Klipsch Chorus 2 Restoration Project

[stringdriventhing]

Hiya - I'm new to forum posting, period, let alone new to Audio Nervosa. I'm getting my feet wet posting, a bit, in a few relevant topic areas. I promise to do my best not to piss anyone off and I'd ask ya'll to give me a "heads-up" if I cross a line out of ignorance. Anyway, I'm home recovering from a couple of major surgeries and decided to totally retool my home audio as a means of killing the boredom and hopefully hitting on better sounding systems as well. Currently, the "big ticket" item in my project is trying to breathe some life into a 22-year old pair of Klipsch Chorus 2 speakers. I bought them off of Craig's List for a very reasonable $400, for the very clean mechanical shape they were in. There were some minor cosmetic issues that were entirely meaningless to me as I knew I would want to pimp them out with new veneer. The last of my refinishing supplies are due in this coming week so I'm ready to pull the trigger on this possibly VERY foolish venture. I'll probably post some progress reports w/ pics. Thanks for letting me hang out - String   

[evan1]

Welcome , and I love pics

[richidoo]

Specifications

FREQUENCY RESPONSE   39Hz-20kHz(+-)3dB
POWER HANDLING   100 watts maximum continuous (1000 watts peak)
SENSITIVITY   101dB @ 1watt/1meter
MAX ACOUSTIC OUTPUT   121dB SPL
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE   8 ohms
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY   HF 5,000 Hz
LF 600 Hz
MAXIMUM ACOUSTIC OUTPUT   121dB SPL
TWEETER   K-79-K 1" (2.54cm) Polymer diaphragm compression driver
HIGH FREQUENCY HORN   90(o)x40(o) Exponential Horn
MIDRANGE   K-61-K 1.5" (3.81cm) Phenolic diaphragm compression driver
MID FREQUENCY HORN   90(o)x40(o) Tractrix(r) Horn
WOOFER   K-48-E 15" (38.1cm) Fiber-composite cone active / KD-16 15" (38.1cm) Fiber-composite cone passive
ENCLOSURE MATERIAL   Medium density fiberboard construction (MDF)
ENCLOSURE TYPE   Bass reflex via passive radiator
DIMENSIONS   39" (99.06cm) x 18.5" (46.99cm) x 15.5" (39.37cm)
WEIGHT   89 lbs. (40.4kg)
FINISHES   Walnut Oil, Oak Oil, Oak Clear, Finished Black
BUILT FROM   1990
BUILT UNTIL   1996

I like that 101dB sensitivity, 8ohm impedance.  Great for tube amps.

22 years ago the quality of film capacitors was not as good as it is now. You could probably upgrade the caps in the crossover with something better sounding for low money.  If there are any electrolytic caps in the filters you'd want to replace those just for age, with film caps. Horn loaded tweeter and mid will be sensitive to the quality of the tweeter filter caps.

[Bill O'Connell]

String,

 You might want to check over here upgrading that crossover network.

http://www.alkeng.com/klipsch.html


 Welcome to AN.

 Bill

[richidoo]

Nice link Bill!  Thanks

[stringdriventhing]

Rich, hello again. I just responded to your post in the EE DAC thread. And hello Bill, we just spoke the other day when I placed the order for my soon to arrive Minimax. Thanks for the link Bill but I've already got some brand spanking new crossovers that just arrived from Bob Crites - http://www.critesspeakers.com/. Bob & Michael did a bang-up job on the replacement Xovers, they even SMELL good! I had wandered by Al's site to see what was being offered but felt his product line was more "Heritage" line specific. My Chorus 2's, while designed by Paul Klipsch as a replacement for the Cornwall, are along with the Forte and Quartet relatively obscure compared to the higher visibility Heritage models. Bob had a very Chorus 2 specific replacement crossover available and his work is very highly regarded on the Klipsch community forum. I also wanted to order titanium tweeter diaphragms from him but he had JUST run out and wasn't quite sure when his supplier would rectify the situation. Patience required. Well, my break from sanding the Chorus cabinets is over - back to the grind. I'm prepping the cabs for some really spiffy veneer I dug up. Will post some images as I go - String   

[richidoo]

OK, so now we know you are already serious audio neurotic. No more Mr nice guy.

