Rarest KLH speaker

[Andy]

After much research, I feel the KLH speaker with fewest units made is the Model Eight in solid walnut, single driver with a volume control. I feel that Fewer then 50 units of this type were produced. Next up should be the same model Eight in plywood cabinet, with maybe a few hundred units. Of course model Eights with two drivers in walnut number to about 7,000 units and single driver versions in plywood number to about 4,500. The model Thirteen speaker would be less then 2,000 produced (a volume control version may exist on this model, but I've not seen it).

The model 28 speaker is a rare speaker and I've seen one with a serial number of 876, but total number produced is unknown.

Other scarce models include models 1,2,3, the model 5 high freq. only unit (goes with models 1,2.3). Also the models 7. 9 & 12. All these have production totals in the low thousands with most being under 5,000 units.

These are the ones to look for and are a much, much harder to find when compared to a model 6 or 20 which have production numbers of over 150,000 units each.

I am trying to get a former KLH employee to sell a prototype from the early 60s (has three 4" full range drivers in a cabinet 8" x 18" x 8" made of birch plywood), but no luck yet!

[Guest jcmjrt]

If you get a chance, you should take some pics of the proto and post them.

[JKent]

>After much research, I feel the KLH speaker with fewest units

>made is the Model Eight in solid walnut, single driver with a

>volume control. I feel that Fewer then 50 units of this type

>were produced. Next up should be the same model Eight in

>plywood cabinet, with maybe a few hundred units. Of course

>model Eights with two drivers in walnut number to about 7,000

>units and single driver versions in plywood number to about

>4,500. The model Thirteen speaker would be less then 2,000

>produced (a volume control version may exist on this model,

>but I've not seen it).

Came across this old post and thought maybe I could revive it.

I am very pleased to have just bought a KLH Eight/Thirteen (four pieces) setup. Just bought them today, so have not received the units yet, but am eagerly anticipating the chance to restore them--they're a little beat up.

Does anyone have any info to share? I would be interested in a photo of the back of the Model Thirteen's speaker, since the one I bought has been altered (and the identification label is missing! grrrr!). I downloaded the schematic, chassis layout and owners manual for the Model Eight. Anyone have similar info for the Thirteen?

Thanks for any help

Kent

[Andy]

Kent,

That for piece set was a good buy, I've seen just the Model Thirteen adapter without a speaker go for over $500. Total production on the Model Thirteen was about 1500-1600 units and each one came with a speaker.

The back of a model Thirteen speaker is not like the model Eight speaker with it's 30 ft. cord and banana plug. The Model Thirteen speaker had a aluminum tag labeled 'Model Thirten Speaker' and it had a RCA recepter plug just like the other small KLH speakers from the early 1960's. It had a single 4 inch driver unlike the earlier twin drivers used in the Model Eight speaker.

When the MNodel Thirteen was introduced in late 1962 or early 1963, KlH changed from solid walnut to plywood cabinets on the Model Eight, and reduced the speaker to one driver at about serial number 7500.

Last year a very, very early model Thirteen came up on ebay, it had a solid walnut cabinet(all others are plywood with walnut vineer. The back was labeled "Model Thirteen stereophonic adapter", but the front of the cabinet had factory printing that said "Model Eight Stereophonic Adapter" ! ?. This may have been a pre-production example....i've never seen another like it. I bid $475. for it but was out bid.

Andy

[JKent]

Thanks for the info Andy. I have read your posts with interest, and your Antique Radio pieces as well.

Yes--I think I got a terrific buy on this set (although I have not received it yet to inspect). Did you bid on it too? My only disappointment is that the "Model 13" plate on the speaker is apparently missing. I'm confident I can fix the other cosmentic issues (chipped knobs, non-original knobs, stained wood. The stained grill cloth is a challenge)

What's up with the water stains? It seems almost every Eight I've seen has water stains on the grill cloth. I am in the process of trying to clean one now, but I ended up lightening the cloth a bit too much (it also shrank a little but that will be a problem). Any suggestions for repalcement grill cloth? I have not found anything really authentic--that stiff burlap-like caramel colored cloth seems to be unique.

