KLH Model Five loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: Kuzma Stabi R turntable with 4Point tonearm, Denon DL-103 phono cartridge.
Preamplification: Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono.
Integrated amplifiers: Ayre EX-8 2.0, Parasound Hint 6 Halo, Schiit Audio Ragnarok 2.
Power amplifiers: LKV Research Veros PWR+.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity O/96, Spendor BC1.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory, Triode Laboratory Spirit II. Speaker: 8' pair AudioQuest Robin Hood. Digital: AudioQuest Forest USB. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF, manufacturers' own.
Accessories: Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU Record Cleaning Machine; Audiodesksysteme Vinyl Cleaner Pro LP Cleaning System; Hunt Mark 6 Carbon Fiber Record Cleaning Brush; RTOM Moongel Drum Damper Pads (stylus cleaner); Kuzma Platis 65 isolation platform; IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner; Salamander five-tier rack; IKEA Aptitlig bamboo chopping boards (under turntable, preamp, power amps); mahogany blocks (2" × 2" × 0.5") under boards; 3" studio-treatment damping (ceiling, walls).—Ken Micallef

COMPANY INFO
KLH Audio
984 Logan St.
Noblesville, Indiana 46060
(833) 554-8326
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
Anton's picture

Thank you!

Now, I gotta find a way to ‘side by side’ these with the Wharfdale Linton speakers. Seems like a perfect shoot out.

Ortofan's picture

... KM do a follow-up review of the Wharfedale and HR do a follow-up review of the KLH.

tonykaz's picture

There is something nice about a box loudspeaker like this, my Operatic mother liked them too ! ( says a lot ).

I sold my Hi-Fi and moved on to Motorcycles, Camping, Engineering School and Marriage with 5 Children! Phew

Later on:
General Motors Corp. sent me to England to re-lamp a Manufacturing Plant with Westinghouse Mercury Vapor Lighting Systems giving me a time budget which I was able to complete about 5 days early, allowing me to meander around London Shops and discover the Rogers LS3/5a in a small hifi specialist. ( I also discovered HiFiNews & Record Review Magazine : the finest Audio publication I'd ever seen ). I purchased Both and still feel like I'd discovered greatness.

As much as I liked my KLH loudspeakers ( enough to purchase them ) I loved ( still do ) the little Rogers and couldn't live without them or their close cousins .

Manufacturing wise :

Business people using Chinese need inform consumers about how impossible it is to get service parts.

Putting Legacy Brand Names on Chinese stuff feels like fraud.

Tony in Venice Florida

Ortofan's picture

... $2K/pair, which would you be more likely to choose:
this new iteration of the KLH Model Five or the equally new (made-in-the-UK by) Falcon LS3/5a Mo(bile)Fi(delity) Edition?

https://falconspeakers.com/products/falcon-ls3-5a-mofi-edition-loudspeakers

tonykaz's picture

I've already been down that road.

I'd buy an eBay pair of one of the many LS3/5a variants, specifically a ProAc Tablette.

or

A used pair of Genelec 8020 with possibly it's matching Subwoofer.

The Big Box design of the KLH and a great many others are probably aimed at Rock folks with a large room.

If I needed to fill a large room, I'd likely do a nice pair of Klipsch or Magnapans.

I have the feeling that these new KLHs scaled up nicely for Mr.Micallef's outstanding Electronic selection and they probably do JAZZ well in his hands.

Tony in Venice Florida

ps. I'd probably turn-down a Garage Sale pair of 5s because I no longer have the Storage space or Wife approval for big boxes of hifi. Class D is calling to me.

Jack L's picture

Hi

It all depends, bud.

For tiny listening room, minis like Rogers LS3/5a or its crones are the better choice.

But if the room is spacious, then the much larger LH Model 5 would be a better all-rounder high to low frequencies.

I know your concern about made-in-where quality given the same price level.

Me too. I always go for made-in-country-of-origin.

My car for instance: All-Wheel-Drive SUV imported from Japan, its country of origin: better quality control & minimum maintenance.

Jack L

ken mac's picture

Good times, Tony.

Jack L's picture

Hi

This I would call "smart business tactic" - to kill 3 birds with one stone" - built in so called 'developing' countries, like China to save cost, lowering selling price to sell more, & making more profit by selling more.

