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KLH-1 Score

Goldjazz said:
I can't recall if mine needed more power than usual to play loud, possibly. The ABC just lifts the bass SPL, so if all freq are also quiet I doubt that its the lack of ABC. It's a bit curious that both speakers are effected. I wonder if it's an impedence matching issue of these speakers with that amp, not sure what the nomial impedance of the speakers was but if it's not matched to the amp there may not be the most effective transfer of power. They are great speakers, yours look in good condition, definetley try to track down an ABC, I know they are so rare.
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Yeah maybe it will also show up at my local good will where I got these. By the way $17.99 each. I feel blessed. All my stereos can go as low as 4 ohms maybe more on that crazy sony. I have a Sherwood 7300 i need to try. But right now I'm using a cheap Yamaha home theater that claims 130 watts. And it much better. I have a Yamaha integrated amp(a-700) from 1985 that's a beast i need to try
 
They do have a sound I have not noticed with other speakers when you walk by them in the perfect spot you hear that weird sound change almost like on or off
 
Kg7hvr said:
Yeah maybe it will also show up at my local good will where I got these. By the way $17.99 each. I feel blessed. All my stereos can go as low as 4 ohms maybe more on that crazy sony. I have a Sherwood 7300 i need to try. But right now I'm using a cheap Yamaha home theater that claims 130 watts. And it much better. I have a Yamaha integrated amp(a-700) from 1985 that's a beast i need to try
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Wow that's a steal. With the ABC they're worth north of $1500 and will play better than a new pair of speakers worth $8K in my opinion. Yeah show them a picture of the aBC and ask if they've seen it, not sure if you can get the contact details of whoever donated it. If it was a deceased estate or something whoever donated wouldn't have realised it goes with it. Best of luck.
 
Goldjazz said:
Wow that's a steal. With the ABC they're worth north of $1500 and will play better than a new pair of speakers worth $8K in my opinion. Yeah show them a picture of the aBC and ask if they've seen it, not sure if you can get the contact details of whoever donated it. If it was a deceased estate or something whoever donated wouldn't have realised it goes with it. Best of luck.
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Wow. They dont know much so much stuff comes and goes. I'm in Arizona where people retire and die and stuff just gets dumped at goodwill. This sony da7100es was $2000 new in 2005. I've never seen anything like it elsewhere
I lived in Seattle most of my life and Oregon and California never deals like this there.
The speakers will get a work out tonight.
 
The impedance of these can drop pretty low - bear in mind that the same basic woofers were used in some of the big Infinitys of that era - so a robust amp is almost a necessity.
 
bakes said:
The impedance of these can drop pretty low - bear in mind that the same basic woofers were used in some of the big Infinitys of that era - so a robust amp is almost a necessity.
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I can set the pioneer to 6 ohm the Yamaha is set to 6 already and sounds much better. The sony da7100es has a switch. And does 170 w per channel so I'm hooking it up now20191109_213236.jpg
 
Sony sounded worse than the cheap Yamaha . I hooked up my old Sherwood 7300 and this one sounds amazing. This reciever isnt rated more than 40w I think. What a difference! I'm listening to 70s and 80s radio stations. Wow these speakers. I swear it sounds like I have extra speakers hooked up now
They seem to like the Sherwood and yamaha. I still have to hook up the Yamaha a700 integrated amp.
What do you guys use to recap these crossovers. I think this probably are part of why these need so much drive.
20191109_220557.jpg 20191109_220551.jpg20191109_221016.jpg
 
Yeah I recapped mine and there was an improvement in clarity, I used some nice jantzen caps but you dont need to go that crazy. Also you should get em up off the ground the original stands had em about 8" off the ground from memory. Also if you do go hunting for the ABC with whoever donated them, just check if the stands and grills are there too. Yeah they can open up a big soundstage filling the room, make you feel more or bigger speakers are playing. Also for some reason I got much better results with my vinyl setup than with digital.They loved the vinyl. A nice clean pressing of Pink floyd's the wall with a good turntable and catridge sounded pretty crazy on mine. I rememeber showing them off to a young guy who's jaw dropped when i played that wall, he'd never heard of pink floyd, all he could say was "man what is this song?" Also just give those speaker terminals a spray with deoxit make sure nothings gettiing in the way of the signal .
 
