ttaylor

Bad link. Try this one. http://www.gr-research.com/blackhole_5.htm ttaylor

Oh. I thought he meant the product. http://www.e-speakers.com/products/blackhole5.htm ttaylor

I too looked at all the commercial products. I chose to use rubber flooring underlayment purchased at a building supply(similar to HomeDepot) I attached it with flooring adhesive, which sucks the material tightly to the cabinet. It deadened the cabinet greatly and cleared up the midbass. Very worthwhile IMHO. Not sure how much more the high priced material with perform, but for $20 in materials, Im happy. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/files/heresy1b.JPG ttaylor

Not elegant by any means, but Ive been using Liquid Nails for years and it works well if applied properly. Real sticky and not only fills but mechanically strenghtens the joint. taylor

Hi Olorin, You can check out this post for pics and a discription. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=61828&forumID=71&catID=19&search=1&searchstring=&sessionID={D26EA750-6258-4566-BDFC-E868B97E4256} Basically, I damped the cabinets, ran a brace between the side panels and mounted the drivers on the front of the baffle. The damping has really tamed the overly "live" (read PA) sound. The bass and midbass is far more articulate and tight. And the imaging, which I never considered Heresys having, has improved greatly. Allowing the horn flares to radiate out as designed,and from a flat baffle (no wood trim and grill protrusions) really has changed the quality of sound. The HF is now airy, and the mids arent as hot. And the sub...well, its now manditory IMHO. Cheers, taylor

The schematic is still on the ALK site. http://www.alkeng.com/dload_xo.html I had previously thought that this crossover might be overkill, but since doing a host of mods to my Heresys, I may well build them myself. Mine have made a fairly good leap forwards in terms of sound quality. Before the mods and while still owning La Scalas, I dismissed the little Heresys somewhat as being mediocre. But now, with a good, equalized sub, they are probably worth the cost of ALKs in terms of investment in sound. I will never sell them, so resale doesnt factor in. And I cant think of another, compact, high efficiency, dynamic speaker for the $700 Id have in them so..... Ive used Solens and air core inductors, which definately improved things BTW. Keep us posted if you build them. taylor

I looked at your speakers again and they are definately an older speaker than mine. The spacing between the woofer and the horn is greater on yours than on mine. I talked with a friend that owns eight pair on Klipsh Heritage and bought/sold dozens and velco/masonite grills didnt appear until the late 60s. The early ones, starting in the 50s, all had the grill cloth stretched across the baffle and the trim tacked on over it. As stated above, Id go and ream the guy that tore off the grill/trim and lost it. taylor

Thanks and luckily, it wasnt too difficult to do. I cut the piece out that separates the mid and tweet. Now you have two rectangular holes, the form a single hole. The CDs can now fit through the baffle. I then routed out a slot, half the thickness of the baffle the same width as the piece of wood I removed. I fit a strip of plate aluminum into place, thus replacing the original wood that spanned between the two horns with a removal piece of aluminum, that sits in slots on either side. I veneered it and once the two CDs are inserted through the holes, you slip in the removable piece and thats it. I did have to grind the K700 down on the back of the sides so they would seat flatly onto the baffle. taylor

Thanks for the nice comments. Yes Heritage owners are fanatics (or maybe freaks!) I think that the straight forward construction and the longevity and repairable nature of the drivers makes them easy to modify and restore. Gil, Yes you use Titebond 2 (this is the standard) and apply a thin coat on the veneer and the speaker. Allow to dry, place the veneer and then iron. There are several websites that outline it, unfortunately, I cant find the links. Michael, The braces and damping make a huge difference. I used to tap the sides and the enclosures sounded like a drum. Now they just have that dull "thud" like MDF. The other speakers are Magnepan MG2Bs, modded of course, and one of two dipole subs. Ive got a pair of "Autotuba" horn subs in the works and they will flank the Heresys soon. They too are about 95db. taylor

Heres a shot of the guts. Ive only listened to them for an hour so I will have to comment on the sound later. taylor

Well I must say that although not the normal finish you see, after sanding and a coat of Danish Oil, Id be hard pressed to have bought something much nicer. I used the "glue and iron" method for the first time and although slow, it produces an awesome edge. I was able to use a mini-Stanly plane and get the edges razor sharp. And they are hard as a rock since I could brush the glue up into the previous edge, filling all the voids. Ive gotten such nice edges with contact cement nor been able to do the veneering in the house. I used compressed rubber flooring underlayment and Henrys waterbased flooring adhesive to bond the stuff to the ply. When it dries, it shrinks, grabbing the rubber and sucking it to the wood. Between that and a horizontal brace, the cabs are no longer "live". I also mounted the drivers on the front of the baffle , put in new inductors and caps, and am making sand filled stands. All in all Im really pleased with the results and truely think that a used pair of Heresys are one of the true bargains in audio. I will add the interior pic next. taylor

Well I suppose I should have looked a bit closer to the JPEG of your Heresys. Mine are the next generation I guess. Mine have the velco glued to the masonite. It appears that yours used the trim to mount the grill possibly? Otherwise, I see no reason why it would need to be removed. So Im not sure they will fit. taylor

Ive just completed re-veneering and upgrading my Heresys and wont be using the stock grills on them. One is perfect and the other is close but has a spot were the weave has been frayed. It could be fixed. I would like to keep the logos but would be happy with some others. They are black BTW. If you are interested, let me know. taylor

The bracing will be minimal so as to keep the internal volumn up. The damping is also thin but dense. As far as stuffing, out of 20 odd sealed speakers Ive owned over 30 years, the Heresy is the only one that doesnt use some stuffing.Stuffing decreases the volumn needed to maintain a particular alignment so I think the it will offset the bracing. Ive checked alignments on winISD and the cabinet is already pretty small and a 10-15% decrease only knocks the -3db point down 5hz. Im willing to pay that if the speaker becomes more accurate. taylor

Guitars are made from very thin solid wood where as speakers are made from veneered ply or MDF for stability. Solid wood cabinets are expensive and structurally less stable. It may be a very stable material but just to expensive to build with. I bet there are some big buck esoteric speakers around that are made of it. If a plane could be built of it, I would guess its an exellect wood to construct with. taylor