So the RCA jack is an authentic connector. I will try to repair or replace the back panel so the patch job is not so obvious. Can you tell me exactly where the RCA jack should be placed?

What about the patch cord from the Model Thirteen to the Eight? A 1/4" mono phone plug?

I happen to have two other Model Eights now, I'm restoring them and will be selling one or both on ebay pretty soon (I'll keep one and the Thirteen for my collection). One, like the one I just bought, had the 3 smaller knobs missing. I found some credible replacements made by NTE. They are the same size, skirted, black but are aluminum instead of plastic and have setscrews. The only obvious difference is that these have little white pointers while the original plastic knobs had white line indicators.

You seem to be the expert on these old KLH radios, so any advice, insights or cautions you might offer will certainly be appreciated.

Thanks

Kent

[Andy]

Kent,

That looks to be a Model Eight speaker with that Adapter you bought, it's got the wire spool for winding excess speaker wire. The Thirteen speaker did not have this. If the cabinet is plywood, it should be a single driver version like the Thirteen speaker. There were about 800 Model Eight speakers with single driver in a SOLID WALNUT cabinet, serial numbers between 7200-7900. I have this info because I spent over a year logging serial numbers and details of Model Eight's and Thirteen's with over 100 examples entered....I must be crazy, but I love these radios. As I mentioned in my ARC article, they set a new standard for small table top audio which the rest of the industry try to match. Alas, no one met KLH's benchmark, hard as they tried. There are so many things unique about the Eight/Thirteen combo..... a tube unit matched with a solid state unit, and as far as I know the Eight is the only tube radio ever made with an acoustic suspension loudspeaker system.

These are simply winners no matter how you look at it - enjoy !

PS; the stained grill cloth is a tricky fix, maybe others on the forum will have the answear or a source for replacement cloth. Also, if you ever need feet for the cabinets, the KLH phono system feet are the same...white only though.

Andy

[JKent]

thanks again Andy. You're a really valuable resource!

Kent

[Guest majdewey]

Hi,

I'm also a big fan of the KLH Model Eight and Model Thirteen. I have 4 or so Model Eight radios all are working and sounding great. My 2 Model Thirteen stereo adapters are not working. Here are the Model Eight speakers I have:

1 Solid walnut with 2 speakers and Vol control #3842

1 solid walnut with single speaker #7803

2 solid walnut with 2 speakers #5529 and #5567

1 plywood cabinet with single speaker, missing serial number.

I've been looking for a Model Thirteen speakers for many years with no luck. Anyone know who can repair the Model Thirteen adapter?

Dewey

[Andy]

Hi Dewey,

Sounds like you have a couple of hard to find speakers. I've only seen 3 or 4 with a volume control among the 100 plus speaker examples entered in my log. Your #7803, single driver in walnut is one of about 800 made. There are about 1500 Model Thirteen speakers out there but were often seperated from their adapters...keep looking. As to repairing your adapter, I would keep asking in your area, I'm not a fan of mailing things out of state for repair. Check at antique radio shows, lots of knowledgeable folks attend these.

I'll share how I found my Model Thirteen. Four years ago prices were high, $350-500 - so when I saw one come up on an ebay action in Hong Kong from a seller with 87% positive feedback, I decided to take a chance...a big chance ! I won the auction for $90 and had the adapter sent surface mail. 3 1/2 months later it arrived. The package had been all over the place with stickers and stamps covering the box...even had an Ohio stamp ? I live in Mass. The adapter was in much better shape then I ever hoped it would be. To my amazement....I hooked it up and it worked, I was stunned. A photo of it is in the June, 2005 issue of ARC. How it had found it's way to China, I'll never know, but felt it was my duty to bring it back to the place of it's birth...the Boston area.

Andy

[Andy]

Hi Dewey,

Sounds like you have a couple of hard to find speakers. I've only seen 3 or 4 with a volume control among the 100 plus speaker examples entered in my log. Your #7803, single driver in walnut is one of about 800 made. There are about 1500 Model Thirteen speakers out there but were often seperated from their adapters...keep looking. As to repairing your adapter, I would keep asking in your area, I'm not a fan of mailing things out of state for repair. Check at antique radio shows, lots of knowledgeable folks attend these.

