JKent

Rebuilt one xo. Shown here are old and new. I "thought" I had to relocate the big inductor because some resistors were in the way. Turned out the resistors didn't belong there so I could have left the coil where it was. No big deal--it had been knocked loose and had to be reattached. I used a bunch of 10uF Madisound surplus caps, plus a Carli 4.7uF and a 10uF that was leftover from another project. Replaced the 2.5 ohm 5 watt resistor with two 5 ohm 5 watts in parallel because I don't trust 5w resistors. Result is 2.5 ohm 10w.

Working on the KA-1s. They were in rough shape, with a damaged tweeter, missing stuffing, some weird resistors added to the woofer circuit, no grilles or logos, and very grimy and dull looking. But they ARE KA-1s, and low serial numbers to boot.Our resident Cizek expert, Paolo Lippe sent the schematic but it did not have values on it so John O'Hanlon figured it out long-distance based on what I could observe (capacitors and resistors were stamped) and what we inferred from my measurements of the inductors. It's a very sophisticated (some might say overly-complex) crossover design that I'll leave to John to explain if he's so inclined.So here's the xo. Also attached: A shot of the cabinet with water ring. Fortunately these are solid wood so they could be sanded aggressively. Started with 60 grit in the orbital sander and worked up to 600. The crossover was kind of a mess. Two inductors were knocked loose, one inductor had overheated, scorched and melted the bobbin. Fortunately it's not "too" far out of spec. Caps are those leakage-prone PVC jobs often found in KLH speakers. edit: original and rebuilt xo shown in post #4 More photos to follow. Kent

Update: The speakers have arrived and the DCR of the tweet is about 7.8 so it must be the 8 ohm version. The speakers have other issues: The stuffing has been removed and the inductors were loose. One had a broken lead. So a question for you KA-1 owners: Do you know how much stuffing these get (and is it poly or fiberglass)? And does anyone have a crossover schematic? Thanks for any info. Kent

Just bought some Koa wood KA-1 speakers that I'm eager to restore but one tweeter has a ripped dome. The tweet is apparently a Peerless KO10DT - 810665. These were once common but now not available. They came in 4 ohm and 8 ohm versions so when I get the speakers I'll have to check to see which is used here. Midwest Speaker sells a new replacement but it's a copy--not a Peerless. Any thoughts or advice? Thanks. Kent

Years ago, when I used to read "audiophile" publications, the common wisdom was that professional musicians tend not to be audiophiles and tend not to have high-end systems. Aside from the fact that professional musicians tend to be under-paid and probably spend their money on things like food and rent, I have another theory that I'd like to run past you. I think pros understand that nothing can replace the live music experience but their knowledge of how the music sounds live allows them to "fill in the blanks" on recorded music. I imagine a musician could listen to music on a transistor radio but still "hear" everything in his head. Agree? Or am I full of bull? Kent

Hi Marigold The caps in the 17s are notoriously bad and should be replaced. There are threads here about that. Take a look inside and if they are black with red ends, replace them. Kent

Hey--if you can call a guitar a "buitar" cut him some slack on the "Mallards." :lol: We all make typos. Kent

I was browsing the 'net looking for info on a particular Cornell-Dubilier product and found this: http://www.planetz.com/?p=652 The guitarist plays a number of riffs, over and over, substituting different types of caps to reveal the differences in tone. Now I don't have golden ears, and I am listening through some crappy computer speakers so maybe that nullifies the whole thing, but as far as I can tell there is NO difference whatsoever among the various caps. The performer, who is after all hearing it "live" concludes there may be some differences but they are "subtle". So give me the Madisound surplus caps, Carlis and Erse PEX. I'll save my money for recordings or more gear! Just my rant o' the day Kent

The 3 (NOT the 3a) did use the same tweeter as the 2ax. Same driver. I can't explain it--for that you'd have to talk to Roy or John. btw--another cheap way to replace the 90-ish cap would be a whole bunch of 10uF surplus caps from Madisound. They are 60 cents each, so 9 of them (90uF) would cost $5.40 per speaker. Not bad. http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/surplus-capacitors/10.0-mfd-polypropylene-cap-10mfdp/tyee/ For the 2uF, if you go with Madisound, they have Solens http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/solen-capacitors/ edit: They also have very inexpensive 2.0uF surplus caps (0.35 ea) Kent

