SpeakerTalk

[writethis]

Hi, after several years involved in a torrid love affair with 103.2, I have talked a beautiful pair of 105s into coming home with me. Previous owner had replaced the original tweeters with something else. I've managed to source a pair, and even have the original mounting bolts. But several of the T-nuts from inside the tweeter cabinets have gone missing. I can't find either metric or imperial versions that fit the original bolts. Any chance someone can shed light? I could get all new bolts and T nuts, and paint the bolt heads black, but would much rather keep everything as original as possible. Thanks in advance.

[speakerguru]

KEF Electronics had gone completely metric by the time the 105|1 was produced. Most common screw size was M5, with M4 for smaller items like tweeters.

Otoh, weren't the mk1 heads made of MDF? In which case the units would have been held in by some sort if woodscrew.

[audiolabtower]

From memory the edges were rougher than MDF which is usually quite smooth and solid? Maybe they were still flooring grade chipboard so used the grip nuts? Or an early rougher type of MDF? The B300 baffle however has layers so looks like BBC style plywood.

[speakerguru]

Early MDF most probably but could be that chipboard with the finer particles on the outside faces. In any event at time of writing, you can buy M4 T nuts here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M4-M5-M6-M8-M10-Captive-T-Nuts-Pronged-Tee-Nuts-Blind-Nuts-Steel-Zinc-Plated-/222084492419?var=&hash=item33b5446c83:m:mwCG0rBkG8KFLCnq4Y3c49A

[writethis]

EDIT: the heads are made of particle board, not MDF.

Thanks so much gents. I confess I don't know the difference between flooring-grade chipboard and MDF. The heads are indeed made from some sort of wood composite. The fasteners in question are called T nuts here in the colonies, grip nuts sounds like probably the same thing -- they're pressed into the wood from behind, and have little blades or teeth that penetrate the wood to keep the nuts from turning.

I ordered a little bag of what were supposed to be M4 T nuts from a seller on Amazon, and they're too big for the bolts. The bag itself is unmarked, so it's possible a mistake was made. One of the heads still has the original fasteners in place, so I know they (and the original bolts) are correct.

Even knowing that I'm on the right track with metric is a help. I'll update here when the puzzle is solved...

[writethis]

[writethis]

Update: so the hardware in question is indeed metric, but the size is M3.5. I ended up replacing the bolts on one head with the closest Imperial equivalent.

Speakers are back together and settling in/waking up. First impressions compared to my reference point of 103.2: these definitely take transparency to a new and higher level. They also exhibit a degree of scale and dynamic range which exceeds the smaller 103.2. Overall balance is tilted up just a bit - they're not overly bright, but low end and low mids could be more pronounced. I think they may benefit from being moved closer to the back wall, but this will require a) adding casters and b) rearranging furniture (including LPs).

Two other factors that may improve low end once addressed are replacing the hardened 38-year-old bitumen in the lower boxes, and measuring all the original caps to see how far they've drifted from spec. But for now I just want to just enjoy them and let them breathe for a while.

All in all, the 105s are a wonderful addition to my little collection of KEF reference speakers.

Thanks again for the help.

[speakerguru]

M3.5 screws are very common indeed. All UK mains electrical wall sockets and fittings use M3.5. No need to bodge with the nearest imperial thread

[writethis]

Ah, thanks speakerguru. The issue was finding t nuts in the M3.5 size. Jus to be clear, I did use screws and t nuts of the same size, so it's not as if I tried to force dissimilar threads to get along harmoniously.

The speakers are sounding glorious.