[Heykayde]

Hello there,  I was reminiscing with my cousin about the "good old days". When quality manufacturing was done here in the US and we started talking about old jobs.  I did some searching online and noticed thar Cizek Audio is still being talked about.  How exciting.  I have a pair of Koa wood speakers that I've never been able to part with because I personally spun the inductors, tested the capacitors and soldered the crossovers.  One of my best friends made the woofers and I was allowed to pick out the best matching pair of cabinets that we had in stock at the time.  I even have a copy of the article when we (the KA-1) made the front cover of High Fidelity Magazine somewhere around my office.   I have managed to get new front grills to replace the foam ones that had crumbled with old age and they actually fit pretty good.  At one point I had had a couple of the speakers replaced to get them working again, but I'm sure they would need new ones again by now.

Does anyone know how I could bring them back to life again?  I haven't tried to hook them up as I can see one of the woofers has a small tear.  They haven't been used in at least 15 years.  Either that, or where I could perhaps sell them.  It's too much of a shame that they are just collecting dust.  The cabinets are still beautiful as the day I finished them back in Massachusetts. 

Any advice or comments would be very welcomed.

[Steven Stone]

I had a pair of Cizak subwoofers that used a two 8" or 10" drivers. A crown amplifier welded the drivers by passing DC. I had a local repair-person fix them by replacing with similar drivers and then adding mass to duplicate the Cizak driver's characteristics. I used them in a Quad 57 system. Great cabinets - last seen in J. Gordon Holt's garage...

[Ericus Rex]

Let's see a pic of those Koa cabinets!

[Doublej]

Fire them up at low volume and see how they sound. If they are foam surround woofers you can buy a refoam kit or have them refoamed by a repair shop. If they are cloth surround put some rtv on the tear. Crossovers may need the caps to be replaced.

[JKent]

Hello there,  I was reminiscing with my cousin about the "good old days". When quality manufacturing was done here in the US and we started talking about old jobs.  I did some searching online and noticed thar Cizek Audio is still being talked about.  How exciting.  I have a pair of Koa wood speakers that I've never been able to part with because I personally spun the inductors, tested the capacitors and soldered the crossovers.  One of my best friends made the woofers and I was allowed to pick out the best matching pair of cabinets that we had in stock at the time.  I even have a copy of the article when we (the KA-1) made the front cover of High Fidelity Magazine somewhere around my office.   I have managed to get new front grills to replace the foam ones that had crumbled with old age and they actually fit pretty good.  At one point I had had a couple of the speakers replaced to get them working again, but I'm sure they would need new ones again by now.

Where were you when I needed you Heykayde? 
I bought a pair of KA-1s a couple of years ago and was thrilled with the beautiful solid koa wood cabinets. Unfortunately the crossover was a mess, one tweeter was bad and the woofer was torn. Here's an account of the restoration: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7521
I had to reverse-engineer the crossover which is, as you probably know, quite complex. Had help from a Cizek enthusiast in Italy, where they are very popular, and also from a friend who is an EE professor. Also had new foam grilles made. It was well worth it and I use these every day as part of my home theater.
About a year later I bought a second pair. Here's the story of that restoration: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7858
Now if I can just find the KA-18 subwoofers......
byw. Since you worked there I assume you know how Roy pronounced his name. I've been saying "chizek" but some say "sizek". What do you say?
Lots of photos over on CSP but here's one to tease.


-Kent

[Heykayde]

I'm sorry I hadn't seen this.  I just noticed there's a setting to get notifications.  You did a great job refinishing them.  Don't you just love the wood?  You got a pretty nicely matched pair.  That was always a bit of a challenge when pairing them up as the wood has such a variety in shade and texture on each side of the case. The factory used to use Tung Oil.... several layers.  It left a really nice natural, somewhat satin sheen.  I've never re-done mine as they still look good after all these years.  I'll try to take some photos and post if there seems to still be any interest.  One of mine has ripples in the wood on top, the other one has a really interesting side.  Thanks for your response.  I'm happy to see they are still loved. 

BTW,  Cizek was pronounced See-zek as far as we knew.  Roy wasn't with us in the Mass location.