No free lunch, Budd. Inconsistent quality control would result inconsistent performance quality & more frequent repair. Eventually it would backfire to those "legacy brandnames" !

For loudspeakers alone, as long as all electronic components are supplied by the brandname manufacturers & the cabinets & the assembly is made by the OEM off shore should not be so bad.

My qustion is: are the speaker driver units also made by the offhshore OEMs, like China ????? I heard a few brandname loudspeakers speaker units are made in China as well. That's not good news for the consumers !!

Jack L

michelesurdi's picture

why not call them AR 3?

Jack L's picture

Hi

Not all acoustic suspension loudspeakers made & sound equally good.

AR-3a sounded so so much better than AR-3, as per some criitics published. So....

Jack L

Pryso's picture

Ken, nice review. Except the KLH 9 was not developed by Kloss. That was Arthur Janszen who KLH contracted to build a full range version with his electrostatic driver elements. Janszen's son David continues to design and build speakers under the family name and also restores the long out of production 9s.

Further information provided by David. " In 1957 Arthur designed what would become the 9 and began field tests. In 1959, KLH brought that speaker in for manufacture and began the process of putting it into production, giving my dad a 5 year contract as CTO or something like that plus some stock. This is the one case where Kloss admitted in interviews that he had nothing to do with the design, although I'm sure he helped with the manufacturing engineering."

ken mac's picture

for the correction.

tonykaz's picture

Dear Mr.Micallef,

I'm sort of puzzled by the various Vinyl Sellers reporting how they came to own large collections of vintage sealed Vinyl.

Recently, Mr.Tupper of the Bronx NY, who collected for 5 to 6 Decades, is now selling to the big Kansas outfit, mostly unplayed and quite rare first pressings, sealed and beautifully preserved. Mr. Tupper reported that he plays Cassettes and has nice Nak Cassette gear. hmm.

The Big Arizona Vinyl Shop also seems to come up with Vinyl Gems. ( presumably pristine and unplayed )

A whole lot of this recent Vinyl "resurgence" appears to be about Collecting impressive numbers of Albums including every Re-master of every popular Artist. Egads, folks seem to amasses tens of thousands of records, probably including a wide range of Duplicates or multiples of Duplicates of exactly the same Album. ( Internet & reviewing personalities will describe their personal collections ) & ( Chad Kassem. seems to limit his customers to only 3 of each of his latest pressings ).

The Jazz Sheppard 'does' play all his Albums ( while alleging that he has never properly cleaned any of them !! , I'll wager that he doesn't even own a Moving Coil or any 'good wire' ). I have him on YouTube Subscription and appreciate the Jazz education he provides.

I can understand the JAZZ lover needing a rather large collection of Blue Note.

I'm asking:

1.) will all those vintage JAZZ recording ever be widely available via streaming ?

2.). Will a 60 Year Old Person ever have enough time to listen to each of his 10,000+++ Albums?

3.) Will anyone inherit Joe Bussard's 78 rpm Collection ?

Thank you for writing for Stereophile, you are always interesting.

Tony in Venice Florida

ken mac's picture

...cleans his records on my old ProJect machine!! He does indeed play and know his records very well.
People like Chad Kassem and Fred Cohen of Jazz Record Center have been doing this for so many years--they're well jacked-in to the network of buyers and sellers and collectors. But large sealed collections? Never heard of such a thing.

Thank you, Tony.

Pryso's picture

Tony, I agree it makes sense to consider age VS size of collection and time to play them. I'm older so two years ago when I moved 2,200 miles I sold 2/3rds of my collection. I knew I'd never listen to them all so why pay to move that much weight? However I did go through them all first and it was not always easy to decide which to keep.

Regarding sealed records, a friend had a collection of about 5,000 LPs, many of which were still sealed. When I ask him why he admitted he often would buy 5 to 10 at a time. But then open and play only 2 or 3 before shopping again. With that build up he never got back to opening all the sealed albums.

Jack L's picture

Hi

This is hoarding, not collecting !

Whatever quantities of LPs one owns, 5 or 5,000 irrespective, the owner should play them to enjoy the music therein.

To show off the 'art' of hoarding or to enjoy the music itself ??

Listening is believing

Jack L

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