Hi ra.ra Roy sent me the 1.9uF caps but 2.0 is close enough. And if I were doing it again I'd replace the big "maybe 87" caps with new 90 or even 100uF NPEs. I don't trust anything that resembles the infamous Callins PVC caps. The tweeter is 8 ohms but the overall system is 4 ohms. Not that unusual. The 4 ohm KLH 20 and the 8 ohm 17 used the same tweeter and crossover, just different woofers. Kent

Mick, Your method is fine. If your amp is designed to drive 2 pair of speakers you've connected them the right way: Output A to speakers A and output B to speakers B. The deal with wiring stacked Advents in parallel has benefits and risks. If your amp only has one pair of outputs you have to connect both pair of speakers or buy an external speaker selector box. If 2 pair of Advents are connected in parallel it drop what the amp "sees" from 8 ohms to 4 ohms. This means more power is available, the speakers will be a bit louder and less likely to clip. For example, my MAC4100 is rated 75wpc into 8 ohms but 100wpc into 4 ohms. BUT not all amps, especially not cheap amps, can handle 4 ohms. If your amp is not rated for 4 ohm loads do NOT connect the Advents in parallel. Denovo: Onkyos are pretty robust. I've had 2 and both were rated for 4 ohms. Similarly, you should never connect two 4 ohm speakers in parallel. Very very few amps are capable of handling 2 ohm loads. And the impedance varies. A 4 ohm speaker's impedance is not a constant 4 ohms. A 2 ohm load is dangerous. Zero ohm = short circuit. Kent

Quick comment on ASZ: MANY (most? all?) recordings of that piece are compressed, so you don't get a 20Hz tone. The opening organ pedal in a live performance is 16Hz (low C), played through a 32 foot pipe. Since the vast majority of home speakers cannot reproduce that, the engineers compress the sound. On an excellent recording you "may" get 32 Hz but more likely a higher harmonic, like 48. I'm quite sure no vinyl recording has a 16Hz or even 32Hz tone, but maybe one of the resident engineers has a more informed opinion. Kent

They're not better. The W35 xo was designed specifically for the W35 drivers and box. Don't mess with it. New caps are easy and that should be all you need. Kent

Yes--I did look around a little and saw that the nuts are closed on top. Don't have those, just the plain knurled nuts. Thanks for the tips. As a radio guy you probably know the brand of the capacitor matters little. Many here use Dayton from Parts Express or Solen from PE or Madisound. Carli, from Madisound is a good inexpensive film cap with low ESR. Lately some of us have been using Erse caps--a very good value: http://www.erseaudio.com/ As a tube radio enthusiast, perhaps you would find my KLH Model Eight restoration guide interesting. It's attached to Post #1 here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=6387 It's a work in progress--I'm working on the 4th revision now--so any input (pos or neg) is welcome. Kent

Welcome to the CSP! I saw a photo of the back of some W25s and it looks like they have knurled nuts, just like the 8-32 nuts used on AR, KLH and others. If that's the case, you "should" be able to find solid brass ones in a good hardware store. If you want nickle-plated brass those are harder to find but I have some. Send me a PM if interested. Please try to confirm the thread size. Here's the kind I'm talking about: http://www.ebay.com/...=item3a7150fcf0 If that's what you need, let me know. Also, if your W35 crossover is more or less similar to the W25 shown here, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wharfedale-B-I-C-W25-Speaker-Input-Jack-Crossover-Works-GREAT-British-/140674947057#vi-content (except that the 25 is 2-way and the 35 is 3-way), you should replace the capacitors. It looks like the 25 has the dreaded black and red Callins type PVC cap. These are notorious for leaking. ALSO--if you have not done so--examine your woofer surrounds. If they are foam they are probably beginning to rot. Kent

I'll be ordering some more labels: AR, Advent, KLH. Not sure of pricing yet but should be reasonable. If you have any requests let me know. I can only get laser-engraving on thin aluminum. The large cast KLH labels are unobtainium, as are the thick engraved AR3a and similar or the cutout "3" or "a". But the flat ones are quite good (see 1st post). I also have the BACK labels for the KLH Eight and Thirteen. Kent edit: I now have the brass "3" for AR-3 and the "a" for AR-2a and early 2ax

Not simple-minded at all (take it from one who asked asked MANY!) The biggest danger to speakers is caused by clipping: over-driving an under-powered amp. So the danger would be from using an amp that is too small. You can safely use even a 500 watt amp, assuming you're listening in your living room and not trying to fill Giants Stadium (or crank it up to 11*) CSP member Vern (Dynaco Dan) is a real advocate for fusing speakers and you can look into this. Most modern amps have speaker-protection circuits built in, but if you are concerned do a search here for fusing information. I've never used fuses and have not had a problem but YMMV. Enjoy! Kent * Spinal Tap reference

