KLH 23 Cabinet Damage

[GraniteSound]

Newbie here! Looking to get back to the audio of my youth. Last night I picked up a pair of KLH 23 speakers. After I got them home, into the light and hooked up to something better than the FM radio they were demo'd with, I discovered some damage to the bottom of one of the cabinets. Looks like it sat on a damp carpet for an extended period and opened up the miter joints on both sides. In addition, the veneer on the left side is delaminated slightly up to about 6 - 8 inches. They sound pretty good, one tweeter has a bit of a buzz (of course its the OTHER one!) and claimed to be original. I was planning on re-capping and will need o track down a new tweeter.

Can the damage to the cabinet base be "ignored". I can't imagine these are worth disassembly and replacing the base and side. They seem structurally solid, no looseness in those joints. I was thinking fill the cracks with epoxy, sand them down and refinish. Thoughts?

Great site, by the way. I've learned tons reading posts over the past few weeks.

 

[A23gt]

KLH Model 23 were very good speakers. I would say it’s a toss up between the 6 and 23 for best two way KLH. There are people here who have repaired worse and on far lesser speakers in my opinion. That doesn’t look like that bad of a repair given they are plywood.

I wouldn’t dream of dumpstering those without pulling the drivers and crossovers. They are worth something to people restoring them.

 

[alteclipsch]

KLH Model 23 were very good speakers. I would say it’s a toss up between the 6 and 23 for best two way KLH. There are people here who have repaired worse and on far lesser speakers in my opinion. That doesn’t look like that bad of a repair given they are plywood.

I wouldn’t dream of dumpstering those without pulling the drivers and crossovers. They are worth something to people restoring them.

Those cabinets can be made structurally sound. Clean out the miters with a new hacksaw blade (they're thin and sharp/coarse enough to remove the swollen edges), fill with epoxy, clamp tightly. If too flaky, you could replace the bottom with new particle board.

The Twenty Threes are similar in tone to Sixes, but are more robust in bass, which IMO carries into the midrange as well. Fabulous speakers, those tweeters can be replaced on ebay. You'd want to eliminate other causes of buzziness first, though.

I love mine, they're KLH's best two-way.

 

[homebrew]

All the time and effort spent on trying to rebuild those seriously damaged cabinets, could be put to better use building new, structurally sound cabinets.

 

[GD70]

Great vintage two way speakers. These can be your test repair speakers to learn on.
As Altec stated, you’ll need to dig out the swollen particle board so the corners can be brought back together even if not totally, they will be better than now. You can get glue under the lifted veneer by using a straw that you suck up wood glue into, then slip it under the veneer and push the glue out by sliding your fingers along the straw to force the glue out. You’ll need to do this several times to get enough glue to spread out when you weight down the veneer while the glue dries. The cabs can be sanded and re oiled to make them presentable for sure.

 

[GraniteSound]

All, thanks for your thoughtful replies (well, except for the dumpster comment!). I agree with GD70 that these will be a good set of speakers to learn on. Fortunately, I only paid $120 for the pair so I don't feel that I'm out much if they don't work out.

Any suggestions on what to use for epoxy?

 

[GD70]

All, thanks for your thoughtful replies (well, except for the dumpster comment!). I agree with GD70 that these will be a good set of speakers to learn on. Fortunately, I only paid $120 for the pair so I don't feel that I'm out much if they don't work out.

Any suggestions on what to use for epoxy?

I use ZPoxy. It’s very thin and is absorbed by the particle board making a very strong repair.

 

[crazy-in-az]

Der wurdt elke minút in sûger berne

How does this make him a sucker? If he can repair the cabinet and save more stuff from going to the landfill more power to him!

 

[malden]

these will be a good set of speakers to learn on.

It depends if you want to learn a skill or a hack.

I'm not a cabinet maker but I can use woodworking tools so my approach would be to restore them by removing all of the components and rebuilding the bottoms.

