KLH Model 6 Recap
- Thread starter RundownRob
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- klh
I have a pair of Model 6's that have been sitting around for awhile and today I decided to start working on them. They are early peanut brittle epoxy crossovers with epoxied front grills. I broke into the back expecting to find electrolytic caps and was surprised to find 
RundownRob
Member
I am glad mine were not the epoxied drivers. Here are the mostly finished speakers. I have been listening to them in my garage for the past week. They sound outstanding.
I sanded out the scratches, put on two coats of Danish Oil with walnut tint, and coated that a week later with satin wipe on polyurethane. I recovered the grills with a cream colored linen.
I sanded out the scratches, put on two coats of Danish Oil with walnut tint, and coated that a week later with satin wipe on polyurethane. I recovered the grills with a cream colored linen.
Those look great. Unfortunately mine are in much worse shape cosmetically and I’m going to need to re-veneer them. I have a bottle of Roy’s sealant ready to go. But in order to treat the surrounds I’ll have to cut the original linen and build a new frame to cover. I have an idea how I’m going to attack that, but welcome any insight.
I tested the large capacitor and got a reading of 7.83uf which is pretty impressive for a 60 year old part. So my current plan is to leave that one in place and change out the 2ufs and the resistors.
I tested the large capacitor and got a reading of 7.83uf which is pretty impressive for a 60 year old part. So my current plan is to leave that one in place and change out the 2ufs and the resistors.
My Model 6s are both unit construction, epoxied in place woofs that were far enough apart that one had the early epoxied-in-place alnico tweet (with an open voice coil) and the other had a later screwed in ceramic magnet type (that was OK). I just used a razor knife and cut through the 2 layers of grille cloth on both of them as close to the edges as possible. I went around the edges and tucked the loose threads back in to the gap. I replaced the alnico tweet by using a jig saw to cut it out, a big hole saw to duplicate the penetration in the other unit and flush mounted an Ebay found original ceramic replacement. After pulling the aluminum back panels, chipping out the old crossover parts then enlarging the cutout just enough so that I could get my hand inside while still allowing the aluminum panels to cover the holes and recapping, I used self stick foam weatherstrip and some small wood screws to reattach the panels. I then made grille frames out of heavy 3/8" double-tempered Masonite and found some Goodwill open weave curtain material ($5.99!) that fit the bill pretty nicely. What I found was that the front baffle board "inset" on the two units differed by about a 1/4" so that the reveal of the front frame is different on the two. Could be made up by velcro shims I guess but I was just interested in listening to music through them. I just cleaned the cabs with a damp rag followed by an Everclear rubdown and copious amounts of Walnut oil. Good enough!
RundownRob
Member
Yes. I ordered some of his compound. For this pair of 6s, I used what remained of some compound ordered from Vintage AR when they were selling on Ebay. The stuff coming from Roy will be used on a pair of Model 20s mentioned earlier in this thread and a pair of Optimus 1s I am working on.
Making some progress. Opened up the back by approximately 1” to give myself a little more room to work. Came up with a layout that I’m happy with. Splurged a bit on the capacitors as I think these may be my main living room speakers. Once I get the veneer fixed they will have a very high WAF
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I just got mine 99% finished and hooked up. New veneer on the cabinets with Danish Oil (waiting a week or two for polyurethane. Built new grill frames and covered in linen. Sealed woofer surrounds with Roy C's sealant. The tweeter dust caps were dented, so after some careful duct tape work coaxing them back into shape, I decided to attach a metal grill I made from a home depot paint bucket grid. Restored and touched up the original metal badges.
They sound fantastic already and should only get better as the capacitors get burned in a bit. Once they settle in I will do some A/B tests with The Fisher XP9Cs which I restored over the winter.
They sound fantastic already and should only get better as the capacitors get burned in a bit. Once they settle in I will do some A/B tests with The Fisher XP9Cs which I restored over the winter.
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Is that doping compound still available anywhere? I've been looking for some for a while now.
Sorry for the dupe post, but I can't find this stuff anywhere.
simplynuts
Super Member
I have one of those. I posted my thread how I repaired it while keeping the grill cloth, woofer etc intact. wasn't too hard and sounds amazing.
I followed that thread and did the same. Unscientific opinion - but I think doing that way kept the eventual outcome more coherent sounding. The one part that was tricky was stripping the red wire that is soldered to the tweeter with only one hand. I solved it using a helping had tool and an Knoweasy wire stripper
I also used RVBOATPAT wire connectors instead of wire nuts as they are much easier to connect with one hand
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The linen and grill cloth have too much bulk to not affect the response. It's really a shame when you must cut it. The linen can be replaced and the grill cloth can sometimes be salvaged or scavenged from other models...
GD70
Lunatic Member
Roy hasn’t been active on AK for years. Go to the classicspeakerpages site and contact him there.
simplynuts
Super Member
I was able to keep the original cloth intact.