KEF Reference 104/2; A restoration story

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My advice, if you aint got one, get a DAC!! :)

Funny enough I had a premier digital front end after ditching my vinyl rig nearly 2 years ago. I recently sold the digital gear (and the rest of the system) to return to vinyl, and a fresh approach. Digital is okay but it couldn't hold my attention or interest compared to the previous 30+ years with vinyl. For me digital is dead. So glad I kept my vinyl though!!!! :D

Cheers, Pete.
 
I did a repair on a neighbours 104.2,s about 6 years ago. He had managed to blow up both tweeters. I replaced them with T33 types which were available at the time. He was so pleased that he invited all his mates around to celebrate and promptly blew up one of the new tweeters. That was not the end of the story however. There was also a burnt smell evident. Upon dissasembly it was found that several of the crossover caps had exploded! I replaced them with caps of higher voltage rating. I am aware that the originals are hand selected but I had no choice but to replace them with the values as marked on the remains. One more new tweeter was fitted and all seemed o/k. On listening to them I was aware of their quality. They produced efortless LF down to very low frequencies and midrange was very natural. HF was a little forced for my liking though. It didn,t last long. My neighbour likes to party ang one night I could clearly hear the music from my house which is 5 doors away. Needless to say they were destroyed again. I won,t be offering my services anymore. I hate to see nice speakers abused. Maybe one day I,ll obtain the remains for myself and rebuild them.
 
Dear Friends,
I have old KEF 104/2.Bass units B200 (SP1256) have destroyed (all four surrounds of bass units rotted).I have founded Monacor Sph 210 as a possible replacement of SP1256.Is it a right choice or are available alternatives ? I would be very obliged for Your recomendations .
 
Hi, there is a company in England i had found before that rebuilds and recones loudspeakers, they had the machinery to professionally recone the b200 driver. It was a while ago, but think it worked out around £200 plus postage for all 4 drivers. They can also rewind them as well.

Ill have a look and see if i can find them for you.

I also remember a seas driver being mentioned on a forum post as a good replacement for the b200.
 
Dear Sir,
I've already changed the rotted foam surrounds and inners of my 104/2 by these were bought here KEF 104 2 Speaker Foam Repair Kit incl Donut Dust Caps | eBay
Result of such replacement is dramatically unsatisfactory.Surrounds sent from USA were hard and thick in comparison with original KEF's. As a result-strong degradation of bass input especially in lowest frequences which became very bad quality. Therefore I am looking for a modern bass drivers can replace old KEF B200 (SP1256). Could You help me?
 
If you need drivers getting re-built, I have used both Audio Loudspeakers (Acoustic Energy AE2 driver re-foamed) and Wembley Loudspeakers to get a B200 bass driver rebuilt from my 104/2's. It was scraping on the voice coil, which was re-wound and built by them for a very reasonable price.
I found Wembley much better service than Audio Loudspeakers.
 
Hello Reference 1042,
I recently acquired the KEF 104/2 with NAD 1600 Pre and a Rotel RB-990bx amp, and more. All for a little more than a song. I have been enjoying this system for a week :). Foam is in good shape. There is one question you might be able to help me to answer. Is it worth my effort to integrate the KEF KUBE 104/2 to improve the speakers? I have the KUBE, but sadly I am missing the power supply. Are you using the KUBE? Someoone on this website built a power supply for the KUBE. I may be able to build of my own if I can confirm the specifications, particularly the output voltage (18VAC?) and current (330MA?).
 
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