Klipschorn AK Series Rewiring

[Deang]

I'm working on a rewiring kit for the AK Series Klipchorns. Kits for AL and AB "Series" of crossovers will also be available, but those are simple and straight-forward to deal with.

The AK, AK2, and AK-3 Klipschorns, as well their siblings, were wired using what has now become some very nasty green and sticky 10 AWG Monster Cable. Most of it has completely oxidized, and anyone thinking about replacing their networks is going to need to deal with this. It also becomes a requirement by default since all four of us use terminal strips, and the networks in question have everything soldered.

I want to write something up to help people get through this process without losing their minds.

I really don't want folks desoldering the wire from the drivers (tabs) due to the liklihood of damaging the diaphragms from excessive heat. Each driver has two tabs, so the thinking here is to simply cut the wire down close to the tab, and then use the vacant tab, connecting using a female disconnect. This is what I normally tell people to do, along with verifying the positive side for each driver by finding the Factory Mark, and doing something to make sure it's easily visible (I use a small piece of masking tape). BTW, this last bit goes for ALL crossover replacement work. The factory is capable of making a mistake from time to time, especially with the woofers.

At this point I'm looking for pointers and advice from those who have done this before. I'm especially interested in the different ways the network section on the door was bypassed.

This is to help people who want to do this but are a little gun-shy. There are a lot of people who do not like the idea of messing with their loudspeakers - but that wire is probably adding a half ohm of resistance - and new crossovers or not, it has got to go.

Any help here on this would really be appreciated.

[Schu]

In for more...

[Deang]

I kind of need some help here ... please ...

I need wire lengths:

K-77 to crossover

K-55 to crossover

K-33 to binding post on inside of door. This one is really important because the door needs to come off and allow room for work.

Binding posts on outside of door to crossover.

I would prefer a straight shot from the K-33 to the crossover, but that means removing a binding post, pulling the wire through the hole, and then sealing it. Thoughts?

[LarryC]

K-33 to binding post on inside of door. This one is really important because the door needs to come off and allow room for work

Right, and IMO allow enough to reach the door while it's resting on the floor on one edge, as opposed to having to hold the door while it's dangling in mid-air as you solder all the leads. It's been a while since I went through this with the AK-3, but I believe I replaced the long leads to the capacitors, too. Or maybe not.

Anyway, I think it all added up to over 20' for both sides. I did it with silver wire, btw. And if the AK-3 had jumpers, I replaced them with the same wire, too (I know I did that with my AK-4's.) Yes, I could hear the difference once the short little buggers broke in.

Edited May 2, 2014 by LarryC

[Schu]

sounds like he needs SPECIFIC LENGTHS for each section

Edited May 2, 2014 by Schu

[Max2]

I can help out a little Dean. I just did this conversion when I added your Super X 's doing away with my AK-2's.

I don't know cable lengths per say, but I can get some rough estimates.

On my bypass for the woofer: I just removed one of the fuse housings and added a rubber grommet. Just snip two wires and the fuse housing un-screws and slips out. The wire I used (twisted round 12 gauge) fits snug in the grommet with no air leakage and gives a direct signal from the woofer straight to the Network. Losing the Fuse may turn some off, but I have never hurt a driver in any of my speakers since 1986 and even if you did for some crazy reason its not going to break the bank. Others may choose to bypass in a little more professional way with female banana jumpers. An easy method for this would be to cut some new dog house covers and then add your pass through connection through it, preserving your old stock cover with the fuses. Im not going back stock and a direct wire path was more appealing to me than adding more jumpers in the path, so I wasn't concerned.

I will get a few pics and measurments tonight and post. I'm sure there will be some ideas thrown around that will help me improve on my current conversion.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Max2

[mboxler]

I cut the wires near the K-33's, and used female connectors to the other two tabs.

I made a replacement for the stock AK-2 bass terminal plate, that uses the original screw holes. This way I could use a passive or active crossover to the bass.

[Sprinter1104]

Dean,

Here are the lengths on my 78 Klipschorns:

K-77 to crossover. 18"

K-55 to crossover. 22"

Crossover to door. 47"

Door to K-33. 18.5" ( not a lot of slack with door removed)

[LarryC]

sounds like he needs SPECIFIC LENGTHS for each section

Absolutely correct. I'd have posted my measurements if I still had them, but haven't had AK-3's for several years. I was giving a kind of "heads-up on total length" without specifying details, and perhaps I should have said so. The original AK-4 kit contained pre-cut lengths of all the wiring needed, btw.

I was also cautioning that special demands need to be taken into account, rather than just measuring all shortest distances. The extra length to accommodate the bass bin door hanging to the floor was my example. I can't think of others, off-hand.

Edited May 3, 2014 by LarryC

[Max2]

I didn't run my wire over the crossover for the tweeter, I went around which made it longer, but I thought it looked a lot better. The wire was pretty heavy for 12 gauge anyway.

K77 wire 36"

K55 wire 20"

K33 wire direct 52" I could have gone an inch or two shorter

I guess your going to have to pick a wire and what routing path to take on the K77 run.

Apologies on the phone pics, not much light in my room.

[Deang]

Good stuff.

The bass bin is my greatest concern. It would be really nice if we had some standardized way of doing this that we all more or less agreed upon, and I totally agree with adding a few extra feet to reduce the possibility of any kind of stress on woofer tabs with the door off.