I'll share how I found my Model Thirteen. Four years ago prices were high, $350-500 - so when I saw one come up on an ebay action in Hong Kong from a seller with 87% positive feedback, I decided to take a chance...a big chance ! I won the auction for $90 and had the adapter sent surface mail. 3 1/2 months later it arrived. The package had been all over the place with stickers and stamps covering the box...even had an Ohio stamp ? I live in Mass. The adapter was in much better shape then I ever hoped it would be. To my amazement....I hooked it up and it worked, I was stunned. A photo of it is in the June, 2005 issue of ARC. How it had found it's way to China, I'll never know, but felt it was my duty to bring it back to the place of it's birth...the Boston area.

Andy

[JKent]

Hi Andy & Dewey

I'm awaiting delivery of my Eight/Thirteen. The speaker grill cloth will be a challenge.

The patch cord from the 8 to the 13 is missing. I can make 1. Is it 1/4" mono phone plug at each end? How long? Coaxial or zip cord? Does the color matter? I happen to have 2 right-angle 1/4" Radio Shack plugs in my parts box. Think tese would be OK?

thanks

Kent

[Andy]

Kent,

Looking at the photos of the units you bought, it looks like you have the cords you need. the adapter has a gray internally mounted line with 1/4" plug...this plugs into the Model Eight's 1/4" receptical. Then the white ac cord on the adapter goes to an ac outlet. Finally an rca speaker cord from the adapter to it's speaker, and of course the Eights speaker with double bannana plug to the Model Eight receiver. The Model Eight can gets it's power by plugging it's ac line into the adapter or an ac outlet. Hope that makes sense..

That should be it unless I'm missing something in translation ?

You may need to have all four pieces in front of you to get the connections straight...I know I would.

Sounds like you can't wait until your KLH set-up arrives

Andy

[Guest majdewey]

>Hi Andy & Dewey

>I'm awaiting delivery of my Eight/Thirteen. The speaker grill

>cloth will be a challenge.

>

>The patch cord from the 8 to the 13 is missing. I can make 1.

>Is it 1/4" mono phone plug at each end? How long? Coaxial

>or zip cord? Does the color matter? I happen to have 2

>right-angle 1/4" Radio Shack plugs in my parts box. Think

>tese would be OK?

>thanks

>Kent

Hi Kent,

I agree with Andy in that the unit you purchased on ebay has all the required connections. Sure hope it works when you fire it up...

I had a Model Eight speaker in about the same condition as yours, if I'm remembering the photos from ebay correctly, and clean the grill as follows. It looks almost new although it my be a little light.

I mixed a solution of house hold bleach with water, 50/50, and used a 1" paint brush to lightly brush in on the grill. Make sure not to over saturate the grill. I let it sit about 5 minutes and blotted the grill with a moist clean cloth, followed by blotting with a dry cloth. Some of the stains required a second application. I'm very surprise how good it looks. I'll post a picture later.

Dewey

[JKent]

They came! I'm really excited. btw--the seller, "zahinh" is a prince! Fast shipping, well packed and he even sent me $5 in the mail for a shipping overcharge! What a pleasure!

Yes Andy--the gray cable with the 1/4" STEREO plug was attached, so that's a no-brainer--I should have waited to look at it before asking all those questions! ;-)

One interesting thing: The Thirteen is designed to accept EITHER a Model Thirteen speaker with an RCA plug OR a Model Eight speaker with bananas! The RCA plug goes in the bottom hole, or the double banana gets pluged in with the arrow facing down. Unfortunately those double plugs were poorly designed and tended to break off :-( I'll have to figure out phase and also decide whether to keep the RCA arrangement or use bananas. I want to restore the speaker that had a hole cut in back.

Thanks Dewey for the cleaning suggestion. I kind of ruined my last water-stained cloth by removing it. Long story short it shrank. Still working on it. Or I may use some burlap I bought today that looks VERY close.

