KLH Model Twelve Grilles re-covered

[JKent]

I've written elsewhere about restoring the "contour boxes": http://www.classicsp...topic=4111&st=0 and there has been much discussion about repairing and refinishing the cabinets.

Here are some photos of replacing the grille cloth. The originals had a two-layer system of off-white boucle over sheer black. I decided to use the excellent Irish Linen that the authors of the AR3a restoration guide recommend: http://www.classicsp...-3a_full_pd.pdf (see pages 17-18). I've added a couple of steps. The attached photos show:

• Restored speaker with original cloth (and a MicroStatic tweeter array on top)
  
• Gluing 1/8" thick strips of wood to the Masonite panel so the staples don't go all the way through (lots of small clamps while glue dries).
  
• Stapling using Monel rustproof 1/4" staples, applied in the pattern described in the AR3a booklet.
  
• Fully stapled
  
• Spritzing with clean water
  
• Drying with a hair dryer. The linen will shrink to be as tight as a drum.
  
• Finished grille is nicely transparent (better than the original 2 layers IMHO).
  
• Spraying with Scotchgard or equivalent fabric protector.
  
• The finished speakers in their new home.
  

Kent

PS: I don't know what the deal is with these hyperlinks. The only ones I put in intentionally were to CSP discussions, but apparently certain words, "cabinets" for example, end up as links

[RoyC]

Very nice work, as usual, Kent!

I've used this cloth on Advents as well, with excellent results.

Roy

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Kent

Nicely done step by step photos with excellent results for use with most all brands.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Kent

Nicely done step by step photos with excellent results for use with most all brands.

[ra.ra]

Thanks for another excellent post - - your explanation of techniques and materials, as well as the rationale for most decisions, is superbly documented, and your photos are high quality and always helpful.

Adding the thin strips of wood on the rear of the grille panel is a great way to give the staple a bit more meat to bite into, but when comparing your first and final pics, something looks odd to me. I would expect that by beefing up the panel thickness at the perimeter, the face of the grille cloth would move out a similar dimension, but it almost appears that in the 'after' version the grille cloth is more recessed (relative to the wood cabinet) than it is in the 'before' version. It's only 1/8", but I would have expected less visual recess, not more.

Your work is excellent and the results speak for themselves, but I will express my one contrary opinion. The new raw linen grille cloth always looks terrific, but for me it is a little disturbing that now the (light colored) drivers are easily visible thru the new grilles, whereas with the sheer black backing of the original, the drivers were not visible. While I do understand the objective to achieve acoustical transparency, I doubt my ears would detect the presence of an additional sheer fabric layer in the grille assembly, but these pics tell me that my eyes will always detect the omission of the second layer.

[JKent]

it almost appears that in the 'after' version the grille cloth is more recessed (relative to the wood cabinet) than it is in the 'before' version. It's only 1/8", but I would have expected less visual recess, not more. . . . for me it is a little disturbing that now the (light colored) drivers are easily visible thru the new grilles, whereas with the sheer black backing of the original, the drivers were not visible. While I do understand the objective to achieve acoustical transparency, I doubt my ears would detect the presence of an additional sheer fabric layer in the grille assembly, but these pics tell me that my eyes will always detect the omission of the second layer.

Thanks for the comments. I think the recess issue may be an artifact of the photo, but the wood strips I used were VERY thin, probably less than 1/8". I eliminated the scrim layer of cloth, and the linen is a bit thinner than the nubby boucle, so maybe your eyes do not deceive.

As for the "visible" drivers, I think that is due to the flash. I don't think they are visible under normal lighting. The speakers are in a new home, so I can't say for sure. One way to correct that, if indeed they do show, would be to glue some sheer black cloth (or even black fiberglass window screen) over the speaker openings on the back of the Masonite. As a matter of fact, when I re-covered the same neighbor's OLAs, I had neglected to paint the Masonite black and when the grilles were installed there were definite dark discs where the speaker cutouts were. In that case, I glued some stiff, very open weave "fabric" I had found in the fabric store to the back of the woofer opening and it definitely improved the appearance (probably should have done the tweet hole, too). Thanks for the input!

Kent