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KLH Model Fifty-Two

highping

highping

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Found this ol' timer at a local GW this afternoon. $7.99 later it was on it's way home with me. Need to find a fuse holder (cap), it's missing one. Both channels worked.....the tuner pulled in stations very well, and it's "sound" was, in short, "nice". :)

I had never seen a KLH receiver....just speakers....and was surprised to see that they were part of the Singer Company.


Nude posted in the appropriate thread. :)
 
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KLH made a line of really nice lower powered receivers for some years starting with the 27 during Kloss' tenure. The 5x line came out under Singer's tenure and it was an odd marriage. It was at the height of Singer's corporate life and they wanted to diversify. Only a few short years later the company almost completely collapsed.

The series was not a popular seller. It was thought that they'd be the moveup from the compact units so popular but by that time students where KLH's main market was were looking for megawatts and big chassis. They were nicely engineered and build, nothing outstanding spec wise but with a decent matching speaker such as the Six, Seventeen, etc. in a smaller room the presentation was very nice.
 
:thmbsp: Looks very inviting....never heard one myself either. I had the same issue with the missing fuse cap. I resorted to buying a whole new fuse holder to remedy that.
 
The 52 was the receiver that introduced me to higher fidelity. It also introduced me to buying vintage gear off of ebay (I've got six 52s alone...). Something about it really caught my fancy, and it still does - sort of 'business' like in the styling, certainly not outlandish in the least. 33w/ch RMS. I believe that Kyocera was KLH's contract manufacturer for the 5x series (which also included the 55 at 13w/ch RMS, and the quad 54 at 25w/ch).

There was a later 52/A variant that added a dynaquad feature for pseudo quad sound with four speakers...that model had odd orange panel lighting.

The volume control incorporated the power on-off switch, which about now is getting brittle and usually is close to failure. To avoid breaking the power switch, I use those flat under-monitor pc power centers with my older systems so I can leave the receiver's power switch in the on position and turn it on and off with the pc power center's switch.

Great deal for the price, an ideal pairing is with some New England sound speakers (Advents, KLHs, Acoustic Research, Boston Acoustics, Polks, etc.)
 
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I have the similar Model 52 at work, in my office. It's a very capable little receiver. Not terribly powerful, but in a small room it sounds fantastic and just has a way of getting out of the way of the music. I like it a lot. Mine hasn't had any problems, but it was from a store that goes through their equipment pretty thoroughly before selling it.
 
Just spotted a KLH Model Fifty Two at one of my local Goodwills. It was $25. It looked like it was in pretty good shape. A few of the pushbuttons were stuck and wouldn't release. Not sure if that's a serious issue or not. Fuse holder caps looked fine and the Volume on/off switch still seemed solid. I dunno, I was tempted, but I really don't need the receiver. For those that know this unit, how's the phono stage? Any of you guys think I should go back and grab it? It probably will only last a day or so...

http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/klhstereoreceivermodelfifty-two.html
 
I've always had a soft spot for these KLH receivers and the earlier 51. If in good physical condition I'd spring for it. While they are not higher end compared to a number of other brands and models at the time, they were a very solid performer and with a nice set of KLH speakers really had synergy. We sold a ton of these and virtually none were ever returned for service. Switches probably simply need a darned good cleaning.
 
Brian said:
I've always had a soft spot for these KLH receivers and the earlier 51. If in good physical condition I'd spring for it. While they are not higher end compared to a number of other brands and models at the time, they were a very solid performer and with a nice set of KLH speakers really had synergy. We sold a ton of these and virtually none were ever returned for service. Switches probably simply need a darned good cleaning.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Brian. :thmbsp:
 
Brian said:
Switches probably simply need a darned good cleaning.
Click to expand...
The on and off was incorporated in the volume control and over time some go bad. My 55 suffered from this and I read where other 5x models had the same problem. I used an external switch. Good sounding receivers.

BTW nice to se you posting.
 
Just pick one of these KLH 52's yesterday, mint condition except one of the AGX fuse holder caps was missing. so I replaced with (2) new AGC 250V fuse holders. this thing is incrediable, before I did the fuse holder I listen through the phones -amazing! this really motivated me to get some speakers hooked up - WOW!!! love this thing.
 
The "52" was my very first receiver bought new in 1972 (IIRC). It and a pair of KLH 6's. A fantastic combo. Even though I had a cheap plastic based Garrard TT the phono section was really great on the 52. It's strongest suit I thought.......Only setup I could afford at the time and it served me well.

The audio store I was at had the 52 as the store daily user. Nice to see a few still around today!
 
Before the series was introduced there was the Twentyseven. I am listening to one right now and have a backup on the shelf. With the right speakers these are very enjoyable and visually on a scale of 1 to 10 it is a 10. All small it is cute and the dual vernier dials, a Kloss's signature look great. Funny the other visually top tuners for me are the Scotts with their vernier. I must be a big knob man subconsciously.
 
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