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Heresy restoration project


Tim Sr.

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I have been yakkin with a few members over in the general info section, learning what I can about a pair of speakers I was to get. They have arrived and I can finally offer some proper data on the creatures.

Heresy Oiled Oak with cane grills. SN: 161Y002&3, sadly the labels are torn.  If I interpret the wonderful codex on the forum these are 161st batch numbers 002 and 003, or the 160002 and 160003 unit made in 1983. I bet I am off by 2000 here....

Tweeter is K-77-M, Squawker is a K-53-H, and the woofer is K-22-K, the crossover is the E-2.

I have to wait for for good lighting to get some initial (Ugly) photos of them as arrived, plus I have forgotten to charge the camera battery.

In this light I can see they are not as nice of shape as I had thought they were, but only time will tell what can be reversed and what can not. On unit 003 there is a bad cigarette burn near the back on the right side. I have ahead of me some real serious cleaning to do as well, as they are coated in tar and nicotine, and I can not be sure that the few water stains are in the wood or the extra shellac they have accumulated.

The only I am sure of is that the drivers have no holes or show any abuse, other than a half inch of caked in dust and grime, ok it is actually about an 1/8th inch thick in reality. These need to be carefully cleaned and examined before allowing any juice to flow through them.

I will post pics tomorrow

 

Tim

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Welcome Tim and congratulations on your new acquisition.  I look forward to photos and following the restoration.

 

A few years ago I purchased a set Heresy from Claude, @ClaudeJ1, as a graduation gift for my son and to thank him for serving in Afghanistan.  Due to time constraints, returning the oiled walnut finish to fine furniture quality was not a possibility.  Also, his millennial lifestyle prompted a faux-pro look finished in Duratex.

 

IMG_0177.JPG

IMG_0273.JPG

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Hey Diz:

faux-pro  huh looks very good! and I am not one to favor the dark imagery, always working with flamed maple and grinding pigments into shellac to attain that perfect match on Violins, it's training really, so always shy'd away from the new black instrument look. It has it 's place though and this is a great example of well done. They look sharp!

Pics are on the way , probably after I take them (sunlight) and a nap. And a nose wash (reference to my other post in General Info)

If I can not save these poor puppies Ill have to call on you to faux pro again, just kidding though, I really want to see how they looked on the showroom floor.

Be well, Peace

 

Tim

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Chuckling here: yes DizRotus and so do I.

I have a major task ahead and honestly look forward to it. This is going to be one major cleaning job, almost to the point of the need to refinish them, but that is not my way. So I will continue to apply my oil based cleaner one coat at a time until the surface comes away clear.

Now my question, attaching files here. There has got to be a limit and I do not remember catching that in the rules, so I shall ask what is reasonable according to this community? 2? 5?, 10 images per post? These things take up server space so I feel I should ask what the big fella's and ladies (moderators) think. I am going to reduce the images to around 500K each jpg or maybe 300K and offer to email full size if anyone wants.

So for today Ill start with a few as found shots, and a nice one of the puddle being created with the cleaner from all the brown coating over them. I did get the house aired out good so no concerns for momma's health.

I hope I am within my limit here only posting pics of the one speaker for this post.

I will be happy to post the other speaker later.

Note the nice burn on the top of this one.

For now

 

Tim

 

SN161Y003 Front.jpg

SN161Y003 Front-off.jpg

SN161Y003 Back.jpg

SN161Y003 right.jpg

SN161Y003 Left.jpg

SN161Y003 top.jpg

SN161Y003Inside2.jpg

SN161Y003Inside1.jpg

SN161Y003 goo.jpg

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I agree the cane is awesome, yet they are so laden with smoke, not too sure yet how to proceed, without damaging the cane structure. I think i will test small area's inside the the cover with a few of my shellac cleaners. meaning they clean shellac not remove it, designed more for organic materials like seedlac and resin (Rosin)(Pine Pitch)

I think I will also order some cane somethings to play with, try to dissolve that and see what will and won't unravel the cellulose structure.

 

So for now is gonna be a cigarette burn focus, after they stop stinking!

Thank you for the replies

 

Tim

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Timing that was

the cleaner is a German mix with some linseed oil,  Venetian turps and an unknown to us detergent.

Primarily though is the Linseed, slow drying so can work it off as needed. I have played with a few mixes of my own but never attained the results that I get from this. as you can see in the pic how the stuff was just running off from a light spray coating. It used to be sold by Joha GMBH but I do not think they carry it anymore. so when mine is gone, it's back to elbow grease.

 

Tim

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CECAA850 asked about the cleaner so I decided to get as much possible info for him
The base company is Hammerl GmbH & Co.
Joha Product line
under painting accessories they now have a Joha cleaning and care set, and I think that is most likely the same or near identical formula. The cleaner I am using is now near 20 years old and came in 250, 500 ml and Liter.

I am not sure about posting URL addresses for a commercial site so a quick google will fill in the blanks here.
What is on the label that I can still make out, Raw Linseed oil 72%, Oil of Turp 17%, Ethanol 7%, Inert materials 3%
I said I have tried to replicate the stuff with out success and is most likely the turpentine used at the time, and over the years I have learned there is a real difference in the types of turpentine's and that versus terps or turp oil.
The big issue is when cleaning an old instrument, is that one turpentine will end up stripping the varnish where as another will not touch it, even if you wanted to strip (big no no) it off. Something to do with the species of the fir tree's from locale's, all chemistry actually.
I have had to switch over to using a rag with turpentine mixed with boiled linseed for now as I realized this was going to wipe the rest of this cleaner.
I am also realizing that the smoke has penetrated through the oil finish so am really looking at a refinish job for these. I tried to avoid that, but odor is not something that can be covered up. There is a lot of minor scratches into the wood surface, and hopefully not too deep to have gone through the laminate. If so then it will mean a tedious run of small repairs to fill in the voids.
My biggest concern is the cane on the grills, as one has a nice coffee stripe down the middle from top, and depending on how long that has been there will determine if it can be removed, being cane is problematic in itself since coffee removal would require acidic types of treatment. So far they have been cleaned of the odor only, using a 5% mix glycerin 15% ethanol in cold water, then rinsed with cold water following the soak. They do not show the water stain marks (glad they came out) now but the coffee of course remains. I have gone so far as to look at replacement cane and the only one that comes close is the British Style Small Weave Cane Grill Cloth 32" Wide part# 6000009 Mojotone, and I am going to order that anyway, make new grill plates to mount that on, and store the originals away.
Something I was wondering is about badges. There seems to not have been any badge work on these, so my curiosity asks is that true? was there Klipsch speakers that did not advertise who they were?

