quinlanmw

Beautiful, as always...

Greg, I hadn't visited your website since restoring my own KCBRs last fall. Your choice of the koa and cane grills on your own Khorns is stunning. Beautiful, beautiful work. And the La Scala...if it were me I'd have to move to find a room to accommodate all three. Mike

Gentlemen, For what it's worth, my dealer loaned me a set of the Audioquest DBS, along with some other cables, when I was looking for some balanced cables for my system. The technology sounded gimmicky to me and I was skeptical but thought, sure I'll try them out. They sounded worse than the cheap RCAs I had been using. Thanks, Mike

Wow, I found this thread while wandering around looking for Heresy restoration tips..fantastic work, and thanks for the detailed tutorial! Wish I had read this before restoring my Khorns. It would have helped tremendously. Mike Quinlan

I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to give another shout out to Greg Roberts. Not having seen a completed "B" model in 26 years, there is no way I could have pulled this off without the detailed information Greg provided on his website, on this forum, and in replies to some of the ridiculous questions I asked him in emails. I'll say again, if you are of a mind to convert your decorator models, or just restore your Khorns that have seen better days, and you can afford it, I'm confident you couldn't go wrong having Greg do the work. If you haven't visited his web page then go there and you'll see what I mean (dcchomes.com/Mkhorn.html)--you're in for a treat. Not only does Greg do incredible work, but he obviously approaches it with a deep affection for these fantastic speakers, and exercises a level of attention to detail that distinguishes him as a true craftsman. I'm still astounded by Greg's generosity in sharing his tips and tricks of the trade, especially since he restores these professionally. Thanks again, Greg..you ARE the man. And you even use a manual stapler! A few more thoughts for amateurs like me who are considering embarking upon this project...I was reviewing some records and realized this job took nearly three months. I worked on them, for varying periods, I think every day except for 5 days off when we went out of town. It requires a tremendous investment of time. As for tools, the jointer, table saw, router, and air stapler came in handy. But the work can definitely be done with hand planes, circular saw, jig saw and hand tools. Having said that, it was a lot of fun and tremendously satisfying. This project was so much fun I am even considering picking up some vintage Heresy's in need of some love and restoring them. Anyone have an idea what I should expect to pay for Heresy's in good working order but poor cosmetic condition? Thanks to the members of this forum. I lurked around for months before posting...you've really shown me what a great community of Klipsch lovers this is. And thanks to those of you who have posted responses to my postings here. Mike Quinlan P.S.--Here's another shot of the hideous monstrosities I started with..

And another of ser# 19X722. I guess these aren't KDBRs anymore, so maybe losing the original labels isn't such a bad thing.. More later...

Another shot of Klipschorn ser # 19X721, just to prove I didn't forget the insignia badge...

As I moved on to complete the second speaker I regretted a little my earlier decision to push through on the first..it took more brain cells than it should have to duplicate the steps and lessons I had learned with the first. But I managed not to screw it up and finished it, moving it in about four days later. Here's the second "new" Klipschorn moved into its "new" home..it used to be in the opposite corner. I managed to win that battle with the interior decorator...don't ask what it cost me. You may notice in the left of the picture the passage to the kitchen appears to have wire tacked around it...yep, that's 14 gauge speaker wire. Interestingly, I moved that speaker in and connected it on Thanksgiving day, with dinner guests on the way. I'm still surprised my wife let me get away with that one, but she had seen how hard and for how long I had worked on these. Maybe it was her way of telling me they looked good and she was happy to no longer have to live with those "hideous monstrosities", as she used to call them. By the way, that wire will be concealed by molding.

I explained earlier that once I had the top section of the first speaker finished I just continued until it was complete...part of the reason was the new amp I bought to drive the "new" Klipschorns. I ordered it hoping the delivery would coincide with completion of the speaker project, but the project ran long of my estimates and the amp had been connected to some bookshelf speakers while I worked on the Khorns. As soon as the first speaker was finished I moved it in and hooked it up, in spite of the fact I would only be hearing one channel for a while. Here's the first "new" Klipschorn, back in its original home...

And a shot from the left side. More later.

From the right side... By the way, I followed religiously the measurements and dimensions provided by Greg Roberts in his response to another forum member's questions in a thread a couple of months ago. That thread was entitled similarly to this one..a search should bring it up. My photos verify those measurements (not that you should doubt them..sorry, Greg)..they are spot on.

Here's a full view from the back.

