JKent

Ha! I TOLD you they're confusing! So it's not just me. I think I posted an incorrect parts list the first time I worked on these. Look at the black "2uF" cap. It's just like the larger red one. There is one black wire (common) and two red wires. If it were being used as two 2uF caps the reds would be soldered to different points. But the 2 red leads go to the same point, so the two 2uF caps in that tube have been wired in parallel. FWIW I have never seen black in a KLH either, Usually it's a white crinoline-type fabric. Maybe they changed the material they used or maybe someone has been in there before (the Mortite caulk looked pretty fresh in your photo. Usually it turns to cement after half a century). Kimpac btw is paper and kind of crumbly so I usually replace it with cloth such as crinoline. Allison speakers used fiberglass window screen (at least that's what it looked like). Kent

Nope. That layout is exactly like mine. The 3uF is right. The 2x2uF is paralleled to make a 4. The 2x4uF is two 4uF caps. So you need to but three 4uF, one 3uF, one 16uF and one 25uF per speaker, See before & after below. They're from 2 different speaker sets but they're virtually identical. You can see the three 4uF and one 3uF clearly on the after shot (ignore the unnecessary blue "bypass" cap). The cloth behind the woofer is like Kimpac in AR speakers--it keeps fiberglass out of the woofer. I suspect the black scrim "may" muffle the HF somewhat. If I re-do KLH grilles I only use 1 layer but I would not recommend tearing apart good grilles. btw--I don't see the rubber insulators on your speaker terminal posts. Did you take them off? -Kent

Hey Geoff Sorry. KLH and others made minor changes to things during production runs, so although the 4 or 5 Fives I worked on used the caps listed, I believe yours are different. There may be a logic for going with the later xo. Presumably this was an improvement. Virtually all classic KLH speakers had the sheer black scrim under the grille cloth. -Kent

Please check the caps carefully. As I said, the originals can be confusing because KLH used double caps in these--2 capacitors wrapped into one package, An in some cases a dual 4uF is wired like 2 separate caps while in others a dual 4uF may be wired in parallel to make a single 8uF. It threw me off at first but I'm quite certain the shopping list above is correct. -Kent

I think that does include the screen printed panel but the memory is a bit foggy Below is a list of caps and resistors per speaker. As I mentioned, I replace all the old 5w resistors with 10 or 12w. Plain ol' wirewound resistors are fine. Mills are nice because they're small but they're expensive--$4.25 each and you need a total of 10. Madisound has some Eagles that are nice but the values are not quite right. PE has 5, 10 and 15 ohm wirewound for $0.78 each but not 6 ohm. You'll have to use one of their "precision audio grade" resistors for the 6 ($1.38). I would use the cheapest film caps. Carli caps from Madisound are good but the values are slightly off. Daytons from PE are fine. They don't have 16uF but 15 will do or use 15 + 1 if you're OCD. You can also use Madisound 10uF surplus caps paralleled with others. Schematic is here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/klh/klh_5_klh_model_five/klh_5_schematicsservice/klh_5_schematic_2.html#previous-photo -Kent Caps:3uF3) 4uF16uF25uF Resistors:56102) 15

Hey Geoff So is it the point-to-point, on a shiny aluminum panel? (the PCB has 7 holes). I don't recall exactly how I removed it but looking at photos yes--there are 4 screws and I assume there was either a gasket or sealant to maintain the acoustic seal so you may have to pry a bit (and replace it when re-assembling). Looking at my photos, it's a 2-layer deal. I'll attach a photo but it's not the best. It looks like the black aluminum panel that the speaker terminals attach to was glued to the back of the cabinet on the inside, and that needed to be pried off. One caution: The 8-32 machine screws used for speaker terminals are installed through the aluminum panel. Dumb. They are insulated with rubber grommets so be SURE you reinstall them with the insulators! Hope this helps. Kent

Thanks John btw, the "3"s are gone. edit Aug 2017: 3s are back I also have some cheap Chinese knock-offs of the DakaWare knobs used on AR pots. Photos below show an original and a knock-off. edit Aug 2017: No more knock-offs. I now have genuine Daka-Ware knobs -Kent

repro logos still available to CSP members for less than my epay price.

