emmvette Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I bought these from the original owner, who I am glad to have met, a very nice gentleman. They are a pair of consecutive walnut '78s. He bought them new in Atlanta along with a McIntosh C-32 and MC2205. The components are all original including the AA crossovers. They had not been used in a while and had been moved several times, and not too carefully. You can see by the following pics they need some TLC, which I am planning to give them. " " I hooked them up yesterday to listen to them while I started cleaning them up. Everything works, and they sound great hooked up to my $7 Goodwill Marantz 2220b. At 20 watts per channel, they will run you out of the room. When I have more time, I'd like to hook them up to my Carver M-1.0t and see how they sound. I'm listening to them on the pallets, right next to each other; I can only imagine how they will sound properly placed in the corners of a nice room. So far yesterday I took the side grills off, wiped them down, vacuumed the grills and backs, and oiled them with a mix of 30% BLO and mineral spirits. I rubbed this in with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Then today I oiled them with 80% BLO and mineral spirits. They are much improved, and it is amazing how many of the scuffs and scratches disappeared. The grain is beautiful! " Now I need to decide how to approach the missing veneer. I don't have experience veneering, but I'm not afraid to try. I only want to replace the thin horizontal strips that have the missing patches. I'm concerned that if I get new walnut veneer it won't match. Maybe I can get some and test oiling it vs staining it first, then oiling. Any suggestions? I've also considered making a slice just to the right of the missing area and just replacing the 3" - 5" strip that is missing. My gut is that this can't be done well enough to look good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Some new edge banding might cover up most of the bobos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtkinney Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I would agree with the edge banding. Get some extra and start experimenting with different stains until you find a good match. Be careful with the BLO where you need to glue veneer to, so it will stick. Your's look almost exactly like mine, enjoy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Wow... seeing these pics makes me wonder what (if any) improvement might be had with my 22-year old Fortes; they are oiled oak, and in very good condish, but the lustrous grain you have improved and brought out is astonishing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 ...I am constantly amazed by how owners have let these speakers degrade over the years; if I were fortunate enough to own K-Horns, I would never let them deteriorate to this condition. It is good to know that this pair now has a good home with someone who obviously cares... I'm sure you will enjoy them, both aesthetically and acoustically, for many years to come... BTW, I ran my Fortes for years with the same model Carver amp you own; I will be curious to hear your impression of the match after you give it a try... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tromprof Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Applying edge banding is quite easy, even if you have not done it before. Find of make some scrap to practice on first though. There are also some videos available online that can help with the technique. Good luck and congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It looks like he did fine with the edge-banding, as his post in the 2-channel form displays. Beautiful work, and I would love to hear how they sound - even with the "one and a half" corners he is using in his listening room. I am cursed with only "half" a corner in mine, as I have a window too-close to one corner, and no corner at all available for the other channel (the wall opens into a hallway). I'm sure my wife would be glad to know that it is this room feature alone that has prevented me from going K-Horn... my Fortes will have to do for now, as they have for the past 22 years (although I am still on the lookout for that perfect deal on a pair of La Scalas []) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 It looks like he did fine with the edge-banding, as his post in the 2-channel form displays. Beautiful work, and I would love to hear how they sound - even with the "one and a half" corners he is using in his listening room. I am cursed with only "half" a corner in mine, as I have a window too-close to one corner, and no corner at all available for the other channel (the wall opens into a hallway). I'm sure my wife would be glad to know that it is this room feature alone that has prevented me from going K-Horn... my Fortes will have to do for now, as they have for the past 22 years (although I am still on the lookout for that perfect deal on a pair of La Scalas []) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Sorry, triple post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Sorry, double post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmvette Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 I bought some edgebanding at my local store yesterday, so I'll get the edgebanding off one top hat and then clean the glue off and put on the new one and trim. I won't have much time, but will hopefully be able to post some pics by next weekend. The trick