Kenwood LS-408b question (or two).

[xero-D-hero]

Ok,so after hearing about these classic Kenwood speakers via threads here and hearing members like big tuna highly praise these speakers,a set came up for sale locally at what I feel was a pretty dang reasonable price,and seeing that they're a perfect compliment to my Kenwood KA-7300 ~ KT-7300 combo of the same vintage,I said WTH & pulled the trigger and figured that they'd be my birthday gift to myself.

So far they appear to be in great shape,except for one small item,the age old speaker freaks nemesis,the dreaded dust cap dimple.
(which drives guys like me absolutely nuts,LOL)

The offending driver is a midrange.

Ok,I tried all the usual dimpled dome remedies short of full-on surgery,none worked,the dimple apparently has been there long enough that it's more-or-less "set in",and these dust caps are a pretty thick material to begin with,so rather than unintentionally destroying the midrange over a purely aesthetic flaw,I threw in the towel for the time being.

Anyhow,I'm considering replacing the offending midrange with another OE Kenwood LS midrange (as I understand how unique these drives are) to remedy this visual flaw on an otherwise nearly perfect pair of speakers,so the question posed here is this: Specifically what other model Kenwood LS series midranges will work in these LS-408b as well,for instance will the LS-407b mids work and will they look correct?

I mentioned that "looks correct" part because I noticed in my research of this situation that there appears to be a color (cone material) difference between some of these LS series midranges,though to be completly honest that situation could simply be a result of differences between cameras & lighting and such,I dunno really,so I was just curious if anyone could clear this other ??? up for me as well.

Big tuna,,,got your ears on ???

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Bret P.

 

[xero-D-hero]

Hmmm,,,maybe I should've posted this in the Kenwood forum???
It got buried pretty deep/pretty quickly...
That or maybe I'll just PM big tuna directly.

Anyhow,here's a sneak peak of them that I posted in the "latest purchase" thread in the GAD forum.

Bret P.

 

[Rex81]

I can't help you, but just wanted to say that those 408s look great! I had a pair of 408c but they had vinyl cabinets and don't have the veneered face. One of the best sounding woofers I've heard. Very clean bass response from these.

 

[turboyam]

I fixed midrange dust cap dents with a standard vacuum cleaner, using a funnel. Gently touch the funnel's small end to the cap, and gradually
get the vacuum hose closer inside the funnel. Concentrated yet controllable vacuum!.

 

[Rex81]

Good deal. I never had any luck doing that with a couple pairs of Polks. But I think they use a stiffer, thicker dust cap than most.

 

[xero-D-hero]

Did the vacuum cleaner trick,like I said no luck,the cap material is just too thick and the dimple has been there too long,that crease aint coming out.
The only way I can see to fix it at this point would be to carefully remove the current dust cap and glue a new one on there,and if I did the one midrange like that,I'd likely have to do the pair to be 100% sure they matched and look the same.

I tried all the tricks,the dimple will pull out for the most part,it just wont stay out,as soon as any tension is released it just collapses back into that deep crease.

I've had the vacuum cleaner trick work a few times with lighter material dust caps,it worked great on the one woofer/dustcap for my Infinity RS-5001's,for this I use one of those small hand held vacuums,and the smaller hose size really lends itself to this sorta useage,but yeah you need to use some restraint when doing this.

Anyhow,I got a pr. of LS-407B midranges on the way (they were cheap enough I figured WTH why not,one dome is dimpled on these also),as I said in the pics they look slightly different than the LS-408B midranges,the cone color looks different to me,but that could easily be due to the camera or lighting,I dunno really till I get them here.

The color difference I think I could live with,at least till I came up with an "ideal" solution to this situation,but that dimpled dome is one of my pet peaves,that's one thing I cant stand,but I easily looked past that one flaw and saw just how nice these are,and as I mentioned they were very reasonable price wise.

Oh BTW,I hooked them up to my Teac A-1D integrated that's been living on the DR table and gave them a quick listen and indeed they sound very nice (Black Crowes ~ Bad Luck/Blue Eyes),and for sure the bass is very solid,but the mids and highs are perfectly enjoyable too (that despite the speakers being a bit too close together) so yeah,it's purely a presentation factor at this point,and not a performance concern,but part of the pride in owning these is pulling those nice grills off and showing off that sweet looking birch baffle and the shiny trim around the drivers.

These could easliy become one of my favorite pairs of speakers once I get them hooked up to that vintage Kenwood system.

FWIW

Bret P.

 

[westend]

Dampen the dust cap with water. If you get enough water the paper fibers will loosen and crease can be eased out.If it doesn't work, cut the dust cap until you can insert a tool under it to bend out the crease. Reglue the dust cap back down.