KLH 300 speakers??

[Charlie DJ]

Anyone familiar with KLH 300 speakers?? (Going from memory but I know they say KLH 300 on the back and have the "older" type connections so I know they're "vintage"). Saw a pair for $10 - they need to be refoamed. Been searching but can't find any info on them.

 

[boreas]

Anyone familiar with KLH 300 speakers?? (Going from memory but I know they say KLH 300 on the back and have the "older" type connections so I know they're "vintage"). Saw a pair for $10 - they need to be refoamed. Been searching but can't find any info on them.

A numbered designation expressed as 300 as opposed to Three Hundred and foam surrounds as opposed to cloth ones makes these late post Kloss and even post Singer KLHs, not vintage. I suspect they're not worth fooling with.

John

 

[Charlie DJ]

A numbered designation expressed as 300 as opposed to Three Hundred and foam surrounds as opposed to cloth ones makes these late post Kloss and even post Singer KLHs, not vintage. I suspect they're not worth fooling with.

John

Thanks John. Now you got me thinking...was it foam or cloth???

 

[rmeade]

I agree with boreas. I believe that the Kloss era KLH speakers did not exceed two digits in their model numbers (model thirty two might be among the last). During this era they made many of their drivers and build great cabinets. As time went on the company changed hands, the market became more cost competitive and the quality dropped (true for many manufacturers of that time).

With regard to surrounds, cloth tends not to deteriorate, if you recall deteriorated surrounds - likely to be foam.

 

[OLDTIMESOUND]

i had a pair of model 373. they were 3 way with a cloth surround 10 inch woofer. they were decent speakers. close to the model six in sound.the cabinet was'nt as nice as the six.you can tell where cost cutting came in. but again,the sound was decent.if you NEED a pair of speakers,these would do fine.

 

[boreas]

I agree with boreas. I believe that the Kloss era KLH speakers did not exceed two digits in their model numbers (model thirty two might be among the last).

I think there was also a Thirty-Eight but KLH didn't assign the model numbers of their speakers sequentially (or by any system that I can decipher) so I don't know which model was the last of the "classic era" KLHs.

During this era they made many of their drivers and build great cabinets.

I think in period when Kloss was involved they made all their drivers in-house but the cabinets, as I understand it, were made to very high standards by several different casket makers in the Midwest.

As time went on the company changed hands, the market became more cost competitive and the quality dropped (true for many manufacturers of that time).

Singer was the first to own the company after Kloss left. At first they mostly just continued making the same products to the same high standards as Kloss had. I think this was probably due to the fact that, Messrs K, L & H, aside, the personnel at KLH really didn't change.

Later on things did begin to change, with new designs and some outsourced drivers. There were some bright spots like the Research X (for Ten) speakers and the Barons but mostly the new stuff didn't measure up to the old.

John

 

[saunadog]

I think there was also a Thirty-Eight but KLH didn't assign the model numbers of their speakers sequentially (or by any system that I can decipher) so I don't know which model was the last of the "classic era" KLHs.

Yes, I recently picked up a pair of Thirty Eights. There has been some speculation that these were very similar to model 17's, which appears to be true to some extent. Although mine clearly have a badge saying "model thirty eight" on the back, they also have a small red "17" stamp as well (so KLH must have re-purposed the model 17 cabinets). Of course, they have different tweeters than the 17 (it appears that the thirty eight shared tweeters with the thirty two). Same 10" woofer as the 17 though.

 

[moejr]

300's were produced from 78-82. They came in a foam version and a cloth version.