greg928gts

I haven't done a good job of keeping up with updating this thread. I've completed this project and these speakers have sold. $13,500 Page one of the restoration - http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Last page with all the pretty pictures - http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn3.shtml Greg

I would have thought you would be limited to iron on or contact cement for re-veneering jobs (where the cabinet is already built). I'm really confused by what appears to be the bass horn in a vacuum bag. I've never seen more than panels put in a vacuum bag... how do you keep it from being crushed? The amount of force in those things is amazing! The bass horns have enough structure inside to keep them from crushing. I did have to use panels to cover the side horn outlets to keep the bag from imploding into them. I used the blank panels that I made the side grill frames from to cover those openings. The modified bass horn just barely fits into the bag I have. If I had plans to do these on a regular basis, I would order a bag with a removable top frame. Greg

The Klipsch Upgrades webpage has been updated again. I'm spraying lacquer on them right now, and next up will be the black back paint. Greg

I figured that if I was going to do this much work to these, I should put something really nice on for the veneer. Rosewood is such a great veneer for Khorns, with those big fronts, the elegance and formality of the finish really shows well. For me, iron-on veneer is very limited these days - to areas that are not able to be done in a vacuum bag. The difference in quality level of a veneered panel done in a vacuum bag as compared to iron on, is night and day. Same with the spray lacquer finishes I'm applying today - compared to spray bombing! I'm looking with such a critical eye these days, that I'm somewhat embarrassed by my past work and not sure if I'll ever be completely satisfied with my future work. Greg

I've made some progress on this project over the last few weeks, so I've updated the webpage and I've included a couple of photos here. I cut the plywood for the tophats and the backs are all enclosed now. Getting ready to put the cabinets in the vacuum bag to install the front 1/4" smoothing panel. Waiting for the rosewood veneer to arrive. Greg

I wonder if the 402 could be veneered in wood? Greg

I think I bought this from a forum member, not sure. It was about 10 years ago and I had it shipped to NOSValves for a rebuild. It works great and looks nice too. The wood case has a few little issues, but still nice. Used it off and on over the years. It sounded fantastic on my Khorns. Will be packed really well for shipping. $600 obo plus shipping Greg

Greg, It was great meeting you and the Vittora speakers sounded great. One of the guy in the audience said it best after listening to a jazz recording: "I am a drummer and I know what at drum kit sounds like in Carnegie Hall and THAT is what a drum kit sounds in Carnegie Hall!" Despite it being a challenging room to setup in, everything sounded great. It was nice meeting the $200 Belle guy too! Glad you liked it. We made a great sound all weekend and I sold a set of Vittoras there, which doesn't always happen. The room was challenging alright. When I first walked into it I clapped my hands and my heart sunk as I listened to the echo chamber. We proceeded to hang the show table cloths up all around the room and that killed the echo. Next problem was the square room and getting two of the Volti Extended Low Frequency cabinets tuned in with the least amount of bass nodes around the room. Gawd that was awful. Next problem was we had a slight buzzing in the system, which turned out to be the reostats controlling the lights in the room. The hotel got us some lamps to use and we kept the overhead lights off. We endured the recessed light cans buzzing all weekend, although I don't think anybody really noticed it but us. A couple of folded up business cards stopped the lights on the wall outside of our room from buzzing. At least I'll know what to do next year. Greg

I'll be at AXPONA again this year. Friday is busy but not too bad, Saturday is crazy, and Sunday is usually the quietest day. Volti Audio will be in the Dearborn room on the lobby level. We'll have a set of Vittora speakers, powered by a S20 BorderPatrol amplifier, with a Well Tempered Lab turntable, and all cabling by Triode Pete of Triode Wire Labs. Greg

I'm heading to Chicago and the AXPONA audio show where I'll be showing the Volti Audio Vittora speakers. So I won't be working on this project until the end of May. I'll post more pics then. Greg

First coat sanded and another coat of epoxy applied. I know this project has been a little tedious to this point, but things will start getting more exciting when I cut some plywood. Baltic Birch has been ordered and will be delivered next week. More detail on the project webpage http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Greg

Greg - what is the wood filler you use Most of the time I use epoxy fillers and glues. Sometimes I use auto-body fillers, it depends on the situation. If I know the area being repaired is going to be covered with plywood (like 1/8" smoothing panel for the veneer), the auto-body filler is fine, but if I know the repair will be directly below the veneer, I prefer epoxy because it is more stable (shrinking/expanding). Greg

I got a good start on them today. More here: http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Greg

