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KLH Model 5's

RS Steve

RS Steve

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Picking up a vintage pair of KLH model 5's from a local ad, looks like they need a full tilt rehab. They will be the first KLH speakers I have owned so any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Pictures will come as soon as I get them picked up.
 
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Great speakers from what everyone who owns them say. I have 2 pairs of 6's and a pair of 17's.

I strongly suggest replacing all the caps and resealing the woofer and mids surrounds with the sealer ebay seller vintage-ar sells. This is the closest sealing compound you will find to the factory stuff. Don't use anything else. This is necessary for an airtight cabinet and proper bass extension.

Some owners say the 5's sound better than AR3's & 3a's.

Post some pics when you can.

Plenty of threads showing the recap for the 5's.

Cheers, Glenn
 
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With KLH speakers of the Kloss era, such as your newly-aquired Model Fives, the caps go so far out of spec that many believe that their tweeters are dead. They also have a rare tendency to fail catastrophically (they, er, blow up :) ). I would get some replacement caps in there pronto. Daytons or Solens will do the job.
 
vinylhunter said:
I've got a mint original pair that are fully functional and sound like crap. So...I'm guessing the above advice is spot on. Recapping '70s/'80s speakers seems like maybe it helps, maybe not, but all the '60s era candidates were like night and day.
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The 5's were only produced 3 years, 68-70, so you're looking at 43 year old speakers. Pretty much all the acoustic suspension speakers of the day i.e. KLH's, AR's, Advents can be returned to as good if not better than original sound production with new modern day film capacitors and resealing porous, leaky cloth surrounds as GD 70 mentioned. I was very disappointed in both my Model 5's and 23's initially. After the recap the tweets came back and they were better but my impressions were that they were nothing special. It was after resealing the surrounds that they returned to their former glory in bass extension and in producing great midrange. GD70 is spot on in the resealing product that should be used. I learned the hard way by trying diluted permatex and ruined the surrounds on my first set of woofers and have since ordered several times the product he recommends for all of my KLH's.. 6's x 2, 17's, 24's, 23's x 2, and 5's. Recap those 5's and get the sealer spread on those cloth surrounds and you will be amazed. PM me if you need some specifics regarding caps or if you have other questions.
 
I have an orphan Model Five in my garage that does not have a working tweeter. I have tested it however. Even without the tweet I can tell it is a great speaker. It is really beat up but I know if I throw it out the other orphan will appear at the Salvation Army lol.
 
RS Steve said:
Picking up a vintage pair of KLH model 5's from a local ad, looks like they need a full tilt rehab. They will be the first KLH speakers I have owned so any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Pictures will come as soon as I get them picked up.
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I'll be glad to jump in and help. FWIW, the recap on the 5's is not as daunting as it may seem. The 5's take several caps but the good thing is that the panel they are attached to can be removed so you can do the job on a work bench rather than having to do the job within the confines of the cabinet. I have had 20+ sets of speakers come through the confines of my listening space in the last 3 years including Bostons, JBL's, Pioneers, Infinities, Sansui's, EPI's, Norman Labs. My 5's & 23's are my fav's with the 6's a very close second. But they easily leave a lot on the table if not restored properly. I'll watch for you're pics and we'll get this show on the road! :D
 
I have reconditioned a pair myself and just follow what gbroot has suggested and you will be pleased. My 5's aren't going anywhere!
 
Just a little word on the re-cap; be patient after you've done it. It will take some time for them to "settle in". I re-capped mine, and it was a solid month of playing them, before I liked them. But when they did finally come around....sweet!
 
Thanks everyone for all the input, it should be a fun project bringing them back.
 
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Sorry, I can't figure out how to post a jpg that is already in AudioKarma's files.
 
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I'm also getting ready to recap/redope some KLHs. First the 26s (for practice) then
my 5s! I've ordered caps and resistors (PartsEx) and dope (from Ray). Is there any reason to replace the internal speaker wire? Or the speaker connectors? The 26s uses RCA jacks, are there decent RCA to wire clips that exist?

