Not 1 but 4 KLH Model Six! Any advice on fixing up?

[Mr_Mustrd]

If you do have a leak, check the driver seals. The 6's had gaskets between the woofer/tweeter and cabinet that might be missing or gone bad. You can make new seals, use a product like a speaker sealing caulk (Parts express sells it for instance) or any number of other gasket materials. Like @RTally says, they must be sealed for you to get the best bass they are capable of.

Thank you! I did use mortite rope caulk for the woofers and will be looking into were to buy a gasket for the tweeters, so far inside it doesn't appears to be any gaps in the cabinets.

 

[simplynuts]

Couldn't sleep and was browsing Facebook marketplace and saw someone was selling 4 KLH Model Six for 100 bucks! Said he found them in the trash? But either way they appear mostly undamaged besides some peeling on the veneer which I plan on fixing.

The grills are removable and the woofers are screwed in. I have ordered the re-doping from vintage AR on Epay, but regarding the caps any recommendation on what would be a good replacement?

are these vinyl covered? Mine were veneer with multiple coats of varnish that I sanded off and restained and oil rubbed.

 

[simplynuts]

Me personally, I wouldn't go too crazy with them as they are a pretty simple set of speakers. Change out those old black/red caps, check the resistors to see if they've drifted, maybe new speaker terminals, and spruce up the cabinets then run them stacked where tweeters are both in the middle. Call it good.

I never checked the resistors in mine, but did replace the caps. Both tweeters were dead because of broken wire on one cap and other caps died. Tweeters were fine. Too late to check resistors as I resealed the cabinets. I was able to keep original grills intact even though they were wrapped around the baffle and nailed , stapled and glued on. I was very careful to try and save them intact.

 

[simplynuts]

I haven't thought of that! Could listen to dark side of the moon as it was intended! I'll keep my eye out for one, for now I'll be using a sx 727, I would like to get something with at least 70 wpc because I've read they really own up with more wpc? I'm new to this stuff so I believe anything I read on the internet

I drive mine with a luxman r-117 which is 160 watts per channel and they sound amazing.

 

[Mr_Mustrd]

are these vinyl covered? Mine were veneer with multiple coats of varnish that I sanded off and restained and oil rubbed.

I believe these are vaneer? I plan on getting strips of vaneer and cutting out the parts that have warped and replacing them. The sanding the whole cabinet and restraining them, then finially re clothing the grills. I plan on keeping these forever, I've got a 5 year old that will be growing up with them.

 

[GD70]

I believe these are vaneer? I plan on getting strips of vaneer and cutting out the parts that have warped and replacing them. The sanding the whole cabinet and restraining them, then finially re clothing the grills. I plan on keeping these forever, I've got a 5 year old that will be growing up with them.

Warped veneer? Do these have water damage? Please post pics of this. Please, don’t do any veneer work until we see what the issues are. If there’s lifted veneer, you can cut a slit length wise with a #11 Xacto blade, lift each side of the cut and inject some wood glue under the veneer, (I use a drinking straw that I suck a bit of glue into, then push it under the lifted veneer and squeeze some glue out under the veneer) push the veneer down letting the excess glue squeeze out, then wipe with a damp paper towel to remove any remaining glue on the veneer surface. Then put a little piece of wax paper over the area and weight down so the veneer is flat.

 

[Mr_Mustrd]

Warped veneer? Do these have water damage? Please post pics of this. Please, don’t do any veneer work until we see what the issues are. If there’s lifted veneer, you can cut a slit length wise with a #11 Xacto blade, lift each side of the cut and inject some wood glue under the veneer, (I use a drinking straw that I suck a bit of glue into, then push it under the lifted veneer and squeeze some glue out under the veneer) push the veneer down letting the excess glue squeeze out, then wipe with a damp paper towel to remove any remaining glue on the veneer surface. Then put a little piece of wax paper over the area and weight down so the veneer is flat.

No problem! Before I start working on fixing the vaneer I'll take some pictures and post them. I don't want to take any chances of ruining them in any way. Thank you!

