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What Amp For KLH Model Six?

e_just

e_just

Active Member
Hello KLH Fans
I just scored a nice pair of Model Six speakers am was wondering how much power you can throw at them. According to the manual, any amp of 20 watts or above will be suitable for the six. My current options are Pioneer SA-9100 (65W), or Marantz 1060 (30W). I have listened to them with the 9100 and they sounded fantastic, but I don't know if 65W is too much and would hate to damage my speakers. The Marantz is at a friends house so I was unable to try it.
Thanks
Eric
 
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Celt said:
You can do far more harm by not having enough power on hand (clipping of the signal), than having "too much" reserve power.
Click to expand...
I have heard that, looks like my SA-5200 (10W) is out. My main concern is if 65W is too much.
 
65w is not going to smoke your speakers unless you peg the volume. while your
pioneer and marantz are good sounding amps, they don't have the headroom of,
an nad or harman kardon('70s-80s). it doesn't mean they sound better, they just get 'spongey'
when you get carried away w/ the volume . it slows the Brick Wall effect of blowing
drivers and gives you a few more seconds to (turn that damn guitar down! )

anyway, i'd use the biggest amp you've got carefully . unless you listen to organ and
sine waves , you should be fine.
 
ericjustin said:
I have heard that, looks like my SA-5200 (10W) is out. My main concern is if 65W is too much.
Click to expand...

No. My old Fostex Sigma drivers are rated @ 5 watts RMS, have used anywhere from 17 to 150 watts at loud levels without damage.
You'll know when you've reached their limit as the sound will begin to compress.
 
I mated my Models 6's with a pioneer SX 950 for awwhile and it was a match made in heaven, so 75, 85 Watts RMS isn't too much -- unless your goal is to make the walls shake.
 
The SA-9100 is perfect for them IMO. The Sixes are somewhat power hungry and the conservatively rated 9100 will have plenty of headroom with little to no chance of clipping. The 9100's output protection circuit is extremely effective and fast acting, but you'll probably never need it. Should be a great match!
 
I ran mine for a while on a big Revox amp that was over 200wpc. No problems. I've also run them on as little as 18wpc tube...again, sounded good. I've found them to be about the least picky speakers I've owned in regards to amplification, but if I was running solid state they responded very well to more power. I think about the best they sounded in my place was on a Sansui 9090db.
 
As Promised, here are the pics! As you can see they are not a matching pair.
4110242395_5d27c7235d.jpg

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Real walnut I think and a strange looking incision?
4110245415_cd1341ec5a.jpg

4110246491_57a237f997.jpg

Particle board
 
Probably plywood which is better than solid wood for speakers. The sides and top and bottom should be walnut veneer over MDF particle board.

Don't worry about damaging them with a 65 watt per channel amp as long as you don't run it over say 2/3rds volume for hours on end in which case you will hear audible unpleasant clipping. Inefficient acoustic suspension speakers can suck down some juice so 65 watts per channel should actually be in the sweet spot for those. Some people run 300 watts per channel into AR acoustic suspension speakers.

Try that "high frequency level" switch in the "increase" position BTW as "east coast" acoustic suspension speakers are voiced with high frequency roll off.
 
Plywood has better damping, solid wood will resonate more which something you *really* don't want happening in a speaker. MDF in turn is better than plywood in damping resonance with the possible exception of some extremely high quality baltic birch plywood and even that is debatable. It would be nice if solid wood sounded better of course because it looks better but alas that is not the case. If you want to try something exotic consider cement or marble. But really for your first speaker project your best bet is veneer over MDF.

For a reference see:

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Speaker_Box_Material__Solid_Wood_or_MDF.html

If you want to discuss this further please start a new item here or do a search to see if it has been discussed before. Thanks!

Anyway back to amps for a KLH 6...
 
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Nice pair of sixes. I recomend not redoping the surrounds till you read up all you can on the subject both here and at CSP.

Mine do best with high power - Pioneer SX-950, Sansui 890DB and 9090DB. But they sound sweet with my Fisher 30WPC tube amp.

A great speaker - hope you enjoy!

Jim
 
The guy I bought them from says that he has recapped them. He is a local speaker repair guy who often sells refurbished speakers on CL. I tend to think that he knows what he is doing. The only think that concerns me is that he was unsure about the specific rating of the cap that was replaces. He did show me the old cap, it was red 50V and had 3 wires. I think it may be the double 2MDF caps that i read about on CSP. He told me that he replaced it with another 50V cap. The speakers do sound great but I wonder if maybe they can sound better with the right caps.
Secondly, is there a definitive way to tell if a woofer is epoxied in the cabinet?
I have read two conflicting theories about this. One is if there are screws holding in the woofer it is not epoxied. Secondly, I have read that if the crossover is flush with the back of the cabinet (not sunk in a bit) that it is epoxied) Well my woofers are screwed in and the crossover is flush with the cabinet. Just wondering?
 
From memory, there will be no screws if they are the early epoxied to baffle drivers. However, pulling them is still difficult as the gasket material by now will be set like cement so be gentle.
 
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