Thanks, all set with the links. Something weird was happening. Still in Maine. Not happy about it. Greg

Hi everyone, It's been a long time since I have posted a thread on a speaker restoration project. I've chosen to include it here in the Two-Channel section of the forum because it's my favorite part of the forum, so I hope the Moderators will allow it to remain here and not move it to the more contentious Technical/Mods section. I hope you all enjoy watching this project from start to finish. Please feel free to comment, suggest, critique, or endorse as it progresses. The subject speakers were once a pair of Walnut/Oil Khorns with ugly cloth that I purchased for a few hundred dollars. The owners contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in purchasing them. The speakers belonged to their father, and when he died, nobody knew what to do with these huge speakers. They were in really rough shape when I got them. I could have restored them as I've done many times before, where I repair the wood issues, re-veneer, re-paint, re-cloth, and finish them as they were originally - maybe with a snazzier veneer. But I thought it would be nice to enclose the backs of these as I did with the "FLKhorn" restoration I did years ago. I believe that properly enclosing the backs of Khorns means NOT making the horn smaller. If I were to install 3/4" plywood "within" the outer limits of the existing cabinets, that would mean the last part of the bass horn mouth would become smaller by that 3/4" thickness. I think the better way to enclose the backs is to attach the 3/4" plywood to the outside of the existing cabinet structure, which maintains the exact horn size. But this means that the cabinets "grow" in size by the thickness of the plywood used, and then the tophat pieces need to be made larger to keep everything fitting tightly into the room corners. See the "FLKHorn" restoration webpage for more info. So as I thought about the work that I did before to increase the size of the existing tophat pieces on the "FLKhorns" and the end result of adding those pieces on and how they "shadowed" through the veneer, I made the decision to simply make new tophat pieces for this project. When building enclosed backs for Khorns, the existing side grill frames are no longer usable and new frames need to be made. I'm planning to replace all of the old components with new Volti Audio upgrades. So here's what this all comes down to - there's not much of the original speakers that I'm going to use! This is why I am starting this "restoration" project with just the raw, stripped down bass horns from the original speakers, and I'll build everything else up from those as new. So is this really a restoration, or a new speaker build? I'll let you decide, but either way I hope you enjoy watching the progress. http://www.klipschupgrades.com/flkhorn.shtml http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Greg

Volti will be there next year, teaming up with NOSValves. I'll probably bring the Vittoras. Greg

Darn it, sorry, just too many people to remember everyone. Thank you for the kind words. Did you get the "Yellow Experience"? Greg

Justin, did you go to the show? Greg

I'll be there with the Vittora system, BorderPatrol Audio electronics and Triode Wire Labs cabling. Greg

It was my pleasure. The look on your face at the end of "Long Road Out Of Eden' was priceless. I'm glad you enjoyed it. See you next year. Greg

You can only see your own. If you want to see what a warning point actually looks like, post some porn. Kidding!!! Geez, I thought I was special. Greg

Well if your coming through Nebraska anytime soon for a audio show or something. Throw them on the trailer and bring em by, I would be more then happy to give you a couple of dollars for those things. But then again that just may defeat the purpose of you not wanting to move them. But hey its worth a shot. I always ship my stuff to the shows. Throw them on a trailer is not exactly how it goes anyway! I might have to bring them to TN, and from there I think I can sell them a lot easier. Shipping on those things would be very expensive. Greg

Baxter, just a few miles outside of Cookeville, one hour East of Nashville on I40. Been debating about selling my MCM system. It would make a good system for an outdoor event on the new Volti property (20 acres). But I'd have to move it and store it. It was cool having it in the shop when the shop was basically a man cave. But things have become more serious. Greg Greg

Those look fine, you should try them first before buying other adapters. More than likely you'll end up with 2" outlet drivers anyway. Greg

Tell us more (where you moving to?) Hey Richard, long time. This is the year for my wife and I to complete the transition from our home building business to manufacturing. Volti can operate anywhere, since it's an online business, so we've been looking all over for the last three years. TN just had the right mix of what we were looking for. Natural beauty, conservative politics, good place to do business, the third freest state in the U.S., centrally located so Volti can be more than just an online business, low cost of living, and even if we get a little snow in Baxter, it doesn't mean I have to shovel it! The only bad so far is the real fear I have of stumbling/tired out of my shop late one night and finding a critter that is capable of killing me curled up on the warm pavement outside my shop door. Greg Oh, like Maine doesn't have bear ... and moose... and chicks that don't shave (don't ask me about the last one, I lived in Brunswick for a while). It's all true. Greg