First of all--the PCB is no problem to work on. In fact, since it lacks those darn double caps it may even be easier. If you look at the photos attached to the first& second posts in my link above, you'll see the new caps fit on the board quite nicely. Three of the new resistors were a bit crowded but as I mentioned, not everyone agrees that they should be replaced. Second--I don't get the logic of the KLH serial numbers. Unfortunately I did not keep a record of the SNs on the ones I worked on. The only ones I did are SN 021148 (wired) and SN 12470 (PCB). So it appears the PCB came first. I dunno. Your SNs are much lower. -Kent

Hey Geoff I think you'll like them. I restored 2 pair of Fives and recapped a couple others so I'll be happy to offer advice. A couple of points: The cabinets are beautiful IMO, they look a lot like the Large Advents. BUT the varnish or whatever the finish is tends to get dull and orange with age. Stripping and refinishing is well worthwhile.There were 2 versions of the crossover. Early ones were point-to-point wired, later ones had a printed circuit board. Here's a link http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7890The capacitors can be confusing because KLH used a lot of 2-in-one caps. Sometimes a double 2uF is really two 2uF caps and sometimes it's one 4uF.Not everyone agrees and I'm not an electrical engineer, but I think the 5w resistors are inadequate. I've seen 2 or 3 burned and cracked. Resistors are cheap. Replace them.The bass response will benefit from a coat of Roy's cloth surround sealant. You can buy it from Vintage AR but I'd send Roy a PM and see if you can buy some from him.Have fun! -Kent

Very clever and simple stands! I looked at Amazon and only saw the T-slotted type but Outwater has the square tubing in silver or black anodized, and on the next few pages are the tap-in corners etc. http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/lg_display.cfm/catalog/Master_Catalog_Vol_42/page/204 Looks like all you need is some kind of jig to make square cuts, a hammer and saw. Cool! -Kent

The Cizek HTA labels are now available. I also have some new face plates for Advent 400 radios like the one shown in Post #18 here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8443 Send a PM or email: KLHbyJKH@gmail.com -Kent

Another set of impostors from ebay. This pair had the original Cizek woofers discarded and replaced with a pair of aluminum (!) cone woofs. And the guy wants huge bucks for these bastardized speakers. I doubt any would-be restorer will find suitable replacements. The original woofers had paper cones and huge magnets as shown in the 2nd photo (this woofer was reconed by Bill LeGall). -Kent

I should have reproductions of the Cizek HTA logo soon and I believe these may also be appropriate for the Bloomington-era as well. I also have a limited number of Dynaco amp labels such as were used on the ST-120 and others. The originals were heavy mylar with a dark brown background. The repros are aluminum, white on black. The small Dynaco speaker labels are now brass-plated steel with black lettering. In each photo an original is on top and the repro is on the bottom. Pricing for CSP members will be less than the auction site price, just PM me. -Kent

Hi Bill Welcome to CSP! Roy Allison made some great speakers. My first speaker upgrade was from AR-4x's (still have them) to Allison: Fours. I loved the Fours but eventually sold them because we moved to a house with a vaulted ceiling and their upward-firing woofers were not ideal for that setting but I have good memories of them. Of course the Fours were pretty entry-level compared to the megabuck IC20s but all Allisons were nice. I now have some other "Roy Allison" speakers--AR-3a's. Wonder how the IC20 compares to the AR-9....... -Kent

New faceplate! It's not an exact duplicate--the original was dark gray and light gray on an aluminum background. I had some new ones made of laser-etched aluminum so they're just two-tone: Black and silver-gray. I like the color with the black cabinet and it looks much better than the chipped original. I should order a minimum of 10 from the engraver so if anyone wants one let me know and we'll work out a fair price. Knobs were treated with "Wipe New" (see Post #8. Thanks Ken!) btw--for you Advent fans--I just bought an Advent 350 receiver. I had never heard of it. It's sort of a big brother to the 300. Unfortunately the one I bought has a bent faceplate and a damaged tuner cap. Drat! -Kent

Thanks Ken! I tried it and it worked well. I also used it on some "black ash wood grain vinyl" on a subwoofer and it worked well. Also good for the black plastic knobs on my KLH Model Eight restorations. Hope to have some new reproduction face plates made and will post pictures when this one is finished. -Kent

