Hi, While KLH is in American hands, they aren't made by the original design team. They are far lower quality than their classics through the 1970's. The new KLH speakers are very low end and low quality. Avoid their post 1970's output.
Affirmative, I think Kloss moved on from KLH to Advent way back and I would imagine the same goes for them.
I still have the original pair I bought in 75, KLH 2 (not sure about the exact model #) tucked away in the garage. I also bought another pair in the early 90's named Premier II. They sound okay, not great and used to power my bedroom system when I lived in my coop apartment in the suburb of New York.
I still use a pair of KLH1, with the bass analog computer, I purchased in 1984. They cost me 1600 Cdn at the time. I am currently using them with a vintage SAE power amp, NAD 521BEE CD player, Harmon Kardon TU-915 tuner and SystemDek II TT, mounted with a Grace F9R cartridge. They still sound excellent.
1984 KLH was no longer made by the original KLH company. Isn't KLH1 the speakers with some external equalizer? I believe KLH as a company is now in its third or fourth incarnation.
..... and being produced in a third or fourth world country. I have a small KLH receiver and speaks I got as an auction bundle deal a couple of years ago. They aren't too bad for my bedroom (3rd) system, since it has a "SLEEP" function, but they barely qualify as mid-fi in my opinion. In fact, the low end Panasonic set from the early '80s that has lived in my garage for 15 years sounds much better, but it doesn't have a remote.
I don't know the history of KLH, and perhaps they may have changed ownership before 1984, but the KLH1 speakers were well built. They do have an external equalizer, they called it a Bass Analog Computer at the time. The quality of these units are quite high, for the price at the time. They were still manufactured in the States at that time, as my ownership paperwork shows. I was the owner of Advent before these, and as a matter of fact traded them for the KLH1 speakers.
Its best to stick with the classic original KLH up to the mid-late seventies. I bought a pair of KLH 5's off ebay. They are fantastic. My original pair where purchased in 72'. $200 each back then. they were made from 1968 untill 1975 I believe.
KLH 3 Computer?? What is this good for? I found this item and am interested if it has any use at all - for ammusement or otherwise - as I do not own any of the KLH speakers I suppose that it is intended for. Is it some sort of external X-over for a sub-woofer? Why does it have connections for Tape in/out? I enjoy fooling around with stuff but I suspect this has no value outside it's specific system. Simon
The "analog computer" sounds like a steep slope EQ like Bose used/uses for the 901 system. It allows small drivers to appear to produce extended frequencies by boosting the frequency extremes and / or cutting the mids. It would either blow a nice set of hi-fi speakers if much volume was issued its way or just sound like crap in a paper bag if not. I agree that KLH made some really nice stuff in the late 60's and early 70's. The new stuff is super-cheapo and bears only the name in resemblence. I liked the KLH models better than the AR types actually. -Bill
I bought some cheap (emphasis on "cheap") KLH outdoor speakers about six years ago...basically plasticky crap sound. But for something that's out in the elements for background music, they worked OK. I'm thinking of painting them to match the siding and using them on the front porch.
Oooh, Thanks for the cautionary advice Bill, and decorating insites Rudy, Tommorrow is garbage day! Simon
KLH-1 with photo. I don't know this guy so this is just for info purposes. excerpt from link: A KLH I've never seen at a brick-n-mortar store, one of four vaguely mid-fi(?) models: T-5AW; and one I have seen and also listened to at Best Buy, sounding much like a Cerwin-Vega & built like a tank (nothing like the other KLHs sitting around it) along with dual gi-normous rear-facing ports. Go to klhaudio.com to see the others (I used those pages' hidden addresses to make linking easier). Obviously KLH can still design better speakers but anyone that's seen the state of home audio knows that its a losing business to be in right now i.e. why would retailers stock these when more well-known brands just sit & gather dust.
Sansui 40W AM/FM Receiver, Dual Turntable, Shure Cartridge, and my KLH Model 17s. My first real "high fidelity" set up. 1969. In those days, KLH was a match for anything on the market. Those days are gone.
When I was a kid in the '60s, my father upgraded from an early '50s RCA mono "hi fi" to a KLH Model 23 compact stereo, which remained our family system until after I went to college and discovered component stereo. It had a Garrard 4-speed turntable, Pickering cartridge, FM-only tuner, and two KLH bookshelf speakers in nice genuine walnut or walnut veneer boxes. At the time, it was considered quite a fine system, as I understand things. The amp eventually went bad, but the speakers are still in service--I gave them to my mother-in-law when I set her up a modest compact system (the KLH speakers, a Nakamichi amp/tuner, and I forget what CD player; her foremost criterion for a stereo is that it not be too visible). Mind you, I had to replace the woofers a few years before. Incidentally, I believe the Singer sewing machine company was the first buyer of KLH. My brother had a portable version of the same compact we had, but it had the Singer name on it.
Did Singer get into the audio business? I thought it sold off the sewing machines business and went into the flight simulators business.
Bear in mind that we're talking mid to late '60s here. Singer definitely did take a fling with audio, and my understanding is that it got into the business by buying KLH, but I think it departed the business again in pretty short order; I'm not sure where that fits in with flight simulators or divestiture of the sewing machine business (of which I'll confess I wasn't aware!). If anybody out there can offer more definite information, I'd love to hear it.
I am an avid stock market investor and know exactly what I am talking about. The current Singer name is owned by some Hong Kong company that has absolutely no relationship with the original American Singer company. In fact, the corporate raider who took over Singer the flight simulators company gutted it financially and ended up doing time in the federal prision. This happened in the early 90's, I believe.
I saw the KLH-1s when they first hit the market years ago, but the speakers were not designed by Henry Kloss and the company was already in its third incarnation.
The speakers that came with the Model Twenty Three (in those days they spelled out the number) were the same as my Model Seventeens. I first saw the Twenty Three in '65; fell in love but couldn't afford it. I beleive it was $399. Might as well have been 3,900,00.
