How expensive is replacing the woofer on a Klipschorn speaker? How can it be done?

[LeoG]

Hello guys,

Brief resume: The woofer in one of the used KHorn speakers I've purchased on eBay doesn't work. I am wondering how can I check what's wrong, and how expensive is it to repair the speaker that otherwise looks absolutely fine...

The story itself:

I've purchased a pair of used Klipschorns on eBay, advertised as fully functional and in almost pristine condition. I've received them yesterday, and the speakers really look perfect. The packaging was completely intact, and it was done diligently, so it is rather improbable that smth. was damaged on the way, especially given that it was packaged so well and there are no visible defects, the item is very heavy, and freight delivery was used.

One of the speakers works fine, and on the other one both the midrange driver and the tweeter do work, but the woofer is silent. If you disconnect the circuitry for these two, the speaker gets silent. I've immediately realized that smth, is wrong because sound form that speaker was somewhat hollow...

Now the questions:

1. How do I diagnose the whole thing? Is there anything there to get damaged besides the woofer itself?

2. How do I repair it, and how much can it cost? Any advice on whom to turn to? At this stage I do not want it to become an endless DIY, because I need to resolve the matter somehow with the seller. (He might not be aware of the defect if he's not a 2-channel fan or has inherited the speakers, saw that they were working and sold them...)

Thanks a lot in advance!
leo

[PrestonTom]

Well, let's rule out some simple things first.

It sounds like you have visually inspected the connections from the crossover to the drivers.

Grab a voltmeter and see if you measure any resistance between the the wires going to the woofer bin. The resistance should be on the order of a few to several Ohms (same as the other cabinet). If it measures "open" then open up the woofer bin and check the connections to the driver (both visually and electrically). In some cases, there might actually be a fuse in-line with the woofer

BTW, if you do open up the woofer bin, you should probably clean and replace the gasket on the bin.

Not to worry, even in the worst case, the drivers are readily available and not that expensive.

[GreenGardens]

The good news is you still have one good speaker to help diagnose and swap parts to figure out what's messed up. After you play around with your K-horns, you will find that it is pretty easy swap out parts and get to what where need.

Check all the connectors, with travel something might have come loose.

You could put a speaker wire from your woofer out on the bad speaker's crossover to the other speaker's woofer and vice versa to rule out any crossover network problems. You can also check your "bad" woofer from the good crossover doing this method.

The good news is you probably paid around $2000 for your pair... even if you decided to upgrade your crossovers and both woofers and other parts, you will still be at what $2500-$3000 for a good as new or maybe "better" setup.

If it is a woofer, you could probalby pick up another K-33E or whatever 15 inch woofer it has for cheap ($100 to $200 shipped) or just buy a pair of Crites replacement woofers (around $300 shipped per pair) so they are guaranteed to sonically match. I personally wouldn't worry about reconing or working on the existing speaker unless it is a solder point or something really cheap and easy. If ending up with a bad woofer and/or the good woofer as spare parts, they are worth money on Ebay or the Garage Sale.

Since the cabinets are in good shape, that is the biggest concern, you got a steal! New k-horns are $8000/pr... and they are well worth that.

[Cut-Throat]

Yeah, I'm guessing that it's not a woofer problem, but something else. As the above said it may be the crossover or wiring to the driver. Also on a lot of Khorns there is a fuse inside the woofer cabinet and this could be bad. As well, as loose wiring to the woofer itself.

Woofers are fairly robust, so it's more than likely something else.

Let us know what you find.