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Is the KLH Model 6 short on bass?

mr.gone

mr.gone

Active Member
I picked up a pair of these from a guy on CL last night. These are early run models -- serial numbers in the 20,000s -- and so the grill and everything else is glued down. They sounded a little bass shy in his place, but I thought it could be the fact that he had them on stands, the amp was underpowered, or the source wasn't that great. But I took them home and my B&K ST2140 isn't generating nearly as much bass from them than it does with my 1970s-era Ohm Walsh 2s. "Good Vibrations" sounds like the Beach Boys only were interested in those at 120 Hz or above.

My suspicion is that the woofers need to be sealed, but that would mean destroying the pristine, original grills. I'm thinking of either taking them back to him or accepting that I'm gonna have to do some surgery. Or am I expecting too much from a speaker made around 1960?
 
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I've never heard them referred to a bass shy. I haven't heard your other speakers so your expectations might be too high, or else they might have "issues".
 
My suspicion is that the woofers need to be sealed, but that would mean destroying the pristine, original grills. I'm thinking of either taking them back to him or accepting that I'm gonna have to do some surgery. Or am I expecting too much from a speaker made around 1960?
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You are expecting too much if you expect great sound from an almost 60 year old speaker without doing at least some maintenance on it.

The KLH speakers with the cloth surrounds need to be redoped to maintain the acoustic seal and produce good bass. My mid 60s Model 20 and late 60s Model 6 speakers sounded a lot better after redoping the woofers.

If you want good bass, you need to do the maintenance or find a newer speaker. If the woofers on your Model 6s are epoxied in, then it will be a bit of work to redope the woofers. There are instruction guides here and elsewhere on how to do it.
 
Thanks, guys. You confirmed what I suspected. I was able to persuade the seller to take it back and return my money. I'll look for something that sounds great right away.
 
mr.gone said:
Thanks, guys. You confirmed what I suspected. I was able to persuade the seller to take it back and return my money. I'll look for something that sounds great right away.
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That's a shame in my opinion. Removable grills from later models show up on fleabay once in a while. Resealing the surrounds, and recapping them brings them back to sounding just about new. I understand cutting the original grills is tough to do, but once they are restored, you would have been extremely happy with them.
 
GD70 said:
That's a shame in my opinion. Removable grills from later models show up on fleabay once in a while. Resealing the surrounds, and recapping them brings them back to sounding just about new. I understand cutting the original grills is tough to do, but once they are restored, you would have been extremely happy with them.
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Yes, but I wasn't that committed to them. I have some great Ohm Walsh 2s for main room. These were secondary and kind of an impulse buy. I'm thinking of something smaller.
 
mr.gone said:
Sorry, I hadn't updated my location. I'm in Boston now, not St. Paul.
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That makes me feel better. I thought I missed out.

The model Six is an excellent speaker. I believe those early models had the oil filled caps that don't dry out. All that was needed to restore the bass was to re dope the surrounds on the woofers and your back in business.
 
It should be acknowledged that they are not floor standers and require stands for the best sound.
 
Back then just about everything was a "floor stander". Thankfully we know better now. I remember seeing AR-3's and others on the floor. They all sound better when on stands that raise the tweeters to ear height when seated.

The feet can be "hammered" into the cabinet. Wow!:yikes:
 
JoeESP9 said:
Back then just about everything was a "floor stander". Thankfully we know better now. I remember seeing AR-3's and others on the floor. They all sound better when on stands that raise the tweeters to ear height when seated.
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What's interesting is this was for the entire Six run to 72. By then AR3a's, 1967, were being used on recommended factory stands, but the Six's never were.
I agree with you tweeters are best at ear level.
 
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