Here's a full view of the front. Full disclosure again...remember I mentioned the glue squeeze out around the bottom trim would cause me headaches? After it dried, I had to get it off because I knew it wouldn't take the stain and would look unsightly. I carefully scraped with a razor blade, which actually worked fine. The only problem is that I scraped too deeply in one area and peeled off some of the outer laminate which I had been so careful not to sand through at the beginning of this project. How could I have been so stupid? Strangely, when I started peeling off thin strips of the lamination the peelings had exactly the same appearance as the glue peelings. I only realized it when I wiped the waste aside and then it was obvious. I was sick. All I could do was fill and hope for the best. At the top edge of the bottom trim, to the right of center, you can see the results of this mishap. I'm not sure why it stained so darkly here...I had filled a couple of other spots with far better results, but it is what it is. I've tried to be forthcoming with all my mistakes, in the hopes that it may help someone else from making the same ones. Sorry, though, no closeup of this one. I told you I was sick about it. I still am.

Continued... There's a reason I haven't posted a picture that shows both speakers for a while. Once I had the top assembly completed on the first one, I couldn't stop myself. I continued on it until complete. Here's a front view of the top half.

Horns and crossover installed. The crossover cleaned up pretty nicely with DeOxit and a lot of Q Tips. More later.

Continued.... I'm just about ready to reinstall the horns and crossover on the first speaker. In this picture they are in a closet where they've been waiting the last three months or so for this moment. I had blown the dust off prior to this shot, but they look OLD. Remember, in the D model all this is open to the outside. Just a few words on the electronics. I mentioned earlier that I chose not to mess with the bass bin connections, although I thought long and hard about it. I even had new connectors in my hand at Radio Shack, ready to go for it. In the end I decided to leave well enough alone...these speakers were still performing brilliantly when I embarked upon this project. I didn't want to deal with the possibility that after all this time and work that these transformed Khorns wouldn't work due to some mistake I made. I didn't want to remove the bass bin panel as I had no clue what was on the other side. I think the image of the manufacturer's label disintegrating to dust in my hand was still fresh in my mind. I had basically the same attitude about the crossover network. I knew this was the perfect time to upgrade these, or at least replace with new ones. I realize the capacitors are near the end of their useful life. But after all this work I wanted these speakers to sound just as they did before when I finally got them hooked up. I also wasn't anxious to add any more expense at this time. I'll wait to upgrade as needed.

I wasn't going to leave that shim stuck there, so I cut a piece the required thickness and glued it to the back of the angle spacer.

I found that by shimming the angle spacer the frame came into perfect alignment.

Moving on.. Next, it is time to apply the fabric to the side grill frames. I mentioned earlier that I thought I knew why Greg had recommended not to make the cutouts for baseboard molding...it was a real pain in the ***. The straight and square parts were pretty straight forward, but I just had no intuitive idea of the best way to handle the cutouts. I think I did it differently on all four frames, and if I were doing another I'd probably do that differently as well. Each involved some combination of trimming, folding, snipping...I don't know, maybe I was trying too hard to do a professional looking job. I had a concern from the beginning that folding over the fabric on the leading edge would affect the fit and perhaps prevent the frame from fitting uniformly along its length, but on the back side it really doesn't matter if fabric is bunched on the inside...it won't show. Anyway, they all turned out fine and look good, but my fussiness probably caused these to take way more time than they should have. I did run into an issue when I went to attach the frames. I had taken care to make all the angle spacers identical in accordance with the dimensions that Greg provided, but here is what I got when I attached the second side grill (the first fit perfectly)...you can see a widening gap at the top from the front to the rear of the grill. This was a problem..it meant the side grill was not square to the front plane of the speaker and would be very noticeable--unacceptable.

I obtained the fabric from Wendell Fabrics Company in South Carolina, which is where Greg Roberts had recommended. I sent them an email and referenced Greg's name, they wrote back and gave me the specifics and then I ordered it via phone. Here's a shot from the side of the now complete top assembly (minus horns).