I put together a sub/sat system to give to my friend John's son. The sats are Zaph designs: http://www.zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html but I used the Hi-Vi B3N instead of the B3S because it looks cooler. These are actually my second set. The first ones can be seen here https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/264317-anoter-zaph-audio-hi-vi-b3s-b3n-build.html They went to John's other son. edit: The link does not seem to work. Google "Anoter Zaph Audio hi-vi b3s (b3n) build" The cabinet material was supplied by John. They're cut-offs from maple newel posts, with maple end caps. The caps were glued on with Gorilla Glue, then rounded over with a 3/4" router bit. Finally they were sanded and finished with Minwax Wiping Poly. The grilles came from a Chinese ebay seller and they fit the Hi-Vi drivers perfectly. Filter/BSC networks were built according to Zaph's design. I used some salvaged 15 ohm 5w resistors in series to make 30 ohm 10w. The 4.3uF caps were made up using Carli 3.3uF + some Russian PIO 1.0uF caps I had in my parts box. The other parts were from Madisound. The subwoofer is an old Polk PSW200 from about 1989. I bartered a friend some refoaming services for it. Wish I had "before" shots because it was a mess: Filthy, with the vinyl peeling off the front, back and base. Fortunately that vinyl peeled right off--it's like contact paper. The "black ash woodgrain vinyl" on the tops and sides was OK so I left that. The front, back and base were sprayed with truck bed liner for a tough, pebbled finish. Came out pretty nice. CSP member dxho had recommended Wipe New, a product for black rubber bumpers, to restore some black knobs. It worked well, so I applied some to the "black ash wood grain vinyl" and it worked well there, too. So between the truck bed liner and the black bumper finish, I'd call this the "auto parts store restoration." The amp seems to work fine but I will take it to my tech to bench test just to be sure. So how's the sound? These little 3" single-driver satellites are amazing! But according to Zaph there is some serious harmonic distortion below 100Hz, hence the filter and the need for a subwoofer. I did have some trouble integrating the sats with the sub. Even set at its lowest possible volume setting, the sub was too boomy. Zaph wrote "Some of you with plain old stereo receivers will be tempted to to hook up a sub with a plate amp, using the high level inputs, and then run the satellites from the plate amp's speaker level outputs. Don't do it. Here's why." Then went on to give a detailed explanation AND a fix but that fix involved adding a passive impedance flattening circuit to each speaker, including a $25 8mH and a coil in each! I'm hoping to find an inexpensive used HT receiver with a sub out jack. In the meantime, I've set the xo point on the plate amp WAY below the recommended 150Hz (I'm using 70Hz) to tame the boom. This is not ideal but the system still sounds pretty darn good. -Kent PS: Just picked up a Kenwood VR-309 on the auction site. It has a "sub out" jack. Will report back on how that works out.

Yeah. I'm looking into having new ones made so stay tuned.... Don't know if they made it to Europe. They're 115v/60Hz of course. Really nice radios. -Kent

Back to SPEAKERS for just a moment: The 400 used a full-range 5.25" driver that has a rubber (IIRC) surround that does not need to be replaced. SOME 400s used the ubiquitous Philips "whizzer cone" driver (the one used as a mid in Dahlquist and Rectilinear speakers). The 402 speaker was a 2-way design and the woofers always need to be refoamed. I have not done a side-by-side comparison but Mr. Pinkerton says the full-range in the 400 had better bass extension than the 402. -Kent