I see lots of speakers with bottoms rotted out so learning to rebuild them would be a useful skill to have.

 

[alteclipsch]

How does this make him a sucker? If he can repair the cabinet and save more stuff from going to the landfill more power to him!

Absolutely. To put these cabinets back to functional condition is a great goal for speakers that are getting less common these days of disposable everything.

 

[VMFA122]

Nothing wrong with the dumpster suggestion... just use what you have there as a template to make new cabinets first. Trying to salvage warped and waterlogged particle board will take more time than building new ones. The new ones will sound better too.

 

[malden]

Nothing wrong with the dumpster suggestion... just use what you have there as a template to make new cabinets first. Trying to salvage warped and waterlogged particle board will take more time than building new ones.

That's a good suggestion and a very good point about particle board. Before throwing out the cabinets, it would be a good to at least pull the bottoms off to see what you are in for. The sides may not be too far gone.

The new ones will sound better too.

How will new cabinets sound better than the old cabinets?

 

[VMFA122]

That's a good suggestion and a very good point about particle board. Before throwing out the cabinets, it would be a good to at least pull the bottoms off to see what you are in for. The sides may not be too far gone.



How will new cabinets sound better than the old cabinets?

They will be stronger and more inert than the originals... really comes down to how they are constructed. MDF is a better material than particle board, which would reduce unwanted resonance.

 

[alteclipsch]

New cabinets will not sound better than the old ones. The originals were very well built, rigid, dense, and non-flexing. A proper epoxy job on the joints and if necessary replacement of the bottom panel would do it IMO. I replaced a disintegrating bottom on a KLH Thirty Two some years ago. Sawed out the old, butt jointed the new one in with expoxy, and veneered the front with walnut salvaged from another wrecked cabinet. The bottom got veneer I had left from a boat project. My daughter has them in her living room, they look great.

BTW I'm not a woodworker, either.

 

[TroutBear]

Been watching and hesitated to interject and opinion here that’s not encouraging - but it all depends on what you’re willing to live with. First, great find and these drivers with a crossover rebuild have excellent potential. I’ve done lots of furniture grade cabinet builds - not a professional like my son but still detailed work mostly in mahogany. The photos show a need for veneer repair - a detailed practice skill. The alternative is a good marine expo you - West Systems - and walnut sand dust mixed in with a good oil stain- say Sutherland Welles - to tone match the walnut veneer once refinished with ting oil hopefully. Even then, it’ll be a filled section showing, but a better match. I’d build or have built new cabinets myself but if you want to try repairs just a suggestion

 

[Penn42]

This thread inspired me to get my 23's out of the closet. These were the second pair of "real" speakers I bought, after a pair of BA A70's. $75, $10 new caps, one tweeter developed some distortion eventually, new pair off ebay $65 IIRC, worth every penny. This was around 2015. They're a pretty early pair, SNs in the low 2000s.

I will say I listen to my 23's with the tweeter level set to "increase" and treble pumped a little on my receiver. As such, I wouldn't make any claims these are the most well rounded speakers ever built, but damn are they simply so fun to listen to. They're presentation is so warm and they so effortlessly let the music do the talking. They have The J.B.'s "Damn Right I Am Somebody" through my 1019 w/ XV15 cart sounding great as I typed this.

 

[doctorolds]

I don't think any pair of speakers can be everything we want them to be, to many variables, source, room, synergy, and so on. But, the KLH model 23's are a pretty damn good 2-way speaker!

 

[GD70]

Here’s a link to a set of Twenty Threes I restored. Not as bad as yours, but hopefully will give you some inspiration!
Cheers, Glenn

KLH Twenty Three Restoration-PICS

I picked these up a few months ago from a local S.A. for $19.99. To my surprise, they sound great! The tweeters are working, and the woofers have been re-sealed as well. The original grills are perfect with badges. Well I finally started on them this weekend. At this point it's mostly a lot...

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