 

[simplynuts]

I believe these are vaneer? I plan on getting strips of vaneer and cutting out the parts that have warped and replacing them. The sanding the whole cabinet and restraining them, then finially re clothing the grills. I plan on keeping these forever, I've got a 5 year old that will be growing up with them.

source for veneer? Used to be a place in Bronx ny

 

[simplynuts]

Warped veneer? Do these have water damage? Please post pics of this. Please, don’t do any veneer work until we see what the issues are. If there’s lifted veneer, you can cut a slit length wise with a #11 Xacto blade, lift each side of the cut and inject some wood glue under the veneer, (I use a drinking straw that I suck a bit of glue into, then push it under the lifted veneer and squeeze some glue out under the veneer) push the veneer down letting the excess glue squeeze out, then wipe with a damp paper towel to remove any remaining glue on the veneer surface. Then put a little piece of wax paper over the area and weight down so the veneer is flat.

I have an old rca victrola phono that has a warped veneer on one of the doors. Would this work to flatten it too? Veneer seems pretty thick.

 

[simplynuts]

I believe these are vaneer? I plan on getting strips of vaneer and cutting out the parts that have warped and replacing them. The sanding the whole cabinet and restraining them, then finially re clothing the grills. I plan on keeping these forever, I've got a 5 year old that will be growing up with them.

you didn't post the sides of the cabinets so we couldn't tell from the pics. You could look at my thread of my restoration to see if they are similar. Careful sanding as you don't want to damage the veneer. I basically sanded off the top clear coat.

 

[GD70]

New veneer will never match the original. You need old veneer harvested from old trashed speakers or furniture. Trash day is a good source for both.

 

[GD70]

I have an old rca victrola phono that has a warped veneer on one of the doors. Would this work to flatten it too? Veneer seems pretty thick.

Should. You’ll need to weight it down well though.

 

[simplynuts]

Should. You’ll need to weight it down well though.

Sounds like a plan. Going to use the heaviest floor standing speaker as weight that is not being used.lol

 

[Mr_Mustrd]

Warped veneer? Do these have water damage? Please post pics of this. Please, don’t do any veneer work until we see what the issues are. If there’s lifted veneer, you can cut a slit length wise with a #11 Xacto blade, lift each side of the cut and inject some wood glue under the veneer, (I use a drinking straw that I suck a bit of glue into, then push it under the lifted veneer and squeeze some glue out under the veneer) push the veneer down letting the excess glue squeeze out, then wipe with a damp paper towel to remove any remaining glue on the veneer surface. Then put a little piece of wax paper over the area and weight down so the veneer is flat.

Sorry for the delay! Just got back from vacation with the family. I believe there was water damage to one of them at least. Attached are the worst parts of the speakers. For the speaker that has the corner coming apart, on the inside I used an epoxy to seal that corner because there was a gap on the inside of the cabinet.

 

[Pete B]

@GD70 have you described anywhere how you go about repairing smashed
speaker corners. I have some with about 1/4" gone, and one as bad as 1" gone.
I've seen your excellent work here and on CSP but don't recall if you described
the procedure anywhere.

 

[GD70]

@GD70 have you described anywhere how you go about repairing smashed
speaker corners. I have some with about 1/4" gone, and one as bad as 1" gone.
I've seen your excellent work here and on CSP but don't recall if you described
the procedure anywhere.

Hi Pete,

I saw you checked out the AR3a thread. I hope the pics and commentary answered your crunched corners question.
Cheers, Glenn

 

[Pete B]

Thanks Glenn, Yes but I don't think I saw how to fix damage into the MDF.
If a big chunk of MDF is missing would you fill it with the walnut sanding mixed
with Z-Poxy? I guess for MDF patches I could mix with regular sawdust?
Picture of the damage:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?attachments/100_1599-jpg.2622369/

More here in post #2:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/new-large-advents-nla-with-water-damage.1002674/

 

[Pete B]

Sorry for the delay! Just got back from vacation with the family. I believe there was water damage to one of them at least. Attached are the worst parts of the speakers. For the speaker that has the corner coming apart, on the inside I used an epoxy to seal that corner because there was a gap on the inside of the cabinet.