By the way, it DOES work but the seller mentioned some bad or weak tubes, there is the expected scratchiness and the RCA plug going into the Model Thirteen does not make good contact. All very fixable.

As you may have noticed, this Model Eight had non-original knobs. I have found a very good replacement IMHO. It is made by GTE and is aluminum, with set screws. The only obvious difference is it has arrows instead of lines, but it's pretty darn good. I'll attach a photo of the knob and my Model Eight with the new knobs (not the one I just got). If anyone is interested I'll try to get more info. I think it is their "DDS" series knob. By the way--they come in Matte or Gloss, and in the photo I had mistakenly used a Gloss knob for the Volume control. It has since been changed.

Wish me luck! I'll post photos when I finish these!

Kent

[JKent]

Dewey

Have you tried Mark Wilson, goes by KLHSvcMgr on these pages? He is a KLH expert, although the Thirteen was a little "before his time". There is a schematic on the bottom (or I can send you a copy I got today), so he "should" be able to figure out what's wrong.

Good luck

Kent

[Andy]

Kent, Glad it all worked out with the connections. Those are the best replacement knobs I've yet seen, it relly makes a big difference to have them as close a possible to the originals since these KLH's have such a strong contrast of black knobs on a white face. I'm sure we would all like to see a photo of your new purchase all set up when you've finished all the little things you'll be doing to make it an A-1 example.

Andy

[dynaco_dan]

Hi there;

I saw the black knob with the arrow and it is a perfect match, to my eyes at least.

I believe they are the Alco (spel) brand.

A few years ago I bought some large ones and they look very professional.

[JKent]

>I mixed a solution of house hold bleach with water, 50/50, and
>used a 1" paint brush to lightly brush in on the grill.
>Make sure not to over saturate the grill. I let it sit about
>5 minutes and blotted the grill with a moist clean cloth,
>followed by blotting with a dry cloth. Some of the stains
>required a second application. I'm very surprise how good it
>looks. I'll post a picture later.

Looking forward to the pics. Did you do this with the grill cloth ON the speaker? I'm a little nervous about that, but when I removed the cloth on one of my other Eights (I have 2 others), after washing it a bit it shrank, and those cloth pieces have to be precisely right to go back in the groove. Mine had no tacks or brads, just a dab of glue under the logo.
Check Here:
http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/index.html#repairs
for repair shops. Mark Wilson is there and although I have not sent him anything for repair, I have found him VERY helpful regarding KLH stuff. He recently joined our forum here. He would be a good choice.
If you want to drive to the shop, check all the recommendations on the site. I recently took 2 old AR amps to Tim Schwartz, who is in NJ not too far from me. I did not get them back yet, so can't tell you much about his work but he seems like a real good guy and he was very interesting to talk with.
Good luck with your Model Thirteen repair.
Kent

edit: I'm editing this 7 years later. I've taken many, many pieces to Tim Schwartz and he is absolutely the best. I now take every KLH Model Eight to him for final checking and alignment and he works on virtually every piece of vintage electronic gear I acquire. Great work, fair prices and an all-around good guy.

[Guest majdewey]

Kent,

Attached are pics of the speaker I cleaned with the 50/50 bleach water solution. This speaker was in really bad shape. The grill was dark brown with an additional water stain running the length of the case. It reeked of nicotine. I'm still working on the cigarette burned hole and I missed a few small areas close to the edge. I did not remove the grill for cleaning.

Thanks for the repair tips.

Dewey

[JKent]

Hi Dewey

That's really clean! I'm trying to retain the camel/caramel color. Still experimenting. WIll let you know if I come up with anything new. I do like the notion of not removing the cloth, because of the problems putting it back in. I may try a piece of burlap I bought at the local "Rag Shop." If it looks OK I'll post pics

Kent

[JKent]

Here is another one of those rare solid walnut Eight speakers with volume control. It is SN 07828. Not mine I'm sorry to say--belongs to an Internet friend who was afraid he'd bought something that had been modified. Thought you would be interested in the SN Andy.

