My Model Six's

[fran604g]

A friend gave me these two years ago, they were his fathers' favorites. I've been using them daily as they were integrated into my family AV room. They are completely stock and original with the "Korina" finish. Other than a few blemishes on the cabinets, they are about as good as it gets. They sound amazing IMHO. Nice tight bass, beautiful mids and crisp clear highs. I'm driving them with a TAD60 amp using a matched quad of SED Winged "C" 6550C's.

The serial numbers are consecutive; 23171 & 23172.

[fran604g]

I've looked at Andy's KLH model history, but for the model Six's the range of manufacture is so broad, I wonder if someone might be able to determine an accurate date for my 2 I posted in #1?

[oiseaux]

You had a very good friend, congrats.

The Model Six had a fairly long production run. I can't give you any firm dates but some things to look for that will help relatively.

Earliest had glued in fabric, epoxied in drivers, no internal access and three terminals in back for bi-amping.

Then fabric velcroed, epoxied in crossover, screw in logo, screw in drivers and three terminals in back for bi-amping.

Then same as last except crossover not epoxied and only two terminals (deleted biamp ability).

Then the last iteration was vinyl finish over pressboard.

Yours look really nice and suspect they are fairly early which is desirable.

Cheers!

[fran604g]

Thank you for your reply,

These would be the earliest iteration as there is no getting into them without destruction. They still perform wonderfully, so I have left them alone and use them frequently combined in parallel with a pair of Original Large Advents that I restored. I drive them with my TAD60 4ohm tap using a quad of SED 6550c's in UL mode. This combination sounds very, very, nice IMO.

[bonejob]

You had a very good friend, congrats.

The Model Six had a fairly long production run. I can't give you any firm dates but some things to look for that will help relatively.

Earliest had glued in fabric, epoxied in drivers, no internal access and three terminals in back for bi-amping.

Then fabric velcroed, epoxied in crossover, screw in logo, screw in drivers and three terminals in back for bi-amping.

Then same as last except crossover not epoxied and only two terminals (deleted biamp ability).

Then the last iteration was vinyl finish over pressboard.

Yours look really nice and suspect they are fairly early which is desirable.

Cheers!

Someplace I read actually had the date Henry Kloss personally screwed together the first production KLH Six and the exact date the very last one was boxed up before the line was shut down for good. I don't have those any more and a quick Google did not ferrett it out, but I do remember that the official introduction - when the public could first go to their audio stores and actually buy new KLH Sixes - was in March of 1958. And the final shutdown occured in summer of 1975. Very impressive run. As far as I can think right now, only the classic Klipsch line of horn-loaded loudspeakers beat it.*

*[indeed, as of right now - in 2011 - you can STILL order a brand new set of Klipschorns, La Scalas, Cornwalls or Heresys from their original factory in Hope, AR. Contempory Klipsch products - the ones filling every possible price and product niche, selling in everywhere from the Crutchfield catalog to Best Buy - are made in whatever third world toilet in East Asia can boast the world's most Dickensian wages and working conditions.]

Another clue to the age of one's KLH Sixes is the grille cloth: On later Sixes the cloth was glued around a pegboard frame and the grille assembly was velcroed into place. Also, the cloth itself, instead of being a coarse 18 ct. unbleached linen was later a darker "tobacco" dyed linen. This was the same color seen on later KLH classic bookshelf speakers like the Models Five, Twenty-Three, Thirty-Two and Thirty-Three.

And yet another... Earlier Sixes did not have metal mesh coverings over their tweeters. People argue over not only whether the sound was altered by adding these mesh covers, but over which sounds better.... mesh on or mesh off. My opinion? I think I hear a difference but it certainly doesn't seem to be much - at least not in my listening room. I won't be totally convinced until someone sets up scientifically controlled double-blind listening tests to confirm one way or the other. But you can be sure as horse crap smells like road apples, posters will be following up swearing on their mothers' graves that the difference is "obvious" to anyone with the hearing God gave your average slab of slate....

[fran604g]

ADDENDUM 3-30-2012

I've been using the Sixes and my OLA's in parallel for the better part of a year now, still with the TAD60 and still loving the sound.

I have them stacked with the tweets above and below at the mid point of both, with them stacked upright. Cool. Sounds better than any other combination I've tried, and I've tried them all...so I'm a bit anal about having the cabinets perfectly lined up with the Sixes on top of the Advents...centered; because the KLH cabs are about 2 inches narrower than the Advents...OK, side to side is perfect...now front to back...hmmmmm?

I just realized for the first time in 3 years that my two, consecutive serial number, KLH Model Sixes, that I cherish...have differing dimensions...haha...?

Speaker SN# 23171 is 11-7/8"D x 23-1/2"T x 12-9/16"W

Speaker SN# 23172 is 11-3/8"D x 23-5/8"T x 12-5/8"W

Just wanted to share...

Have a great day, folks!