The great big vintage gear thread!

[Fran]

Well, I was tempted by the recent ad from Vorious for a pair of old KLH model 6 speakers. These are from the west coast of the USA and designed by the famous Henry Kloss - kind of an american Peter Walker. Anyway, these needed some work done - the crossover capacitors had dried out (well they were from 1959 going by serial numbers and type) but were a bear to do due to the box design. After a little surgery and some woodwork, they are back playing now and sounding pretty darn good.

There is something very enjoyable about listening to something from that era and hearing it work well. It must have been pretty awesome back then to hear the soundstage from these things (very good btw) given that stereo was only on the go a short while!

Pic below shows the KLH beside the Corals mentioned above and quads......


Fran

IMAG0878_1.jpg (140.95 KiB) Viewed 1127 times

[Ivor]

I imagined them to be bigger - wear well chief

[Fran]

Well, they're big bookshelfers - in an encyclopedia-britannica-full-volume-set kinda way....


Dried out caps replaced by russian teflon types. Should last another 50 years with them...... and with linen surrounds, not rubber, they don't go bad as quick.


The other thing I never knew - those tivoli radios (very nice ones) are totally a design rip off of the old KLH radios:




fran

[Ivor]

The other thing I never knew - those tivoli radios (very nice ones) are totally a design rip off of the old KLH radios:

The early Tivoli radios were made openly as Henry Kloss radios. I don't have any of the original literature (I have two sets in different rooms!) but I distinctly remember the HK mosfet design being mentioned. These were the Model 2

[Fran]

they look great don't they?

[Ivor]

they look great don't they?

I love them. The sound is so natural. I added the Tivoli CD player to the one in the Kitchen but it doesn't get much use really,

[cybot]

+ 1 on the Tivoli. It never fails to bring a smile to my face .Oh and happy listening with your new/old KLH's Fran....

[Fran]

Listening to them again here tonight. I think the magic is the soundstage - they disappear very well indeed and its always draws you in. I go back to my earlier statement - these must have really been something to hear in the early days of stereo - much like a pair of quads.

[Vorious]

I'm delighted that these have made their way to the perfect home & are being enjoyed! Fair play to you for getting tehm up & running so quickly, I had them for a couple of months but hadn't had a chance to look at them never mind fix them up.

What have you got them hooked up to? I assume they don't need a lot of power to get moving?

[Fran]

Right now they're running off a Pass F5 amp - will be trying them soon with some valves too to see how they fare out.


Don't get me wrong - they wouldn't be the equal of a good pair of 57s, but they do sound good - and I don't find them fatiguing at all, and in fact they draw you in - always a good sign. I'd say they can't be beat for the money...


Fran