Restoration Project Klipsch KG 3.5 (KM 4) worth to do ?

[MicroMara]

5 hours ago, CCG said:

@MicroMara

 Alpine, Grundig, Blaupunkt, Fujitsu...

Ja , these were great Audio brands  . They all are gone, just their names exsists

[billybob]

6 hours ago, MicroMara said:

Ja , these were great Audio brands  . They all are gone, just their names exsists

Ja, Used to sell Fujitsu General  recall. Blaupunkt in my Volvo.

Glad you are happy with your 3.5...look nice.

[MicroMara]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:09 PM, billybob said:

Glad you are happy with your 3.5...look nice.

A Berlin friend of mine visited me 3 days ago and listened to the KG 3.5 with me. It blew him away.  He wanted to buy these speakers from me and we agreed on a fair price, now they make him happy. I do not have the desire to restore another Klipsch speaker at the moment, maybe next winter again.

[Dell]

Hey guys, Sorry to unearth this, but I am currently trying to get rid of a fuzzy sound in one of my tweeters.  I just bought a set of 3.5's at a Goodwill for $100.  I won't go all into it, but I really just need help with the wiring.  They were both wired differently.  To keep it brief, how do you wire these?  The PCB has WW and TT and then two other wires coming off it.  I assumed the WW were the positive and negative leads that go directly to the woofer, but one cabinet has the W negative running to the input!  I was confused by this, but tried it.  It works, but still getting the fuzzy cracking in my tweeter at higher volumes.  I have no idea if the wiring could affect things like this, but I have tried almost everything else besides buying a new xo.  Thanks for any help on how to get these wired correctly and any other advise is also welcomed.  I removed the tweeter, swapped it, got a new woofer and even listened to the tweeter outside of the cabinet, so I know it's not the cabinet or the tweeter/woofer.  Thanks again!

[Travis In Austin]

43 minutes ago, Dell said:

Hey guys, Sorry to unearth this, but I am currently trying to get rid of a fuzzy sound in one of my tweeters.  I just bought a set of 3.5's at a Goodwill for $100.  I won't go all into it, but I really just need help with the wiring.  They were both wired differently.  To keep it brief, how do you wire these?  The PCB has WW and TT and then two other wires coming off it.  I assumed the WW were the positive and negative leads that go directly to the woofer, but one cabinet has the W negative running to the input!  I was confused by this, but tried it.  It works, but still getting the fuzzy cracking in my tweeter at higher volumes.  I have no idea if the wiring could affect things like this, but I have tried almost everything else besides buying a new xo.  Thanks for any help on how to get these wired correctly and any other advise is also welcomed.  I removed the tweeter, swapped it, got a new woofer and even listened to the tweeter outside of the cabinet, so I know it's not the cabinet or the tweeter/woofer.  Thanks again!

Welcome to the Forum.

 

 If you snap some photos and post I’m sure we can help you get them s figured out.

 

Travis

[billybob]

Welcome there Dell !

Take a pic or 2 of what you are referring to about the problem areas... thanks.

@Dell

[MicroMara]

1 hour ago, Dell said:

Hey guys, Sorry to unearth this, but I am currently trying to get rid of a fuzzy sound in one of my tweeters.  I just bought a set of 3.5's at a Goodwill for $100.  I won't go all into it, but I really just need help with the wiring.  They were both wired differently.  To keep it brief, how do you wire these?  The PCB has WW and TT and then two other wires coming off it.  I assumed the WW were the positive and negative leads that go directly to the woofer, but one cabinet has the W negative running to the input!  I was confused by this, but tried it.  It works, but still getting the fuzzy cracking in my tweeter at higher volumes.  I have no idea if the wiring could affect things like this, but I have tried almost everything else besides buying a new xo.  Thanks for any help on how to get these wired correctly and any other advise is also welcomed.  I removed the tweeter, swapped it, got a new woofer and even listened to the tweeter outside of the cabinet, so I know it's not the cabinet or the tweeter/woofer.  Thanks again!

Hey Dell

 

for me it sound like that the polymer diafragm is damaged and needs to be changed . I´ve seen origin K 84 K spare drivers on ebay usa. Have a look there. BTW you be good advised to order two diafragms to prevent a further disfunction. As well I think that the caps on the board shall be exchanged as well. Don´t have the values from the caps in my mind .   Order from JEM , the values are shown below the caps on the board.

