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KP 250 II Restoration


Iteachstem

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Hello all,

 

I picked up a pair of KP-250II's from a local guy recently. 

 

The backstory according to him: He was an electrical installation guy, these were leftover from a job.  Brand new speakers.  He stored them in one of his grain storage units, during a storm the top came off and one of the speakers has some water damage. 

 

Well, I had some questions! Needless to say, most of the revolved around how stupid he was to store them were he did rather than in the several huge pole barns he had on his property!  But, for the price he was asking, I just paid it and moved on.  You can't fix stupid! 

 

One cabinet was in great condition and the other showed water damage on the back corner.  I figured even if all of the drivers were toast, I could at least be okay with the parts that don't mind water... the plastic horns!

 

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When I brought them home, all of the drivers functioned except one of the tweeters.  (Brand new my a$$!)  I didn't test it with higher SPL's because I wanted to see the condition of the woofers first. So I removed the grill.

 

image.jpeg.ce914720a8d5ef6e2b628c66d0776b08.jpeg

 

Amazingly enough, the woofers were in perfect shape.  No moisture damage.  I removed them, as I was going to have to fix the cabinet by removing the back panel.

image.jpeg.76c51f2c6cc5e23820baf8801d55cc62.jpeg

 

image.jpeg.79b61e7adb2803fd78cb58c622060240.jpeg

 

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The other drivers for reference:

 

image.jpeg.3b6975dc4c4cfe31fbf2db3b96241b53.jpeg

 

image.jpeg.b4638c919b9c55d4be182ea839350e89.jpeg

 

And the crossover:

image.jpeg.294a3ff59c6a6011a16d85634fcb989b.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I am on hold until I make a trip to get some lumber.

 

I was thinking of sanding off the white paint and seeing if I can just keep them natural wood.  We'll see how that goes.  If that's not doable, I'll just finish them in black, as that's a much more desirable speaker color than the white they came in!  In sanding around the damaged area, it looks like they are birch perhaps?

 

IMG_5520.jpg

 

 

Any thought, ideas or suggestions while I have these apart are appreciated.

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8 minutes ago, billybob said:

Were you concerned about water damage, and why?

Yes, I was concerned, as the plywood on the back panel was severely de-laminating, beyond a simple fill/glue repair.  It had obviously been wet more than just once and for a good period of time.  It didn't break the seal, but it wasn't pretty!

 

I could have just rocked these in the original condition, but I love repairing/refinishing speakers to bring them back to their original condition or better. 

 

I'm a teacher and most likely these will be taken to school when I do the school talent show... as I'm sick of using the silly Bose system the school was suckered into buying! When I started at my current school, 19 years ago, the original principal, since he knew I was into audio, asked me what we needed for the school play, assemblies, etc as far as sound equipment.  Well, I ended up going with Mackie SRM450's for their ease of use.  After 15 years, the amps stopped working and the new principal, without asking my thoughts, went out and was suckered into buying a lame Bose system...I'm sure for top dollar; as we know how public schools are always very responsible with taxpayer's hard earned money!

 

IMG_5533.jpg

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always love a restoration/rebuild thread, 

 

impressed you got the backs off so neatly, not so sure I would have that luck

 

auditioned a pair of KP-250 (version 1) years ago when I already had Heresy 2s, seller was using a diminutive looking Roksan amp in at least a  20 x 20 living room, speakers about 4 feet out directly on the floor just to demo them

 

the imaging was nothing short of impressive standing at the tip of about a 10 x 10 x 10  triangle and the bass made me take another look at the Roksan, lol 

 

interesting that your version 2s were all tractrix decades before the Hersey 4 went that route

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13 hours ago, OO1 said:

are you  fabricating a  new panel ?

Yes, that is the plan.  I am on hold until I can connect the trailer and head out to pick up some wood.  I plan on getting birch ply and using the original one as a basic template.

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  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Iteachstem said:

Checked in on price for a 4x8 3/4" birch/maple.... $90 locally.  So, this is on hold for a bit until the lumber prices (hopefully) go back to somewhat reasonable levels. 

 

 Home Depot typically sells 4x4 and 2x4 cut pieces might be an option if all you need is the one piece up side is you can fit the 2x4 size in your car no trailer needed.

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On 10/23/2022 at 8:45 AM, geoff. said:

interesting that your version 2s were all tractrix decades before the Hersey 4 went that route

 

Yep I was rockin' the Tractrix tweeter lenses in my Chorus II's way before it was even "cool." Kind of a pain in the but as the motorboard is 1" thick and needs to be shaved down a bit to make it work. 

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19 hours ago, jjptkd said:

Home Depot typically sells 4x4 and 2x4 cut pieces

Thanks for the suggestion.  I already checked those out when I was pricing out everything... and obviously they are way more expensive per sq. ft. than the 4 by 8 piece for the convenience factor.  I actually will use more than one 4 by 8, as I'm also building storage for my classroom.  I would use one sheet for myself and pay taxes on it and buy at least 3 more for the school project, with the tax exempt status for educational use.  Even though taxpayers will pay for the other 3, I just can't justify spending their money that way at this point.  Now, if after winter the wood is still expensive with no signs of coming down in the near future, well, then it's just the cost of doing business at that point.  Even at $90 a sheet it will still be much cheaper than the overpriced shelves that are marketed to schools in school supply catalogues.

 

So, it looks like my KP250 cabinets will winter in the garage and hopefully be brought back to life in the spring.

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45 minutes ago, Iteachstem said:

 I would use one sheet for myself and pay taxes on it and buy at least 3 more for the school project, with the tax exempt status for educational use.  Even though taxpayers will pay for the other 3, I just can't justify spending their money that way at this point.

 

 What?? That is mighty thoughtful of you you know most probably wouldn't even look at the price and place them all in the tax exempt status I mean if you "accidently" ordered too many sheets for the school what would they ever do with the extra? As far as big picture goes that's not even a drop in the ocean but it does show good character on your part.

 

 I see this all of the time at my large construction company different scenario I suppose but over-ordering and billing to a job only to use the "extra" elsewhere really seems commonplace. I'm not on the book keeping end of things so not sure what the advantages are in doing things like that. 

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