I prefer the idea of straight from the K-33 to the network, but with the pressures inside of that chamber, even with the grommet, it's hard to imagine getting an airtight seal without some adhesive.

The section with the fuse will be bypassed by default

I'm using the Supra tinned OFC (Classic 1.6) from Madisound, and you guys can laugh and shake your heads if you want, but it's as close as I can find to what PWK used, and there are some good reasons for using it. I'm looking for this type of wire from a commercial source, which should drop the price considerably.

Edited May 3, 2014 by DeanG

[bobdog]

Good stuff.

The bass bin is my greatest concern. It would be really nice if we had some standardized way of doing this that we all more or less agreed upon, and I totally agree with adding a few extra feet to reduce the possibility of any kind of stress on woofer tabs with the door off.

I prefer the idea of straight from the K-33 to the network, but with the pressures inside of that chamber, even with the grommet, it's hard to imagine getting an airtight seal without some adhesive.

The section with the fuse will be bypassed by default

I'm using the Supra tinned OFC (Classic 1.6) from Madisound, and you guys can laugh and shake your heads if you want, but it's as close as I can find to what PWK used, and there are some good reasons for using it. I'm looking for this type of wire from a commercial source, which should drop the price considerably.

Just use a pair of the binding posts as inputs into the woofer chamber. Unless the fuse needs to be kept (which does require reworking things a little but not too much) a pair of ring terminals can just be attached with nuts. If I recall there was solder on the connections which I had to melt before removing the original nuts from the binding posts. The wire does not have to be very long. The woofer is right there and the door is not far from the floor. As for a way everyone will agree on probably won't happen. Personally I prefer Speakon connections for any bulkhead type connection and would probably just cut a new cover and go that route next time.

[Deang]

I've been discussing a write up of sorts for this with Bob, since we both deal with it all of the time. So a way that doesn't intimidate the novice is preferred - and all of the needed parts would have to come with the rewiring kit.

I like the idea of using the existing binding posts, using new ring terminals, and the existing nuts, which is the most straightforward way of dealing with it. Then of course the long jumper from the outside of the door to the network. I almost prefer bare wire here, fed through the hole in the posts, and then tightened down real good.

What size ring tongues for the backside of the binding posts? RF-7s use #8.

[Deang]

"If I recall there was solder on the connections which I had to melt before removing the original nuts from the binding posts."

This part is interesting. Did they solder directly to the binding post?

[LarryC]

Schu, on 02 May 2014 - 4:49 PM, said: sounds like he needs SPECIFIC LENGTHS for each section Absolutely correct. I'd have posted my measurements if I still had them, but haven't had AK-3's for several years. I was giving a kind of "heads-up on total length" without specifying details, and perhaps I should have said so. The original AK-4 kit contained pre-cut lengths of all the wiring needed, btw.

Oops, I should have mentioned that specific lengths needed may differ by crossover, i.e., aren't AK-3's divided differently from AK-2's, etc.? If so, pre-cut lengths for one may not work for another. Might be best to measure for specific K-horns involved.

[bobdog]

"If I recall there was solder on the connections which I had to melt before removing the original nuts from the binding posts."

This part is interesting. Did they solder directly to the binding post?

I have a before pic. Give me a minute and I will post one.

[bobdog]

"If I recall there was solder on the connections which I had to melt before removing the original nuts from the binding posts."

This part is interesting. Did they solder directly to the binding post?

Hard to tell from the pic but the nuts would not come off without melting the solder. It was more than just the wires soldered to the ring terminals. There may not have even been terminals it was a few years ago and I can't remember for sure.

Edited May 4, 2014 by bobdog

[Max2]

Mine are soldered with the wire wrapped around the stud and the nut soldered too. It looks like it would take a lot of heat to try and remove them. Maybe you find someone to manu new plastic panels. Drill them and send them with some decent hardware and have a two piece K33 wire.

[bobdog]

Mine are soldered with the wire wrapped around the stud and the nut soldered too. It looks like it would take a lot of heat to try and remove them. Maybe you find someone to manu new plastic panels. Drill them and send them with some decent hardware and have a two piece K33 wire.

Not difficult at all. Not a lot of heat either. I hate to think that people might be scared to do this. If someone is able to run a screwdriver they will be able to run a nut driver. Just heat the nut with a soldering gun or pen, unscrew the nut and pull the wires off. A little desoldering rope will easily remove the left over solder. Maybe a 2 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10.

[jorjen]

Good stuff.

The bass bin is my greatest concern. It would be really nice if we had some standardized way of doing this that we all more or less agreed upon, and I totally agree with adding a few extra feet to reduce the possibility of any kind of stress on woofer tabs with the door off.

I prefer the idea of straight from the K-33 to the network, but with the pressures inside of that chamber, even with the grommet, it's hard to imagine getting an airtight seal without some adhesive.

The section with the fuse will be bypassed by default

I'm using the Supra tinned OFC (Classic 1.6) from Madisound, and you guys can laugh and shake your heads if you want, but it's as close as I can find to what PWK used, and there are some good reasons for using it. I'm looking for this type of wire from a commercial source, which should drop the price considerably.

Supra is great wire Deano. A good value as well. I love it too! Using it myself from VRD's to filters, in the filters and from there to all drivers.