I still have to resize the images for the 002 box and will upload them later. Side tracked to inventory the parts for the amps, orders are arriving now regular like.

 

For me, this is all fun stuff. I am loving this project.

 

Tim

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Quick update. I have gotten a bit side tracked here, the usual stuff gnawing at the time I have to spend on projects, so here are the images of the SN 161Y002.

Finished cleaning the cabinets, and they both are going to need a lot more work to bring back their glory. So I have put everything back together as a safety measure, and will pull each one individually for the repairs. I have them currently hooked up to a small chip amp, and I am totally pleased with the sound as they are, though I am detecting a slight imbalance between the two, where #003 has a little brighter output than #002. The bench is owned right now for the organizing parts and layout of the amps, so once that is complete, I will begin testing drivers individually, more for the sake of a record.

I have been doing a lot of reading about Heresy owners and their opinions, changing this n that to get that or this. I understand the personal preference and the need to adjust things to taste, but I also question a few things in that. I may be way off in my thinking but once the Heresy's are restored, then I would think that mating them to the source would be better than changing the crossovers to accomplish that certain sound. Like I say I may be off here, and I welcome any thoughts of the why to do a change. My listening preference is not like anyone else so comparisons all become relative to the listener.

I am tickled with the forwardness of the middle voice, but that is most likely the music I prefer. I felt that the little 10 watt amp delivered the best sounding reproduction of YO-YO Ma Bach Cello Suite's. If that cheap amp could deliver a sound like I heard, not perfect at all but the elements were there finally, then what will the tube amp bring to the picture with new caps in crossovers?

Ok enough of the personal grumblings, Time to start finding the bench.

Next step is to give the cabinets a few days to re-stabilize before wood repairs can start.

 

Tim

 

SN161Y002 xover.jpg

SN161Y002 top.jpg

SN161Y002 right.jpg

SN161Y002 Left.jpg

SN161Y002 Front-off.jpg

SN161Y002 Front.jpg

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Little update. Nothing important at all :)

Finally have gotten the poor things clean, and am now waiting for the wood to resettle to make measurements of the actual damages. It will take a few days at most now that the Humidity is plummeting downward from forced air heating. I applied a healthy coat of olive oil for now and have them nestled away under the bench and enjoying the clarity of the voice.

Sadly I am unable to remove the coffee stain from the one grill, was afraid that might be, and most likely then the coffee was a coffee milk mix. Killer stain then with the added protein.

What I have tried is: Cold water, lots of cold water; "Brown be gone", a Citric acid professional coffee stain remover; More cold water. I am watching the cane carefully for signs of fiber breakdown and have tested alternative cleaners on the inside edge material to determine what was safe, or in this case what wasn't safe.

So by next week I should be able to begin with the cabinet scraping, yes there is too much ridging in the wood surface from years of wear. I do not think the gouges are too deep, and the veneer is still healthy enough to tolerate a gentle scraping, but I will do a surface tolerance measure, to determine the worst or deepest scratches and such.

I have a lot to do on the amp now so is a good time to just listen to them, let em speak to me!

 

For now

Tim

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

This is not actually an update, LOL more like a confession .

I have finished treating the wood and things are getting better here weather wise, watching humidity and seems we are almost spring like here, I have only been keeping the wood from drying out too much before I start the repairs. I figures on doing the electrical testing by now but here is my confession: these little guys are work horses right now, I am enjoying "HEARING" things so much that I have procrastinated the crossover testing and re-capping. I do have the replacement caps for both ready if needed, and got the new test bench part finished, so it is just getting my rear in gear here. I also confess that the amp project still has priority and is starting to take shape (on paper) and I have threatened over in RTM on starting thread in Tubes'nMore section of the build.

So that is what n where it is happening here, not forgotten and truly procrastinated.

 

Tim

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Thanks for taking the time to document the refurbishing of those Heresys. I'm new to this and this is my first post.

Someone gave me two Heresy hbr speakers the other day. They need a little work but they sound great to my untrained ear. The woofers don't start flexing their muscles much til I put a some juice to them. My main deal is cleaning them up and replacing the grill material. Later on I would like to replace the crossovers and binding posts. That part of the project will keep for the moment. I take care of my 92 year old mother and I can't turn my amp up past 3 or 4 anyway. I would be grateful for any knowledge you can send my way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Thanks from The Rookie!

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Hello DGoss and welcome to the Community

I will be happy to keep you up to date on this. I am going to be taking a bit of a different approach than most would, but that is due to how I am set up here, and my background in violin restorations. What I will do will probably be way more than is necessary and I know there are many other ways a lot simpler to go about this. Bear with me since I am going slow here, being my Obsessive over thorough self along with a few other projects getting the same treatment too,

I like you am taking care of momma, seeing to her safety here, and guarding her independence at the same time. My hat is off to you for being there for your momma!

You can usually find me over in RTM here or send me a PM

Tim

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