Mono Powered Heresy Project Thread

[twk123]

I am excited to do my first real project thread here on the Klipsch forum and am stoked on this idea I have had in my head for almost a year now. There has been a HIP sitting on Craigslist here in UT about 10 min from my house that I have been eyeing as a possible center for my LaScalas. Then I ended up building a boombox from scratch for my Brother's birthday in July and realized I can take the same internal amp and battery pack and apply it to the high efficiency Klipsch speakers instead of the full range drivers the boombox had. In effect, I am going to turn a HIP into a powered mono speaker similar to the Groove. So last Saturday after I sold some speakers in my closet I met the guy at a storage facility and brought home this road worn HIP with more stories than I would ever know in a lifetime. I plan to strip the cab of the aluminum trim and paint over the fiberglass with Camo tan rattle can truck bed liner then spray the trim with black liner as well.

 

I figure this project generally has 3 phases:

 

1. Teardown

2. Restore Cab and repaint

3. Build internals and possible crossover mods.

[twk123]

1. Teardown.

 

My first task was to completely disassemble the speaker into individual components to be cleaned and refinished. This speaker had taken a beating and was pretty rough but the components were in good shape. The mounting plate the woofer was attached to had some damage as well and a new one will need to be fabricated.

 

Here are some initial photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Googled "KCRX" and got back a Classic Rock radio station in Oregon, I think they may have been the previous owners.

 

 

 

[twk123]

I began by removing the screws that held the metal trim and taking off section by section and labeling each one with a marker. I always put each type of screw into different ziplock bags so I can remember how to put it back together.

 

HIP with no armor:

 

Keeping it all organized:

 

View of internal components:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Honeybadger]

The title says it all.

 

My kind of thread, lots of pictures for those of us that don't read the articles.

[twk123]

Here are some more shots of the components.

 

The HIE crossover looks interesting. I have read different things on other threads on if the caps need to be replaced. I think I will probably replace them with Dayton Audio ones and maybe re-balance the networks to tone down the Mid and Tweeter as they run really hot for pro use:

 

 

K-77 Square Magnet Tweeter

 

 

The K-55 Mid range compression driver looked very familiar from the back of my LaScalas:

[twk123]

Here is the damage to the motor board plate which holds the woofer grill. I suspect this speaker was dropped as the woofer was basically hanging loose on its fasteners. I am going to replicate a new one using a router and jig:

 

 

Pro Tip: Keep your Amazon Prime boxes. You can always find some old ones that fit just right for a project and its nice to be able to pack all the components away when you are not working. Also, cats have an amazing sense to tell if your caps have dried out or not.

 

 

 

 

[twk123]

Here is the serial number from the back of the woofer. It looks like the speaker was made in 1983 which happens to be the same year as my LaScalas:

 

 

[DizRotus]

Please keep posting your progress.

[jjptkd]

Funny I seen that listing before my trip to Montana, had it been a pair for sale instead of a single would have talked the wife into little a detour.. I love the sound of the HIP, planning on my own custom build here soon, have already started collecting parts.

[fromnowon]

Those are very cool.  I love the ruggedness of them.

[twk123]

10 hours ago, jjptkd said:

Funny I seen that listing before my trip to Montana, had it been a pair for sale instead of a single would have talked the wife into little a detour.. I love the sound of the HIP, planning on my own custom build here soon, have already started collecting parts.

 

If you are in UT in the near future you should check out these KP 3002's down in American Fork:

I am not sure if its $200 each or for the set but either way its a pretty good deal.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=218&ad=41486843&cat=&lpid=1&search=klipsch&ad_cid=7

 

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, DizRotus said:

Please keep posting your progress.

 

 I am gluing the loose parts of the cab now and will have more photos soon. I need to scrub everything with degreaser as the woofer gasket has gotten pretty gross after 30 years.

 

 

 

22 hours ago, Honeybadger said:

The title says it all.

 

My kind of thread, lots of pictures for those of us that don't read the articles.

Definitely. This is the first time I have actually had it together to keep a camera on hand and take photos. My previous projects I have been too lost/frustrated to worry about taking pictures along the way.

[twk123]

Gluing and clamping the loose parts of the cab. I am pretty sure this thing was dropped a lot from some of the internal damage. Luckily the components are in good shape although the transformer came a little loose on the x-over.

 

[Schu]

Such a great thread... how is that fiber adhered to the birch? I guess what I am asking is could the stuff have been sanded off to the point where you are left with raw  birch?

[twk123]

2 hours ago, Schu said:

Such a great thread... how is that fiber adhered to the birch? I guess what I am asking is could the stuff have been sanded off to the point where you are left with raw  birch?

Thanks Shu. I am not sure if the fiber was laid over the cab or made into a panel and glued on. My original "Backwoods Heresy" plan was to remove it and put a Knotty Pine Veneer on the speaker cab as a homage to the pine trees I grew up around but the Fiberglass is rock hard and really not something I am going to want to try to sand through. Instead I am going to paint the cab camo-tan and paint over the beat up trim with black truck bed liner to hide some of the scratches etc.

 

Here is the amp components I am going to put in it:

 

Resistors for mono summing network:

http://www.parts-express.com/10k-ohm-1-2w-flameproof-resistor-10-pcs--002-10k

 

Mini Chip Amp:

(Since I am going to run this mono I might try to use the L/R to bi-amp the speaker instead but that will be a separate thread.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dta-2-class-t-digital-audio-amplifier-module--300-385

 

Quality volume knob:

(The one that comes with the amp is horribly cheap plastic)

 

https://www.parts-express.com/penn-elcom-m1320k-brass-amplifier-knob-black--240-211

 

12V 3 amp Li Ion batter pack with built in trickle charger:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-3000mAh-2A-Super-Rechargeable-Protable-Li-ion-Battery-US-Plug-For-CCTV-/141735087797?hash=item210011ceb5:g:QPQAAOSwd0BVvv~-

 

The new Class D amps that run on 12V and the battery pack has been a really fun set to play with. You can literally take an ipod and a set of LaScalas and set them up in the middle of a field with the battery and amp and blast music at over 100 db for hours.

[Schu]

nice... light wood with polished aluminum is an AWESOME look.

[dirtmudd]

Is this what your making.. But with a heresy hip..

[twk123]

3 minutes ago, dirtmudd said:

Is this what your making.. But with a heresy hip..

Yes, exact that.

 

God that photo is epic.

[dirtmudd]

Try this for your trim..

 

 

 

[twk123]

2 hours ago, dirtmudd said:

Try this for your trim..

 

 

 

Hey thanks for the suggestion. I thought the trim was beyond repair but after watching this I wet sanded a piece with some 120 grit and Brasso and it actually cleaned up really nice. I think I am going to keep it black with metal trim instead of changing the color.

[dirtmudd]

For the sprayed on fiberglass .. I would not remove it.. Just degrease it than rub it down with enamel reducer.. Spray a fine coat of primer epoxy than use a 3m scotchbrite pad..you Have to do this a coupe of times. Then paint it any color you like..