Goldjazz said:
Yeah I recapped mine and there was an improvement in clarity, I used some nice jantzen caps but you dont need to go that crazy. Also you should get em up off the ground the original stands had em about 8" off the ground from memory. Also if you do go hunting for the ABC with whoever donated them, just check if the stands and grills are there too. Yeah they can open up a big soundstage filling the room, make you feel more or bigger speakers are playing. Also for some reason I got much better results with my vinyl setup than with digital.They loved the vinyl. A nice clean pressing of Pink floyd's the wall with a good turntable and catridge sounded pretty crazy on mine. I rememeber showing them off to a young guy who's jaw dropped when i played that wall, he'd never heard of pink floyd, all he could say was "man what is this song?" Also just give those speaker terminals a spray with deoxit make sure nothings gettiing in the way of the signal .
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I have the grills. They seem to do better on my 1985 Yamaha a700 amplifier
I have 2 turn tables but haven't tried them. Mostly I stream xm radio. Maybe that's why the home theater stereos didnt do as good. My JBL hls615 have a 88dbi so why they seem much louder is beyond me. The amp has class a mode but all it does really in my opinion is make alot of heat because class a bias is not very efficient however extremely linear, my ear sees no difference.
Heres the grills and that amp20191108_210725.jpg 20191110_011206.jpg
 
Set them ontop of the Yamaha's. It helps alot. Listening to Van Halens Eruption.
They are good but the jury is still out.20191110_015318.jpg
 
ra.ra said:
I like that pairing with that good-looking Sherwood receiver. And here's a good pic of the ABC for your speakers.

View attachment 1668855
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Thanks. The Sherwood kicks hard for what it is. Lots of bass too.
I've been going to goodwill every day looking.
I'm surprised these speakers were at goodwill for 2 days and no one bought them. Usually they have people who show up daily and know workers in the back and get notice when they are going to put out new stuff and this group of people buy everything and look up every thing. Probably not enough info on the speakers so they passed.
Since the bottom of the speakers are not scratched I would assume that they were on the stands all their life one thing I've noticed is that since I've been running the speakers for the last couple of days it seems like they have gotten louder I wonder if it's because the capacitors in the network are dried up or something like that
 
Kg7hvr said:
....it seems like they have gotten louder I wonder if it's because the capacitors....
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Not sure what's responsible for the low SPL you are experiencing, but it'd probably be a good idea to replace those tiny old original caps. Ad attached shows KLH-1 on its stand.

KLH-1 ad.jpg
 
Hello everyone,

I've just read this thread and am feeling there may be hope for my beloved KLH-3s. I bought these second hand (I think an open box deal but can't remember exactly where or when), but I know I had them at least as early as 1983. I've carried these all over the world (ex-Navy) since.

I had them in storage for quite a while, and when I retrieved them, my heart sank. One woofer is cracking and doesn't work, the foam surrounding the tweeters is turned to dust, and I can't find the wall wart for the ABC.

I've been trying to find a parts list or breakdown, or even a shop that can restore them to their original magnificence (not really joking here!). I absolutely love these speakers and it might actually kill me (joking here) to put them in a recycle bin or sell them for parts.

I can handle replacing caps, etc. I've done some restorations on old high-end VCRs and had no problems. However, when it comes to gluing woofers and such I'm lost.

Do you know where I can buy original woofers for these? I've tried finding "sold for parts" deals and have had no luck.

I'd also like to find the appropriate wall wart with the correct connector plug. If you found one that matches up well, please let me know.