A final thought on the Fives: After recapping mine I was a little disappointed. They look beautiful and were "supposed" to be KLH's answer to the AR-3a. They just didn't excite me. So now I'm trying to get rid of some of the many speakers I've acquired, and found a buyer for the Fives. Pulled them out of the corner where they've sat for over a year to inspect them before packing. Then I noticed what I had never looked for before: The cloth woofer surrounds were quite porous. So, following the Service Bulletin #60 I applied Roy's sealant to the woofer and mid surrounds, and to the woofer dust cap. Fired 'em up and WOW! Now THAT's what they should sound like! Just as good as my AR-3a's and AR-91s (now I'm sort of sorry I sold them ). SO...Before considering esoteric caps for your Fives or other cloth-surround speakers, seal the woofer surrounds. It makes a MAJOR difference! One more note: Although the Service Bulletin says to seal the dust cap as well, I don't think it's necessary to use Roy's non-drying sealant there. The caps are quite rigid. Aleene's Tacky glue or white glue used for foam surrounds should probably work fine. Kent

Hi John Do a google search on Philips AD5061/M8 and you will find some info on these speakers and on their use in Rectilinear (and Dahlquist) speakers. Then do a search on Philips AD5061/M4. Looks like the "/M4" was a 4 ohm version. Don't know which versions are in your Xa's or XIIs but you could pull them and look for markings on the backs, or measure the DCR of each. Hope this helps. FWIW-- back to the original topic, I am now of the opinion that Advent switched to (or from) the Phillips driver at some point in production. I have seen several and they appear to be factory-installed, with a special aluminum adaptor plate. Kent

Sorry Steve. As I said, I have not owned or heard the 2s and was only summarizing what I had read. Many people were critical of the "odd" angled tweeters and their imaging. Maybe those writers are mistaken. I do like my AR2s with their angled tweeters, and of course MicroStatic made both add-on arrays and full-range system with angled tweeters, so maybe they're fine. I do think the IP should consider keeping these if they are real walnut veneer and he can get the woofers refoamed, but it sounds like he just wants to"flip" them at a profit, so if that's the case he may not consider them worthwhile. They won't fetch big bucks. Kent

Yes. Well, not really. Never had these but from what I've read the woofers are good but an odd size. The crossovers are unimpressive and the tweeter array is well-intentioned but misses the mark. The 2/w were the "modern" looking ones in the white plastic cabinets with metal grilles. You may be able to sell the tweeters on eBay and make a few bucks. It's "possible" even the woofers with bad surrounds could be sold. Things like the metal grilles and even speaker terminal nuts (not sure if the 2 had those) could be sold, then put the money toward other speakers. You may even be able to sell them intact, as-is, as long as you disclose the surround rot issue. So don't just chuck them. They look like this picture, right? OTOH, if the speakers are cosmetically nice, you like them and have use for them, have them refoamed and enjoy. Even figuring the shipping cost to a reputable repair shop, your total cost will be well under $100 and the speakers will be better than anything you could buy new for that price. Plan B: Buy a $25 refoam kit and tackle it yourself. As I understand it, you will have to buy "smaller Advent" surrounds, cut and seam them to make them smaller diameter. A bit tricky for a first-timer but not impossible. Take a look at MSound's step-by-step instructions to see if you want to try it. Then contact M Sound and ask about a kit for the Advent 2. http://www.citlink.net/~msound/refoam/ Good luck Kent

Welcome to the CSP! Yes--plugging them into the wall socket would be a bad thing Before playing them at all, you should look at the woofers (the big round speakers inside) and check the surrounds (foam rubber circle around the perimeter of the paper part). They are probably deteriorated, which means they (the surrounds) have to be replaced. If you play the speakers with deteriorated surrounds,you can destroy the speakers. "Re-foaming" these speakers is a challenge because the woofers are not a standard size. You would be better off sending them to a pro, like Millersound in PA. Probably cost about $50 - 60 for the pair. Well worth it if you like the speakers. You can use virtually any amp or receiver. Parts Express sells the Audiosource Amp100, which is a nice little amp, for $100 http://www.parts-exp...tnumber=302-601 Check your woofers then get back to us Kent

sure Steve. I'll send an email. Kent

Welcome to CSP! Hope you'll find helpful people here. Maybe YOU can help clear up the mysterious maker's marks inside some vintage speaker cabinets! http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=337373 Kent

thanks Vern Here is the Model Eight (and Eleven) speaker logo. see Post 14