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KEF Carlton mk1?

Mike P

Mike P

Trade: Pickwell Audio
A good friend of mine has recently inherited a pair of very large classic KEF speakers. According to the label they appear to be the original KEF Carlton Mk1.

Whilst I know a little about the slightly later KEFs I'm clueless about this particular model. Are they any good? Worth restoring?

I've advised my friend not to run them until we've managed to ascertain the condition of the driver surrounds. I had a quick look at them this evening and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to remove the grille mesh and cloth to get to the drivers.

Any insights from the learned fellows here would be most appreciated.



 
I've never seen a working set of these, not many were made. Very interesting model, particularly for the rear vented large midrange dome driver.

When I'm back in the office tomorrow I'll have an ask around to see if anyone has any tips for you.

Let us know how you get on.

Kind regards, Jack.
 
Hi Mike,

Have had an ask around. Andy, the UK service manager, repaired one of these about two years ago (just a loose tweeter connection). But otherwise no-one here has ever seen one in real life - they are rare. Unfortunately he can't quite remember all the details.

Based on his memory and similar era products in our museum, we think that the front grill will be removable. It will be either held in with velcro or on pegs. Go carefully, but it might take a bit of force to remove it (they were not designed to be removed by the customer). Once you get the grill off then you should find fixings that allow you to remove the front baffle. Note that we don't think you can easily remove the drivers from the baffle, so if you want to inspect suspensions then take the baffle off.

Kind regards, Jack.
 
Might be tricky with that material but I've found an LED torch up against the grille cloth can just about reveal what's going on underneath... Worth a try if you cant get it off without damaging it.
 
jackocleebrown said:
Hi Mike,

Have had an ask around. Andy, the UK service manager, repaired one of these about two years ago (just a loose tweeter connection). But otherwise no-one here has ever seen one in real life - they are rare. Unfortunately he can't quite remember all the details.

Based on his memory and similar era products in our museum, we think that the front grill will be removable. It will be either held in with velcro or on pegs. Go carefully, but it might take a bit of force to remove it (they were not designed to be removed by the customer). Once you get the grill off then you should find fixings that allow you to remove the front baffle. Note that we don't think you can easily remove the drivers from the baffle, so if you want to inspect suspensions then take the baffle off.

Kind regards, Jack.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jack.

It looks to me like the only access is from the front. I removed the plastic finishing strip around the grill and then it looks like the next step would be to remove the heavy bronze coloured grille mesh. The mesh seems to be wired onto the baffle with loops of wire which I guess would need to be cut off. Since they aren't my speakers I backed out at this point.

Can anyone here venture a guess as to how they might sound? Is the SQ likely to be any good by modern standards?
 
Older gear has many fans. I tend to think high end vintage gear like this often sounds best with program material of the same era. If I had these speaks I'd listen to them for a few week, and probably replace the crossover caps with new ones from Falcon (they'll know what you need) to make sure I'm hearing it at it's best. I'd also invert the drivers 180 degrees to compensate for sag. Big guys like this often have a sense of scale and ease that's missing from modern designs, but their frequency response, off-axis dispersion, etc - is more idiosyncratic.

It's probably safe to listen to it as-is, IMO. Surrounds are rubber and (probably) OK.

ETA: based on experience, a putty knife is probably the tool you use to pry the grill out. Proceed carefully and force anything too much.
 
I've neve seen these either but the Spendor SP1 has a similar wooden bottom trim which is fixed by velcro. You have to remove that first to get at the grille. Worth a try to see if that pulls off.
 
I'd be amazed if the fronts didn't just lever off. After being in place for years they can seem like they won't and the amount of leverage needed can be worrying.... I'm talking generally here BTW. They are very rare and I also have never seen these in the flesh.
 
Thanks for the replies folks, sorry about the slow reply I was away abroad last week.
 
Thanks Henry. I don't have any valve amps.

My friend has also inherited a Leak Delta 70 solid state amp. Do you think it'll be up to the job of driving the Carltons?
 
If you haven't done so, have a read of the 1967 C Series brochure, particularly pages 4 and 6. (link at the bottom of the linked to page above)

There are a lot of semi-pro and pro speaker makers about that owe a lot to KEFs research into large dome mid-range drivers (ATC come to mind), even though KEF themselves didn't stick with.

Also, the B1814 bass driver was quite massive for the time in the UK (Tannoy excepted); 'twice the area of the 12" round unit' according to the maker.

The Delta 70 is 35Watts with a typical for the day damping factor of 20 and rated for 4 to 15Ohm loads. With the Carltons being rated 25Watts RMS and 50 watts music, your mate likely has a good match there. I would suspect the Leak to be in need of servicing more than the 'speakers.

Craig

P.S. This is a great read on the history of KEF drive units from the 1960s and 70s...
 
Fascinating pair of speakers, I never knew they existed. Have you fired them up yet? It's not often I have woofer-envy, but 18"x14" is going some by any standards!
 
In North America 'woofer-envy' begins, and ends, with the Electro-Voice 30W...

th
 
Would love to see them undressed...without the fronts...just snagged a pair of Concertos yesterday...yay
 
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