Got Klipsch RF-3, RC-3, one RS3 -- with rough woofers and damaged tweeter...

Mystery

I got a pair of RF3, one RC3 and one RS3 in not so good condition.
No grills on the RF3 and RC3.
Woofers have some squeeze marks.
Looks like they were pushed/bumped over the time.
Cabinets have some scratches/scuffs and one port is missing the plastic round cover.

Anyways, seller said everything works so I got it thinking it's a good deal.
There was no way to test.

Got home and found everything works except one tweeter on RF3.
Now replacing that tweeter will make this deal little sour.
I am trying to get matching fronts for HT so I can get rid of the huge mismatching speakers.

So question is how do the dimpled woofers affect sound?
If it's not good, should I part them out instead of looking for a tweeter?
Also the port cover looks like it's just a cover as it's not extended any deeper than the cabinet thickness.
Thanks


Edit: I found this replacement diaphragm for $18. Will this work? http://www.amazon.com/SS-Audio-Klipsch-Tweeter-Diaphragm/dp/B00DX7DSFQ

Dennis Gardner

Do you mean the center dust caps have dents? This has no affect on sound. The replacement diaphragm is easy to replace, but check all wiring or swap it with the good one to make certain it is a bad driver.

Don't discount those speakers, they are from Klipsch's reference line which would be similar to Polk RTi line. They are nice when used with a warm/neutral amp/receiver.

Mystery

Dustcaps are fine.
If you look at the bottom right driver in this picture of the center, there are some squeeze marks on the woofer cone.
The RS3 and one driver of RC3 appear perfect.
The RF3 also have similar issue on the woofers.
They do work and didn't hear any issue but haven't rocked them too loud yet.



Tweeter is bad.
I took it out and multimeter reads nothing.

Dennis Gardner

I see the marks, now. If it breaks the seal of the cone to surround, it could cause issues. From the distance in the pics, they look okay. **** luck with them.

DaveHo

What are you going to do with only one surround speaker? Personally I'd scavenge parts from the surround, & junk it. Replace the worst woofer & blown tweeter, & keep the other tweeter & beat up woofer for spares. Or if you think there's actually a market for one surround speaker swap the parts & disclose the one tweeter doesn't work when you try to sell it.

Mystery

DaveHo wrote: »

What are you going to do with only one surround speaker? Personally I'd scavenge parts from the surround, & junk it. Replace the worst woofer & blown tweeter, & keep the other tweeter & beat up woofer for spares. Or if you think there's actually a market for one surround speaker swap the parts & disclose the one tweeter doesn't work when you try to sell it.

Hehe... I already thought of that but nothing of RS3 matches with the RF3's.
Woofers are smaller and tweeters are different as well.
I'll probably sell that one and buy replacement diaphragm for the one tweeter or both to match.

Edit: The tweeters are different model and magnet is different but could the diaphragm be swappable? Hmm...

Mystery

Dennis Gardner wrote: »

I see the marks, now. If it breaks the seal of the cone to surround, it could cause issues. From the distance in the pics, they look okay. **** luck with them.

I didn't see any damage on the surrounds. Most of the marks are near the dust cap to middle of the cone area.
It looks like something was leaning on the woofer cone to cause that.

The replacement diaphragms are less than $20 so will try that first.

Mystery

RF3's original tweeter has flat gray/silver type diaphragm dome.

Here is a replacement from simply speakers but original is not as shiny as this one and the voice coil is very thin compared to thicker flat coil in the replacement so I guess that's good thing as they can handle more power:


However, the replacement I got from the bay has a black cloth type dome somewhat similar to Polk dust cap. It's the same diaphragm for many Klipsch tweeters including Heresy.



There are six holes in the diaphragm frame, 3 for screws and 3 for small metal stubs that alternate the screws as seen below in the picture. The shiny ones are the stubs.
In the replacement diaphragm, the hole between the two terminals is little too small or misaligned that prevents the stub to fully go in and it doesn't get completely flat. So I had to apply some force on the screws to push it tight.


Now on the sound, it sounds almost exactly as the original.
Great details in the highs, sounds very good.
However, after comparing it with the other one with original diaphragm, the speaker with new diaphragm is slightly louder. That could be because it's brand new compared to old tweeter on the other one or it decreased overall impedance of the speaker to get more power from the amp or it's just like that.
In any case, I increased the level in my HT receiver by 1 on the other speaker and it seems to match perfectly now so not a huge difference.

So, I think they are very good replacements for HT use.
I can't say if they are as good for 2-channel critical music listening but for that, one new and another old won't make sense even if they are original. I'd replace both to the same tweeter in that case.