Those Crites crossovers look sweet!!

[stringdriventhing]

Yeah Rich, I'm a sick man. But then every boy and girl needs a hobby, am I right? The Crites website does not do justice to the sheer grandeur of these replacement crossovers. The originals are bolted to the back of the plastic binding post terminal, for Pete's sake. Nice, nice speakers but PLENTY of room for upgrades. I'd like to post pics but the "attachment" option just doesn't get it as it won't allow me to import images within the text field. Anyone wanna school me on how best to import graphics? I'm itchin' to start a modest image journal of the project as it sputters along. Today I got the cabs stripped of drivers, crossovers, misc. hardware, and some very funky damping material. Dragged the cabs outside and got them all sanded down and ready for veneer application. Unfortunately the ash burl veneer for the motor boards showed up pretty "wrinkled" and I just got done wetting the sheets down with some veneer softening solution and sandwiching them between a couple of pieces of melamine (sp?), then stacked 150 pounds of sand and both speaker cabs on top. It's the suggested method for "flattening" wavy veneer. It'll take a few days before the veneer dries enough for install so I've got a hitch in the git-a-long for now. - String 

[tmazz]

Yeah Rich, I'm a sick man.

Well, you'll have a lot of company here. 

And I second Evan's comment - we love pics around here.

[Barry (NJ)]

Welcome! I'm looking forward to following your progress!

[Triode Pete]

Welcome as well! Those Crite crossovers are excellent; I have them on my K-horns!

Pete

[stringdriventhing]

Hello & thanks for the warm greetings, much appreciated. This weekend has been a sort of two steps forward, one step back kinda deal with the Klipsch project. Got the cabs completely stripped, sanded, glued hardwood plugs into the voids left by the magnet inserts (for attaching grills I won't be using) I punched through, and filled any voids with a vinyl-based patching compound I've had success with. I judiciously added some internal bracing and drilled larger holes in the Klipsch input terminal, so as to accommodate the Vampire Wire replacement binding posts. I've got doubts whether I'll be able to proceed with the veneering tomorrow though, as the ash burl veneer I'm using for the motor board developed even worse wrinkles than I started with following a "flattening" process that was recommended. I got on the horn to a buddy who's got a ton of experience with custom cabinetry and he suggested taking a clothes iron to it. It didn't completely cure the situation but after an hour of ironing the veneer through a soft cotton cloth the majority of the waves are smoothed out. I'll know better in the morning if the "band-aid" will stick. If not, $125 down the drain and I'll have to buy the more costly paper-backed veneer. There have been moments today where I've felt like this old dog has bitten off more than he can reasonably chew, we'll see. - String     

[stringdriventhing]

Wanted to include a shot of Bob & Michael Crites' craftsmanship. When I started looking into the possibility of picking up a pair of Klipsch speakers to work on, the number of positive forum postings regarding Bob's replacement crossovers was both impressive and persuasive. There was pretty much universal accord as to the positive influence his gear has on Klipsch performance. Besides, these speakers are 22-years old and probably in need of having at least some of the crossover components refreshed. The Crites replacements include all new internal wiring to the drivers and input terminals - nice. - String

[JLM]

Have you considering dampening the horns?  In my experience the solid wood horns sound best, probably because they are so solid.  I'm sure the Klipsh crowd had ideas about this, but just a layer of caulk would all around the back side would help.

[stringdriventhing]

Hey JLM - I've got a sheet of Black Hole damping material ordered. Cut to size, peel & stick. Most of the opinion on the Klipsch forum suggested that damping the plastic horns on the Chorus, Forte,etc. was pretty much a waste of time. Well it's my time to waste, besides I just KNOW I'd be worrying about it if I didn't. I've also got plans to use the Black Hole on the cast frames of the woofers and passive radiators as well. I've received an order of No Rez from GR Research which I'll use to replace the fairly cheesy open-cell foam that I stripped out of the cabs. It was probably considered hot stuff when the speakers were assembled back in '89 but the No Rez is really well thought out and should represent a substantial improvement. - String