Model Fourteen S

[meta_noia_fot]

I recently purchased 4 Model Fourteen S speakers and I have a question.

tl;dr: How much of a benefit would there be to resealing the cloth surrounds on the Twelve Point Five drivers in the Model Fourteen S being that it's a ported speaker?

So I bought four of these to run in my quad setup. We recently finished a remodel of our attic and I've been putting a music room back together in the new space. Before these, the only speakers that I owned two pairs of were AR-3a's which I ran in room briefly. Those speakers were far too much for the quad space which is roughly 11.5' x 9.5'. I read about the Model Fourteen S and thought they'd be a more suitable substitute for the space.

I took them apart to recap them, and that's when I realized I would need to take off the grill cloth in order to get to the front of the drivers. Currently, all 8 Twelve Point Five drivers are working and the grill cloth on each speaker ranges from Good to Excellent. They sound very good as well...I hear no rattling or other noise and they all "sound" the same to me so far (although that could change as I get more time logged listening to them).

All of that considered, is there good reason I should go ahead and reseal them as the Service Bulletin indicates? I understand the seal needing to be excellent in an acoustic suspension design, but does it matter as much since the Fourteen S is ported?

Also, a couple of other things from taking these apart:

At some point KLH eliminated the Compensated Amp input and left only screw terminals. Three of my four have the CA RCA jack while the one with the latest serial number (in the 7000s) only has screw terminals.

Also, one each in the pairs I bought had a large stamp on the inside of the back plate which reads "Karlit Tempo" and "Made in Sweden." Was the back plate or its material made in Sweden? The whole speaker? The terminal plate of course says Cambridge, Mass.

I'll post photos in the replies.

Thanks in advance,

George

[meta_noia_fot]

[meta_noia_fot]

Looked around. Here's that same stamp on a vintage Swedish credenza I found on Etsy. So maybe KLH outsourced production of the 14 to Sweden?

[meta_noia_fot]

Hung them up today. I’ll touch up and paint the new rails soon. 
 

These are really fantastic little speakers. Not much bass of course, but upping the bass on my receiver’s tone controls a couple clicks makes me feel like I’m not missing much.