Help with sick Kan

It seems a better idea to have the speaker tended to by an expert than recommend yod dimantle them yourself (its a tricky job, they really built them!) than potentially trash a rather lovely speaker.

[This message was edited by Martin M on WEDNESDAY 31 January 2001 at 14:06.]

Tim

Phil

kan drive units
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I recently had to replace the tweeters in my mk.I Kans. Linn did indeed want an arm and a leg (£70 + VAT per side - and of course recommended a pair i.e. c. £200 total). I looked at the Wilmslow alternative which with P&P ended up being around £70 a pair.
I ended up buying the Rega version which is basically the same tweeter but hand doped, so according to Rega a touch better. Total cost around £72 (IIRC) beacause they went straight to my dealer so no separate P&P. Changing them was a bit hard work (I can email you a much longer email with details if you're intersted) but they do seem sweeter than before - although that may be because the old ones were on their way out.

I'd heard the same story about the bass units being discontinued - but as it's the tweeters that tend to go you may be able to pick up a knackered pair with working bass units anyway

Naim will supply the same tweeter too, they charge a little more but as I recall they are matched pairs.

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I had some fairly detailed correspondance about taking kans active (with Tim Frazeur). I've reproduced his very full reply below. In addition I'd add:
- I used a wallpaper striper squeezed between the grill and the box to get the grills off, this was much easier than I anticipated and the glue was still fairly sticky.

- getting the tweeters out however was a real drag. The mastic used is really springy. I tried a knife, screwdriver and most of the kitchen implements I could find. A reasonably strong kitchen knife was best but I did cause a bit of damage to the baffle. Tim's suggestion of a paint tin opener seems the best option.

- I used some blue gasket sealer bought from a car parts shop when I put the speakers back in.

- I didn't even bother re-gluing the grills - they fit so tightly just pushed in.

- I've gradually acquired the spare 250, SBL naxo, and last week-end the 2nd run of A5 so the next project will be the full active step. I'll let you know how I get on.

Phil

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Activating Kans! I am always glad to hear about others doing this! I must say that I no longer have the Kans, and wish sometimes that I never let them go. I now have active Sbl's, which really are a very special speaker, but a tough one to get right, which at times I'm still not sure they are working at there best. But that is another story. I had two pairs of Kans, a MK1 that I enjoyed for about 3 years and then a MK2 pair for about 7-8 years. The MK1 is not nearly as easy to work with in going active. The MK2 just makes it a real smooth job and is easily reversible to boot. I don't know what version you have but either one is fun to do. As far as grills go and the nasty removal-if you are lucky the mastic/glue that holds them on may have become brittle by now and it won't be too difficult. I got a credit card that was ending up in the trash anyway, and used it to slide
down between the grill and side of speaker cabinet. This is a tight fit, but it will go. Work towards a corner first. As you get the card more or less seated in the groove between cabinet and grill, take a very slender tool-I used a really thin butter knife carefully prying up between card and edge of grill. The main thing here is patience being careful not to damage the grill material as best as possible, although that can be replaced if needed. The credit card just gives you a stiff material to pry against without damaging the cabinet. Usually once a corner is free, it is pretty easy to work your way around the cabinet popping the grill off. I had one practically fall off with a little tapping around the edge of the grill. Just know where the drivers are located before trying this! Once the grills are off, the next step is getting the drivers out. If you have MK1's, this can be really messy and somewhat scary. These drivers are sealed with silicone mastic. It is a
real pain getting them out. It is almost guaranteed you will get a bit of
baffle damage and lose some paint on the driver basket. I recommend taking
the bass driver out first-this enables you if your hands are small enough,
to push up through to help get the tweets out. You do not have to get the
tweets out, but it helps get a bit of room and daylight to see what's going
on inside the box, and be able to get the crossovers out. I suppose you
could just clip the wires and leave the crossover in, but I wanted to make
it clean. As far as taking the bass drivers out-patience is the key. I just
pried carefully around the drivers working a bit at a time, taking great
care not to run the screwdriver through the driver or rubber surround. That
would be a real bummer. When I got things loosened up, I used a paint can
lid removal tool, kind of a straight tool with a little lip or edge on the
end. This helped to get under the driver and finish the pry job. You need to
use a small block of wood under the tool to help keep baffle damage to a
minimum. Once you get the drivers out, clean them up as best you can as well
as the baffle board. The next step is figuring out how to add another set of
terminals. I removed the old ones and drilled a couple of holes right above
the old ones. Then I sourced some new plugs from ITT/Pamona. These were
somewhat hard to find here in the US due to the length of the body, so it
would clear the thickness of wood and still provide enough room to solder
and all. I have heard other folks just hardwiring the speaker cable direct,
however if you use NACA5 that would be a real pain! I am sorry I do not have
the part numbers for the sockets for you. If you are in the UK, you may be
able to source replacements directly from Linn. I re-used the wiring from
the x-overs to drivers-it is decent wiring and I didn't want to go changing
things too much and maybe ruin the overall tonal balance somehow. Soldering
in the tight confines is pretty hard but if you plan ahead, you can do a bit
outside of the cabinet. So far this has all centered around MK1 Kans. If you
have 2's, the grill removal will be the same, although there are slight
differences in the board that the cloth is attached to. The drivers have
foam gaskets around them so removal is really easy, just take care not to
tear the gaskets. The crossover is easy to remove-take the nuts off of the
speaker terminals and remove I believe one screw in the x-over board, and it
should come right out. Then you can clip or de-solder leads from board.
Then, you can de-solder the terminal posts from off the board and reuse
them. Solder or ring-terminate your driver leads direct to these terminals,
put it all back together! With the MK1, you can make up gaskets for them
instead of sealing them with silicone. Just make sure the rebated area in
the baffle is really clean, and the driver face as well. I probably have
forgotten something along the way. If you don't understand something let me
know. I apologize that this is really lengthy! As far as the Snaxo goes, if
you are sure it has been set up for Kans and no one has really goofed with
the level adjustments, you should be ready to go. Naim could confirm the
S.N. to see if it is a Kan unit. If in doubt, send it to them for a going
over and they will set the levels. You can set the levels yourself if you
want. I had to play a bit with my treble adjustment as in my room it was a
bit too much. I was active with Kans for about 1 year prior to Sbl. I
really do miss the Kans. They do things so very well, and it just gets
better active. I must warn you on the usual source first nazi rule! Even
though I have a CDI, I feel at times the source really should be better. In
active mode, the midrange just gets better, bass seems to dig a bit deeper,
and everything is more crisp. Sometimes the crispness bordered on being
"edgy" on some discs. Once again it could be source problems. But overall,
for me I had a blast with the active Kan. I would still have them today if I
wasn't a fortunate bastard and be able to afford a pair of Sbl's at the
time. I cannot think of another speaker that I have enjoyed so much for so
long, and I have had a few. Well Phil, I know that I did not answer all your
questions-in fact I can't remember the rest of them. As far as other
suggestions, the forum is always good, the Mana forum also is a good place
to ask, and Neil Mcbrides site has some stuff in there. His site can be
found somewhere in Matt Robinson's or Tony Lonorgons site. Please give me a
shout if I can help anymore! I will let you know if I come up with anything
else that would help. Enjoy those speakers! The main thing is have fun and
don't get too serious about it! At least that is what I keep telling myself!
Take care, Tim

