Sticky KLH Speaker Cabinets

[Buch1anan]

Picked up a near mint pair of KLH Model 363 speakers off CL for next to nothing yesterday. Very impressed with the sound quality (although plan on recapping them as they are over 45 years old). Only problem is they are not real wood veneer like my Seventeens, but wood-look vinyl and the vinyl has become sticky over the years. Handling even leaves smudges where my fingers have touched them when I carried them. If anyone has encountered this problem on vinyl covered cabs before and successfully addressed it please let me know the fix.
Thanks

 

[Dswankey]

..... KLH Model 363 speakers...... the vinyl has become sticky over the years. Handling even leaves smudges where my fingers have touched them when I carried them. If anyone has encountered this problem on vinyl covered cabs before and successfully addressed it please let me know the fix.
Thanks

Common among many brands of that era, I've run into it with EPI 100's and few others whose names escape at this moment. To be honest I don't remember what was done to address it however I'm sure folks will turn up to offer up their first hand remedies.

In the meantime here's some threads you might find helpful

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-sticky-vinyl-woodgrain-speaker-skins.641822/

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...cky-wood-grain-vinyl-speaker-cabinets.721925/

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sticky-vinyl-wrap.688178/

 

[Buch1anan]

Common among many brands of that era, I've run into it with EPI 100's and few others whose names escape at this moment. To be honest I don't remember what was done to address it however I'm sure folks will turn up to offer up their first hand remedies.

In the meantime here's some threads you might find helpful

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-sticky-vinyl-woodgrain-speaker-skins.641822/

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...cky-wood-grain-vinyl-speaker-cabinets.721925/

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/sticky-vinyl-wrap.688178/

Thanks, I should have thought to do a search on it. Boy, the suggested products are all over the place and so are the warnings. Unless I get a really definitive answer as to what is best I guess I'll start with wipes (got plenty of them thanks to COVID) and move up the chain to Dawn, Fantastic, and maybe windex and see what happens. These cabinets look pretty good for being vinyl and have no gouges or marks on them at all so don't want to damage them.

 

[Lavane]

I wonder if some of it is due to people using spray on furniture cleaner and polish on them. Not realizing it's vinyl, or just used to spraying the stuff on anything that looks like wood. You can get nasty buildup over time using products like pledge over and over. Years ago my wife used the stuff. I found sticky build up on a plastic wood grain alarm clock we had.

 

[Dswankey]

. Unless I get a really definitive answer as to what is best I guess I'll start with wipes (got plenty of them thanks to COVID) and move up the chain to Dawn, Fantastic, and maybe windex and see what happens.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...-sticky-vinyl-woodgrain-speaker-skins.641822/

WD-40, the great sticky remover!

This.

@EchoWars was/is a MAJOR font of knowledge of all things audio related here at AK, if he seconds WD-40 then I would give it a shot

 

[Dswankey]

I wonder if some of it is due to people using spray on furniture cleaner and polish on them.

Good observation I was told that it's something to the affect of the original adhesive & or glue seeping through the vinyl

 

[Lavane]

Good observation I was told that it's something to the affect of the original adhesive & or glue seeping through the vinyl

I just tossed the sticky radio alarm clock.

 

[doctorolds]

I once had a pair of Jensen LS-5 speakers covered in vinyl that were very sticky. I tried a wide variety of products to remove the crud, but in the end "Purple Power" worked great. Good luck.

 

[F1nut]

Paint thinner/mineral spirits will remove the sticky build up. WD-40 is basically naphtha, a close relative to the ones I mentioned, but they are less oily.

Use a white cotton cloth or three. When it/they stop looking dirty the cabinet is clean. Immediately, wipe down with a fresh cotton cloth until completely dry. Leave the rags outside to dry.

 

[Buch1anan]

Thanks all. It came off using using the wipes with a lot of elbow grease. Then dried them with a cotton rag followed by wiping with a little windex and then another cotton rag. If it comes right back I'll then try the mineral spirits.