Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 no pic in the first post, forum always eats it. Some may recall last November when I did a Buy It Now on ebay for a set of Khorns. Borrowed a truck from a frind and made a flying trip to Colorado Springs from Phoenix. Twelve hours each way, 1700 miles total. There was a thread with pics but I can't find it now. I'll post some before and after pics. This is really a work in progress, may take some time to complete. I was going to re-lacquer them, but after seeing Gregs work with wipe-on poly and considering the hazards of spraying lacquer and its' thinner in a suburban garage I decided to go with the poly deal. There's a nice article in a recent Fine Woodworking magazine too, not to mention all the info available on the net. The speaks are dead nuts original, no update, repairs or mods that I can detect. They deserve a nice job and will get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 here's a shot of both right after uinloading them from the truck. You can see the Jensen woofers, they're too early to have K-33. They also have the pre-K400 mid-horn, the K-5. It's wood and fibreglass. They have the correct EV T-35 tweeter and the original K-500-5000 crossover. The tweeter mounts in the mouth of the mid-horn, there is no conventional motorboard in this design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 Front shot. The white dots and asociated streaks are rain frozen in the flash. Notice the bum lacquer on the top of the bass bin on the right speaker. It's worse than it looks here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 here's the tweeter mounted in the mid-horn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 These next shots are taken in the last week or two. I'll start with the better one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 the better of the two tops... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 not the better front... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 this top has some really nasty gouges. these are through the lacquer and into the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 this gouge is on the same bass bin that has the peeling lacquer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 here's the nasty top out in the sun for viewing. not pretty. the lacquer is old, almost opaque, scratched, crazed, cracking and peeling. It looks like Klipsch added some red dye or stain to the lacquer. you can see a little of the ribbon stripe in the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 I cheated a little by pulling the top side panels out to work on first. Seven rounds of stripper, much sanding with 220 Garnet and few coats of thinned, oil-based wipe on poly shows the real color of the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 same stuff outside for better light. difficult to get a pic that does justice to the gold and brown Mahogany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 here's another weak attempt to capture the wood. it absolutely glows, it's iridescent and the ribbon stripe shifts with different angles of light and viewer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 about ready to make the big move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 no turning back now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 more later. since the digicam went to join its' friends in the great beyond I have to shoot rolls of 35mm and have CD's made. I got a scanner up and running but it's just too slow. The first CD of pics back from the lab had all the pics upside down and backwards. Had to run them all thru a photoedit program and also reduce the file size. They were huge, up to 450KB. I've got the first top about half done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 Tom, Keep up the good work. When the rest look like those side panels, they will be real beauties! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 Stunning work, Tom. The edges of the top section from the front shouldn't be darker than the spacer and front panel, and aren't the home plate tops also darker? You'll really have transformed those babies when you're done! Did you end up leaving the bass horn throat inserts in? Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 Tom, are you going to stain them? I always think Mahogany should be, well, mahogany red. JMO. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted September 13, 2004 Author Share Posted September 13, 2004 Larry, I've currently got those back in, but it's still subject to testing. When I pull the woofer out during the refinish of the bass bin I'll do something one way or the other. On the dark brown edges, they are painted that way from the factory. The bare cut edges of the lumber core was filled and painted to give a nice appearance. The front edge of the three plates of the upper section are painted the same way, although there's Mahogany veneer under the paint. The top of the plate above the riser is painted brown. The top surface of the lower plate is finished. The kickboard at the bottom of the front is similar, the visible top edge is painted the dark brown, the front is Mahogany. It appears to be a piece of the lumber core plywood, not a piece of solid wood. I had to have the brown paint special mixed, I couldn't find anything to match. It's too dark brown. The darkest dark brown Home Depot could mix in their Behr line wasn't dark enough. On the red stain deal: After seeing the real color of Mahogany as being this gorgeous gold and brown iridescent/shimmering thing I've lost interest in the red stained approach. The sources I've developed say that over time the red leaches out of the wood and it colors itself. Even after extensive stripping and sanding I still get a red color when wiping the surface with a rag soaked in paint thinner. There seems to be much discussion along the "feature or bug" line among woodworkers. Thanks for your comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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