Kef Model 105's

[phill1012k]

I have a pair of Kef Model 105's:

http://www.kef.com/history/1970/model105.asp

My father purchaced these from new in 1978, he's passed them onto me but my sitting room isn't nearly big enough to do these justice...i think i'd have to get rid of my sofa in order to accomidate them.

I'm looking to sell them on to fund some smaller speakers, but before i do i'd like to make sure they are servicable and worth selling. They are physically immaculate and have the origional covers, they are functioning as my father and i hooked them up and tested them. They are totally unmodified, we even have the origional manual.

I was wondering if anyone here knew what to look for to make sure these are still serviceable as they're 30 years old now, if there is anything that usually degrades over time or anything we should check a little closer before selling them.

[PeteMcK]

get rid of the sofa, they look great....
Check that all drivers are working, and check the condition of the surrounds (Where the cone is attached to the edge of the speaker). That should do it.

Anyone who bought them would probably be well advised to replace any electrolytic capacitors in the crossover, but that's a job for someone who knows about the intestines of these things.

[Moondog55]

I'm with Peter, buy a house to go with the speakers.
Or sell the sofa
A classic speaker, heard them many, many years ago in England.

[Jonathan Bright]

!n 1978 Hi-Fi Choice (UK) ran a comparison of dozens of speakers including the YAMAHA NS 1000M. The 105's streeted the field by a considerable margin. This was no "golden ears subjective fest" but a serious report run/edited by Martin Colloms.......I'm with the others....sell the house. And be grateful.....as the Good Book says!
The electros could be upgraded. Some won't like the cored inductors, and there are a lot of them. At least 8 per speaker. There is also a funny large cap in the feed to the bass unit if I remember correctly. They were looking for 3rd order bass roll off and put a 600uF cap in the +ive line to the 12 unit I think. Many would think there was scope for further inprovement but get into the local KEF site in the UK. They are v.good on this sort of thing. I'll just chase up the site...back in a moment.
Back again. It sound inocuous but try "hifiloundspeakers" in Google and there should be a KEF owners site on the first page. These bods have sections on drivers....forums etc.
Good luck and a jealous greeting from Oz, Jonathan

[PeteMcK]

they were big on complex 3rd order xovers:
http://www.hifiloudspeakers.info/Ana...overIndex.html

[SaSi]

This is not a loudspeaker to sell. Keep them. (And that comes from someone that woudl buy these on the spot). You might some day move to a bigger house and then you will enjoy having them.

The drivers in these are pretty stable over the years. The rubber surrounds hold on well even after 30 years or so, so if the cones are clean nothing more to say about them.

The caps are an issue as always and may need checking - replacement.

[poynton]

Don't keep them....

Send them to me.....



Andy

PS.. these were the bees knees when they came out.

[Zero Cool]

I had a pair of these! well the 105-II's anyway


I was told that disconnecting the "protection" circuit that the Gen 2's had was the way to go. Mine had a slightly forward midrange sound that compared to my Vandersteen 2C's i didn't like as much. but it was tough to give them up!

[AMV8]

Phill

I also have some Kef 105's and I think they are a superb speaker.

They may not be as detailed as some more modern speakers with faster mid range units and simpler crossovers but, they I think they give a very impressive presentation of the music that leaves a lot of speakers a long way behind.

I have replaced all of the electrolytic capacitors in mine. I also replaced all the electrolytics in the direct signal path of the mid and treble units with polycarbonate capacitors. I conversed with Kef about this They advised replacing with polycarbonate/polyester caps of the same value plus a series resister of 1 ohm per 10 uf of capacitor replaced to make up for the lost resistence of the electrolytic capacitor. It works although some others have been sceptical of this.

As advised above the 600 uf cap forms part of a low freqency roll off for the base unit to prevent damage to the base unit from frequencies below 20hz or so. If your amplifier and record player are up to scratch you probably do not need this - I have removed these in my speakers.

I have not had any trouble with speaker surrounds as they seem to be a rubber/ silicon compound that has not shown any sign of stiffening or decomposing.

I think the only things you need to do are replace the old electrolytic capacitors in the crossover and tighten ( but not overtighten ) the speaker hold down bolts and then sit back and listen.

Don

Don

[Jonathan Bright]

Worth checking things, models etc. I've been working on the assumption that they were the early ones. The later 105.2 were a good bit different. I'm pretty sure that the original was a 4th order time aligned model crossover. They were after a 3rd order bass roll off but I suspect that the cross over of Colin's is not the one for phil1012k's unit.
I'll dig around a bit more today.