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KLH 6 vs 17, differences?

Speaker collecting IS a thing, I got caught up in it years ago acquiring all sorts of speakers just for the sake of wanting to listen to as many pairs as possible to see what they sounded like. It got costly & started talking up way too much space.

Here's hoping you enjoy the 17's and when your guys done with the 6's you get a chance to give those a try. Going forward if you develop a good relationship with him hopefully he'll have other speakers down the line to try out. He's bound to come across some Advents at some point as they were/are popular too.
 
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Dswankey said:
Speaker collecting IS a thing, I got caught up in it years ago acquiring all sorts of speakers just for the sake of wanting to listen to as many pairs as possible to see what they sounded like. It got costly & started talking up way too much space.

Here's hoping you enjoy the 17's and when your guys done with the 6's you get a chance to give those a try. Going forward if you develop a good relationship with him hopefully he'll have other speakers down the line to try out. He's bound to come across some Advents at some point as they were/are popular too.
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Yeah, I've become quite the hoarder. I think I've got something north of 20+ pairs right now and really need to cull the herd. I've had Seventeen's, 32's, Sixes and Fives pass through. My only working KLH are early Sixes and they are in permanent rotation. I've got 1.5 pairs of Seventeen's in the queue, 1.5 pairs Sixes in the queue and a pair of Fives in the queue. Maybe this year I'll start on some of those, but so much to do both in and outside of the hobby. Never enough time.

Oh yeah, I have a set of OLA's (Original Large Advent (bullnose)) that are in VG+ condition and have been re-foamed and re-capped. Those aren't in the queue, but aren't in use either. I didn't like the way they sounded, but never tried Pete B's BSC circuit that is said to improve them significantly. For now the Sixes beat them by a mile so the OLA's sit unused. The cabinets on the OLA's are terrific though, but I need my best speakers to be in rotation. That is the Sixes.

Also picked up a pair of AR-4X's recently and will be doing them next in the queue. I did a set for my daughter's birthday a year or two ago and liked how they sounded enough to keep my eyes open for another set for myself. Well, I've got some now, but they need a restoration.

As to the hoarding thing - "Hi. My name is Tim and I have a problem." Lol. My wife told me to knock it off because the queue is filling up the garage. I've dialed it back quite a bit and I am now selective about what I grab. Mostly I am buying parts for things in the queue unless a particularly good deal pops up. In general I've been gifting finished pieces to family and friends because it is a labor of love for me. For me it's as much about the journey of acquiring, refurbishing and sharing as it is about using/enjoying.
 
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I've had 17s, 6s, OLAs, and Bullnose Advents. The Bullnose Advents are gorgeous, but I think I liked the 6s better. It is funny about speaker collecting. When I got my first OLAs, I thought wow, if I had found these when I first started getting back into audio, I likely would have stopped there. But I didn't, and actually started with excellent, but very difficult to drive speakers, and by the time I found the sound I was looking for, I was hooked on trying as many different speakers I could find. Now I am winding down, as I am quite content with my keeper speakers. I think I have about 16 to 20 pairs and want to bring them down to 10 to 14 pairs. Getting there, slowly...
 
Dswankey said:
I like that you're not sure, I remember having closets stacked with speakers, some stuffed under bed frames but I never had the amount you mentioned.
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"Hi, my name isn't Tim and I am a speaker hoarder." I have two pair of sixes, a pair of AR 2a's, a pair of New Large Advent 3s, 3.5 pairs of Wharfedale W70s, A pair of EPI Microtower 3s.

We recently moved from Maryland to Georgia, and in my haste to downsize I did sell off 5 or 6 pairs of KLH 17s and 20s. Now that I think about it I probably sold my DCM TimeFrame 400s as well.... I don't remember unpacking them after moving...

I did keep both pairs of KLH 6s. I agree with an previous poster that that the New Large Advent's don't hit the same sweet spot for highs as the KLH 6s and sound a bit bottom heavy for my tastes.

But of all the speakers i currently own I prefer the EPI Microtower 3s set up with enough room to breathe.