[Dell]

Thanks for the warm welcome and willingness to help me out!  I will try to post some pics tomorrow. I talked via email with Michael Crites (at least I think  that is his first name). He said that diaphragms usually either work or don’t and that it would be rare to get that buzzing from them. The thing is, I swapped the tweeters and only get the buzz when connected to the bad cabinet. It’s not the cabinet itself, which I have proven by testing the tweeter outside of it. It happens particularly on a song by tori Amos, “Your Cloud” so I use that to test. When it is turned up, it appears in the same parts of the song, but also happens on other random songs. Kind of a static electronic crackle. Maybe if I can get them wired correctly, I can eliminate that as a potential issue. Thanks again. I’ll get the pics up asap. 

[OO1]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:32 PM, Dell said:

 The thing is, I swapped the tweeters and only get the buzz when connected to the bad cabinet. It’s not the cabinet itself, which I have proven by testing the tweeter outside of it. 

a dirty voice coil gap , a damaged VC , a split in the diaphragm leads  ,  faulty  connections all these  can cause the issue you're having .

 

 

[Dell]

6 hours ago, OO1 said:

a dirty voice coil gap , a damaged VC , a split in the diaphragm leads  ,  faulty  connections all these  can cause the issue you're having .

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I think faulty connections might be possible for sure. But wouldn’t the others be eliminated since I put the good tweeter in the bad cabinet and it reproduced the noise?  Do the tweeters have voice coils?  If those are only in the woofers, I disconnected that and all the crackle comes from the tweeters. 

[Peter P.]

So you put the suspected bad tweeter in the "good" cabinet and it still produces the crackle?

 

I'm confused as to under what arrangement the crackle is reproduced-does it follow the tweeter or the cabinet or the crossover?

[Dell]

3 hours ago, Peter P. said:

So you put the suspected bad tweeter in the "good" cabinet and it still produces the crackle?

 

I'm confused as to under what arrangement the crackle is reproduced-does it follow the tweeter or the cabinet or the crossover?

Sorry!  I took the “good” tweeter and moved it to the cabinet that had the “bad” tweeter. Got the crackle. I suspect it is the wiring or the crossover itself. The “bad” tweeter went into the other cabinet and I got no crackle. So it can’t be the tweeter. So I think it follows the crossover. 

[OO1]

ok 

[Peter P.]

19 hours ago, Dell said:

Sorry!  I took the “good” tweeter .... So I think it follows the crossover. 

Now I understand. Here's what I would do-

Remove the crossover from the cabinet, and remove the tweeter; you can run the speaker without the cabinet.

Just connect the tweeter to the tweeter output of the crossover; leave the woofer out of the picture.

 

With the crossover out in the open, you can easily wiggle the various components and connections to determine what's bad. Tapping on the components with the handle of a screwdriver might reveal a bad capacitor, and having the components out in the open it will be easier to examine for a crack in a solder joint or a bad crimp connection.

[Dell]

Ok, that sounds like a plan. I have removed and put back the crossover to check the solder/connections but didn’t do any diagnostics on the sound when it was removed. I’ll give this a shot!  Thanks. 

[OO1]

8 hours ago, Dell said:

Ok, that sounds like a plan. I have removed and put back the crossover to check the solder/connections but didn’t do any diagnostics on the sound when it was removed. I’ll give this a shot!  Thanks. 

1 of your crossovers seems to be faulty   , check /replace the connectors  for the tweeter  , if that solves the issue , great , if it does not , you'll need to service the crossover   .

[Dell]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:13 PM, Peter P. said:

Now I understand. Here's what I would do-

Remove the crossover from the cabinet, and remove the tweeter; you can run the speaker without the cabinet.

Just connect the tweeter to the tweeter output of the crossover; leave the woofer out of the picture.

 

With the crossover out in the open, you can easily wiggle the various components and connections to determine what's bad. Tapping on the components with the handle of a screwdriver might reveal a bad capacitor, and having the components out in the open it will be easier to examine for a crack in a solder joint or a bad crimp connection.

Hey 001,

 

Thanks so much for the advise!  I did what you said and was able to isolate the problem to the crossover. I attached a pic of the culprit. It was loose and I pushed it down onto the board and it became snug. I then tested it a couple of times and no crackle!  Then I put everything back together and a couple of songs later, it came back. What is this piece of the crossover and is it repairable or should I just say screw it and buy a new XO for 30 bucks?  

[Dell]

Here is the offending part. 

[Dell]

When it was loose, tapping the board anywhere produced the crackle. Once I pushed it in, no crackle when the board was tapped. Is there a way to secure this and have it not loosen again?  

[HiFi Heaven]

Reflow the solder on both leads of that resistor, look at the foil traces for cracks nearby.