Train Wreck part 2 - Klipsch fortes

On the mission to pick up Brandon's new project,

I found some speakers on the LB craigslist.

Everything was too coincidental in their acquisition to not get them-

close by, seller agreed to lowball offer,

we had trailer space,

and near tasty Mexican grub...

When things fall into place easily,

it seems right to go for it.

Maybe that's why this wasn't the wisest deal,

as when reading this,

other things fall into that same category-

booze, drugs and loose women!

But they sure look nice in that top picture huh?

That's cause I spent at least an hour rubbing these babies out.

I've found this cheap wood refinishing oil,

Howard's magic wood rejuvenator.

How else could I get these beat up things in the house?

Now when I see bleached or dry veneer,

as long as it's not chipped or delaminated,

I know there's an easy way to clean them up,

while also using the condition as a reason for a better deal.

Of course I didn't wheel and deal that great on these.

The components were in really good condition,

so I went for the agreed price,

and decided to bitch about it later.

Here's the segue.

This oil/wax stuff is a two-parter.

Scrub the stain on with steel wool,

and follow it up with this goopy wax stuff.

I found it easiest to apply the wax with bare hands.

Don't ask it just seemed easier.

Nothing like a slippery splinter!

No luck digging out the splinter, 

time to redo the first pair of these I found.

No this stuff doesn't take out juice stains.

Way nicer.

Now that both pair were cleaned up,

I decided to make one a house set,

and the other the garage set.

This is where I kinda screwed up.

The back of these have a passive woofer,

a dead speaker that regulates the air movement,

similar to a tuned port.

I swapped the cleaner ones onto the walnut pair,

But didn't realize these were the same as the woofers on the kg4's I was going to flip.

Of course I found out right before the guy came to pick them up.

Too late, too lame...

Until you read the next "train wreck" post,

It looks like I did good,

trading two pairs of smaller Klipsch for one larger pair.

Nothing the wife loves more then speakers in the walkway.

Last off,

the placement of these is totally wrong,

but wow do they sound great.

Klipsch designed these speakers for a 2-channel setup,

no subwoofer.

The bass goes down to 32hz,

and yes I've tested it out!

The garage placement is even worse.

Supposedly the bass rolls off best at 18" from the wall.

Oh well.

now it's the perfect overkill work system.

By the way,

it took two weeks for my wife to talk me into her pulling out that splinter.

TP