New Epic CF-3 Owner

[DirtyErnie]

Also, make sure the speaker baffle/face plate screws aren't stripped.  They're behind the rubber sockets the grilles push into.  I had a similar crunchy distortion on mine that was due to resonance of the face plate at ~200Hz.  I could make the buzz happen by tapping on the right spot, and the noise came from the horn.
a toothpick or two, or a matchstick down the screw hole can help patch that up temporarily.  (I really need to convert it to T-nuts and 1/4"-20 machine screws...)

[Jefferson6599]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:29 PM, OO1 said:

dont worry about it  , unless it sounds scratchy 

 

It sounds scratchy...  I am going to drop these things off to see if I can get them repaired and then move on from them.  I have a pair of Cornwall II's that I am interested in.  I also added a pair of Tekton Double Impacts to the collection.  The first pair of none Klipsch speakers I purchased in over 20 years.  

[OO1]

9 minutes ago, Jefferson6599 said:

 

It sounds scratchy...  I am going to drop these things off to see if I can get them repaired and then move on from them.  I have a pair of Cornwall II's that I am interested in.  I also added a pair of Tekton Double Impacts to the collection.  The first pair of none Klipsch speakers I purchased in over 20 years.  

Here's the fix .

 

a speaker shop   can replace the VC  without re-coning the woofer , no need to ship these out    , a local  speaker repair tech can  take the dust cap off ,  unsolder the terminal wires , pull out the old VC , clean the magnet gap and install a new VC based on the dimensions and the specs of the original VC  .

[avguytx]

@OO1  So you own some of these and are speaking from experience?

 

@Chief bonehead  Is that true with these K-1020 or 1030N woofers, Roy?  

[Chief bonehead]

Don’t know. I’ve never done it. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I’d like to see a video of that though. 

[avguytx]

16 minutes ago, Chief bonehead said:

Don’t know. I’ve never done it. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I’d like to see a video of that though. 

 

Would seem like v/c windings would have to be pretty exact to get the parameters right, I would think.  But I'm not a v/c winder.  Lol 

[OO1]

 

[Jefferson6599]

On 1/29/2023 at 2:19 PM, avguytx said:

@OO1  So you own some of these and are speaking from experience?

 

@Chief bonehead  Is that true with these K-1020 or 1030N woofers, Roy?  

 

From different sources I have spoken with it is not possible for some reason with the woofers in the Epic series.  

 

I'm still stuck on what to do with these things...  A quote from Crites Speakers, I figured if anyone would really know, it would be them, "Unfortunately, there are no replacement woofers that I am aware of for the CF-3. The entire CF series are orphans pretty much and there are no diaphragms for the HF driver and no replacement woofers. I can't even build new crossovers for them, only rebuild the originals. They are great sounding speakers when they work, but an absolute nightmare when they do not".  

[Jefferson6599]

On a side note I picked up a pair of Cornwall II's that sound amazing.  I needed to do it to get over the sadness of getting beat out of $575 for the Epic CF-3's.

 

 

[Mikekid]

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/255989073508?hash=item3b9a234664:g:4PUAAOSwBCRj9wBm&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoKW1AvQDBVlWf3f5E8M%2FPrqjSb6wOKf745F9ysNm%2BqPnDf8638ut0BLcFF69kturHcarbyCD3xPCdzVOhlCUAWlu1u4FAOLpWQ1%2BBPWdkn3%2BhITH43%2BxDdXUnlR4OwEEQvDfqwyVhCuHzH5L4H2ET04aqsEG5U20sihPysPP13hXZlew%2BwGCh8MzymNNSFQTmJW%2BT7UiUjSTg5x4lMeufj4%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6DLpPjPYQ            125 apiece

 

[avguytx]

4 hours ago, Mikekid said:

   https://www.ebay.com/itm/255989073508?hash=item3b9a234664:g:4PUAAOSwBCRj9wBm&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoKW1AvQDBVlWf3f5E8M%2FPrqjSb6wOKf745F9ysNm%2BqPnDf8638ut0BLcFF69kturHcarbyCD3xPCdzVOhlCUAWlu1u4FAOLpWQ1%2BBPWdkn3%2BhITH43%2BxDdXUnlR4OwEEQvDfqwyVhCuHzH5L4H2ET04aqsEG5U20sihPysPP13hXZlew%2BwGCh8MzymNNSFQTmJW%2BT7UiUjSTg5x4lMeufj4%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR6DLpPjPYQ            125 apiece

 

 

@Jefferson6599  Yeah, I saw that one, too.  Dude is parting out a complete set.  Heck, there's a woofer or two right there.  I'd email the guy and find out what the serial numbers are on the cabinets are which will tell you the version and potential woofer model.

 

Edit:  Me personally, if I had a pair of these with a bad woofer and I came across this auction, I'd be buying TWO woofers so I had a spare.  I will tell you from experience of owning 3 pairs of these....you will NOT find any other speakers that will do so much so well for the money.  Period.  I have a spare woofer and a pair of spare K-63-N drivers as backup and am glad of it.  

