Belles arrived today

CDinMB

CDinMB

Active Member
After a two month wait the Belles finally arrived today. They are in pretty good shape for their age but need some cleaning and TLC. I will make sure they are in great working condition before I hook them to the MC30s. The AB crossovers are rusted and need replacement. On one speaker, the woofer wire was routed out the bottom of the bass bin and up the outside of the cab. The original is in the top box and feeds down through the hole but I can’t find it inside the bass bin. I suspect someone tried to replace it and lost it between the cabinets. Has anyone replaced this wire and can tell me how to feed a new wire through from top to bottom?

D9A3F6E3-31FF-4418-B2E2-B34FFB899BCF.jpeg
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Thanks!
Carmen
 
Awesome. They definitely look like a good starting point; way better than others I've seen. Did you have them delivered, shipped, or did you pick them up? (was noticing the boxes on the floor) Also, That AB crossover is maybe the worst one...like the AL for La Scala and AK for the Klipschorn. Depending on the volume you play, I'd say go with either a Type A (simplest crossover) or Type AA which has a steeper slope on the tweeter if you've got stock K-77's. I recently built a set of Belles using a new pair of K-33 woofers, Crites A-55g mid drivers and CT120 tweeters and, at first, used the stock AA network and changed the caps. Ultimately, I decided since I had a "new pair of Belles", they deserved new crossover parts so I built a new set of Type AA's.

For average listening they say the Type A is hard to beat. But, if you like to twist the volume more often than not, the Type AA is better for tweeter protection which the stock version used the Klip diodes. I removed those from the original AA and didn't use on the new ones as I don't have K-77's.

As far as replacing the woofer wire, I believe the tops came off and there was a 2 position connector similar to what's used on the back of older Heritage. So someone apparently removed them? If those connectors were like the original 2 position, the wire from the woofer would have had small ring terminals on them and screws would have went from the bass bin up into the terminal on the top of the bass bin. IF I remember correctly.
 
These were shipped from West Virginia from an estate auction. Took a while but got here in good shape. The wood is amazingly dirty and will require a lot of time to restore.

The advantage of having two is one might be correct! Yes there are two screws that hold the wires and pass the signal through the boxes. Since the upper wire is still connected I am assuming the connectors are there but the screws are missing. I am hesitant to remove the screws from the working speaker and potentially break it. Anyone know the screw size and length? I may just guess buy a few sizes and see which fit.

F9BB6B26-1F94-4701-AC7E-F3FD7097ACF0.jpeg Original wiring with original speaker (?)

A21E8F10-E809-4191-9B0A-192D20069B6B.jpeg Rewired one with a replacement K33
 
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So the one that has the wire there, are there two little Phillips screws holding the wire in place? And on the other one that's missing the wire, it appears that there are no screws in the holes, correct? Are the black terminals still on the top side of the bass bin? You may have to remove one of the screws on the side that has them and take those to a hardware store to match up for a new pair of screws. But, you may have some around the house, though. They are a certain length so they don't come out the other side of the terminal very far. Odd that the other one was missing the wire. But, easy enough fix. What does the tag say on that round magnet? Is it a Klipsch K-33 or another brand of replacement woofer?

Ohh...I think I remember seeing that auction from another site that posted a link to it.
 
The woofer has Klipsch K33 stamped on it, so just a new replacement.

Yes there are just the holes, no screws. I measured the hole depth and estimated the size of the screw needed. Quick trip to Lowe’s. I didn’t take the bass bin from the top so not sure about the black terminals. Hopefully I will have continuity when all done!
 
Took the top off. Easier than I thought. Yes the terminal block is still there. Just need to get 1.75” long screws. Have the right size and pitch, not the length. Thanks for the help!

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Awesome! I wish I could play mine right now but everyone is watching t.v. in the living room. Won't be too much longer before I'm upstairs jamming in my dedicated listening room across the house and upstairs. Ha
 
Hey, while those tops are off the bass bins, do you see screws in the top of the bins in a "V" pattern that hold the grills in place?
 
