[Why so rare?]

Hey. Hi there Kent. Really lovely that you wrote back!  I appreciate it greatly. 
ok. I shall get the speakers out of their storage and start taking pictures. I promise! I really have a strong desire to restore these loudspeakers. AND I’ll soon have a great place to enjoy them in use. 
Talk with you soon. 
All the very best from Oz. 

[Why so rare?]

Hi Everyone,

I have very little idea of how this forum works or even if it’s still working! But I’ll give it a red hot try....

My late wife was a classical musician here in Australia. She later joined the MELBOURNE Symphony Orchestra in a management roll. 
Before I met her she somehow managed to buy a pair of Cizek Model 1 loudspeakers and I now have them without any clue as to what they were or their place in the world of serious sound. 
 

But the penny is starting to drop. I really want to restore them!  They are both running but the switching in the crossover controls has become noisy and intermittent. The cabinets need some TLC and so do the cloth fronts. 
 

Ive almost finished building a fine woodworking studio here on my largish block of land. Friend of mine is a gifted luthier and will be able to use this facility to repair and construct new violins and violas in the space. My plan is to have the Cizek 1’s running while we work in the studio. I will probably power them with a restored Leak Stereo 60 With Varioslope Stereo and Quad FM 3 tuner. 

 

So here I am hoping to absorb as much inspiration and knowledge about these loudspeakers so I can run them while I work and remember my oboist wife and her choice of musical equipment. 
 

Is anybody still out there? 
 

Hoping to hear. 
 

Dale Bromley

Blairgowrie, Australia 

[Why so rare?]

On 2/4/2019 at 7:25 AM, heykayde said:

Hi there.  I'm looking for people interest in Cizek both if wanted to purchase or info on restoring Koa speakers.  I posted the following on another thread here.  I apologize for the duplication but it seems the threads are outdated and I wanted to reach as many people as I could.

Not sure if anyone still checks this forum or this thread but I had to chime in.  I worked at Cizek in Andover, MA, then in Lawrence when they moved after Sheldon passed away.  I was there when we heard the news of his passing.  He was on his way to work and died of a heart attack during the commute.  I never met Roy but I answered the phone when Paolo called, although I never met him either.  I started out in the factory assembling and soldering the crossovers then worked in the office purchasing transistors, Peerless tweeters, etc.  The woofers were made in the factory by my best friend.  The speakers were stuffed with fiberglass, as all Cizek speakers were.  I didn't do that job but I believe it was weighed  before final assembly to make sure it was the correct amount. I remember being told it made a big difference as everything in assembly did. 

We were like a family of pretty young workers and we all loved working there at a time when everyone was so proud of their work.  I think I even have a photo of a group of us buried in my box of photos.   I even had a pair of parakeets at the time.  One was green & yellow, the other blue & white and I named them Woofer and Tweeter representing the color of the wires that went to the woofers and tweeters.  Tweeter was green and yellow, Woofer was either white or blue and another color (perhaps red?)  

I can remember when the koa's were on the front page of High Fidelity Magazine.  We were all pretty stoked about that.  Free advertising!  I may even have a copy of that page.  I know I have a copy of the retail price list of all the speakers made at the time.   The ka1's sold for $300/each ($600/pair).  This was around 40 years ago and although I got a little discount, I remember between the speakers and acrylic stands, it was a big investment when I was that young. 

I still own that pair of Koa KA1's, complete with stands that I have babied for decades.  I fell upon this forum while trying to research and figure out what to do with them. They would need some restoration but all in all they are in great shape considering their age.  One has a replacement woofer while the other still has the original but the foam ring is deteriorating.  I had replaced the tweeters at one point as the dome had collapsed.  I believe they were replaced with the original Peerless model but not positive.   I do not recall anything being done to the tweeters at the factory other than perhaps a coating added to the dome.  Pretty much everything else was assembled in house though.   It's possible that Peerless may have made them special order.  I've also replaced the foam front grills that disintegrated.  I found some cloth ones that fit fairly well attached with small strips of velcro in the corners.   I remember spinning and testing the inductors.  We also tested the resistors and capacitors that were purchased to make sure they were within the stated +/- tolerance levels.  I hot glued the parts and soldered the crossovers, which would be meticulously examined by QC to make sure there weren't any cold solder joints.  I was fortunate to be able to pick out what I thought were the most beautiful koa cabinets in stock by wetting the wood to see the grain, then I did the finishing work on them with many coatings of tung oil buffing between coats with steel wool which gave them a beautiful satin finish.  There was tiny bit of a gloss but definitely not a high shine gloss.  The tung oil really brought out the beauty of the wood. That's all they needed.  No staining was ever done on them.   The grain on the tops of my cabinets almost look like ripples of water, one a bit more than the other.  Our factory took time to match the cabinets into pairs as koa wood has a lot of variation of shades and grains.  The wood has such a great play of light in the grain.  The engineers used to use a sound room for testing to make sure everything was built and assembled to spec likening it to the fine tuning of a handmade violin.  In fact,  I believe the head engineer or his son used to build violins.  I remember he had quite the trained ear and could tell if the amount of stuffing wasn't precisely correct.   

I may post photos if I ever see any response on here.  I was considering selling and still might but now my son thinks he wants to keep them so I'm not sure. I found what appears to be actual logo plates on Ebay and may purchase while they are still available.   I'm curious if anyone knows approximately how much they are worth.  It would be hard to part with them as they bring back memories and I'm proud of the fact that I know I had a lot to do with the building of these particular speakers.  Anyone still out there?