Need help with a KG 4.2 -- has bad bass distortion at high volume

[poston8]

Hello,

Just bought a used pair of KG 4.2's and love them but I have a problem. When at high volume one of the 10" woofers has very bad bass distortion. Sounds like the cone is actually hitting the speaker frame. If I place a finger or hand on the cone it reduces the distortion or if I reduce the volume it also reduces the distortion.

Is this something I can repair myself, if so, how?

Of do I just need to take it to a repair shop?

The cones and rubber that moves around the cone is in excellent condition.

The speakers are really nice at medium volume and I want to keep them. I just want to turn up the volume occasionally without the distortion.

Thanks for help.

Bill

[WMcD]

Welcome to the club.

I'm sorry to hear that there is a problem. They are great units. It may be that the previous owner unloaded them because of this issue. Not to be a smartie. I bought some nice Quartets off of e-bay which had more problems than advertised. They were worth the effort to fix up. An educational adventure.

You can find more information on your speakers in the website section of: product, floorstander, and discontinued, section. It takes a bit of click on menu navagation.

Please note that one of the 10 inch diaphragms is driven (has a voice coil or motor) and the other is a passive. The latter is just driven by the air pressure in the box. I expect the upper one is the driven.

It is difficult to tell what your problem might be. You do have a great advantage in trouble shooting in having a good and bad unit (left and right) to compare.

1) One possible thing is a partially distroyed voice coil on the driven unit. With no power applied, and with fingers spread and being a little gentle, try pushing in on the top diaphragm of the bad speaker. You can move it 1/8th inch or so without worry.

It should feel smooth. If you feel grit or binding, that is the problem. You can compare to the known good unit.

2) The other possiblity is an air leak. The box should be air tight. As you push in on the upper diaphragm, the lower one should move out if there is no leak. It is kinda spooky to see this this first time around. Again you can compare to the known good unit.

3) Do check that the screws attaching the drivers are snug or, actually that both drivers are well seated.

It is tough to give further advice before you do the above. You may find something along the way. Let us know what you find.

Best,

Gil

[poston8]

Hi Gil,

Thank you for the very nice reply. I will try all the suggestions you made and get back to you.

I do love the speakers and when running them with medium volume they are great.

Bill

[mark1101]

Are the mounting screws/bolts tight? You may have a vibration issue.

[thepathlesstaken]

Remove the mid woofer and check the spider (yellow / orangish thing below the cone) to see if the glue has deteriorated making the spider come loose from the basket.

I recently had to re-glue a spider on a 15" Chorus 2 driver. Orangecountyspeaker sells the orange glue to do so.

If this does not solve your problem see if any of the speaker / tweeter leads are hitting the cone.

[D-MAN]

Are you POSITIVE that it isn't the amplifier?

To check, swap the speaker cables between the speakers - if the problem moves, it's the amp. This will also tell you whether its a connectivity problem or not.

Typically drivers fail catastrophically if overdriven. The cone tearing away even partially from the VC could be a problem, but if that was the case, it should be getting worse the more its played, which is why I've still got questions about it.

Pressing on the cone when it is active serves nothing.

You need to inspect it for smooth movement in and out when its NOT PLAYING! If possible, remove the driver and inspect it all over for correct mechanical operation, i.e., no tears, smooth movement.

DM

[oldtimer]

Pressing on the cone while it is active does serve to keep it from hitting the voice coil if there is a mis-alignment for whatever reason, if you press the right spot. I know from experience during a re-foam surround project. I had to loosen the surround and reglue it properly aligned.

[poston8]

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.

After sending my original plea for help I decided to email support@klipsch.com and an amazing thing happened.

Within an hour support had answered me and suggested I needed a replacement "drone" or what they commonly call a "passive radiator" and forwarded my request to parts@klipsch.com and they emailed with the price and phone number to call and order.

Thinking they knew more than I did, I immediately called and placed order for two. It only cost $28.13 each and no shipping charge.

I am still in shock with this kind of service from a company on a product I bought used and is probably 12 to 14 years old. Unheard of in USA.

They said I would have it withing 5 to 6 days.

I will let you all know what happens.

Thanks again and wish me luck.

Bill

[oldtimer]

Good luck for sure. I hope it solves your problem. You are wrong about unheard of in the usa though. I just had an issue with a Bunn coffee maker which is 8 yrs old and they sent me a kit to fix it for free. It was out of warranty too. Only usa companies will provide this type of service. We had an issue with a countertop dishwasher which was in warranty made by an asian company and never got satisfaction. Eventually we just wrote it off as lost money. Guess which company we are likely to purchase from again?