AR 4ax ..vs.. KLH Model 17's...How do they compare...
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winters860
Super Member
I'm comparing the KLH 17 to the 4x here and though AR made a 4xa, no model was ever designated the 4ax, so take this with however many grains of salt you will...
The AR-4x has a stronger bass, but a very dark presentation - the treble is AR-reticent, and off-axis downright poor. Probably not as bad a speaker as I'm making it out to be.
The KLH 17 has a more extended high end and generally a more forward presentation. Whether or not you like it will depend entirely on how you feel about the typical Henry Kloss voicing. I find the upper midrange peak artificial and mildly offensive.
The winner? Dynaco A-25. Runner-up? EPI 100.
The AR-4x has a stronger bass, but a very dark presentation - the treble is AR-reticent, and off-axis downright poor. Probably not as bad a speaker as I'm making it out to be.
The KLH 17 has a more extended high end and generally a more forward presentation. Whether or not you like it will depend entirely on how you feel about the typical Henry Kloss voicing. I find the upper midrange peak artificial and mildly offensive.
The winner? Dynaco A-25. Runner-up? EPI 100.
Steelman
Super Member
I may have misfired....
I like the sound of the KLH 17's but in a shootout between my Baby Advent II's and my KLH 17's, using my marantz 2245...hands down, the Baby Advents win. Stronger bass, more detailed mids and smooth highs. I was thinking the KLH's may need more power to open them up but they are both sealed in design and thought the comparison would be a good one.
Guess another shootout between the Baby Advents, the KLH 17's and the AR's may be in order...
I have all of the aforementioned speakers and the winner? KLH Six. Oh, wait, that wasn't mentioned!
I simply did not like any of the AR-4x I had, though none of them had been recapped. They all sounded dark, compressed, and very very boxy. Nice bass, but the rest of the sound spectrum I just didn't 'warm' up to. Sorry 'bout the pun.
The KLH 17 sounded much more balanced, great mids, pretty detailed but not extremely transparent. Yeah, lot of subjective terms but I don't know how else to describe what I'm hearing. The KLH Six was similar, but the fuller bass really rounded out the sound. A recapped pair of KLH Six sounds really good to my ears. And the Dynaco A-25s sound better than any of them, to me. The six might edge out the A25 in a very large room.
I also have Baby Advent IIIs...a very nice speaker that does a lot of things right. I run them in my office off of about 10 watts of tube power, and they can get quite loud. I like the Baby Advents much much better than the AR-4x. I think I like the KLH 17 better than the Baby Advents, when on tubes, but they're also bigger by a fair margin. I didn't feel like hauling them downtown, so..Baby Advents in my office now (very soon to be replaced by Celestion SL-6s, another step way beyond any of these, to my ears).
Hope this is somewhat helpful, even though it's all very subjective.
I simply did not like any of the AR-4x I had, though none of them had been recapped. They all sounded dark, compressed, and very very boxy. Nice bass, but the rest of the sound spectrum I just didn't 'warm' up to. Sorry 'bout the pun.
The KLH 17 sounded much more balanced, great mids, pretty detailed but not extremely transparent. Yeah, lot of subjective terms but I don't know how else to describe what I'm hearing. The KLH Six was similar, but the fuller bass really rounded out the sound. A recapped pair of KLH Six sounds really good to my ears. And the Dynaco A-25s sound better than any of them, to me. The six might edge out the A25 in a very large room.
I also have Baby Advent IIIs...a very nice speaker that does a lot of things right. I run them in my office off of about 10 watts of tube power, and they can get quite loud. I like the Baby Advents much much better than the AR-4x. I think I like the KLH 17 better than the Baby Advents, when on tubes, but they're also bigger by a fair margin. I didn't feel like hauling them downtown, so..Baby Advents in my office now (very soon to be replaced by Celestion SL-6s, another step way beyond any of these, to my ears).
Hope this is somewhat helpful, even though it's all very subjective.
Concurring, I have studied all of these, and KLH-17 and AR4x(a) are upgrade candidates as documented elsewhere in this forum. KLH-6, also, but they keep their woofers, at least.
Baby Advent II is a well-balanced performer.
Rehabbed another pair of Polk Monitor 5s yesterday, and for whatever it may be worth, with their Peerless tweeters, they, too, get the Zilchster seal.... :thmbsp:
Baby Advent II is a well-balanced performer.
Rehabbed another pair of Polk Monitor 5s yesterday, and for whatever it may be worth, with their Peerless tweeters, they, too, get the Zilchster seal.... :thmbsp:
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tmad40blue
"I can hear forever!"
IMO you should go for the AR-4's. With a recap and pot cleaning, they will quickly jump to the top of your list.
There aren't many speakers as small as the AR-4's that can accurately reproduce an orchestra.
There aren't many speakers as small as the AR-4's that can accurately reproduce an orchestra.
Steelman
Super Member
When Master speaks...Grasshopper listens...:ntwrthy:
Steelman
Super Member
Food for thought... :scratch2: I will pick them up just to put them through their paces. What's the worse that could happen...another pair of speakers to add to the stable...
Without doing a thorough search through the forum, can I assume by your above statement that the KLH-17 and AR4x were the recipients of non-stock woofers ?
I'm currently trying to do a comparison between Dynaco A25, EPI-M90, KLH-17 and AR4x speakers. So far a no-go as only the Dynaco and EPI are fully functional. The AR speakers are suffering from (at a minimum) dirty pots, and the 17's have no HF output whatsoever. I'm assuming some pot cleaning and/or replacement caps will remedy this.
Yes, correct.
Both got fully modded (threads here on AK). I have one more woofer option to try on KLH-17 that may not require porting them. Murphy documents AR4x tweeter performance, which I have confirmed. Don't know if any of mine are xa, but I'll check.
I'd like to see you rehab these and see if you don't agree with my conclusions. I have measured and heard A25s as reported in this forum, and have some EPIs also which I haven't looked at yet, though I don't believe they are M90.