with that first one in keeping the stretchy fabric taught while the glue dried, all while trying to keep the spring clips from marking up the cloth on the outside or getting stuck in the glue on the inside.
I went to McMaster-Carr and for $21.75 shipped, I got 25 feet of 1" wide x 0.020" thick polyethylene and used that as a shield on both sides. Not even the slightest hint of sticking to the glue, and no mashing of the material on the outside. I'm about 85% there, just needing to find a faster-setting glue to be really good at re-covering grilles like this that are covering odd shapes and are glued rather than stapled.
I went to McMaster-Carr and for $21.75 shipped, I got 25 feet of 1" wide x 0.020" thick polyethylene and used that as a shield on both sides. Not even the slightest hint of sticking to the glue, and no mashing of the material on the outside. I'm about 85% there, just needing to find a faster-setting glue to be really good at re-covering grilles like this that are covering odd shapes and are glued rather than stapled.
Working on the top end, I find that it's a little more fussy to stretch the material and get all the little wrinkles out. I did have to peel back some along the long edge and re-glue it, bit worth the effort.
I know this isn't something I'd want to do on a regular basis!
I know this isn't something I'd want to do on a regular basis!
Would anyone have experience with the "before and after" of restoring KEF Reference 105/3 that they could share?
I'm asking because I got the tweeters back from Midwest Speaker Repair and have completed reassembly of the Reference 105/3 that I've been working on. Now I'm debating whether or not to pull the crossover networks out of them and replace the capacitors.
The NT25 tweeters got new voice coils, because they apparently came apart as the guy separated the voice coil/dome assembly from the magnet to replace the ferro fluid. He said this happens with nearly all of them now, the old ferro fluid becoming so dried up that it has the texture of really thick glue. The tweeters definitely seem extremely detailed, to the point of being bright. I'm wondering if the capacitors, if failing would affect that. The tweeters are so "detailed" that there's kind of a "ringing" going on. The 105/3's are sitting in my well-tamed music room right next to my Reference 1 Meta speakers, and are so butter-smooth by comparison.
I had restored two pairs of Reference 104/2 and was successful in replacing the ferro fluid in all 4 of those tweeters myself. The NT25 tweeters in the early Uni-Q drivers of the Reference 105/3 don't have the registration pins of the T33's and are much trickier to do, so I sent them off to a pro who has done a few now. The speakers are getting broken in well now with about 20 hours of time playing a wide range of music, and the woofers have definitely benefitted the most from the break-in period. The tweeters don't seem to be changing at all.
Upgrading capacitors is the only thing I haven't done, and there's no external physical signs of any degradation. Can't even check them without removing at least one end from the PC board, so might as well change them if I go that far. It's just that I'll be sorely disappointed if that upgrade does nothing to affect the tweeters in the way I'm hoping to hear. Any thoughts?
I'm asking because I got the tweeters back from Midwest Speaker Repair and have completed reassembly of the Reference 105/3 that I've been working on. Now I'm debating whether or not to pull the crossover networks out of them and replace the capacitors.
The NT25 tweeters got new voice coils, because they apparently came apart as the guy separated the voice coil/dome assembly from the magnet to replace the ferro fluid. He said this happens with nearly all of them now, the old ferro fluid becoming so dried up that it has the texture of really thick glue. The tweeters definitely seem extremely detailed, to the point of being bright. I'm wondering if the capacitors, if failing would affect that. The tweeters are so "detailed" that there's kind of a "ringing" going on. The 105/3's are sitting in my well-tamed music room right next to my Reference 1 Meta speakers, and are so butter-smooth by comparison.
I had restored two pairs of Reference 104/2 and was successful in replacing the ferro fluid in all 4 of those tweeters myself. The NT25 tweeters in the early Uni-Q drivers of the Reference 105/3 don't have the registration pins of the T33's and are much trickier to do, so I sent them off to a pro who has done a few now. The speakers are getting broken in well now with about 20 hours of time playing a wide range of music, and the woofers have definitely benefitted the most from the break-in period. The tweeters don't seem to be changing at all.
