klipsch klf-20 loose front and back panels

[Peter P.]

I repaired a pair of speakers doing something similar.

 

My repair took a bit longer because I would lay a bead of whatever glue I used on only one of the four sides. Then I would set the speaker on

blocks so the glued seam was facing up much like using V-blocks, hoping gravity would cause the glue to flow into the seam. After the recommended drying period,

I would rotate the speaker and glue the next seam.

 

I did all four sides of the front baffle, then all four sides of the rear baffle.

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19 hours ago, adam2434 said:

I found a few threads that talk about melamine on the KLF's being the cause of the loose baffle issue.  Here is one of them:

https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/144757-issues-with-klf-20/

 

The first pic in the earlier post today shows that both the front and back baffles have a black interior surface in that speaker.

 

I'm thinking that the black coating in that pic is the black melamine mentioned in the thread I linked above.  If this is true, mine simply don't have the black melamine, so should not have the loose baffle issue...at least that's what I'm hoping.  🙂

 

sounds like some KLFs used melamine & some didnt,  but the melamine is not the cause of the loose boards, its the glue.  KG4.5 & 5.5 had the loose board issues too & they did not use melamine, or at least none of the 4 or 5 pairs ive owned had it & i cant say ive ever heard of or seen it used in that era of KG's.  as moray james expained in that link, it was defective glue that caused the issues. 

 

in that thread one guy said he used PL premium to fix his loose boards with melamine, that is the contruction adhesive i mentioned & it will adhere to melamine from everything ive heard, but gorilla glue is even better because it expands somewhat & will get into gaps or voids better than a normal glue or adhesive will.   

 

do some testing i explained earlier & if you dont hear a vibration on bass beats or can see the front/rear boards move when pushing on them from inside chances are they are good & dont have the issue. 

 

[adam2434]

I interpreted Moray's statement below to mean that the adhesive that was specifically designed for the melamine had the the issues.  So, if the panels did not have melamine, seems like Klipsch would use standard their standard wood glue, which I would think would not have adhesion issues.  Who knows though?  This is ~25 years ago, so the story is probably difficult to reconstruct.

 

I may run a series of bass test tones, maybe 20 to 200 Hz and see if I get any panel vibration.

 

Thanks,

 

Adam

[OO1]

15 minutes ago, adam2434 said:

 So, if the panels did not have melamine, seems like Klipsch would use standard their standard wood glue, which I would think would not have adhesion issues.

The problem was not the quality of the glue , but the assembly process , and the insufficient  Amount of glue that was applied to bond  the panels , and the fact that the speakers were built at a very fast pace by the Hope Factory ,  which lead to quality issues later on  .

[adam2434]

20 hours ago, RandyH said:

The problem was not the quality of the glue , but the assembly process , and the insufficient  Amount of glue that was applied to bond  the panels , and the fact that the speakers were built at a very fast pace by the Hope Factory ,  which lead to quality issues later on  .

So the bad melamine-specific glue highlighted in the attached post was not the problem?  

 

I have read about this bad melamine-specific glue in a few places.

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i have read/heard it was the glue itself, whether designed for melamine or what they used on raw wood.  when i had a pair of KG5.5 repaired by klipsch in the late 90's i was told by my local klipsch dealer manager i was friends with that handled my out of warranty claim that klipsch told them it was defective glue, he said they had lots of problems with these models of KLF & KG & ive even heard of it on some of the EPICS. 

 

my KGs had the glue literally gobbed on so heavily it was running down the seams & pooling at the bottom...  ive owned 4 other sets of big KGs & they all had heavy glue visible from the inside covering all seams,  i doubt it was an "insufficient amount" of glue.  quality issues with assembly probably had a big role in it too but the glue amount was more than sufficient.  

 

heres a pic of the glue used inside some tangent 400 i have here that were made during this same era... notice how heavy its applied, looked exactly the same if not more in all the KGs ive owned, yet more than one pair had loose boards & no melamine.  

[OO1]

2 hours ago, adam2434 said:

So the bad melamine-specific glue highlighted in the attached post was not the problem?  

 

I have read about this bad melamine-specific glue in a few place

Melamine is nothing  new in the  speakers industry ,and even less the glue used with melamine  , but  the klipsch Hope Factory wood shop was not geared for  Melamine and pressed wood  in the manufacturing process .

 

klipsch's answer was for low end  speakers  to be contracted out as it  was too expensive to build them at the Hope Factory and turn a profit , these  were built by a different  outfit and the build quality was very ordinary , needless to say , these low wend klipsch  series did not last  .

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35 minutes ago, RandyH said:

Melamine is nothing  new in the  speakers industry ,and even less the glue used with melamine  , but  the klipsch Hope Factory wood shop was not geared for  Melamine and pressed wood  in the manufacturing process .

 

klipsch's answer was for low end  speakers  to be contracted out as it  was too expensive to build them at the Hope Factory and turn a profit , these  were built by a different  outfit and the build quality was very ordinary , needless to say , these low wend klipsch  series did not last  .

 

why wasnt the klipsch hope factory geared for pressed wood?? where did you hear models of this era like KG, KLF, EPIC etc werent made in hope? 

 

klipsch used the same "pressed wood" for many different models after they stopped using plywood.  fortes, quartets, chorus, epic,  etc etc used pressed MDF & as far as i know they were all made made at the hope factory. 

 

it was the bad glue they used for a short time that caused the cabinet issues, for melamine or raw wood.   

[OO1]

some  klipsch speakers were   manufactured by WWR  ,

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some? which ones?  the professional models you show?  are professional or KLF considered "low end speakers"??

 

your previous post implied the KLF & KG we are discussing here with loose boards werent made in hope because the factory wasnt "geared for pressed wood"    just curious where you got that info from regarding KLF/KG & loose boards.   

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