Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?

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Folsom

I don't know how many of you are familiar with KLH six or seventeen's, but they are unique. They sound good, very good. They may not boast the best audiophile terminology for descriptions, but you can listen to them indefinitely. They have bass, surprising bass, tube like midrange, and adjustable highs. I've heard they were one of the east vs. west coast defining speakers at a time. Granted they are actually sold old they sort of pre-date a lot of audiophile mentality.

But can we recreate those sounds today? Are there drivers out there like them? The only thing sorta close I've never heard, but assume, is some Klipsch units for churches and what not (massive, the size of a podium, horns). I don't know if they are sweet, but have flavor.


martyo

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #1 on: 18 Jan 2013, 10:00 pm »
I have the 17's in the shed. I think it will be hardest to "recreate" the tweeter. I enjoy them in the shed while I am working on something. They are perfect for that. If I sat down to listen to them in the house with the set, I'd be real bummed. (We bought other speakers back in the '70's when we had the 17's) But in a 12' x 12' shed listening near field with the speakers on the bench with 1990 era Carver electronics I even enjoy live Dead cassettes. They're fun. 8)

*Scotty*

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #2 on: 18 Jan 2013, 10:08 pm »
Go to Parts Express and get one of the 2in. diameter paper cone tweeters, Goldwood GT-25 or the Jamo buyout.
MCM  Part No. 53-420 - 3'' OEM Cone Tweeter Shown below

, a GR Research M-130X 5in. Midrange and a paper cone woofer Brand X, that you cross over at about 200 Hz.
The paper cone is part of sound of the older speakers.
For the two-way KLH 6 and KLH 17 you will need a 10in or a 12in. paper cone woofer. The Dayton Audio Classic 10in. or 12in. might work.
I have a feeling that duplicating the sound of those old woofers may be problem in these modern times.
Information was just plain lost into the paper cones and this mellowed out the sound of everything that was fed into them.
Scotty
« Last Edit: 19 Jan 2013, 01:33 am by *Scotty* »

SET Man

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #3 on: 19 Jan 2013, 01:16 am »
Hey!

   If you really like the sound of these vintage speaker.  Why not look for an original pair? Not sure how much they cost now. But how will it cost to build a pair versus getting an original pair? I don' think you can replicate the exact sound if you built a pair from new part.

    I think they are very popular back then I would first check Craig's List locally.

Take care,
Buddy  :thumb:

Folsom

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #4 on: 19 Jan 2013, 01:38 am »
I listen to a pair basically everyday. They are backed by total shit modernish receiver, crappy cd player, etc, and way too long of wires. Favorite coffee bar, maybe the best in the world.

You think the paper tweeter is the secret? My Fostex 126en's don't have the same kind of pleasantry (probably more talent though).

Folsom

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #5 on: 19 Jan 2013, 01:38 am »
Oh I'm watching a set on Ebay...

*Scotty*

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #6 on: 19 Jan 2013, 01:50 am »
The paper tweeter helps, but the lossy nature of all of the old paper drivers is what makes the old speakers pleasant sounding.
They are not my cup of tea but I can understand why some people like them.
Scotty

Folsom

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #7 on: 19 Jan 2013, 01:57 am »
Yeah, they don't grip you.

I'm looking all over parts express but their website is such a shit fuck to navigate as it blocks you from opening links in new tabs in multiple ways... I actually wrote them an e-mail explaining I'd probably fire the website designer for driving customers away with such and idiotic maneuver; considering that tabbed browsing is what everyone does these days.

*Scotty*

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #8 on: 19 Jan 2013, 02:08 am »
I use Mozilla Firefox with tabbed browsing with no problem. I am using the ColorfulTabs 12.8 Add on
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/colorfultabs/?src=search
Scotty

Folsom

Re: Recreating vintage sound speakers? KLH 6/17 inspired?
« Reply #9 on: 19 Jan 2013, 02:25 am »
I use firefox as well.