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So i just bought a pair of rf-3's for $150 but...


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So I just bought a pair of RF-3's. The seller wanted $220 but I talked him down to 150 because both Hf horn drivers appear to be dead!

(Of course I checked and made sure the jumpers were in the back plates!)

I removed one after I got home and verified that there is in fact no continuity between the two posts on the diaphragm.

So I need to replace 2 Hf drivers or change their diaphragms. The original p/n is K-105-K, but I read on another post that this has been changed to k124?

If I can find new diaphragms, are they interchangeable between the old and new part numbers? Is there any other benefit to the new p/n vs old? If I change to the new p/n then will I need to modify the X-over at all?

 

I'm not afraid of any of the repairs/mods that will be needed, just need to know what direction to go!

 

Also, do these have ferro-fluid in them? If so I "may" not want to mess with diaphragm swaps. Any recommendations either way?

 

Also, does anybody have a good lead on where is the best place to get parts?

I am open to upgrades.

I Also need to replace one foot, as it is broken. Any leads on that?

 

Thanks

Ashayinfla

 

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eBay has both silk and titanium diaphragms the last time that I checked.  I prefer the titanium, but some like the silk - you should be able to find them simply by searching for the RF-3 diaphragm.  Since we were talking Bob Crites in your other thread, he might also have new diaphragms, but I'm not sure.  eBay is the only one that I know for sure you could get exactly what you wanted.

 

The good news is that those should be relatively cheap to replace, so good deal still!

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Is that what the different part no's are- silk vs titanium?

Do both diaphragm's use the same driver assembly?

I did see one ad in eBay that stated something along the lines of "replacement diaphragm for Klipsch xxxxx" would that mean it's aftermarket not oem? Are they known to be of acceptable quality compared to the real deal (if they are in fact not the real deal)?

Since I am trying to match this up with my ksb1.1's, would the silk make for a better match? (I seem to remember the ksb1.1's being a silk diaphragm, I may be wrong)

I noticed what sounded like a peak in the upper mid-range when listening (with dead Hf), not sure how it will sound fully functional if that peak disappears or not... I remember reading something about that, not totally sure If it related to this model, but I seem to remember a LCR mod that might fix it up? Is that worth looking into?

Finally, I seem to remember the ver2 of the box changed the feet- I need a new foot, or should I get something else to update both the boxes?

 

Thanks history kid, you have already provided me with a wealth of info on this matter! It's all greatly appreciated!

 

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Most of what you're going to find now will be aftermarket.  Any OEM parts are likely matched originally to the RF-35, the 3's closest relative.  You'll see replacement woofers meant for the RF-35 that can be used on the RF-3, along with the rest of the guts.  So it wouldn't surprise me if you found some RF-35 parts out there.  I think you're on the right track with looking at the silk, and it's absolutely possible that's the difference in the part numbers.  I don't have those right in front of me, but eBay has been pretty solid about checking those to make sure they'll work.

 

Can you measure the distance from the edges that the threads are on those speakers?  I'll compare them to mine.  I think you can use II feet on the I, but we can make sure.  II used floating feet, where I used straight spikes I believe.

 

So for the mods, I'd look at the XO's first before doing anything else.  Whether that's via Bob, or just replacing caps and other parts yourself, it should be beneficial.

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Update-

 

I just ordered Bob Crites replacement diaphragms for these. I decided to keep these as close to if not better than oem (IE titanium- as I plan on finding a matching center and don't want to still not have a match!)

He doesn't have a crossover package/kit for these, so using the published schematic from this website, I ordered capacitors from parts express to re-cap the crossovers which are almost 20 yrs old now.  As for the hard to find value: 5.5uH, I decided to use a 2.2 and 3.3 in parallel. All components I picked are Dayton 1% except for the 12uH if I remember right, which I bought the 5%.

I will probably fix both horns, listen real quick, then re-cap one box and compare before doing the other box. Hopefully I will have this put to bed by the end of this weekend (but it's hard to schedule extra-curricular activities in my life right now, so we'll see!)

 

-AshayinFla

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Got the diaphragms in this evening, wow these things blow away the ksb1.1's!

 

One of my boxes seems to play much thinner than the other (drivers are in same polarity) it may be a placement thing (left is close to a corner so I know that adds more reflection coupling for a thicker sound, rt is the middle of the wall).  I didn't recap yet (but parts arrived). I flattened out the eq settings on the outputs playing the rf3's, then tried to eq the rt box (thin box) by ear to match the left (which sounds just about the way I think it should) using pink noise from the Yamaha receiver.  It's not quite there yet but improved.

I could hear some phasing between L and R, not a full polarity swap but something seems off (I did follow polarity marks when re-installing horns) it could also be the different sound from each box when coupled to the room.

Hopefully over the weekend I'll have some time to pull out my smaart-live rig and check phase trace of each box to make sitter they're both playing properly, and eq to the room accordingly.

 

Either way, I'm already really happy with what I have so far but I know with a little tweaking it could be better. It is possible that the lack of body in the rt box could be a bad X-over component (hopefully a cap, as that's all I bought!) But even if they are performing as intended, I'm sure brand new 1% Dayton's could make for some improvement!

 

So now I'm looking into trying to find a titanium diaphragm (or driver) that I could fit into my ksb1.1's, to try to make them be a better match to the rf3's. The original driver in the ksb1.1 is a K-94-s. I believe I found a cross reference for that part to a part#125492.  On a whim, I'm thinking the K137 or K138 (which were used in newer synergy lines) may fit it (based mostly on pics I found on the net, they look similar in size and mounting to the horn), but I'm not sure if that would be an improvement or a step down (older ksb's were supposedly better sounding than the newer ones!) Not to mention possible X-over mods to make the new driver match properly to the system (I think mine may be 4ohm impedance, newer ones may be 6 or 8 ohm!)

 

If anybody could weigh in on this synergy upgrade idea, please do!

 

(I should have started a new thread but the idea is to make them match the rf3 so it still could fit this thread in my opinion!)

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