ZINDA89

I first covered mine in a textured vinyl for $8 a roll and they ended up looking like a pro audio version of the heresy. I tore it off and started my oddessy and what I thought was a never ending refinish. My cabinets were badly neglected. All 4 sides were cupped to a point where I ended up sanding through the veneer trying to get them flat, level and maintain an even thickness. But I made sure to reinforce all corners, edges and seams, making them harder and more durable than they were new. No shortcuts, no worries of cost or time, I ended up finding out what worked as I went along. Here's some of my work. Grinding away the seams and corners. Then filling with crazy glue and baking soda, 1 drop at a time. This made them sealed (no possible way to end up with a crack in the paint) and reinforced the edges strength. It was tested by a nearby speaker rolling off a chair and bouncing on the ground while spinning it's sharp veneer edge hit the finished edge directly on the center of the seam edge. It chipped the paint but did not even ding the material. I did end up having to respray the entire cab to fix the chip. But I found out that what I did was worth the effort.

I can't totally agree that things are made better now than they were 30 years ago simply because anything that was built between 2000 and 2005 was doomed for failure due to the millions of improperly made capacitors that were used in just about everything. I've seen my share of good caps go bad in modern electronics even Panasonic and Elna brands almost daily I'm tearing something apart that's dated 2000 to 2013 with failed caps, but I have a stack of maybe 10 or more receivers from the 70s and 80s that I use daily and none of them have any bad caps in them. Infact I'll bet I could go to a Goodwill and buy 10 electronics devices dated after 2000 and make sure they all power up, take them apart and I'll see at least 3 with bad caps, and that's not including any monitors. If I picked out only monitors, half or more will have bad caps. I have a crt tv that I bought new in 1983, it still works, I tore apart a bunch of crt monitors that all worked back in 2010, bought a bunch of LCD and led monitors to replace them and over half of them had bad caps! I just tore open a power supply yesterday and all of the caps that were marked "low esr" were bad and no others had issues, I'm going to look for that board and post a picture of it. I had to laugh when I saw the low esr caps mentioned just hours after I saw those. Those are also the culprits that go bad in monitors, i replace them with regular caps and they have outlived the originals by 3 or 4 years now without any failures, those replacements were torn out of old vcrs and crt monitors and tvs from the early 80s to mid 90s they already were in use longer than the caps that they replaced and still work! There was mention of believing others that know more about things so they are to be believed based on that fact, let me ask 1 thing, do they have a vested interest in capacitor sales or parts? Because there is such a thing as a sales man, I'm not sure if you ever heard about these guys but they study up on the things they need to say to convince you to buy crap you don't really need and make it sound quite convincing since they are going to be making money from your purchase they have no interest in telling you anything other than their benefits even if they are marginal or even questionable. Because that's what they have to do to make money, they can be very convincing and even make you feel that you are completely wrong if you don't buy into what theyre telling you. That's what makes a great salesman, making you believe they're right and make you willing to argue their point even when it's been proven that what they are saying is simply opinions and when actual tests are conducted using different higher quality caps, in a controlled environment double blind tests show that people cannot hear the difference, it's nearly a guessing game at that point and the numbers cannot even be repeated. There's a sound engineer who heard of this craze when it started a few years back he has a web page and that tells how he wanted to test different caps that were labeled as superior sounding to others. So he built 4 identical crossover networks using different caps and mounted them outside of the cabinets. He then connected them through a ultra fast relay that can switch crossovers so quickly there is no lag in sound, meaning when they are changed there is no delay, it should just sound different when switched. The idea was to have people listen and tell when they heard the difference and which ones sounded the best. He had a stage and a remote to switch the relays all set up and was ready to test it out. He turns on the music gets into position and clicks the button and clicks the button and clicks the button? He figures the relays are not powered up because he didn't hear any differnce but when he walks closer to the speakers he can see the relays are working just fine! End of testing.

I would not even start stripping any paint off of old veneer, for what reason would you want to do this? What do you think the results are going to be? You'll never get clean untouched wood after it's been painted black! The veneer is too thin to even consided trying to save it. Paint soaks into the grain of the wood and will fill every single hole and sanding it off of a 1/16” thick surface is not going to leave you any veneer. On top of it all, as stated, if solvents are used they will simply loosen the glue and the veneer will peel off. Bottom line is, the cost of trying to save what is probably a bad veneer is going to take forever and cost more than simply peeling it off and redoing it right. Plus it will look 100 times better than you'll be able to get that old bad veneer to look no matter how much time and money you spend. Or you can sand it down to where the veneer is perfectly flat again, it might even need to sand right through it in spots just to get it all one height, then seal it prime it wet sand, prime again, check for flaws, then 20 or more coats of lacquer, wait a week then sand it to a mirror finish, start at 220 grit, then wetsand with 500, then 1000, then 2000, wait 2 days, then if no flaws appear, shoot 30 coats of clear gloss acrylic lacquer top coat, wait a week, wet sand with, 500, 1000, 2000 and then 3000. Wait 2 days look for flaws, find flaws, strip the entire thing and start over but this time grind all seams and edges away about 3/8" deep using a hard wheel on a grinder. Then rebuilt all seams corners and edges using crazy glue and baking soda, this seals everything and provides a durable tough as nails edge that will last forever. Grind it all flush with the wood and redo all prior steps that you just learned. After a few months of daily work (work on 1 cabinet, then leave it sit and do the other) and $300 to $500 you should end up with something that looks like this.

