SpeakerTalk

[larnerp]

Hi,

I just joined your forum today. I stumbled across the forum whilst researching the second-hand prices of Kef 104's.

My father originally purchases a pair of 104aB's back in the late 1970s, and I was always pleased by the sound. I bought my 104s about 10 years ago (although they were originally built back in 1974).

I had to replace a tweeter, which was blown and fill in some holes that had been drilled into the back of the cabinets (presumably for wall-mounting).

However, I noticed a buzz on one the drivers (the B200?) and contacted Kef to see whether they could supply a replacement. They said not, but suggested they could strip and rebuild the drive unit (I seem to recall a figure of about £200 mentioned - that was each, as both should be done at the same time to maintain a matched pair?).

Not having that cash available, I asked whether there was a short term fix, and I was told there was ... the following is what I can remember of the advice given to me by a Kef engineer in Maidstone :

I was told that the cause of the buzz was a fine coating of rust on the coil (caused by the speakers being stored in the loft for a few years). I was advised to run the speakers quite loud, so that the cone was moving in/out by about 5-10mm, then run my finger round the edge of the driver. This would distort the speaker coil, whilst the cone was running in and out and that would rub the rust off. The final advice was to lay the speaker on it's back to allow the rust to fall out the back for the driver coil.

I followed the advice, and it worked, although I'm not sure whether it would break the audiophile's heart to hear of this abuse!

Has anyone else been given this advice?

[Gary]

Wow - you're a brave soul! I'm not sure if I could do that.... but I am glad it worked!

Just for the record, I have never heard of that method. But I know of a local outfit that will charge $10.00 per inch to fix a driver. For an 8 inch driver, they'd charge $80.00.

The value of £200 is about $480.00 Canadian.

Sometimes it pays to live in the colonies....
_________________
Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."
-- Charles M. Schulz (as Charlie Brown)

[larnerp]

Thanks, Gary.

At the time, the buzz was very irritating , yet I couldn't afford to pay to have the driver rebuilt so I worked on the basis that (a) it couldn't make things much worse, (b) I could see the sense in what I was being told, and (c) it was a Kef engineer (or possibly the receptionist?) that gave me the advice.

I must confess I had been very lucky to buy the speakers at the price I did. Looking back at my bank records, I withdrew £250 cash from the bank to buy the speakers, negotiated a deal with the seller to buy them for £110 (due to the blown tweeter) and then paid another £37.00 for a replacement T27. I then paid the princely sum of £19 for a pair of stands, so the total cost was just under 2/3rds my original budget!

All the best,

Paul...