Need some cheap replacement 8" woofers for my "craigslist special" system!

[Buddy17]

Well, after coming to college and selling all my old equipment, i built a cheap craigslist system for my apartment. So far i have acquired a perfect rx-v1200 (75 bucks) and some Klipsch KG3.5 towers (45 bucks) for the mains. No powered sub, not really suited to the apt life.

Anyways, one of the towers has a busted 8" woofer. I have MORE than enjoyed these babies, and I know a lot of people hate the klipsch, but i'm in love....maybe its because they are from the mid 90's?? But as you can see, i'm on a big time budget and need a pair of replacement woofers to get me through college.

I know it is not so easy to just throw in any ol' woofer and expect it to sound good in a certain box....but i'm willing to give that up to just get me by. I have been looking at Parts Express, but there are SO many choices i just figured i would ask. Hopefully someone can help!

here is parts express 8" woofer section:

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=489&CFID=4735468&CFTOKEN=50875232

here are the only specs i have found for the cabinets.

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/kg-3-5-specifications/

Specifications
FREQUENCY RESPONSE 36Hz-20kHz(+-)3dB
POWER HANDLING 65 watts maximum continuous (325 watts peak)
SENSITIVITY 94dB @ 1watt/1meter
NOMINAL IMPEDANCE 8 ohms
TWEETER K-84-K 1" (2.54cm) Polymer dome compression driver
HIGH FREQUENCY HORN 90(o)x40(o) Exponential Horn
WOOFER K-1002-K 8" (20.32cm) Injected Carbon Graphite cone
ENCLOSURE MATERIAL Medium density fiberboard construction (MDF)
ENCLOSURE TYPE Bass reflex via front-mounted port
DIMENSIONS 33.5" (85.1cm) x 10.5" (26.7cm) x 11.5" (29.2cm)
WEIGHT 39 lbs. (17.7kg)
FINISHES Whitewash, Lt. Oak, Med. Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Black Satin veneers, Black vinyl
BUILT FROM 1994
BUILT UNTIL 1997
X
KG3.5

 

[Alex2507]

I would ask PE which driver they suggest that you replace that particular driver with seeing as how you have the model number and they might have the T/S parameters available to them. They are known to be good for that kind of thing.

 

[Buddy17]

wow i never would have thought to ask parts express! good idea though. I may try and give them a call tomorrow.

anyone else have some recommendations if parts express is no help? Thanks for the quick reply Alex

 

[TLS Guy]

wow i never would have thought to ask parts express! good idea though. I may try and give them a call tomorrow.

anyone else have some recommendations if parts express is no help? Thanks for the quick reply Alex

You can almost certainly get those drivers reconed. Check out Orange County speakers.

 

[Audiophile_719]

Parts-Express.com, Madisound.com, Allelectronics.com

 

[Buddy17]

You can almost certainly get those drivers reconed. Check out Orange County speakers.

wellllllllll....i would have gone that route, most definitely. But, the person who owned them before me decided to put some junk woofer in one of the cabinets. Incidentally, it is also the one that needs replaced. The other cabinet still has the original Klipsch woofer, as far as i know, and is working great. I just wanted to go ahead and replace both to keep them the same instead of mix matching drivers.

 

[markw]

Can Klipsch offer an exact replacement for the blown one? It might be worth a phone call if their web site doesn't provide answers.

Woofers are funny things. They work best when the enclosure, crossover, abd woofer are designed to compliment each other. By putting in "any old woofer", you run the risk of the system not sounding as good as it could.

If the price isn't ridiculous, an OEM woofer would be the best way to go. If not, if you answer the questions Parts Express asks, it might be a second-best way to go.

Or, even better, if all it needs is a refoaming*, that would be ideal.

The "surround" between the frame and the paper cone is shot. They might even be able to replace the entire paper cone as well.

 

[TLS Guy]

Can Klipsch offer an exact replacement for the blown one? It might be worth a phone call if their web site doesn't provide answers.

Woofers are funny things. They work best when the enclosure, crossover, abd woofer are designed to compliment each other. By putting in "any old woofer", you run the risk of the system not sounding as good as it could.

If the price isn't ridiculous, an OEM woofer would be the best way to go. If not, if you answer the questions Parts Express asks, it might be a second-best way to go.

Or, even better, if all it needs is a refoaming*, that would be ideal.

The "surround" between the frame and the paper cone is shot. They might even be able to replace the entire paper cone as well.

Simply speakers offer Klipsch repair.

 

[markw]

Simply speakers offer Klipsch repair.

The fly in the ointment, which I didn't realize until after I posted, is that one woofer (the blown one?) isn't an OEM Klipsch speaker.

 

[TLS Guy]

The fly in the ointment, which I didn't realize until after I posted, is that one woofer (the blown one?) isn't an OEM Klipsch speaker.

I see that now. Then he should try and get a new one from Klipsch or be patient on eBay.

He should measure the T/S parameters of his good woofer, and he might find a match, but this is not usually the case.