Just curious if anybody ever tests their capacitors before they replace them? So many are instantly telling others to change out their stock components with overpriced exact duplicates without ever knowing if the originals are out of value in the first place. Many times the caps are chosen by the manufacturers because they did extensive testing to find which ones perform well with those speakers. Tiny differences in internal resistance will affect the way they work. When the mention of not hearing any difference was stated, I have to say that I commend you for saying this since most others will never admit that fact and have made up their minds that since they spent a fortune on unneeded parts and spent the time doing it, their ears automatically hear a huge difference. I'm not sure if it's denial and don't want to admit they were taken or jumped on the band wagon just because it's a buzz right now. I have tested all my caps in my old speakers including series 1 & 2 Heresy's, Infinity, Polk, etc even tested a bunch of cheap speakers and have yet to find any that deviated at all from their marked values. Looks like your speakers turned out nicely, but is there even any Klipsch parts left? Seems like you could have just started from scratch and made your own cabinets and you would have saved $500 minus the cost of veneered plywood (last time I checked it was $53 a sheet for ¾"x4'x8' 10 ply oak veneer sheets available at Lowe's and home Depot). Plus you would have saved all the time and work prepping the surfaces, time spent looking for veneer, sandpaper and other stuff that went into the veneer job. You certainly have the skills to perform the task and you could have altered the cabinet size and shape to suit the speaker ideally, but most importantly you could say that it's your own design, because it would be. You'll get twice the satisfaction when you made the entire speaker, (even though you almost did just that) than simply replacing parts (albeit nearly every single part) out from some manufacturers cabinet. Just something to consider next time you want to start a project, even though it seems that you have plenty of cash to spend, that $500 could have gone into even better drivers, wires or a nice table saw, router/bits, sander etc..

This probably would be better if posted in the sales area, I have a set of series 2 I'm selling, they have a mirror piano black lacquer finish on them. I'm in the Phoenix az area

I have a pair of painted Heresey 2s, I think they look just fine, it all depends on who painted them.

Sorry about not posting where I'm at, I was having a hard time just getting the ad posted and all the info mentioned. I'm in the Phoenix, AZ area.

mirror finish? Yup!