To tell the truth I had "assumed" it was assembled in Mexico, like the 300 receiver but you're right: Made in the USA. I don't "think" it was ever made in Japan but the subsequent model, the 410 was (so was your 420). Here is an interesting personal communication from Fred Pinkerton: Hello Kent, My name is Fred Pinkerton. I worked at Advent Corporation from 1975 until 1981. From 1978 until my departure from Advent, I was the the Audio Product manager. I worked with Henry from 1975 until he left Advent, as well as Andy Kotsatos, who was the Audio Product manager. I was in charge of the development of the "Response" series of radios (Model 410M, 420S and 450S and the 402 separate speaker). Yes you are correct, Henry had left Advent by this point. So had Andy Kotsatos (to form Boston Acoustics). The 410M was a direct replacement for the Model 400 radio. The 420S was a stereo version of the same "upright" center console, separate speaker design. The 450S was a "mini receiver" that came with two speakers, like the 420S. It had more power than the other two radios. This line of radios was developed to replace the Model 400 radio. The M400 cost Advent well over $90 to produce, even though they sold it to retailers for under $110. The electronic design of the Model 410M and 420S were done by Shin Shirasuna, an excellent Japanese company that also produced the bulk of Harmon Kardon's receivers of the late 1970's. The cosmetic design was done by the same industrial designer as all previous Advent products (John Price). The 450S electronic design was done by Dong Won electronics in Korea, again to my specification and John Price's design. The Model 410M and 420S are excellent products, both mechanically and electronically. I consider them better overall products than the Model 400. My only reservation is with the speaker driver's longevity. I don't remember if it had a foam urethane surround (which would be useless by now) or a cloth/rubber surround. I have seen versions of these two products in the last five years or so and they still perform well, with the exception of noisy source selection switches. The 450S was a different story. I left the company for Boston Acoustics before this product went into production. The only examples I have seen of this product had poor mechanical fit and finish. The M402 speaker was simply the speaker system made for the 410m and 420S, packaged separately. It was acoustically similar to the Model 400 speaker, but a little more efficient and without quite as much bass extension. Advent filed for Chapter 11 about a year after my departure. Many products were made using this brand name by entirely different companys. But the Response series was designed and marketed by the the original Advent Corp of Cambridge MA. The biggest difference was the place of manufacture. In the case of the M410M and the M420S, I would have to say the manufacturing facility was better than Advent could come up with in North America. I have since worked at Boston Acoustics and Cambridge SoundWorks and have produced many products. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to remember specifics about products I made thirty years ago. But I'll be happy to answer what questions I can about Advent products in the seventies. Best regards, Fred Pinkerton Here are pics of the 410M (with a Rat Shack Minimus 7 speaker) and a 450S. The 420S looked almost exactly like the 410M. Here's info http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/adventcorp_response_420s.html

Hey Ken, thanks for the tip. I see in the link there's also a product called ReNu Finish that has a black dye. Maybe I'll check my local auto parts store. Never thought of using that kind of product but it's a great idea! BTW-- I almost forgot (and these ARE the SPEAKER pages). The speaker has an LCR filter so the 1uF NPE was replaced with film. -Kent

OK. Here's another one, with some inside pics. I took the other one to my local independent electronics supply store where the owner sells some old stuff on consignment. Both he and one of his customers went ga-ga over the black one and asked for another. This one looked AND sounded pretty bad. Unfortunately there's nothing I can do about the faceplate. edit: Turns out there IS something I could do about the faceplate. See posts below. The faded knobs will benefit "a little" from some Armor-All. I replaced all of the electrolytics on the audio board. Attached is a photo of the ones I removed. Have not measured them but there was a DRAMATIC improvement with the new caps. The speaker cone had faded to gray and I remembered a tip from our friend John at M-Sound: To get a "wet look" he recommends thinning his white "WD" adhesive to skim milk consistency and painting it on the cone. I added Mixol Black to the thinned WD and it came out pretty well. The original power cord was white so I replaced it with a black "NOS" cord set with non-polarized plug (the white will be used on a KLH Model Eight or Twenty-One restoration). Trying to decide whether or not to paint the aluminum grille gloss black. The natural aluminum looks nice (see post #1) but the all-black could be cool. -Kent

The 400 has a Mono FM out jack. You could use it with a mono amp or attach it to a stereo amp using a Y-adapter.

Thanks for the positive comments. I like the black too. Sorry but I only took 1 shot of 1 cap. There's a pic here of the innerds: http://www.davidreaton.com/advent_model_400_fm_only_radio.htm I'll be doing another and will be sure to take pictures! You're right about the knobs, and especially painted black the 400 is sort of a "mini 300." Ah... the 201 cassette deck! Here's a page: http://www.davidreaton.com/Cassette_Decks.htm Back in the day (about 1970 or so) I bought my first tape deck. Advent had revolutionized the industry by adding Dolby and Chromium Dioxide tapes to what had previously been suitable only for dictation or other lo-fi applications. The 201 was a Wollensak unit widely used in schools (where they had to stand up to abuse), modified with the addition of the Dolby circuitry and CrO2 bias. At the time Advent and Wollensak marketed identical units (except for different knobs, meters and logos) but unlike Advent, Wollensak could be had at a discount. -Kent