Randy's K's AKA Vega Killers

[laatsch55]

I sold this pair of Speakerlab Model K's to member " Chris" when he lived in Ft. Dodge Iowa 8 or 9 years ago. In that house he had some good corners. Well a divorce, a job changed and a move to Des Moines to a house with no good corners , so this project was left fallow until Randy walks in the basement being led by a mutual friend and carrying a broke 400. Randy's putting the serious eyeball on the K's. Asked him what he had for speakers and he said 5 pairs of different model Vegas with 15" woofs.
He had heard of my tunebox and wondered just how good my K's were. I told him if he sat in the masters chair for an hour he'd be roont and start selling his Vegas...
He gave a snide little chuckle and said I dont know, them Vegas get pretty loud. And I replied so do the K's, but very clean and clear while being veryloud... I've owned a pair of D9's and kinda knew where he was coming from. And I also knew he was fucked. He's a serious stereohead like the rest of us and knew when i lit the K's off he would never be the same. Went through the normal test tunes, Shpongle, Moby, Dire Straits, Infected Mushroom.......and the one that did it was Crystal Method--- Vegas track 4.....yep...his eyeballs vibrated. The friend that brought him had to go so Randy hung awhile longer and I took him to his place with The Pig in tow in loaner mode.
Got inside his place he started flipping switches on several BPC receivers and a beautiful Marantz 2285 BD. Yep they were loud and it's all I could do to not run screaming from the room. After 5 minutes he shut everything down, looked me in the eye and said yep....I'm fucked.
That was the end of December. When we went to Phoenix in January I let him borrow a couple of 700 WOPLS....yep...fucked again.

 

[laatsch55]

In the interim I had rebuilt 3 of the Vegas crossovers. Each time Randy's thinking the improvement will be enough to unroont himself. That didnt happen.
So.
....then the speaker plans were handed over and his cabinet maker buddy and he started studying up. The cabinet maker was not intimidated but told Randy it wasn't going to be a piece of cake either as there was some serious shit going.on in them thar enclosures.
Talked to Chris last month a couple times about restoring another Spec 1 and Spec 4 for him and on the last call asked him about the K's. He said they were in the same shape as when he left my house with em and lamented about no good corners and just not feeling up to finish the project. Asked what he was thinking he said gove me what I got in em and he'd be happy. Then I asked if he wanted cash, check or hookers.
He opted for the cash and Randy was on the road come the weekend.
This is how we got them....

 

[laatsch55]

Randy didnt waste any time. Finished gluewing the mids together and made it through the hours of sanding.
Had to increase the height of the top hat to accommodate the taller midhorns, and his cabinet master carpenter dude was as good as advertised.

 

[George S.]

Awesome. Makes those CV's look tiny.

 

[laatsch55]

Yeah.. .they're rather imposing..

 

[Gepetto]

Interesting story Lee...thanks for sharing.

 

[laatsch55]

So....Saturday after work we installed the woofs on the motorboard. 1/4" stainless countersunk bolts , 8 of em. With nylocks for nuts. Found center, then trued up the wood on the motorboard. Used a transfer punch then drilled an 1/8" pilot hole for the countersink bit, cut the countersink and finished the holes with a 1/4" bit. Applied foam to seal the motorboard to the back of the horn flare. The woof fires through a 3-1/2" X 13" hole in the motorboard.

 

[laatsch55]

Interesting story Lee...thanks for sharing.

You're welcome..

 

[laatsch55]

The bass horn is actually a 4ft X 4ft X 8 ft tapered horn, folded and split and stuffed in that corner cabinet. Brilliant concept really. And Paul W. got it right the first time. Been in continuous production since 1947. In 76 years they have not altered the bass bin. The bass is pretty unique sounding coming out of the horns. In 3 notes you know you are listening to something special.

 

[laatsch55]

So....
Sunday after work Janiand Ihead back to Randy's. A box full of wiring stuff and we wired up the speaks. Had a bad 4592 so changed them out to the DCM-50' s while we wait on diaphragms. The crossovers are Al K's Universals with a 6db slope.
The woofer doors in the speaker plans called for 4 wood screws.....that didnt last long on mu original pair built in 1986. Went with12- 10-32 stainless allen heads into a stainless blind nut with a bad ass grip on the backside. Installed the foam and bolted down the covers. It gets awfully violent behind that door. In 1986 it only took a week to rattle the wood screws out of it .

Tika approves...

 

[laatsch55]

Finished up the wiring, mounted the mids and tweets and crossovers and stuffed em in the corners.

 

[laatsch55]

They sounded way better than they had a right too in a trailer house. But Randy had done some extensive work to it. 2×4 walls with 5/8 sheetrock.
Randy kept muttering he had hit the lottery, me too. I was preparing for a one to two year stint of helping him acquire some horns and then this fell in our lap....life can be very serendipitous at times....
On the way home Jani says in 48hours he'll blow his first woofer. He did it in 36 hours and I had ordered 6 spares Monday morning before he even did it. Jani is not usually wrong on that kinda stuff...

 

[George S.]

Lee, thanks for sharing. I can see all the fine points in the photos.

 

[Vynuladikt]

Great story Lee.
Thanks, I really need to hear some once. WAIT!!!! I better not head down that rabbit hole.

 

[George S.]

Yup, I started thinking about building a set, then the reality of all the other priorities kicked in.

 

[mr_rye89]

I don’t really have corners for something like that otherwise I’d look into those. A7 style bass bins would be cool though

 

[Gibsonian]

Great story, thanks again for sharing Lee

 

[Gibsonian]

Think I'd be looking for a higher xmax higher and/or power handling woofer with similar T/S.

Are the voice coils burning up or getting mechanically destroyed?

 

[Vintage 700b]

They sounded way better than they had a right too in a trailer house. But Randy had done some extensive work to it. 2×4 walls with 5/8 sheetrock.
Randy kept muttering he had hit the lottery, me too. I was preparing for a one to two year stint of helping him acquire some horns and then this fell in our lap....life can be very serendipitous at times....
On the way home Jani says in 48hours he'll blow his first woofer. He did it in 36 hours and I had ordered 6 spares Monday morning before he even did it. Jani is not usually wrong on that kinda stuff...

Outstanding Lee,
Thanks for sharing, beautiful work!...........and I know how they sound!!!!

 

[e30m3mon]

Yup, I started thinking about building a set, then the reality of all the other priorities kicked in.

Retirement project, George!