Klipsch Heresy 1-diagnostic question

[jstrano]

Good Morning,
I have a pair of original Klispch Heresy 1 speakers from 1978 (the year I was born, which is pretty cool). One of the speakers is quiet until I crank up the power to it and then it comes on perfectly. I can then turn it down and the level sounds better. These speakers are 100% original, I understand that capacitor upgrades may be a good idea, but I was wondering if anyone had a similar issue where I could confirm that was going to be a fix. Thanks!

 

[Paul Birkeland]

You'd need to start by checking to see if it's the whole speaker doing that, or just some of the drivers. You can do this by unhooking one lead from the mid horn and one lead from the tweeter, then recheck to see if the woofer is always playing at proper levels. Repeat this process to check the mid and tweeter horns.

While you're poking around in there with the speaker leads, throw some new 2uF caps in for good measure.

You are most likely to find a dead capacitor or two, or maybe some horn drivers that need new diaphragms.

If the woofer doesn't come to life till you apply a fair amount of power, then you most likely have a loose connection in the speaker.

 

[Paul Joppa]

Another possibility is that the woofer voice coil is rubbing on the magnet's pole piece. This happens as the suspension sags under gravity over the years. Diagnosis is usually by gently pushing the cone and listening for scraping, and the traditional prescription is to rotate the woofer 180 degrees.