Upgrading capacitors is the only thing I haven't done, and there's no external physical signs of any degradation. Can't even check them without removing at least one end from the PC board, so might as well change them if I go that far. It's just that I'll be sorely disappointed if that upgrade does nothing to affect the tweeters in the way I'm hoping to hear. Any thoughts?
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Great info in this thread about the grille fabric. Has anyone used - or even considered - doing a color besides black? I ask this because I'm interested in redoing one of my ebony pairs in gloss piano black, and I thought a different grille color might make the speakers even more appealing. Maybe an off-white grille on a gloss black speaker? The grille frame would probably show through the cloth but maybe not.
I had done a pair of black ash AR Partner speaker grills in a light gray cloth, and one pair of Reference 104/2 grilles in medium brown that seemed to compliment the walnut veneer finish. On those the brown did look darker due to the black mid-range/tweeter pods behind them, though not objectionable.
Did the grille frame show through the cloth or just the MTM assmbly? Do you have any pics of that work?
B
By the way, I haven't updated this thread in quite some time.
Those Reference 105/3's that I restored taught me a very expensive lesson. A couple actually. One, the grilles are so big that it's hard not to get glue in places you don't want it. I had to have three tries before getting it close enough to feel good about it. That was costly in time, the cloth and the glue wasn't bad.
The second far more costly lesson lied in bringing them to my somewhat small music room so I could demo them. On the plus side, the first person who actually showed up to listen to them bought them at full asking price immediately upon hearing them. The very costly part was that now I knew that the room acoustics were such (extremely good!) that large floorstanding speakers did not overwhelm the room nor the listener.
Within a couple weeks, I sold off my Reference 1 Meta speakers and stands, and bought new Blade 2 Meta speakers. I'm smitten...if a bit poorer.
No pictures of them, unfortunately. Well, maybe but they're buried so far back on my phone that I'd probably never find them.
By the way, I haven't updated this thread in quite some time.
Those Reference 105/3's that I restored taught me a very expensive lesson. A couple actually. One, the grilles are so big that it's hard not to get glue in places you don't want it. I had to have three tries before getting it close enough to feel good about it. That was costly in time, the cloth and the glue wasn't bad.
The second far more costly lesson lied in bringing them to my somewhat small music room so I could demo them. On the plus side, the first person who actually showed up to listen to them bought them at full asking price immediately upon hearing them. The very costly part was that now I knew that the room acoustics were such (extremely good!) that large floorstanding speakers did not overwhelm the room nor the listener.
Within a couple weeks, I sold off my Reference 1 Meta speakers and stands, and bought new Blade 2 Meta speakers. I'm smitten...if a bit poorer.
Very nice! I'm amazed you're getting good results with the speakers placed like that. Have you experimented with dead-ending the sidewalls to reduce reflections? Maybe hang some tapestries on either side?
I'm seriously digging your LP bins. I should get a few like that, it would be like standing in my friend's record store.
I'm seriously digging your LP bins. I should get a few like that, it would be like standing in my friend's record store.
There is a bit of wide angle (phone) camera distortion there, the speakers are 2 feet from the walls, they're actual toed-in a bit, and there are sound absorbing panels on the walls at either side for the first reflection point. The room has exemplary acoustic properties.
My son built the record racks, from plans found here on Audiokarma. He takes them several notches higher by rabbeting the 3/4" Baltic birch panels and using both glue& clamps, plus screwed tighter using his Kreg high angle drill jig. There's a 3rd rack out of view to the right. We worked together on the record racks, as he made the upper light perches from solid birch wood, and I added the LED lights and the casters. We also collaborated on the audio gear rack; he made the shelves and edge banded them in matching birch, I made the 12 aluminum spacers and l captive, hidden eveling spikes.
Here's another view, you can just barely see the acoustic panel near the left speaker as I'm shooting from the right side.
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