greg928gts Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) 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 Edited April 13, 2015 by greg928gts 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Looks like a cat scratching pole. I'm sure they'll purty up nicely with you pulling the levers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) Greg, did you move to TN or are you still in Maine looking forward to the pictures of your build as always. Edited April 13, 2015 by Budman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) I'm having a heck of a time adding webpage links to this post, can someone help me? Greg On your keyboard - 1) copy the webpage link - 2) hold the CTRL key , then press the key V - that will copy the link over to the forum page - Edited April 13, 2015 by Randyh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 IN... GL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 IN... GL. sorry - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks, all set with the links. Something weird was happening. Still in Maine. Not happy about it. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Thanks, all set with the links. Something weird was happening. Still in Maine. Not happy about it. Greg super high taxes - right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) I got a good start on them today. More here: http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Greg Edited April 14, 2015 by greg928gts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I got a good start on them today. More here: http://www.klipschupgrades.com/2015khorn.shtml Greg Greg - what is the wood filler you use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 I got a good start on them today. More here: 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) 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 Edited April 17, 2015 by greg928gts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 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 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OO1 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I got a good start on them today. More here: 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 thanks for the info -that wil help - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted May 20, 2015 Moderators Share Posted May 20, 2015 I may have missed it, but have you chosen what the finish will be yet? Will you be stripping the veneer Greg or trying to save the original. Disregard, post above says new Rosewood veneer. I think Gilbert was asking about rosewood veneer here recently, he may be interested in that. Do you use iron in or with adhesive? Guess I could just be patient and wait And see the progess. Safe journey to and from your show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted June 8, 2015 Author Share Posted June 8, 2015 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 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 (edited) 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 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! Edited June 8, 2015 by muel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stump Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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