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KLH Model Five -- troubleshooting first steps

dodog said:
You're sweating this WAY too much. Just get 1uF and 15uF Daytons, tin the leads, twist them together in parallel, then quickly hit with the iron to solder them together. 16 uF and they stack nicely as the 1uF is tiny compared to the 15 uF.
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I decided to go the route you suggested, and, of course(!), they were out of stock on the 15s. So I got 2x3uF, 8x4uF, 2x12uF, and 2x25uF Daytons from PE. Thanks for all the advice. I'll let you know it turns out.
 
Got my caps today and tonight I had time to recap one of the crossovers. Indeed the tweeter immediately came to life! Sounds pretty good on an initial listen. Will know more when the second one is done and I can listen to the pair more critically and play with the HF controls. This is late 60s technology, of course, so I don't expect the extension and subtlety of more recent tweeters.

Hope yours will respond nicely to a recap also, Puddintane.
 
ymarko said:
Honest people. The only forgot to mention that they fried the tweeters. And lost badges on these parties.
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I'm pretty sure that some of these KLH Fives were made without grill badges. My early pair doesn't have badges. There is not the slightest mark where a badge might have been, and the elderly couple who had the speakers kept them on exactly the same shelf for 40 years. I could be wrong, of course, but this fits with some other people's experience of KLH Fives, too.
 
Your woofers like my KLH 23's are rarer that 6's and other models. Before you decide to redope with anything, talk with RoyC. He has a wealth of knowledge.

One way to check surrounds is to put your lips to them and see if you can easily blow/suck air through them.

I'm sure once you recap and get those tweeters working they will sound worlds apart from current.

Still may not be your cup of tea but I love my 23's.
 
i had the same issue with mine, bum caps. i also re-doped the surrounds on my woofers and tweeters with a mix of aviation permatex thinned with naptha. many disagree with the doping, but when new they had it. the doping greatly improved my bass response.
 
Yup, TomC, can also find him over at CSP. He had formulated some surround dope trying to replicate the original stuff. I believe I used a homemade version of the Permatex/naptha mix but that was before Tom developed his. The woofers did sound considerably better ...... and don't forget, the idea isn't to have the surrounds airtight.
 
cnolanh said:
Got my caps today and tonight I had time to recap one of the crossovers. Indeed the tweeter immediately came to life! Sounds pretty good on an initial listen. Will know more when the second one is done and I can listen to the pair more critically and play with the HF controls. This is late 60s technology, of course, so I don't expect the extension and subtlety of more recent tweeters.

Hope yours will respond nicely to a recap also, Puddintane.
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Yay! Good job!
These speakers and gentle and "nice" to the ears. I love the way vocals are articulated. Some Allison Krauss or Shawn Colvin etc. are good examples. There are no super-highs or extreme lows but they are non-fatiguing to me and color most folk and jazz pleasantly. Even if you end up liking other speakers better, it's great stuff to learn and kinda fun to do.

"It's Alive!" -Dr. Frankenstein
You too can now call yourself a RE-ANIMATOR!

PS- I have an old M&K subwoofer (refoamed and rebuilt that too) I can switch on and off at my receiver. Helps with more modern recordings designed for modern speakers and also sounds good on lots of older stuff too.
 
cnolanh said:
I'm pretty sure that some of these KLH Fives were made without grill badges. My early pair doesn't have badges. There is not the slightest mark where a badge might have been, and the elderly couple who had the speakers kept them on exactly the same shelf for 40 years. I could be wrong, of course, but this fits with some other people's experience of KLH Fives, too.
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+1
My 5's didn't have badges and there are no marks of any kind on the grillcloth where they might have been (my grills are original and perfect so it would be easy to see...).
 
biglittledog said:
Yay! Good job!
These speakers and gentle and "nice" to the ears. I love the way vocals are articulated. Some Allison Krauss or Shawn Colvin etc. are good examples. There are no super-highs or extreme lows but they are non-fatiguing to me and color most folk and jazz pleasantly. Even if you end up liking other speakers better, it's great stuff to learn and kinda fun to do.
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Thanks a lot, biglittledog! Yes indeed it's fun to learn and do this kind of simple restoration work. My KLH Fives have come out well. I posted photos and a little more info in a new thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=429762

I also scored some good vinyl today so I've been listening to Led Zep, Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc. The Fives seem pretty happy playing music that's as old as they are. I will do some careful vocal listening as you suggest, too. You're completely right about these being non-fatiguing.
 
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