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KLH model Eight speaker data ?


Guest Droog

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To any owners of a model Eight speaker......I'm collecting data for production date changes, such as highest serial # with a solid walnut cabinet and two drivers, highest # with a plywood cabinet & single driver or lowest # of this type.

Also, I just bought a model eight speaker with a level control that looks original and factory done. It's the only one I've seen. Any other details or history welcome from readers !

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Since no forum readers seem to have a model Eight speaker, I'll provide what I've learned so far. It was introduced in 1960, designed to be used specificly with the model Eight FM receiver, had two 4" long throw drivers (tweeters from the model six) in a solid walnut cabinet. In late 1962 or early 1963 at about serial number 8,000 a change to a plywood cabinet with walnut veneer was made. Also at this time the change to a single 4" driver was made. I'm sure KLH made these changes to save money, feeling that the sound was adequate with one driver. These versions have a perforated board covering the speaker just like the model Eleven and model Twenty One extension speaker of 1965. All totaled, about 12,000 model Eight speakers were made with production stopping sometime in 1964. Singer bought KLH in 1964 and things really picked up, production volume doubled in within one year, the days of being a small specialty company were over, although Henry Kloss stayed in charge of product development through 1967.

Again, if anyone has a speaker and wants to provide it's serial number along with which version it is for my data log......feel free.

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  • 2 years later...

Hi Droog

Just came across this post. Of course Andy is the resident expert on these things (or is Droog a pseudonym for Andy?), but since you asked...

I have 4 Model Eight speakers: One that came with Radio SN 1713 has no SN. Radio SN 2250 has matching speaker SN 2250. Radio SN 4215 has spkr SN 4710. These are all 2-driver, solid walnut.

My Model Thirteen has a single-driver, veneered case spkr that unfortunately was modified and has no SN. Hope this helps.

Kent

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btw--if you're reading this Andy, I have a question:

Some time back, you wrote the following in these pages:

A few comments on the great little model 21 speaker; The performance of this 3 inch speaker is nothing short of amazing, having a 3/8" cone excursion which is controlled by the highest ratio of magnet power to cone weight ever embodied in a speaker. It has a flawless upper range and a lower frequency response of about 60 cps (never seen in such a small speaker).

A little history; Back in 1959 the audio consultants Bolt, Beranek & Newman had a project to equip the Senate chambers with high quality individual speakers for each Senator. So BB&N went to KLH and Kloss designed a speaker but the project fell through, so the speaker ended up in the model 8 radio in 1960. Then it was used in the model 11, 14,15,19,50 speakers as well as the mid-range drivers for the high end model 5 speaker and of course the Model 21 radio in 1966. Also of importance, KLH was vertically integrated, making their own cones, winding their own voice coils as well as having access to the MIT magnet lab for sophisticated testing.

That’s probably everything you may not have wanted to know about the best small loudspeaker ever made!

Aside from the fact that I assume you meant to write "4 inch speaker", I found the following in an online Stereophile http://www.stereophile.com/news/050905janszen/ writeup on the late Arthur Janszen:

"Janszen also developed the driver, EQ network, and industrial design for the KLH Model Eight table radio, the linear ancestor of the Tivoli Henry Kloss Model One so popular today".

Can you shed some more light on this subject Andy (or any other members)?

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It was introduced in

>1960, designed to be used specificly with the model Eight FM

>receiver, had two 4" long throw drivers (tweeters from

>the model six) in a solid walnut cabinet.

Hi there;

I'm wondering why you would say the 4" driver was the tweeter from the KLH Six speaker?

Is the tweeter, when it has a metal expanded metal cover, a tweeter, and without it, a mid range/fullrange driver?

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I used the name Droog for a short time about three years ago because I was having a problem logging in with my password and re-registered.

Aurthur Janszen joined KLH as a fourth member, with his Janszen Labs., but I don't know what year this was.

The confusion about the Model Eight speaker being the tweeter from the Model Six is likely because the cone of the Model Six tweeter was used with a very free suspension added to it for use in the Model Eight, giving the 3/8 inch cone travel mentioned. A 1960 KLH advertisement claims a 3 inch cone diameter in a 4 inch frame for the Model Eight, so depending on how one measures their speakers, cone or frame will give different sizes.

Andy

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