The original poster mentioned that he picked up a pair of AR 3as on the cheap. I probably would put some floral wall paper on them and still listen to them. If they are as nice sounding as rumor has it.
 
Yes, I once had a pair of EPI micro towers. Surprisingly good sounding speakers!

Whenever I get my speaker hoard down, I always discover something I stashed in a corner or something like that. I wish I had picked something a little smaller to hoard. My 3 favourite speakers are Klipsch Cornwalls, Kef 105s, and Sony SS-G7s. Next smallest are Sony SS-G3s, EPI M100s, a pair of B&O Redlines, Kef 103/2, Philips SP30s, Klipsch Tangent T10s, some Paradigms, Speaker Labs, and thats all I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Towards the end I perma-loaned away a lot of speakers as to friends with the caveat that if they ever tired of them that I had right of first refusal. To this today I've never taken anyone up on that. I know of Polk Monitor 7Cs, Heathkit AS-105s, KLH Model 6s, Polk Monitor 5jrs that are still residing at friends homes.
 
Well, I surely can't compete with most (all) of you hoarders, but I hope to SOON resurrect the AR3a's I snagged and see what the fuss is about.

I DID pick up the 17s, and in the smallish room I have and at the volume my family will let me play them, I think they sound WONDERFUL. I like that I need to feed more power to them than the Polk RTi4s they replaced, I have a lot of power to spare....Listened to Bowie's "Queen Bitch" at high volume and LOVED them.

Going to the guy I bought them from tomorrow to pick up the SX-880 cabinet he re-veneered, and I'll put the order in for a pair of 6s he comes across. He obviously has a pipeline like a lot of you guys, says he rotates thru a continuous succession of speakers for customers, all word-of-mouth. I can think of a lot of more destructive vices.
 
Regarding the hoarding, I use the usual sites for my findings along with a healthy dose of patience. There are things I still haven't found yet that I'm still looking for. I have enough in the queue though that I can be very patient for the moment, unless I'm in the midst of a restoration and I need that hard-to-find part.

As my tastes change I am finding more focus in what I want. For me, 1960 tubes (stereo only), vintage and mostly lower power (mostly due to my affinity for tubes.). I'm moving away from most things newer than late 70's and SS. Not into Tape or digital except for the occasional streaming of something that I don't have in my own LP library. I do make exceptions though as I have nice SS Marantz, and I have 1980's Polk and NAD stuff, but they mostly sit now with my tubes and other vintage stuff in primary rotation.

Once you start targeting what you really like and ignore the rest you'll get some focus.

Good catch on the AR-3A's. That's one of the ones I'm waiting for. The prices are mostly too high for my tastes though and there are plenty of alternatives in a more affordable range (OLA's, KLH Fives, etc.). Additionally, I hear the AR-3A's are power hungry and I don't have a system that has enough power to really make them shine.
 
Tim D said:
Oh yeah, I have a set of OLA's (Original Large Advent (bullnose)) that are in VG+ condition and have been re-foamed and re-capped. Those aren't in the queue, but aren't in use either. I didn't like the way they sounded, but never tried Pete B's BSC circuit that is said to improve them significantly. For now the Sixes beat them by a mile so the OLA's sit unused. The cabinets on the OLA's are terrific though, but I need my best speakers to be in rotation. That is the Sixes..
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Can I ask, what is it about the OLAs you don't like? I've got a pair that hasn't been recapped, and I'm debating whether they're worth the $36 in caps.
 
Starquest said:
Can I ask, what is it about the OLAs you don't like? I've got a pair that hasn't been recapped, and I'm debating whether they're worth the $36 in caps.
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What is it I don't like? Umm. My KLH Sixes just sound better - by quite a margin too. I'm not good about trying to put it into adjectives as to why.
 
I have the Twenty Threes, a couple of pairs of Seventeens and also a pair of Advents. I like them all. The Twenty Threes are definitely a "warmer" sound. The Advents are better for rocking. The Seventeens are not used much. They seem to be a little "Brighter" than the others.
 
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