will be figuring out how to match the stain. I'll play around with the special walnut and gunstock that Marshall recommends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmvette Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 OK, I had a little time to work on the first top hat. It wasn't too hard. I used an iron to heat the existing veneer edgebanding then a chisel to scrape it off. It easily pulled off. Here it is after scraping and before cleaning. Next I used the chisel to scrape off as much of the glue as I could. Then I lightly sanded it to clean it up. I used 150 grit paper. I wiped it down with mineral spirits to get as much of the remaining old glue off as possible, and to clean it up. It was nice and smooth at this point. So I left it sit for a couple hours then ironed on a new piece of walnut edgebanding, starting in the middle by tacking it in place with the iron. I held the iron in place for about 10-12 seconds then moved over and used a roller to push on it and make sure it was hard against the wood. On the first try I acidently left the steam of the iron on and ruined that piece of veneer as I tacked it in place. I removed it, cleaned up the glue and started over with a fresh piece. After a few hours I trimmed the excess banding off with a razor blade. I bought a trimmer for this purpose, but it didnt' trim close enough, so I did the final trimming by hand with a razor blade. Then I went over the edges, very carefully, with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a small piece of wood, to blend the new veneer in with the old. This worked well and I was able to round the corners a little so they matched the other parts of the speaker. I used the ruined piece to test the stain and match it up. I ended up using 4.5 teaspoons of the Miniwax "Gunstock" and 2 teaspoons of the "Special Walnut" mixed together, then coating it twice about 5 - 10 minutes apart. I let it dry overnight and oiled it with BLO. Here is the fixed part. It looks much better and the match is good enough that it wouldn't be noticed unless it was pointed out. And I'm guessing that with a little time and a little more boiled linseed oil, the match will get better. One more pic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmvette Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 The top hat I redid in the photos above is the speaker on the left in the first picture. You can see my job is not perfect, but I am very pleased with it. The biggest issue is that I choose to ignore the slight blemish in the top left corner - right above the edgebanding. This small chip is not very noticeable now and I don't think would have been worth the effort to try to fix it because the top would have had to be redone. At this point I have about $25 in veneer, an edgeband trimmer, and stain, and I'll have enough left over for several other jobs. Not bad. I would like to thank previous posters as most of this I learned from reading those before me. Also joewoodworker is a helpful site. I have not done the veneer work before - the job mostly takes patience, so don't be afraid to try if you have some speakers that need a little TLC. BTW, I'm hoping these can stay in my house, I really like them. Wifey, if you read this, pretty please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironsave Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hey; those look REALLY good. Nice work. My Heresies were about the same. I was able to fill the missing veneer and stain to match. Not perfect either; but it adds character. Most do not even notice. To me; I am glad I was able to rescue them; and that I appreciate them as they deserve...... Here is hoping the Wifey agrees to let them stay!!!!! [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 Looks MUCH better, great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted January 12, 2011 Share Posted January 12, 2011 You did a nice job with that. I can attest to how difficult it is to match walnut edgebanding to the veneer on Khorns. The one pair I tried it on? I gave up and re-veneered the entire cabinet! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmvette Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 BTW, I'm hoping these can stay in my house, I really like them. Wifey, if you read this, pretty please. Boy did I get a lot of grief about these sitting in the corners of the living room. My wife was gone for the weekend, she had seen them at the shop where I was working on them, but when she came home, they had been finished and moved to the living room. It was kind of a joke, but of course I was hoping they could stay. I told her the Heresy speakers just grew overnite, you know like those dried out sponges when you add water.... Finally after them sitting there a few weeks and me listening to them she turned them on yesterday while I was gone. When I came home she told me that she was really able to notice how nice they sound. OK, they are keepers, but they won't stay in the living room, which is fine with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angusruler Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 nice job! what a difference between the first picture, then the later pics after you cleaned and oiled them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrapladm Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 You made it look so easy. I suck at veneering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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