Continued... Once the grill cloth was affixed to the motorboards I could fit and do the final measurement of the solid side panels. Greg Roberts had mentioned there was a slight reveal of the side panel and the top and bottom plate, or in other words the side panel is inset slightly, about 1/16" I think. I studied his photos and they all look awesome, but in other Khorn photos I found there didn't appear to be a reveal here. Also, it seemed like it would be quite a trick for me to establish a consistent reveal while attaching the side panels to the motorboard, which I had decided needed to happen first. I'm not sure if Greg and others have done it in this order but that's what seemed easiest to me. I decided to align the side panels flush with the edge of the mid plate, clamp it as securely as possible, then drill pilot holes and screw the side panels to the motorboard. When this came out satisfactorily I marked for pilot holes in the mid plate and located the hangar bolts. Once that came out satisfactorily I mounted the motorboard, with side panels attached, to the bottom of the top plate. This is why I decided to align the side panels flush to the sides of the mid and top plate, without a reveal..I had a better chance of accurately aligning the top and mid plates flush. Maybe there's another way but that's how I figured it. Once the top plate was attached to the motorboard it was time for the moment of truth...positioning the assembly on to the previously installed hangar bolts on the mid plate. In my mind I knew it should fit and align correctly, but there was definite trepidation as I placed the assembly on, walked ten feet away and then turned to see how it all came together. It came out OK.

Continued... I mentioned that the fabric stretcher set me up for a mistake...(yeah, that's it, it's the tool's fault), but I had it in my head that the fabric had to be stretched as tightly as possible (like your rack in boot camp..the ability to bounce a dime off of it). Of course I knew that fabric stretched too loosely would look terrible, but I way overestimated how tightly it needed to be stretched on my first attempt, and I underestimated just how much "stretchability" the fabric has. On the first motorboard I stretched and stapled on the sides first..so far, so good I thought, but this is where I had overstretched and distorted the pattern. The real crime is that I didn't notice the mistake and proceeded to staple the top and bottom as well...hundreds of staples..hey, you can really roll with an air powered stapler. When complete I stood back and admired my work, from all angles, and..hey, what happened here? I cursed myself for a good long time on this one while I contemplated the fun of removing all those staples and starting over. Then, I decided to loose fit the speaker assembly and called the wife out to find the major mistake I had made in the grill cloth. She couldn't see it. I decided to leave it as is, and to place this speaker in the corner where this had the least chance of being noticed. If I had the level of workmanship some of you are giving me credit for, or if these were someone else's speakers I was being paid to restore, there is no question I'd have torn it off and started over. All this was to emphasize the lesson learned (learning curve, again!): the fabric stretcher is a definite help but this grill cloth has enough inherent stiffness to it that it doesn't need to be stretched that tightly to prevent wrinkles. Of paramount importance in the grill cloth application is remaining cognizant of how the linear patterns of the cloth aligned with the straight portions of the piece being covered, whether it's the motorboard or the side frame. Once I figured this out it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. Here it is..

Continued... For some reason I slacked off in photographing the whole grill cloth process. In this shot I have covered both motorboards and the first side grill frame (as mentioned earlier, you can see that the angle brackets are not on yet). Both speaker tops in the background are just loose fit, but finishing the motorboards with the grill cloth was definitely deserving of another admiration session over a beer. You may also notice that I used an air powered stapler, a fact I'm a little reluctant to disclose and maybe even a bit ashamed of. For crying out loud, Greg does these professionally and even he uses a hand stapler! But I already had the compressor (I've been doing a slow interior renovation in our home, with lots of trim work)...and this stapler was only $89, so...OK, I'm a big tool freak..somebody stop me..I need help.

Continued... Time for another big step--application of the grill cloth. I have zero experience in working with fabric or upholstering, but wasn't overly concerned about figuring it out. Greg addressed it in some detail on his site, with great photos. I'm a bit of a tool freak and thought, great, an excuse for getting some new tools! Greg has recommended this fabric strething tool, and I've seen Norm on New Yankee workshop use it in upholstering, so I convinced myself I needed it. Home Depot had a similar one that I guess the duct work guys use to bend sheet metal but even I wasn't going to pay 40 bucks for a funny looking pair of pliers, even if it was a nice stainless steel with vinyl covered handles. I found this one online at an artists supply house, it's used for stretching canvas. about 15 bucks. This tool definitely helped, but it also set me up for perhaps my biggest mistake in the whole project. More on that later.

I waited until relatively late in the process to trim the back of the bottom plate to align it flush with the tailboard. Greg Roberts provided very detailed measurements in another thread (thanks again, Greg) of the different dimensions of the plates and their relationship to each other, and I carefully tried to replicate them, but there was always a chance that an error here and there of 1/16" or less could compound to negatively affect the final appearance once everything went together. The back of the bottom plate was coming off anyway, so I waited until the plate was fitted and hangar bolts and brackets were located to trim it where it would align flush with the tailboard.