Tim

I've not done this myself, but my dealer reckons there is an easy way to get tweeters out.

Remove all the bolts/screws. Find a slightly thicker bolt than those you've just removed.

Put it into one of the holes in the face-plate and gently screw it in. It shouldn't go into the screw-hole in the wood (use a bigger bolt if it does), but should instead lever out the tweeter.

Neat, huh?

cheers, Martin

sorry, forgot to mention that this will probably destroy your tweeter!

Why would you want to take the tweeter out, though, unless it was stuffed? (OK, maybe if you wanted to rewire).

cheers, Martin

quote:

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Linns'pricing for their tweeters is laughable.The bloody things are chinese.China being well known for the maufacture of expensive precision engineered product.

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The tweeters that Linn modified for all but very early Kan Mk1s were based on a Hiquphon unit originating from Denmark. Hiquphon website is here: http://pip.dknet.dk/~pip1690/index.html

If your Mk1 Kans have speaker 4mm sockets as opposed to binding posts, then you have the Hiquphon based tweeter.

Tony.

Tim

I'm a little uncertain of the exact facts here but my understanding is that the original kans had scanspeak tweeters. These are still made and are what you can get from Wimslow or in slightly modified form from Rega or Naim. In the early 80s a bloke from Scanspeak left to set up his own company making tweeters, Hiquphon, initially these were for Linn. These were a slight variation of the Scanspeak tweeter but, so that Linn could plonk them straight into the Kan and Isobarik were exactly the same size, sensitivity etc. Although they are different I've been told by a couple of dealers that the differences are not that large.

By all accounts putting a new scanspeak tweeter into the hole previosly occupied by a Hiquphon tweeter won't make much difference to the sound at all and obviously is the cheaper option rather than go back to Linn. After all if Naim and Rega still use the Scanspeak tweeter it must be OK.

Phil

I guess I must have the original Scanspeaks judging from the s/n's (I recall the introduction of the 'upgraded' tweeters just after I bought mine in '84).

My question is where to source the replacements? Does anyone know the Scanspeak part number? Or is it simply sufficient to specify an SBL replacement part from a Naim dealer?

Thanks for any info from 'experienced' Kan users

David

Phil

http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/

Thanks for your info. Hadn't seen your response given the woeful nature of the Infopoop threading.
In the meantime I had contacted the local Naim and Linn importers and according to them:
- The Naim Scanspeak units are not the same having differing sensitivity.
- Linn carry the Hiquphon unit locally at AU$190 each!

So an email to Wilmslow seems to be in order.

Thanks again.

David