I'm almost giddy from finding this thread :)

PS: I just made contact with Michal Orban at OrbanAudio.com. He may be able to do the entire "restoration" for me. Is anyone familiar with him?

PPS: just opened up the ABC and am amazed at how clean everything looks after all these years. I'm no expert, but the caps all look great to me.

20210210_154213-1-1200x900.jpg


20210210_154141-1200x900.jpg
 
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KLH-3's are awesome, bring those babies back to life and enjoy them. So cool that you hung onto them all these years. Look out on ebay ebay for the woofers and post a wanted to buy ad here. they may turn up. images (30).jpeg

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Fusion9 said:
Hello everyone,

I've just read this thread and am feeling there may be hope for my beloved KLH-3s. I bought these second hand (I think an open box deal but can't remember exactly where or when), but I know I had them at least as early as 1983. I've carried these all over the world (ex-Navy) since.

I had them in storage for quite a while, and when I retrieved them, my heart sank. One woofer is cracking and doesn't work, the foam surrounding the tweeters is turned to dust, and I can't find the wall wart for the ABC.

I've been trying to find a parts list or breakdown, or even a shop that can restore them to their original magnificence (not really joking here!). I absolutely love these speakers and it might actually kill me (joking here) to put them in a recycle bin or sell them for parts.

I can handle replacing caps, etc. I've done some restorations on old high-end VCRs and had no problems. However, when it comes to gluing woofers and such I'm lost.

Do you know where I can buy original woofers for these? I've tried finding "sold for parts" deals and have had no luck.

I'd also like to find the appropriate wall wart with the correct connector plug. If you found one that matches up well, please let me know.

I'm almost giddy from finding this thread :)

PS: I just made contact with Michal Orban at OrbanAudio.com. He may be able to do the entire "restoration" for me. Is anyone familiar with him?
Click to expand...
 
Goldjazz said:
KLH-3's are awesome, bring those babies back to life and enjoy them. So cool that you hung onto them all these years. Look out on ebay ebay for the woofers and post a wanted to buy ad here. they may turn up.

.
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I found myself looking for a LIKE button, and sure enough, there it was :)

I've had KEF 101's, and I like the KLH-3s much more. I currently have my old Infinity Overture 2s with the il36C center, and I want to use the KLH-3s for surrounds. Getting them working with my Denon X4700H is another story.. I may have to use my old Onkyo TX-SR803 receiver with preouts from the Denon.. it's going to be fun! If that doesn't work, the KLH-3s will find a welcome space in my office :)
 
Will this plan work for a KLH-3 Analog Bass Computer (ABC) wall wart?

From everything I've read the ABC requires 13 - 14 VAC, 220ma, it draws 9 watts, and is an ac to ac adapter. I think the adapter below is correct, and I can just replace the connector with the one listed, or similar.


Jameco Reliapro ACU140050C6951 Transformer, AC to AC Wall Adapter, 14 VAC/500 mA, Female, 2.8" H x 2.0" W x 1.6" D, Black: Electronic Power Transformers: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: Fancasee (2 Pack) Replacement 3.5mm Male Plug to Bare Wire Open End TS 2 Pole Mono 1/8" 3.5mm Plug Jack Connector Audio Cable Repair: Industrial & Scientific
 
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I just joined the KLH-1 club!!! I stopped by a local estate sale that had several hundred LPs. A couple of guys were talking about the KLH speakers but didn't know anything about them. I got them for a steal. I went back a couple hours later to see if I could find the ABC but it was nowhere to be found.

I have been playing them all afternoon with my Yamaha CR-600 and YP-701 turntable and they sound glorious! I knew they were good when I picked them up!!! I am thinking of doing a recap per this thread. What has me thinking is how might the crossover be changed to deal with not having the ABC. The KLH-3s use an ABC but not the KLH-4s, maybe there was a change in the crossover that compensated for not having the ABC...?

Now to make some stands for them and figure out the best location for them!
 
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