I have NLA Advents with similar water damage:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-nla-with-water-damage.1002674/#post-15767376

 

[Mr_Mustrd]

I have NLA Advents with similar water damage:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-nla-with-water-damage.1002674/#post-15767376

Thank you Pete! I'm brand new to this and when I saw a great deal on Facebook marketplace selling 4 advents that needed work, two OLA and 2 4002 that needed re-foaming for 100 bucks I was able to fix them up by reading your posts. I also built your line level BSC, it was a really fun project, my soldering skills are new but it works and the advents sing with it! I will look through that thread because the 4002 does have water damage on the bottom but I don't think it's broken the seal on the cabinet, it just looks fugly.

As for an update on the KLH, I've posted some update photos below, my goal right now is function over fashion and trying to bring them back from the grave, once I've done that then i'l tackle cleaning them up. I've used wood JB Weld epoxy sticks to seal all of the comers that are coming apart, which looks messy as hell but my goal is to get them sealed and then deal with making them look pretty. Then on the inside of each speaker I used PL premium adhesive to seal the corners and any cracks that I saw, which was challenging because you can't fit a caulk gun into the cabinets so I had to resort to finger panting some of the corners, but it got the job done. I let it dry and air out for about 3 days, used mortite rope caulk to seal the woofer back to the cabinet, two layers in front of the screw and one behind the screw. I've replaced all the caps in all four, found two resisters broken off which I fixed, I also did discover that one of the tweeters had the voice coil copper broken but my crappy soldering skills wasn't enough to reconnect them so I ended up buying a KLH 20 tweeter from ebay. Now all four speakers are working!

I've done one coat of sealant on each woofer and now I'm at a crossroads, I'm not sure if I should apply another coat because I do not want to ruin them, so I recorded me pushing in the woofer, holding for 20, and letting go quickly. The woofer did return at a delay, is this a good indicator that I have a good seal? Btw all four have this same delay. I bought the sealant from vintage ar and it was the smaller vial which according to the instructions says should be good for 2 to 4 speakers, and I'm halfway through it.

They sound great so far, but I feel that the advents have more bass? I'm going todo an A/B comparison with my OLA later to confirm. But still this makes me question if I need more sealant or I have a leak somewhere.

Here is video:

So far this has been a really fun project! I hooked up all four to my SX 727 and had my 5 year old daughter listen to black sabbaths first album on record that I recently bought, she had lots of questions about the album cover, and it was really rewarding to share with her a way to listen to music that I didn't have access to when I was a kid.

So thank you for everyone's help, I wouldn't have even considered going on this journey without audiokarmas help!

 

[RTally]

I've done one coat of sealant on each woofer and now I'm at a crossroads, I'm not sure if I should apply another coat because I do not want to ruin them, so I recorded me pushing in the woofer, holding for 20, and letting go quickly. The woofer did return at a delay, is this a good indicator that I have a good seal? Btw all four have this same delay. I bought the sealant from vintage ar and it was the smaller vial which according to the instructions says should be good for 2 to 4 speakers, and I'm halfway through it.

They sound great so far, but I feel that the advents have more bass? I'm going todo an A/B comparison with my OLA later to confirm. But still this makes me question if I need more sealant or I have a leak somewhere.

Here is video:

So far this has been a really fun project! I hooked up all four to my SX 727 and had my 5 year old daughter listen to black sabbaths first album on record that I recently bought, she had lots of questions about the album cover, and it was really rewarding to share with her a way to listen to music that I didn't have access to when I was a kid.

So thank you for everyone's help, I wouldn't have even considered going on this journey without audiokarmas help!

Your testing technique is fine. That seems to be a bit quick fo the cone to return. Did you seal the dust cap? See KLH Service Bulletin 60 about coating the surround (skivver) and the dust cap.

Applying two coats of sealant will not ruin the woofers, provided you are using the correct butyl compound from RoyC or vintage-ar. Just make sure you are applying a thin, even coat to both the surround and the dust cap. I've applied two coats to most of my KLH speakers. Before doping, the cloth was dry and I could easily see through the weave of the cloth. More than a year later, the surrounds are still tacky and they sound great.