I have a set of Heresy 2"s that I picked up with some bad cabinets, typical abuse, never oiled, water damaged, used as plant stands their entire life then out to the garage for more moisture to end up deforming them further. Although the Veneer was still 100% attached (very unusual since most with minimal abuse seem to have it peeling off in sheets} and it wasn't even that dinged up, it really needed to be redone or refinished in some manner. I originally checked out doing some quick black vinyl covering after a bit of leveling to the surfaces and thought it looked too much like a piece of band equipment, so I promptly removed it from the test speaker and rethought the entire thing over. Not wanting to make new cabinets and chance possibly changing the sound or making them undesirable to anyone who might eventually be interested in owning them in the future. I decided that there was no other option than to refinish them. After looking at veneers and getting a better idea of whats available and whats desirable, I realized that no matter what wood I choose they will never be universally acceptable to every environment or decor. So I was left with the one option of what I believe to be the only real universal finish that holds any amount of class and at the same time will fit any decor wether its classical, modern, contemporary etc.. I guess its not going to look right in a country rustic decor setting but then most with that type of decor are not as likely to be into fine audio gear (from my own experience). With my mind made up I ventured forward, this was not my first go round with the black lacquer paint finish. I had started some series 1's years ago and didn't have the time to execute the task properly and just needed to get my car back in my garage. I cut it short and ended up with what 90% of others have after they tried. So with left over supplies I did some smaller sized cabinets and they turned out quite nice with just about a weekends work on each project. Years later and no longer working 50-60 hours per week at a very hot physically and mentally demanding job, I found I finally had time to spend on a project, I ran across the previously mentioned pair of Heresy series 2's and cleared out a spot to get started. I immediately noticed the sides were not as flat as I thought they were from my vinyl covering. I took the time to get each side as flat as possible then then I encased one speaker entirely with an old box of tile grout I had left over from another project. this really worked out great, everything was looking extremely nice and nearly mirror smooth I have pictures of the grout surface shining and flat as a mirror. Then the second speaker was prepped and i had only enough grout to cover 1 side, I went to get more and found that grout 10 years ago is not the same grout made today! New grout is simply what used to be called spackel, spackel now is what used to be called chalk dust! So my plans changed and its a good thing they did, I needed to address some possible problems that might come about from corners, edges and most of all seams that could easily be chipped if not reinforced with something that is much stronger than wood or even grout plus be able to bond directly into the fibers of the wood making a complete sealed and strengthened edge. I tried a few bad ideas that others were doing including bondo and found it could be broken right off the corners with 2 fingers and minimal force. It just didn't stick to the wood and was impossible to work with. I saw molds others were using and felt that without some nails driven into the wood and having the heads sticking out there was no way it could ever work but still offered no real edge protection and absolutely no chance of a 100% seal across the 4 seams. I then came up with layering Crazy glue across the seams then adding baking soda to freeze the glue in place. This worked but I figured out after a while that I needed to have a better base that offered a harder surface for the glue to penetrate and grab onto. So I reluctantly ground away all my previous work and removed about 3/8" material across each seam (3/8" deep). I made sure to leave a v shaped groove so there was an area for the glue to settle into and build upon its self with each layer adding on about 1/16" more until it was built up and over the edges of the wood so I had something to grind away and end up level with the wood. This process was tedious, time consuming, costly (figure about 80 tubes of glue) but absolutely necessary to make this project look like I wanted it be. I ended up doing this to the rear side edges and back bottom edges as well after I noticed issues with water getting under the paint and swelling on the edges while I was wet sanding. Of course this meant stripping the entire speaker for the 3rd time to rebuild the edges and get things back in shape. Leveling, checking for dips and high spots along the edges and middle. After 250+ hours I had 1 speaker done! The next speaker was the one that was in better shape so I figured I had less to be concerned about and thought I could skip some of the more time consuming steps and found out that there was no other way to do this and after the 3rd stripping and starting over I knew that I was going to end up with something very different and much more than just a speaker, they have a look and feel of pieces of functional art, a smooth feeling when your hand slides across the surface and onto the edge and then down the side, as if its one solid piece of glass, no seams, nothing that resembles wood or the cabinet it was once. The sublime beauty is so simplistic, so timeless, so elegant, that viewing them you would never think of the difficulties and long hours of work that went into their creation. Seeing and feeling them is the only way to truly understand what I'm saying, even with all the luster, depth and shine, it's not until your hand feels the surface and glides across the finish, you will then fully appreciate them and understand that there are nice speakers and there are others that transcend what we know as speakers and have become works of art in their own right. It's truly amazing what can be accomplished when you have a dream and combine a pile of money and add a huge amount of time and effort towards that dream. I was tempted to stop and just make my own cabinets each and every day I was working on them, 2 months of 10 hour days, but I know that if it was easy everyone would have a set like this, that's what sets this pair apart from all others. All caps were tested using my fluke 85 and not 1 deviated from the marked value even .001uF! All horns were disassembled and washed, the diaphragms were inspected under a ten power magnifying lens to ensure no defects to the surface or wires, screws were tightened properly and the inside of the cabinets were given a coat of silicone sealant along all seams. the woofers were freshened up with a very light coat of water based flat black paint to give the appearance of new looking cones. Feet of different heights were added to the bottoms and can be interchanged with your own set if you dont care for the incline I have provided. I was going to use adjustable levelers but the insert piece needed would have required a hole about 3/8" to 1/2" to fit the threaded part required for those type of legs. I felt that was far too intrusive and opted for a 1/8" (basically invisible) screw hole with screws about 2.5" long to ensure they would never have a chance of coming loose and tearing up the wood. I have to say that at $1,000 for the pair I'm going to be ending up losing money on this set and my time will be basically free, I have kept all receipts as I went along and the grand total is shocking, but that's my own fault for working with this speaker, I feel that they could be worth much more but I need to sell them so I can get on to the next project, I think that anyone who is looking for a rare and unique speaker that has potential to be the center of attention and the talking point of every gathering even when their are much more costly better sounding pieces in the same area should definitely be interested in this set. Just last week I went ahead and shot 10 more layers of clear on them and polished them both when I thought I had a local buyer, he wanted to prepay using pay pal but I am not accepting any pay pal payments, he wanted me to deliver last weekend and was ready to pay cash, when I tried to set a time for delivery, he never replied back!

im new to the site and just finished up restoring a set of heresy 2's in piano black lacquer, all original parts were used, I did not make new cabinets and reused every original part in the restoration. Of course I got rid of the ugly walnut veneer look and went with a timeless and less traveled path of the true furniture grade piano black lacquer finish to set this pair a step up from all others. When i went to upload images I got tons of errors and the first set I was started on simply disappeared on me and I was trying to delete 3 of the pictures since they were not even part of the group, It would not allow me to delete them and also had errors on 3 others I needed to get uploaded to show the process. It failed numerous times and there was no way of deleting them either. then I started all over uploaded a bunch more added comments and had a few that failed to upload so I tried a few more times and next thing I know the page closes and my pictures and an hours work are gone but then I see my first set of unfinished pictures which I had several of the wrong ones still stuck in that group have suddenly been posted! of course only the ones I really didnt even want to post showed up but most of the good shots did not even post. so how do i get rid of the ones i tried to delete and what happened to my second set of good finished pictures i spend hours getting ready to post? I see there's a bunch of blank images posted now from the first set which should never have even been uploaded, but the second set I hit upload all images and it took me to a page that said there was an error?!? thats when i saw the first set that I never even tried to post. I never clicked to submit any of them but they all made it? how can this be?