Kef Reference Tweeters-Ferrofluid Replacement

"No replacement speakers (tweeters) are available from Kef or anywhere on the internet".
This is a warning to current owners.

1. Do your tweeters use ferro-fluid?
2. Are replacements currently available?
3. Are you planning to keep your speakers a long time?

If you answered "Yes" to all three, might want to get those replacements now while you can!

A timely post for me. I have KEF Reference Model Ones and will shortly be replacing the ferrofluid in them. I did the ferrofluid in my KEF 104/2s previously and it was a very simple job. Took about 30 minutes for each tweeter. The Reference Model Ones seem a bit more complicated in getting the tweeter out. 
A couple of questions for Lou:

Does the NT25 tweeter just come out from the back side of the midrange driver assembly after removing that one screw in your photos?

Was the voice coil diaphragm attached to the magnet with an adhesive? If so, what adhesive did you use to reattach them?

Kef Reference only guarantees replacement parts for 10 years, fortunately their drivers, all in house are robust. My R105/3, were regularly run at 104 db and in 25 years never failed, well 1 did by OE no fault of kef.

ljgerens,

The tweeter needs to be gently pushed out forward from the mid range speaker once you pull the screw and rubber washer out.  Use a 1/4 drive extension about 6" long.  You will need to un-solder the small, thin wires first or the tweeter will not come out far enough to work on it.  Purchase a small electronic soldering iron for this purpose.  Use a pair of small electronic needle nose pliers to help get the wires out once you melt the solder.

Carefully remove the tweeter dust cover using a 'eye glass' flat bladed screw driver.  There are 2 small gaps for this purpose.  The voice coil is right under this 'cap'.  The voice coil is actually immersed into the Ferrofluid.  It sits into the groove annulus of the tweeter.  So, I can now understand how this system works.  The Ferrofluid is used as a lubricant and coolant for the operation of the voice coil.   I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the voice coil dithers up and down some how in this groove to create the high frequency. 

Use great caution.  Everything is very fragile!  Good luck!  Let me know how you make out.   

Awesome!  Thanks for posting.  This has been something thats been coming up with me lately.  Many speakers I’ve been interested in lately would probably benefit from this procedure.  Good to knoW that it isn’t too too dificult