 

Edit again:  Ok, I read the listing better....they are K-1030 woofers which will work perfect.  Get a couple!  Too bad he didn't have the HF drivers separate where one could have been bought.  But, both were sold as complete pairs.  They are sought after now.  They are same HF drivers for CF-3 and CF-4.

[Jefferson6599]

I check ebay all the time, not sure how I missed that listing.

[avguytx]

7 hours ago, Jefferson6599 said:

I check ebay all the time, not sure how I missed that listing.

 

Get you one and get to jammin!  ha

[avguytx]

@Jefferson6599  I don't know if you're watching those woofers or not but I had been and it emailed me an offer of $118 for one.  

[Deang]

Just wanted to say that all of you Epic owners are losers, lol. 

[Jefferson6599]

21 hours ago, avguytx said:

@Jefferson6599  I don't know if you're watching those woofers or not but I had been and it emailed me an offer of $118 for one.  

I missed out on them.  I emailed the guy and offered him $200 for 2.  He said no...

 

After seeing how quickly he sold the woofers, crossovers and horns I might be parting mine out.  I have 3 good woofers, and the horns and crossovers are fine.  Based on that guys prices, it will cover the $575 I paid for the speakers.  Even if I bring them back to life, I cant imagine listening to the CF-3 over my Cornwall II's.  Plus I am officially out of room.  Still trying to figure out if I can put both my 2 channel setups along with my surround sound set up in the same space.  

[avguytx]

1 hour ago, Jefferson6599 said:

I missed out on them.  I emailed the guy and offered him $200 for 2.  He said no...

 

After seeing how quickly he sold the woofers, crossovers and horns I might be parting mine out.  I have 3 good woofers, and the horns and crossovers are fine.  Based on that guys prices, it will cover the $575 I paid for the speakers.  Even if I bring them back to life, I cant imagine listening to the CF-3 over my Cornwall II's.  Plus I am officially out of room.  Still trying to figure out if I can put both my 2 channel setups along with my surround sound set up in the same space.  

 

I get what you're saying.  He sold all 4 already?  Dang...  I will tell you first hand, I had CF-3's at the same time as '78 Cornwalls, KLF-30's and a pair of Belle inspired clones that I built.  Guess which ones I still have...     Just remember there's about 14% worth of e b a y fees when you sell there plus that dang 1099K tax crap.

[Jefferson6599]

On 2/28/2023 at 2:46 PM, avguytx said:

 

I get what you're saying.  He sold all 4 already?  Dang...  I will tell you first hand, I had CF-3's at the same time as '78 Cornwalls, KLF-30's and a pair of Belle inspired clones that I built.  Guess which ones I still have...     Just remember there's about 14% worth of e b a y fees when you sell there plus that dang 1099K tax crap.

 

Don't tell me its the CF-3's.  Please, even if it is, lie to me.  LOL.  Now I have to get a replacement woofer before I decide to part them out.  I may hook up the good one and put it next to the cornwall and do a side by side with just one speaker.

[avguytx]

21 hours ago, Jefferson6599 said:

 

Don't tell me its the CF-3's.  Please, even if it is, lie to me.  LOL.  Now I have to get a replacement woofer before I decide to part them out.  I may hook up the good one and put it next to the cornwall and do a side by side with just one speaker.

 

I'm just sayin' like so many others have said.  It's probably one of the best sounding series that ever came out of Klipsch and Roy did an awesome job with them.  They are the sleepers of the entire line and definitely are a different beast in comparison to the others.

 

I cannot tell a lie.  All of the others are gone except for the CF-3's.  I keep thinking I want to buy something new(er) but it would honestly take a good chunk of money to step up the ladder even a little bit.  Anymore, it's just not worth it to me.  I'm not chasing stuff like I used to feel like I had to do. (not that it wasn't fun for awhile)  I was upstairs listening at a low volume last night as my wife and I were looking up trucks and even on Spotify, with its 320k files, the damn things sounded awesome as always.    

 

Give them a fair shot and let you ears, and your room, equipment, etc., help make that decision.  Bad part is, it may be awhile before you see more CF-3 woofers.  But be patient.

[Jefferson6599]

appreciate the feedback.  I'm still at the chasing stage of this journey.  I have always had a love of music but focused on the kids the last 21 years and hadn't purchased any gear since I did my home theater surround set up back in 2000, other than to upgrade the AV receiver, obviously the Yamaha from 2000 didn't have the inputs necessary for today.  It was pre HDMI.  But I'm still running my reference series towers and surrounds, but the sub died a few years ago and I replaced it with a hand me down Mirage sub.  

 

I started working on a 2 channel set up 2 years ago and have been going through receivers/amps and turntables and speakers.  I will get there eventually and will know I'm there when I hear it.  I'm just happy there is a robust resale market so I can buy and sell stuff until I get it right.