In other news--my Thirteen is out at Bristol Electronics here in NJ for a "tune-up" along with the matching white-knob Eight.

Just bought another Thirteen, with a number of "issues," including missing a knob and no speaker. That white knob will be hard (impossible?) to replace. I may use a black KLH knob and paint it. First I'll see if Bristol can get this running properly.

Also bought an Eight with no speaker and another Eight with a slipping vernier dial, replaced on-off switch and replaced volume control, one knob missing, a chip in the cabinet and chipped paint on the faceplate. This one may end up as a "parts" supply.

So I'm keeping an eye out for a couple of Eight (or Thirteen!) speakers and a white knob. For the black knobs, I think those NTE (not Alco) jobs are good. But I digress......

[boreas]

>PS; the stained grill cloth is a tricky fix, maybe others on

>the forum will have the answer or a source for replacement

>cloth. Also, if you ever need feet for the cabinets, the KLH

>phono system feet are the same...white only though.

>

>Andy

Just a thought but my replaced Model Twenty-Two grille cloths will probably serve as substitute grille cloth for the Model Eight and Thirteen. It isn't exactly the same cloth but it's close (and it's authentic original KLH grille cloth). It's wool boucle with a mix of camel weft threads and coffee-colored warp threads.

The boards for the Model Twenty-Two are 17" x 9" so that's the size of the uncreased, unstapled cloth. I've got one undamaged cloth and one with a tear in it.

The torn one has a large usable area. It could be trimmed down to produce a usable piece measuring either 17" x 8 .5" or 13.5" x 9".

Interested?

jb

[Andy]

Hi jkent, Thanks for posting this image of #07828. Tell your friend there are two things scarce about this speaker, first it's volume control is seen on very few model Eight speakers. Second, it's a solid walnut example that should have a single driver. Only about 800 single driver in walnut were made (units with serial numbers between 07100 and 07900. This should make it the rarest KLH speaker out there, set aside a prototype speaker which does show up every once in a while.

Andy

[tysontom]

>After much research, I feel the KLH speaker with fewest units

>made is the Model Eight in solid walnut, single driver with a

>volume control. I feel that Fewer then 50 units of this type

>were produced. Next up should be the same model Eight in

>plywood cabinet, with maybe a few hundred units. Of course

>model Eights with two drivers in walnut number to about 7,000

>units and single driver versions in plywood number to about

>4,500. The model Thirteen speaker would be less then 2,000

>produced (a volume control version may exist on this model,

>but I've not seen it).

>

>

>Other scarce models include models 1,2,3, the model 5 high

>freq. only unit (goes with models 1,2.3). Also the models 7.

>9 & 12. All these have production totals in the low

>thousands with most being under 5,000 units.

>

Andy,

You are the resident KLH guru, but don't you think that the Model Eight is really a part of the table-radio system rather than counted as a regular speaker model? For this reason, I would think it would not be considered a rare "speaker," as such, in the KLH lineup. The dual-woofer KLH Model One with its stratosheric price tag, and even the Model Two, Three and early Five (tweeter) models seem to be rare. Once Kloss hit his stride with the Model Six, Four and other speaker "systems" (woofer-tweeter systems in a single enclosure), the production numbers went up quite a bit. The veneered marine-plywood models of the late-1950s (those that also usually had the oil-filled capacitors) are also less common examples.

--Tom Tyson

[Andy]

Tom,

That's a very good point and I'd say that your actually correct on that point. There's little forum talk about those early models One, Two, Three and the Five high frequency unit. My guess is several thousand of each may have been produced (I've taken note of not many serial numbers), but precious few seem to survive today....now I'm interested in learning more !

I got very involved in the whole Model Eight/Thirteen saga, logging serial numbers, noting physical production differences. There are a few folks on this forum who seem to have taken note of differences and I even se that people are including them in ebay auction postings.

A great speaker for a KLH collector to own would be a Model One with a very low serial number, maybe below 00010 or so, and certainly would bew one of the first KLH speakers made. For now, my Model Six -# 0684 will have to be the pride of my collection.

Andy