Recon on a set of Klipsch KG 3.2

[ZLTFUL]

So when I picked up my 15TLs, the guy threw in a pair of Klipsch KG 3.2s.
They have seen better days and were in his garage smoking area so they smell like an ashtray and have that wonderfully sticky tar coating on them.
*shudder*

Anyway, after trying futilely for hours to clean them and get ride of the smell, I decided EFF it and started pulling them apart.

Drivers out, binding posts out, crossover out and foam out (they have a 1.5inch closed cell foam like material in them instead of fiber fill or the like).

I drag the first one down to the garage and break out my trusty generic orbital sander and a package of 80 grit pads and off I go...for about 3/4 of the first side.
My sander decides that its bearing is overworked and it freezes up on me.
So after an hour or so of tinkering with it, I get the bearing out, cleaned and freed up and then back in. Turn her on and she is purring like a Yak mating with a rock crusher. But the disc is spinning properly so I soldier on.

I get the rest of the first side, the top and the second side all sanded down to the oak veneer. All of the black factory finish is off. And so I decide to start on the front edges of the side panels. I know that the veneer here is very thin so I am being very careful, light and methodical. And then of course the bearing seizes up again...this time, instead of stopping, the sander goes into a high speed death spin. It goes from the normal 1200 or less RPM to about 800,568 rpms instantly. And of course, I have the sander against the face of the side panel edge.

At that speed, veneer turns into a gas like state and disappears leaving you with fresh unfinished and unveneered particle board.

SON OF A...

On the plus side, after rage slamming the sander into the trashcan, my wife says that we can go pick up a new one from a good manufacturer tomorrow. YAY FOR NEW TOYS!!! Er I mean, in my most manly voice, yeah...that's a good idea...tools...man...grunt grunt *chug beer*.

So in the meantime, I am having something of a moral conundrum.
I am flipping these speakers. I had no intention of keeping them even though they sound awful damned good.
But they were stinky, sticky and one have several scratches on it from being drug along ts side over a screw while being taken down.
My dilemma is what finished should I do.
On the one hand, we have the original black finish. Pretty straight forward...a coat of sealer followed by 2 or 3 coats of black semi gloss lacquer. Brings the speakers back to their original state. Black is pretty much timeless and they would be more likely to sell based on appearance.

On the other hand, I could go with a golden oak or rustic dark oak stain on the sides and top while masking and shooting the front and back in a touch-up coat of black.
One of the nice side effects of this option is that the grain quite literally sucked in the original black paint so the grain would quite literally pop when the sides are stained.
This would be *my* preference but I think the general consumer is going to want black instead as it would more likely match whatever decor they had.

But, without further ado, here are the before pictures:


Here is disassembled and stripped first one:


I am also going to go ahead and re-wire them while I have them apart from the current 18ga wire to 14ga throughout.
I am debating dynmatting the driver baskets. I have some extra so I just might...

Other than that, I think refinishing them and then posting them on CL is going to make me happy.

[michael1947]

They might sell better with a nice coat of satin black on them.

[Dabutcher]

I repainted a black faded pair of 4.5's after sanding w Rustoleum 2X spray paint. Gloss black. They looked great. I made the mistake of painting the faces over the plastic and it ran a lot. But the wood veneer looked awesome w two light coats. Good luck. D

[soundfreak1]

With the market price ror tjose a can of crylon might be the ticket. And be done with them

[ZLTFUL]

Ended up with a new sander today but spent most of the day looking for materials for my 2 channel audio rack.

I did do the finish sand on the first KG. It is ready for a wipe down and then paint.
I will be disassembling the second one tomorrow and sanding it.
I have a buddy who is going to shoot them black for me at his body shop after hours. Nothing special...just a few coats of single stage enamel.
Figured going back to the original color would make it a lot easier to explain why they say "Black" on the serial number plate.

[ZLTFUL]

Well my buddy backed out so I ended up painting them myself.

Did 4 coats of black lacquer on them and then masked off the rest of the speakers and shot the front with grey fleckstone.
I really like how they turned out.
Should have no problem selling them the way they look now.

[michael1947]

Those are some mighty fine looking (and sounding) speakers.

[KLapinas]

They look better, do they sound better?

[ZLTFUL]

Only thing I did for sound was re-wire them internally. Everything else is stock.
There isn't a noticeable sound difference.

On the plus side, they are paying for my RTA upgrades fully and then some. Have a guy coming today after work to pick them up without even listening to them. Said my $225 asking price was more than fair. Sort of hate to let em go but for that kind of money, I am not too terribly broken hearted as it will pay for the better part of another amp. LOL.