 

[Buddy17]

The fly in the ointment, which I didn't realize until after I posted, is that one woofer (the blown one?) isn't an OEM Klipsch speaker.

exactly....the blown one is definitely NOT an oem driver. The other cabinet has what i believe to be oem klipsch driver, but is not verified. So, repair is out of the question.

Replacements from klipsch, from what i have heard, is not an easy process. It sounds like they only sell replacement parts if you have proof of a purchase. Coming from craigslist and being ~15 years old, providing any proof for Klipsch will not be easy. Maybe someone here has dealt with their replacement process??

It probably won't be cheap to go to klipsch directly, which is going against my number one priority: price.

On another note, i am willing to modify the cabinets to fit a certain driver. I do have the capabilities to add some braces and maybe even block off the woofer section from the horn to limit the space provided and can probably modify the port length to better suit an aftermarket driver. Don't forget, with no powered sub as of now, any added low freq will be gladly accepted!

Thank you all for the great responses btw! I never expected to even get this much help, so anything more is greatly appreciated!

 

[TLS Guy]

exactly....the blown one is definitely NOT an oem driver. The other cabinet has what i believe to be oem klipsch driver, but is not verified. So, repair is out of the question.

Replacements from klipsch, from what i have heard, is not an easy process. It sounds like they only sell replacement parts if you have proof of a purchase. Coming from craigslist and being ~15 years old, providing any proof for Klipsch will not be easy. Maybe someone here has dealt with their replacement process??

It probably won't be cheap to go to klipsch directly, which is going against my number one priority: price.

On another note, i am willing to modify the cabinets to fit a certain driver. I do have the capabilities to add some braces and maybe even block off the woofer section from the horn to limit the space provided and can probably modify the port length to better suit an aftermarket driver. Don't forget, with no powered sub as of now, any added low freq will be gladly accepted!

Thank you all for the great responses btw! I never expected to even get this much help, so anything more is greatly appreciated!

I have just brought up the specs on that speaker and the sensitivity is 94 db 1 watt 1 meter. So that will exclude most if not all current offerings. If the sensitivity does not match an already bright speaker will be insufferable.

I have just looked at every 8" speaker on parts Express. The speaker has an F3 of 36 Hz, so we are looking for an 8" 8 ohm driver with an Fs in the region of 35 Hz and a sensitivity of 94 db 1 watt one meter. There is no close contender on parts express.

I think the chance of finding replacement drivers is slim to none. There is a small chance there may be a pro driver out there that would fit the bill, but for power handling reasons, I would bet Fs will be far too high. That leaves only vintage drivers as another possibility.

The other issue is that a driver with the required specs will not be cheap new or old.

The best bet is to photograph the speakers with an affidavit of ownership and try and buy one new OEM driver.

 

[Buddy17]

TLS Guy,

i have always admired your set up and knowledge, but i never imagined you actually helping find some cheap speakers for my setup! thats awesome!

except...its not the news i wanted to hear haha. Here is a little update: I pulled the other (good) driver out, and realized i do not believe it to be OEM either. That sort of changes things around for me. I found some used k-1002 drivers from a vintage audio reseller, but at 75 dollars a pop! I only paid 45 for the whole setup.

I'm thinking some sort of aftermarket speakers and possibly a crossover/cabinet change will be better suited to putting triple what i paid just in the woofers. I'm sure the crossover changes will not be cheap or easy though. Not really sure where to go from here, but hopefully i can get something figured out for a good price. Again, thanks for all the help

 

[GranteedEV]

Well.. sounds like as good a time as any to get some great new speakers... some Open box intimus 4Ts or blemish section e5tis maybe?

The cheapest half-decent speaker I can think of is probably

http://www.fluance.com/fldycothhisp.html

But knowing that company, it's probably not in stock (they never seem to have anything in stock)

 

[anamorphic96]

Have you tried e-bay ? I was able to find replacement drivers for my 12 yr old Paradigm Mini Monitors. If your patient it is amazing the things you can find on e-bay.

On another note I don't think you need to be the original owner with proof of purchase. Just tell them the speaker you have and see if they have the replacements. For warranty work proof of purchase is definitely needed. Have you actually called Klipsch or is it just something you heard. Most if not all speaker companies will sell replacement parts.

Hope this helps.

 

[Buddy17]

Have you tried e-bay ? I was able to find replacement drivers for my 12 yr old Paradigm Mini Monitors. If your patient it is amazing the things you can find on e-bay.

On another note I don't think you need to be the original owner with proof of purchase. Just tell them the speaker you have and see if they have the replacements. For warranty work proof of purchase is definitely needed. Have you actually called Klipsch or is it just something you heard. Most if not all speaker companies will sell replacement parts.

Hope this helps.

i have been scrolling ebay, craigslist, and audiogon......but it really seems like this vintage klipsch stuff still brings big $$. The cheapest replacements i have found so far were 75 bucks a pop. Like pointed out above, that is approaching new speaker prices.

i would love to go with a DIY driver/xover setup, but i'm a complete newb to the DIY xover stuff. For now, i'm gonna keep watch for some cheap oem's. If i can't find any, not sure what i'm going to do.