KLH Model 12 owners?

[DavidJackson]

I have a pair which I bought used in 1964 I think. I used them as my main speakers for many years. My teenage son managed to do some serious damage to them by turning my Mc 2105 as loud as it would go and walking away! I had repairs done, right now I don't remember exactly what. I have them hooked up to my TV and have had them hooked up that way for around 20 some odd years I guess and they seem fine. I have thought about hooking them up instead of my BSRs to see if I like them better.
I believe they were originally intended to be bass units for the KLH electrostatic speaker systems as those did not have much bass, however for some reason they had mid and high range drivers added and were sold that way.
I have not changed the settings on the remote crossovers in years.

 

[slowpat]

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I have not changed the settings on the remote crossovers in years.

Those crossovers can use new capacitors since the old ones would have drifted in value already, and you're missing out on what the KLH 12's are capable of....good luck.

 

[Pioneer Vir]

I have a pair I bought off of CL for $50.00 several years ago. I absolutely love them. They are some of my favorite speakers. They're big ol' boat anchors but I have no plans what-so-ever to get rid of them. Contour Box (crossover) re-capping isn't that hard to do - just take your time. Mine are from Nov 1967. I don't normally keep them that close together but needed to squeeze them in for a pic. They get close to daily use.

Don

 

[DavidJackson]

Turns out my memory may well be bad about buying them used in 1964. It may have been the late '60s or possibly some time in the 1970s.

Looking at the before and after photos Pioneer Vir posted it appears the Countour Boxes have been completely rebuilt! Capacitor drift (I am not sure what that is) - is there a way to measure that? I have soldered plenty of stuff in my life (once I built a HK Citation 1 preamp out of a kit) but that was a long time ago and so I feel a little
hesitant about rebuilding those. Also, where would I get the parts?

 

[ivandezande]

Turns out my memory may well be bad about buying them used in 1964. It may have been the late '60s or possibly some time in the 1970s.

Looking at the before and after photos Pioneer Vir posted it appears the Countour Boxes have been completely rebuilt! Capacitor drift (I am not sure what that is) - is there a way to measure that? I have soldered plenty of stuff in my life (once I built a HK Citation 1 preamp out of a kit) but that was a long time ago and so I feel a little
hesitant about rebuilding those. Also, where would I get the parts?

You need a special type of DMM to measure capacitance. Parts Express has great prices on their Dayton Polypropylene 250V 5% caps. I would go with those and maybe some Dayton 2% resistors.

 

[jlovda]

I have a pair of 12s that I plan to restore. Mine are in rough shape. I have the woofers out and plan to re-foam them. I believe that these are different than the woofers in the fives. I think that the magnet is twice as large (depth). I also saw a discussion thread at the CSP that was authored by a former KLH employee who was discussing the difference in the woofers between the 5,6,12. I also suspect that the larger volume of the cabinet (12 vs 5 for example) was provided to accommodate a woofer with longer travel. Yes, I am delusional, but I have my reasons.

Due to the rough condition of my set I was considering an econo-wave conversion. Any opinions? Many of the econowave discussion first document inadequacies in the mid-range - typical of a vintage Kloss products. Does the 12 have such a weakness (in other words how good is the mid in the 12)? I have the cross-overs but they were dropped or crushed and will require complete rebuilding. Another way to ask this same question ... do you think that the KLH 12 woofer's performance is worthy of matching it with a compression driver and horn?

Refoam the woofers? They have cloth surrounds that should never need replacement, just resealing. The Models 5, 12 and 23 use the same woofer and they are interchangable.

Also, the WAF (wife acceptance factor) was very low at my house and I ended up selling them. My pair were beautiful after refurbishing but they sat in the basement because there was no place to put them in the living area.

 

[L200B]

I got these off CL a couple weeks ago for next to nothing. No speakers though... :/

 

[Brian]

I have a pair which I bought used in 1964 I think. I used them as my main speakers for many years. My teenage son managed to do some serious damage to them by turning my Mc 2105 as loud as it would go and walking away! I had repairs done, right now I don't remember exactly what. I have them hooked up to my TV and have had them hooked up that way for around 20 some odd years I guess and they seem fine. I have thought about hooking them up instead of my BSRs to see if I like them better.
I believe they were originally intended to be bass units for the KLH electrostatic speaker systems as those did not have much bass, however for some reason they had mid and high range drivers added and were sold that way.
I have not changed the settings on the remote crossovers in years.

There they were originally designed to mate to the Nines. If KLH had contemplated doing such a thing, they would have marketed the Model One as it was designed to mate with the JansZens tweeter array.

 

[Pioneer Vir]

I used the vintage-ar sealer on the cloth surrounds on my 12's, 5's and 17's. Great stuff. Made a world of difference. Highly recommend it.

Don

 

[DavidJackson]

Need help from KLH Experts about 12 contour boxes

I bought two crossover boxes after hearing that old one needed new caps and maybe more just so I could refurbish one pair. My speakers seem to be OK and I do hear or read, from the experts that I should work on the contour boxes and so thought spares would be ginuea pigs.

The two I got are quite different. Anyone know what's going on?

One has a date of May 13 1968 stamped on the plywood base. #76 is written on the plywood possibly with a magic marker or sharpie. It also has
a wire sticking up with nothing attached to it. Any ideas?

The other does not have a date but #242 is written on the plywood in pencil.

I don't really know much about electronics, how can I test the caps, and which parts should be replaced?

Thanks:confused

 

[DavidJackson]

It turns out I could have been mistaken about when I got these speakers. More knowledgeable people than I have informed me that they were not even made in 1964 so my memory must be off. Also, about bass for the 9s; I seem to recall that the plan was to market them without any mids or tweeters as bass for the 9s. I could be all wet about that one too. I heard it 40 years ago or more, though I realize that doesn't make it correct.

 

[RxDx]

I bought two crossover boxes after hearing that old one needed new caps and maybe more just so I could refurbish one pair. My speakers seem to be OK and I do hear or read, from the experts that I should work on the contour boxes and so thought spares would be ginuea pigs.

The two I got are quite different. Anyone know what's going on?

One has a date of May 13 1968 stamped on the plywood base. #76 is written on the plywood possibly with a magic marker or sharpie. It also has
a wire sticking up with nothing attached to it. Any ideas?

The other does not have a date but #242 is written on the plywood in pencil.

I don't really know much about electronics, how can I test the caps, and which parts should be replaced?

Thanks:confused

#3 looks mostly redone. The big red caps look original; don't know why they weren't replaced as a matter of course. The black caps with red ends in the other two are original, and they are junk.