FREE pair of vintage KLH 32 speakers
mhardy6647
Posts: 33,998
Last week's dump find: a pair of KLH 32 speakers in pretty good physical condition and fine working condition. These are small sealed two-ways with an 8" woofer and some sort of cone tweeter (covered by fibreglass batting).
Finally had a chance to hook them up today. They sound surprisingly good on a Yamaha CA-610II (45 wpc vintage SS integrated). The bass is very honest and surprisingly good in quality and even quantity. They are "brighter" than I would have expected. This isn't at all unpleasant; it gives vocals a breathiness or "immediacy" that's quite fashionable these days. My auditory memory suggests these would be comparable to the original AR-18 (a very nice sounding, inexpensive small speaker of the mid-1970s). I am listening to the KLH 32s (Bruce Cockburn's excellent -- and excellent-sounding -- CD Christmas) as I type this.
These are in pretty good physical shape, too. Both grilles are intact. One has been tacked back into place with three small-head nails. The veneer is in quite good shape, with the requisite plant stains on top (did we have no place to put houseplants in the 1970s besides speakers?). They've got that great "Wild West" font KLH logo on the grilles :-) The "ground" terminal on one speaker is loose, but the connections are solid.
These are available for free! I would never turn down an interesting trade, though... maybe some music?
Pickup strongly encouraged (Boston "MetroWest" vicinity). They are small, but probably not really worth the cost of shipping unless you're really motivated to have a pair.
Note the interesting two-layer grill cloth configuration.
Sorry that third photo is blurry. The camera battery was dying, so I snapped it quick. I'll redo it later if the opportunity arises.
Finally had a chance to hook them up today. They sound surprisingly good on a Yamaha CA-610II (45 wpc vintage SS integrated). The bass is very honest and surprisingly good in quality and even quantity. They are "brighter" than I would have expected. This isn't at all unpleasant; it gives vocals a breathiness or "immediacy" that's quite fashionable these days. My auditory memory suggests these would be comparable to the original AR-18 (a very nice sounding, inexpensive small speaker of the mid-1970s). I am listening to the KLH 32s (Bruce Cockburn's excellent -- and excellent-sounding -- CD Christmas) as I type this.
These are in pretty good physical shape, too. Both grilles are intact. One has been tacked back into place with three small-head nails. The veneer is in quite good shape, with the requisite plant stains on top (did we have no place to put houseplants in the 1970s besides speakers?). They've got that great "Wild West" font KLH logo on the grilles :-) The "ground" terminal on one speaker is loose, but the connections are solid.
These are available for free! I would never turn down an interesting trade, though... maybe some music?
Pickup strongly encouraged (Boston "MetroWest" vicinity). They are small, but probably not really worth the cost of shipping unless you're really motivated to have a pair.
Note the interesting two-layer grill cloth configuration.
Sorry that third photo is blurry. The camera battery was dying, so I snapped it quick. I'll redo it later if the opportunity arises.
Post edited by mhardy6647 on
Comments
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Hey -
I came across a pair almost identical to this at a local store. They sounded great - very warm - the highs only popped after twiddling with the eq on the attached receiver, but that's kind of to be expected with 30-40 year old speakers.
One thing bothered me, though - there appears to be a port cut into each box, to the right of the tweeter. The sales lady (a bit older and very sweet!) initially suggested that they were 3-way speakers, and the tweeter was recessed deeply into the cabinet. I pointed out that the tweeter lay behind the funky metal grill (looks a tad different from your pic, but the woofer is identical - even down to the sealer cross-hatches); she seemed a bit taken aback - makes me wonder if she knows something, or if she was genuinely surprised.
Anyway, to get to the point... Any chance that this port was put in by the manufacturer? It doesn't look like it was, but I can't claim to an expert on these things, either. She's selling them for $100 for the pair... I'm considering trying to talk her down a bit, especially if they've been modified. -
It isn't widely known, but KLH did indeed make some ported speakers, way back in their first incarnation when ol' Henry Kloss was still on board. One (early) example was the KLH Ten. There was another, later ported model, too - the KLH 33 - which may well be what you've found!
The KLH Ten:
(scan from a 1960 Harvey Radio catalog)
The thumbnails below are "Borrowed" photos of a KLH 33.
They're not worth 100 smackers, though - maybe 50 or 60 if they're in really good condition (but that's just an opinion, not a appraisal!).
here, FWIW, are some relevant threads on these lesser-known KLH speakers from audiokarma:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=168170
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165228
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=249878
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=168951 -
Excellent info... Thanks!
Won't get to see them again until Wednesday - I'll try to provide an update then.
My opening offer was gonna be 50, with the hopes of talking her down to at least 75. Looks like I may be going in a bit lower... Thanks again.
