Henry Kloss?
- Thread starter bbest
- Start date
I'd say the most important guys in speaker design have been Kellogg and Rice (a team), Thuras, Voight, Fletcher, Hilliard, Lansing, Olson, Janszen, Walker, Vilchur, Winey and Keele. And Novak, Thiele and Small were the guys who broke the ground for the new vented design methods.
I've left out many great and influential designers (Locanthi, Newman and Klipsch certainly come to mind) but I think these were the crucial guys. In some cases they were talented team leaders as well as designers. For instance when developing the MGM Shearer Horn John Hilliard headed a team that included James Lansing (and his man Blackburn) and Bob Stephens. And even Harry Olson from RCA got involved in the project.
I've left out many great and influential designers (Locanthi, Newman and Klipsch certainly come to mind) but I think these were the crucial guys. In some cases they were talented team leaders as well as designers. For instance when developing the MGM Shearer Horn John Hilliard headed a team that included James Lansing (and his man Blackburn) and Bob Stephens. And even Harry Olson from RCA got involved in the project.
Just a note about AR back in 1954 - Villchure wanted to outsource an acoustic suspension woofer, but it was Kloss that insisted on building one from scratch, which is what happened in the end. Villchure credited Kloss with 70% of the production design of the AR-1 loudspeaker.
Through the decades folks called Kloss an inventer, but this not how he thought of himself. In the 1996 Lander interveiw he said, "I've been a synthesizer, not an inventer....so many of my products could have and should have been developed and brought to market before, yet they had not been." He often spoke about himself in the third person in interveiws.
He was a major part of so many now famous New England companies. He was a restless idealist, building great audio companies, then moving on. Some may recall seeing him driving his old Checker sedan around Cambridge, looking a bit discheveled, but he always was on a mission with an idea in his head. Yes he was a buisiness man, but also a true hands on person.....after all he made all his own furniture for his apartment back in 1952 when producing his first loudspeaker, the Baruch-Lang corner speaker under the name Kloss Industries......these are rare !
One of the most regetable events is when he died, the contents of his basement was hauled off as scrap...audio parts, projects...and more parts ! About 5 years ago I meet the Boston Globe reporter who had done several stories on Kloss, and he recounted this story. Any man's workshop make for a great museum, and Kloss' would have been very interesting.
Through the decades folks called Kloss an inventer, but this not how he thought of himself. In the 1996 Lander interveiw he said, "I've been a synthesizer, not an inventer....so many of my products could have and should have been developed and brought to market before, yet they had not been." He often spoke about himself in the third person in interveiws.
He was a major part of so many now famous New England companies. He was a restless idealist, building great audio companies, then moving on. Some may recall seeing him driving his old Checker sedan around Cambridge, looking a bit discheveled, but he always was on a mission with an idea in his head. Yes he was a buisiness man, but also a true hands on person.....after all he made all his own furniture for his apartment back in 1952 when producing his first loudspeaker, the Baruch-Lang corner speaker under the name Kloss Industries......these are rare !
One of the most regetable events is when he died, the contents of his basement was hauled off as scrap...audio parts, projects...and more parts ! About 5 years ago I meet the Boston Globe reporter who had done several stories on Kloss, and he recounted this story. Any man's workshop make for a great museum, and Kloss' would have been very interesting.
nickv41
Well-Known Member
I always thought Kloss's big claim to fame was making great sounding speakers that were more affordable to the less affluent like me. I still remember going to an audio store in 1980 and listening to alot of speakers before settling on "New Large Advents" which I still have and use to this day. There were more expensive speakers but the Advents held their own against everything else. I still remember my friend, a Bose 911 owner, who came with me, told me I was making a bad choice because the Advents were only 2-way speakers. I told him they sound as good as any three way Ive heard and he thought I was crazy.
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js1138
Super Member
I'd like to hear from them. The classical fans at AK seem to be proportional to the percentage in the rest of the world -- less than one in 20.
When people are describing how realistic a speaker or a system sounds, they hardly ever mention large orchestras or pipe organs or large choral recordings.
I have a number of speakers with good opinions at AK, but most have some funny hump in the bass that sounds not live to me, or are extremely sensitive to placement.
Good luck with that.
js1138
Super Member
I'm sure that some ported speakers in some price range have bass that tapers off gradually without peaks, but I haven't been privileged to hear them. Perhaps current designs are much improved.
I am waiting to hear from classical listeners and people who have performed with large groups of un-amplified performers.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
I am in favor of an Audio History, inventions, or innovations forum. Not enough gets said about the designers and innovators of audio and the history of our hobbies. And this angle needs some constructive posts on the topic so that future generations can learn and be enlightened.
Several designers of speakers chime in on this one:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=318632
I just went to the Symphony last night if that counts. And yes, modern speakers are more often than not ported, and the better ones are probably much more 'accurate' than their Henry Kloss designed counterparts, though I have nothing against them (and run both Acoustic Suspension and ported speakers, but none that go below 40hz). But there are very large, ported, new speakers that have just as tight and accurate bass, that are truly full range and not boomy or whatever its called.
Kind of makes me ill to think what was scrapped from his basement!
A story I recall from some long-ago interview was that he got a loft/apartment and needed furniture for it. After doing some shopping he thought it was far too expensive, and decided instead to build his own, and bought the tools needed to do so.
He later used these same tools to build speakers.
Just doing a quick tally, I've had or still have:
KLH 17, KLH model 20 compact system (2 of those) , smaller Advents, KLH table radio, Tivoli radio, AR-4x and Cambridge Ensemble speakers. So you could say his influence is evident around here...
js1138
Super Member
I followed that thread, and re-read it. It would seem, even if I'm wrong, that I have a lot of company.
What I have to concede is I have not auditioned any recent high end speakers, so I can't say anything about them. My comments have to be limited to speakers in my price range, which are mostly vintage.
But then this is a Henry Kloss thread, and affordable price is the most significant contribution of Kloss.
Size was the other contribution. AS speakers can be smaller for a given level of bass performance. The tradeoff is efficiency, but that has not been a huge problem.
What I have to concede is I have not auditioned any recent high end speakers, so I can't say anything about them. My comments have to be limited to speakers in my price range, which are mostly vintage.
But then this is a Henry Kloss thread, and affordable price is the most significant contribution of Kloss.
Size was the other contribution. AS speakers can be smaller for a given level of bass performance. The tradeoff is efficiency, but that has not been a huge problem.
For a given f3 and efficiency a vented speaker can be smaller than a sealed one. Compared to sealed the modern vented offers these choices----same size box and efficiency and lower f3-----same size box and f3 and higher efficiency-----same efficiency and f3 and smaller box.
Brian
An Old Geezer
He drove a Checker? Something I did not know or heard of before. Knew I liked him. I drove and owned '72 Marathon wagon for several years and without a doubt it was the most comforatble long distance driver I ever had the pleasure to drive; including all my Volvos and Jag XJ-6.
I was in the proces of ordering a new '83 with Checker when literally overnight they closed up all production and sales. This was in '82 and the '83 was to be an all plastic/fiberglass bodied car. Scared the heck out of GM. I then tried to get one of the '82s and they would not sell it to me b/c of their agreement with GM.
I was in the proces of ordering a new '83 with Checker when literally overnight they closed up all production and sales. This was in '82 and the '83 was to be an all plastic/fiberglass bodied car. Scared the heck out of GM. I then tried to get one of the '82s and they would not sell it to me b/c of their agreement with GM.
:thmbsp: