m1garand

Hey everybody (esp. HEYU), I followed HEYU's instructions and put a new epoxy seal between the black plastic cover on the back and the metal magnet structure. Sure enough, it stopped the problem dead. I'm still surprised that Klipsh maintains no knowledge of this problem, unless HEYU and I are the only two people who have ever experienced the problem. Considering the size of the glue lots they must buy, I'd imagine there would be consitency between drivers made from the same glue lot, and therefore more failures, especialy considering the relatively quiet levels I listen to (waaaaay under 60 Watts).

Al K., I believe that my drivers don't have a single strap, per-se, but rather two thin wires 180 deg. away from each other. This is probably what you meant, but I'm just trying to be precise, since the advice I got last time on this forum (which could have been great advice, for which I am thankfull) appeared to be for an earlier driver. Since my voice coil is attached to the front half of the driver, I assume you mean that the rubber cement would go between the leads and the front half of the driver? How close can you get to the voice coil with the cement? Finally, any idea how to 'pry' the diaphragm out of the front of the driver? Thanks.

Awhile back I posted a question about some problems I was having with my LaScallas, but the answer apparently applied to an older driver. Now that I've looked at the problem in more detail I'll ask a similar question to my original with hopes that I've given a better description this time. One of my skwaker drivers started to make a buzzy sound awhile back. You can actually hear it out of the back, more than the front, but sometimes I can hear it all the way back at my listening position (I listen at a reasonable volume for jazz and classical) over the music. Typically, pure piano recordings are the worst offenders, producing the loudest and longest buzzes. I've moved the offending driver from cabinet to cabinet, and it follows the driver, thus eliminating the cabinet or the x-over. Other instruments don't seem to induce this problem (other than the occasional vocal). I've put rope calk on the back, pulled off the aluminum Klipsch disk with no avail. I called Klipsh and they said they hadn't heard of this problem. One of the earlier replies described a process to disassemble the driver and pull felt hairs out of the throat. I followed the instructions, but the description was so different than what I had that I can only assume he had an earlier model (mine are from 86). Can anyone tell me: 1) why does Klipsh use felt in the mid driver? 2) Can anyone confirm having this problem with an 1986 vintage LaScalla, and what his or her solution was? 3) Are there any other drivers out there better suited to the LaScalla that I can buy that don't have this problem? 4) When I take my driver apart, the diaphragm stays attached to the front half (that threads into the horn). It is stuck on fairly well. Is this a glue, or some kind of a cold "weld" from years of compression. In otherwords, how do I gently remove it for inspection purposes? I've seen no wear on the side I can see, so I don't think that it's "blown" or missalligned. 5) When I look at the inside of the back half, there is a little black plastic plug with a few small holes in it. What does this do? I see no felt hairs or anything of the sort on the back half Recently, the other driver started making the same noise under the same circumstances, which has upped the pressure. I don't want to pay the $170.00 each for a new driver if mine really isn't "broken". I've looked at other drivers, but most have a titanium driver, as opposed to the klipsh phenolic. I assume that they would sound too bright. Is there a difference between a compression driver for PA and one for Hi-Fi? I build most of my own hi-fi gear, so I'll try anything. I drive them with low-power tube amps (not to the point of clipping the output stage) so I'm confident they haven't been blown. I also have the wicker grill cloth across the front of the Mid- and Hi-, so I don't think any debris can get in that way. Thoughts? James J. Silver Spring, MD

Awhile back I posted a question about some problems I was having with my LaScallas, but the answer applied to an older driver, I believe, and I've done some more investigating since then, so I'll ask it again. One of my skwaker drivers started to make a buzzy sound awhile back. You can actually hear it out of the back, more than the front, but sometimes I can hear it all the way back at my listening position (I listen at a reasonable volume for jazz and classical) over the music. Typically, pure piano recordings are the worst offenders, producing the loudest and longest buzzes. I've moved the offending driver from cabinet to cabinet, and the buzzing follows the driver, thus eliminating the cabinet or the x-over. Other instruments don't seem to induce this problem (other than the occasional vocal). I've put rope calk on the back, pulled off the aluminum Klipsch disk with no avail. I called Klipsh and they said they hadn't heard of this problem. One of the earlier replies described a process to disassemble the driver and pull felt hairs out of the throat. I followed the instructions, but the description was so different than what I had that I can only assume he had an earlier model (mine are from 86). Can anyone tell me: 1) why does Klipsh use felt in the mid driver? 2) Can anyone confirm having this problem with an 1986 vintage LaScalla mid-driver, and what his or her solution was? 3) Are there any other drivers out there better suited to the LaScalla that I can buy that don't have this problem? 4) When I take my driver apart, the diaphragm stays attached to the front half (that threads into the horn). It is stuck on fairly well. Is this a glue, or some kind of a cold "weld" from years of compression. In otherwords, how do I gently remove it for inspection purposes? I've seen no wear on the side of the voice-coil I can see, so I don't think that it's "blown" or missalligned. 5) When I look at the inside of the back half, there is a little black plastic plug with a few small holes in it. What does this do? I see no felt hairs or anything of the sort on the back half Recently, the other driver started making the same noise under the same circumstances, which has upped the pressure. I don't want to pay the $170.00 each for a new driver if mine really isn't "broken". I've looked at other drivers, but most have a titanium driver, as opposed to the klipsh phenolic. I assume that they would sound too bright. Is there a difference between a compression driver for PA and one for Hi-Fi? I do most of my own hi-fi work, so I'll try anything. I drive them with low-power tube amps (not to the point of clipping the output stage) so I'm confident they haven't been blown. I also have the wicker grill cloth across the front of the Mid- and Hi-, so I don't think any debris can get in that way. Thoughts? James J. Silver Spring, MD

Gentlemen, I have a similar problem with one of my K-55s on my LaScalla. It only appears (noticibly) on piano music. When I place my head behind the speaker, I can hear the metalic ringing/buzzing from the midrange driver. No doubt that it is coming from there!!! A few years back I took it apart and (very gently) went over what looked to be like a small rough spot on the coil with an emory board. It appeared to clear up, but I noticed it again last night. I'll follow the steps above, but can anyone tell me how to order a replacement driver or diaphragm from Klipsch? I couldn't find any info on their web site. Also, how tight is "too tight" to screw the driver back on. I'm certain that I didn't go overboard putting it back on, but I noticed that the decal on the back was not clocked in the up-down position like on the other speaker (I figure the factory is proud of this) which leads me to believe that it may be on tighter than the factory assembly. Any help will be appreciated. JJJ

Thanks for the help so far everyone. How about aftermarket woofers, like Selenium or EV? I ask because I suspect I can purchase them for less than a factory part. JJJ

Good People, Can anyone tell me how to get to my LaScalla woofers if (God Forbid!!) I ever had to replace them? As I was tinkering around with some amps that I'm building, I started worrying about the chance of blowing one out. I see no openings into the cabinet (other than the front). In fact I can't even reach into there far enough to reach the driver. All the joinery on the cabinet looks pretty perminent. Does the bottommost slab of plywood under the cabinet come off by chance? Thanks for the help. P.S. Anyone have any reccomendations for other drivers that improve the bass performance? Thanks. JJJ