No screws on the top for the grills that I could see. Would be nice to take them off and clean them. These really need new crossovers.



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Man, if they only had the AA crossovers in them, you could send them back to Alk and have him do the Super AA exchange for only $99 plus shipping. Call him first, though, and see if his wait time is still 4 to 8 weeks as he doesn't keep a lot of parts in stock. But maybe he has them. Bob Crites is another well known vendor of factory style new crossovers and are generally in stock, I hear. I'd thought about sending the original AA's I have to Al for a rebuild but ended up just renovating them and put in new old stock Russian PIO caps. I think they sounded pretty good but there was something missing. So, I bought all new parts...autoformers from Crites, Audyn caps, Erse SuperQ coils for woofers, and other parts from Parts Express and just made my own not my best work ever, but they sound great.

20180217_121139-800x623.jpg
 
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avguytx said:
Man, if they only had the AA crossovers in them, you could send them back to Alk and have him do the Super AA exchange for only $99 plus shipping. Call him first, though, and see if his wait time is still 4 to 8 weeks as he doesn't keep a lot of parts in stock. But maybe he has them. Bob Crites is another well known vendor of factory style new crossovers and are generally in stock, I hear. I'd thought about sending the original AA's I have to Al for a rebuild but ended up just renovating them and put in new old stock Russian PIO caps. I think they sounded pretty good but there was something missing. So, I bought all new parts...autoformers from Crites, Audyn caps, Erse SuperQ coils for woofers, and other parts from Parts Express and just made my own not my best work ever, but they sound great.

View attachment 1128834
Click to expand...

How do you like the Audyn Q4 caps? I notice ALK has replaced the original crossover design using Sonicaps (which I have used in the past) with the red Audyns (no experience).
 
Honestly, I can't really tell much difference between them and my tried and true Solen caps I've used for the last 20+ years. My hearing isn't what it used to be with having tinnitus now and upper HF loss. So, using high dollar caps doesn't make as much difference to me these days. I used the Audyn Plus on the tweeters and the Q4 on the mid and one of the crossover gurus on the Klipsch site said I needed to change the Q4's to the Plus versions. I may at some point but not just yet. I 'm eventually going to remove those Russian caps out of the original set and put in some Dayton and Sonicaps I got from another member on the Klipsch site. Not that I'll hear any difference in them. lol Well, maybe in the midrange area and up to 12kHz which is where I top out at on a good day.
 
Crossovers on order from ALK, so the wait begins. Watco oil on its way to restore the wood and some general dirt removal up next.

Thanks all!
 
avguytx said:
Man, if they only had the AA crossovers in them, you could send them back to Alk and have him do the Super AA exchange for only $99 plus shipping. Call him first, though, and see if his wait time is still 4 to 8 weeks as he doesn't keep a lot of parts in stock. But maybe he has them. Bob Crites is another well known vendor of factory style new crossovers and are generally in stock, I hear. I'd thought about sending the original AA's I have to Al for a rebuild but ended up just renovating them and put in new old stock Russian PIO caps. I think they sounded pretty good but there was something missing. So, I bought all new parts...autoformers from Crites, Audyn caps, Erse SuperQ coils for woofers, and other parts from Parts Express and just made my own not my best work ever, but they sound great.

View attachment 1128834
Click to expand...
Lookin good buddy! We are who we are ...
 
avguytx said:
Honestly, I can't really tell much difference between them and my tried and true Solen caps I've used for the last 20+ years. My hearing isn't what it used to be with having tinnitus now and upper HF loss. So, using high dollar caps doesn't make as much difference to me these days. I used the Audyn Plus on the tweeters and the Q4 on the mid and one of the crossover gurus on the Klipsch site said I needed to change the Q4's to the Plus versions. I may at some point but not just yet. I 'm eventually going to remove those Russian caps out of the original set and put in some Dayton and Sonicaps I got from another member on the Klipsch site. Not that I'll hear any difference in them. lol Well, maybe in the midrange area and up to 12kHz which is where I top out at on a good day.
Click to expand...
Somehow, my hearing survived better than yours I guess ...
 
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