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New to me KLH Model 6, sound is just so-so

oldNslo

oldNslo

Member
These came to me from a neighbor, I've got really nothing into them. They are muddy sounding compared to my other speaker sets. I've started to review the posts on the speaker grilles (mine appear to be epoxied in) after some prying, and am contemplating the capacitor issue that might remedy the upper end and the difficulty to accessing the insides. The woodwork is decent, just one emblem is missing, so I'll just review the posts others have supplied in the meantime in order to formulate a game plan.

Comments/critiques/advice are welcome
 

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oldNslo said:
These came to me from a neighbor, I've got really nothing into them. They are muddy sounding compared to my other speaker sets. I've started to review the posts on the speaker grilles (mine appear to be epoxied in) after some prying, and am contemplating the capacitor issue that might remedy the upper end and the difficulty to accessing the insides.
Click to expand...
As you're formulating your game plan I would suggest you review this thread which has great pictorial sections, I referred to this when I redid my 6's.

The one thing I can attest to is the opening in the back is small so if you have big hands/forearms it's gonna be difficult getting in there to access/unscrew the caps

KLH Model Six Restoration

I am just finishing restoring a pair of Model Sixes I picked up locally around Thanksgiving. This is my second set of Model Sixes. About 18 months ago I happened upon a blond set with the twelve ply plywood cabinets. The kid that had them cut one of the grill cloths off to get to a non...
audiokarma.org
 
Congrats on your Sixs! These are great classic speakers when restored.
Here’s the link to my 1963 resto with lots of pics, which hopefully will help you with yours.
Cheers, Glenn

Just picked up a FREE pair of KLH 6's from original 1963 owner-PIC's & Restoration

This was a CL listing. They need a complete restoration. They are not a matching pair, but the woman told me her husband had gotten a 600 dollar college loan in 1963 and went out to buy these. Two different tweeters. She said they sounded good. We'll see tonight. Here's some quick pics I...
audiokarma.org
 
Thanks for all the support. Yes, I have read many of these threads prior to posting this one, and have them bookmarked. It's early in the journey for me, and as such I want to have a clear gameplan before I dive into them. Thankfully I have a capacitance tester to supplement my DVOM. I purchased that for some recent A/C cap testing on the house here when one failed on a 112d day.

The tweeter does output now, when I put my ear to the speaker. Its just an overall muddy/distant sound quality from both units. The 3-way switch appears to make no discernable difference in audio joy (as others have noted as well).
 
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Re: Doping the surrounds

In order to dope the surrounds with the aforementioned sealant you would have to remove the grill cover. If yours are indeed the early version unfortunately you would have to cut the grill cloth out.

See pic in post # 10

KLH Model 6/Six help

I picked these up today and was wondering if any of you KLH enthusiasts could help with a few questions. How can does one tell what vintage these are? I read somewhere that this model was manufactured from 1958 to 1971?. Are there any identifiers I should be looking for? The S/N's are 02161A...
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Which means you'll need to find a pair of newer version grill covers, so factor that into your equation

Also you have a couple of AK's most respected speaker repairer/restorer's already chiming in @GD70 me being not one of them but a big fan of KLH model 6's
 
Continuing on with my plan to get these back in the game. I saw on one TY vid, that while the owner of the 6's was trying to push (aka hammer) out the front baffles from the rear of the controls opening, he encountered a nail that was holding the front baffle to the side supports. It was located towards the center of the enclosure.

Can others validate that nails were used in affixing the front baffle?
 
@RxDx , good to know. I'm still toying with the idea that I can protect the speaker grill cloth with a wide thin putty knife or drywall mud knife on either side of the grille and cabinet wall and by using a thin kerfed saw, cut through the baffle board support (freeing it all), and thereby retaining more of the grille cloth for use in building some removeable covers.
 

"KLH Model Six Restoration"​

Looked over the above thread and too much time for me as it is just one of many,
what I did was below:

Might be more trouble than it's worth on the sealed 6's if you have other speakers.
I cut the grill cloth on mine and went through the tweeter hole on mine as it was
not the sealed tweeter fortunately.

I figured if I wanted to make it look nice again I could get/make a new grill if
the sound warranted it.

Same grill, as one of many...
Seriously though not a bad sounding speaker but not worth the effort
as shown just to get to the cap.
The front is the way to go, the tweeter is screwed in! (found my photos of
what I did)
 
New to this forum; hope this is the correct threat.

Got a single KLH model 6 speaker, the later version with screwed in drivers. I re-capped the crossover and play it for a while (with mono input) and it sounds great!

Asking for help, advice, and warnings:

(a) Ideally, I want to get another model 6 of later version. But if that does not happen, can I pair it with an earlier version of model (epoxyed drivers)? However about a model 23? I understand they share the same tweeter and woofer. Curious about the sound quality of such a mismatched pair.

(b) The woofer needs to be doped. But when I searched EBay for "AR/KLH sealant" or "Roy C goo," nothing comes up. Where can I buy the right woofer surround sealant in Sept., 2026?

Thanks in advance!
 
Oldspeakers said:
New to this forum; hope this is the correct threat.

The woofer needs to be doped. But when I searched EBay for "AR/KLH sealant" or "Roy C goo," nothing comes up. Where can I buy the right woofer surround sealant in Sept., 2026?
Click to expand...
@RoyC

Is a member here at AK, message him directly and he should get you sorted out.

Just click on his UN (as linked above) and you'll see this, them click "send direct message"

Screenshot 2026-09-21 at 15.03.18.png
 
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