Ohming
Active Member
When you live in Fly over County, it can be challenging to get that bucket list acquisition. But, I finally got a pair of KEF 105, original version, second crossover iteration it appears. My exposure to KEF had been the 104/2 and and 105/3, both of which had very short stay here after despite my best attempts at reasonable maintenance.
I bought the 105's sight unseen and a friend brought them home from a 900 mile trip. I read what threads I could regarding maintenance and upgrades, and formulated what I might do. I want to post my findings in hopes it will help other, and it is kinda frustrating when others dont. Not to bash the 105/3, but after owning them and gazing in wonderment at the complexity of the 22 caps in the xover and the uniQ design, I thought to myself: what were you guys thinking? Oh yeah, probobly focused of WAF and did thier darndest to stuff 20 lbs of fidelity into a 7 lb bag, didn't happen for me. But even a blind man could see the phenomenal build quality, material excellence and thought that went into them. So I wanted to aquire a pair of what set it all in motion, the original 105.
My original audition found the speakers to be just a little better than o.k. Based on all the testimonies I read, I felt assured they would get better. So, a list of a few things I have done over the last months.
Fixed a couple of caster that were tilting, common.
Replaced the hf fuse in 1 head, it was blown. That certainly helped.
Rotated woofers 180 degree for sag prevention, the woofers had no sag after being in the original orientation.
The foam was rotted on the top shelf of the bass cabinet, common. I installed a 1/2" layer of neoprene, noticable positive change. Will test with more / other foam.
The original bitumen sheets were rock hard, like basalt hard. So I added some over the existing. Added a touch of depth.
I decided to wait on the LF caps as they had no physical deformity and tested in spec, at least the capacitance.
The MF and HF I had to severely EQ to sound decent, so that was next. The caps were all original and only 1 was within 5%. One 2.2 measured at 49uf! So that explained it. For most of us, the most anxiety comes from that sometimes polarizing subject of cap selection. I read a lot of positive things about using the original make. I read a lot about the original "hand matched impedence paired" cap selection and designed esr values, and many who did post results from recapping with the same, stated little or no difference. Well, after the readings on my meters, do I want more of that? Nah, there have been marked improvements in components in 40 years, let's use em.
I have recapped maybe some 50 pair in the past, and results can vary. I used metalized ploy caps from a new favorite vendor I found and got them to fit!
Well, after 100 hours the difference is astonishing. In all of the recaps I have done, this pair has responded the most, and keep sounding better. Keepers now for sure. YMMV of course. I think this pair sat unused for a while, and the woofer surround is loosening up and I won't touch those caps because the mkp caps are just to big at 360uf.
Would like to continue with other improvements if any other travelers have thoughts.
I bought the 105's sight unseen and a friend brought them home from a 900 mile trip. I read what threads I could regarding maintenance and upgrades, and formulated what I might do. I want to post my findings in hopes it will help other, and it is kinda frustrating when others dont. Not to bash the 105/3, but after owning them and gazing in wonderment at the complexity of the 22 caps in the xover and the uniQ design, I thought to myself: what were you guys thinking? Oh yeah, probobly focused of WAF and did thier darndest to stuff 20 lbs of fidelity into a 7 lb bag, didn't happen for me. But even a blind man could see the phenomenal build quality, material excellence and thought that went into them. So I wanted to aquire a pair of what set it all in motion, the original 105.
My original audition found the speakers to be just a little better than o.k. Based on all the testimonies I read, I felt assured they would get better. So, a list of a few things I have done over the last months.
Fixed a couple of caster that were tilting, common.
Replaced the hf fuse in 1 head, it was blown. That certainly helped.
Rotated woofers 180 degree for sag prevention, the woofers had no sag after being in the original orientation.
The foam was rotted on the top shelf of the bass cabinet, common. I installed a 1/2" layer of neoprene, noticable positive change. Will test with more / other foam.
The original bitumen sheets were rock hard, like basalt hard. So I added some over the existing. Added a touch of depth.
I decided to wait on the LF caps as they had no physical deformity and tested in spec, at least the capacitance.
The MF and HF I had to severely EQ to sound decent, so that was next. The caps were all original and only 1 was within 5%. One 2.2 measured at 49uf! So that explained it. For most of us, the most anxiety comes from that sometimes polarizing subject of cap selection. I read a lot of positive things about using the original make. I read a lot about the original "hand matched impedence paired" cap selection and designed esr values, and many who did post results from recapping with the same, stated little or no difference. Well, after the readings on my meters, do I want more of that? Nah, there have been marked improvements in components in 40 years, let's use em.
I have recapped maybe some 50 pair in the past, and results can vary. I used metalized ploy caps from a new favorite vendor I found and got them to fit!
Well, after 100 hours the difference is astonishing. In all of the recaps I have done, this pair has responded the most, and keep sounding better. Keepers now for sure. YMMV of course. I think this pair sat unused for a while, and the woofer surround is loosening up and I won't touch those caps because the mkp caps are just to big at 360uf.
Would like to continue with other improvements if any other travelers have thoughts.
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