Thanks and looking forward to seeing the OP's progress as well.
 
superultra said:
I'm also getting ready to recap/redope some KLHs. First the 26s (for practice) then
my 5s! I've ordered caps and resistors (PartsEx) and dope (from Ray). Is there any reason to replace the internal speaker wire? Or the speaker connectors? The 26s uses RCA jacks, are there decent RCA to wire clips that exist?

Thanks and looking forward to seeing the OP's progress as well.
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With the three sets I've re-capped, I left the original wiring alone. I didn't see any need to do so. If you see bad, or brittle insulation on any of the wires, then yes, I'd replace it. If the RCA connectors are corroded where the male jack connects, you can clean them up with some 0000 steel wool or 400 grit sand paper.
 
drumiv said:
Just a little word on the re-cap; be patient after you've done it. It will take some time for them to "settle in". I re-capped mine, and it was a solid month of playing them, before I liked them. But when they did finally come around....sweet!
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I recapped my KLH 20's with Daytons a week or two ago and honestly I'm still trying to decide how much I like the sound. Sometimes it sounds quite good, other times a little shouty or dull (on low and high end).

Right now, they sound pretty good on my Marantz 1060 (recapped), but yesterday I had to use the Contour and further up the bass and treble dial on my Harman 730.

I'm looking forward to trying them with a tube amp to see if I get consistently better results, but I may just be going through the break-in period. I have probably 50hrs or so on them after the recap. . .
 
Steve,

Something I just remembered: Roy who I bought the sealant from said NOT to use on the mids. Not sure how other people feel but I thought I'd share.
 
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Months ago I too bought a bottle of sealant from Roy. Didn't get around to applying it to my KLH Sixes until a week ago: Difference was so substantial I thought one of my kids messed with the bass control on my Fisher.

+1111111 :thmbsp: on the redoping the woofs. Worth every penny!
 
Great, I was hoping to find out as much as possible before I dig into them. I should get them here and have pictures by Sunday. I want to compare them with my Heathkit AR3a's to see how close they are.
 
I just applied Roy's sealant to one of my 26's woofers. Roughly 12 hours ago, sealant is still extremely tacky. When the speaker is pressed down it rebounds very quickly. Two of the speaker screws were stripped/the particle board has chipped away. So I probably have an air leak there. How do I know if I need to apply a second coat?

Thanks
 
superultra said:
I just applied Roy's sealant to one of my 26's woofers. Roughly 12 hours ago, sealant is still extremely tacky. When the speaker is pressed down it rebounds very quickly. Two of the speaker screws were stripped/the particle board has chipped away. So I probably have an air leak there. How do I know if I need to apply a second coat?

Thanks
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I would try to seal all other possible gaps/leaks if it seems you covered the surrounds with the first coat.

When I recapped, I sealed the inside of the cab with clear caulk, except for the front baffle, which I should have done as well. After I put everything back together, one speaker seemed sealed, the other had a leak still - I suspected it could have been the front baffle, but I applied a second coat, which didn't help the leak. If I had to do it over again, I'd have sealed the front baffle.

I know if you use the wrong material, you can degrade the sound of the speaker. What I'm not sure is if you can over apply Roy's sealant (I.e. apply an extra coat you didn't need), resulting in degraded sound as well. But better not to take the chance unless you hear differently, because that stuff isn't going to easily come off if you apply too much.
 
Hi guys,

...probably should jump in here.

KLH cabinets are notoriously poorly sealed. The chipboard cabinets easily flake, and the foam gaskets are often poorly seated or worn. You should take care of these issues before re-sealing the surrounds. Epoxy putty (any variety) found in hardware stores is very useful to rebuild cabinet mounting holes, and repair bad screw holes. New gasket material for the drivers is very often needed.

The KLH 5 mids were originally sealed, but using re-sealant on them (or the dust caps) won't make anywhere near the difference it does for the woofers, if any difference at all.

The re-sealant is thin and doesn't stiffen (it will stay tacky), so it would take alot to negatively affect performance. Otoh, I am an advocate of using no more than needed. Goo Gone works great for clean-up, and will remove the re-sealant from surrounds if need be.

Roy
 
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