Bremerton, Washington, USA
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Totally Awesome Stereo Score
StoreTags: audiophile, stereo, genius
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I've been on the market for a stereo since I've moved. I've finally got the space to get a big deafening stereo. I had been thinking I wanted to put together a silver era 70s stereo of stuff like marantz/mcintosh/pioneer/sansui equipment, and then this stereo fell into my lap. Feast your eyes on the totally awesome KLH Model 20+.
link
(this is not my picture- mine is dirtier and has one cabinet sanded down right now) Apparently in the 1960's, KLH was a boutique brand. They have since, of course, been reduced to the ultimate humiliation of being sold by radio shack.
Anyways, it was not working when I picked it up. So I paid $20 for it. It will need a cartridge, new grills at some point, and the solid walnut cabinets will be refinished once I have the money to buy the tools I need.
The only real problem was with the speaker connections flaking out, but that's an easy fix. Worst case scenario is that I have 3 of the coolest end tables you've ever seen.
Until then, the radio sounds so good on this that I actually sat down and listened to it this morning. The radio!
I have a question, because I've never actually replaced a cartridge. Is something this old going to need a different or special cartridge? Or are they standardized? | |
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07/27/08
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electrodan
Rad.
I hear tell that the old KLH stuff was super quality.
07/27/08
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deltasleep
I honestly had no idea they were ever a respectable brand. The unit is made in both Cambridge Massachusetts and in the UK, and the quality is pretty impressive. The sound has kind of a lack of mid range, but it will go so damned loud without the slightest hint of distortion. I was really skeptical about a stereo that looked this wild- typically the bizarro designs are garbage. Turns out, this unit was just a real cool repackaging of the model 20. It cost $525 in 1965- about $3500-4000 in today's dollars if my memory serves. The difference between the ugly version and the pretty one was $125! These were very popular and very durable, so there should be tons out there. I get the feeling that a lot of people probably took the bases off when the mid century modern style fell out of fashion in the 1970s.
The turntable is a souped up garrard- does anybody know if I can just order an cartridge and slap it on this?
07/27/08
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bodo
this looks very good indeed, love the sarinnen style feet 
dunno about the cartrigdes on those, 70s gear tends to be very fickle when it comes to cables, so might look into that first
still, great score
07/27/08
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electrodan
those stands are so early '60s
07/27/08
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deltasleep
Yes, the unit is from 1963-1965. It's just proof that every dated will ultimately be super cool.
07/27/08
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thehydrax
awesome, is it that blue colour? yep, listening to the radio is pretty retro these days. I do it on a bakelite replica
07/27/08
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deltasleep
lol I didn't mean that I think radio is old school- i meant that I hated what I was listening to, it just sounded so good that I had to.
radio in seattle is exactly what my middle school self always dreamed that radio in seattle would be!
And my grills are actually the original cream color. The grills in this picture were redone at some point. I can't wait to post pictures of it when I get it refinished!
07/27/08
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hecanjog
awesome find man!
i thought at first this was about a written score for music that notated things in two channels or something. lol. you know you're a nerd when...
07/27/08
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deltasleep
haha hecan- i would have read this exactly the same way!
07/28/08
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mynameismud
lol i read it the same way as hecan did, and then actually said "wtf its just 3 old tables"
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