KLH Model Five

Features

KLH Model Five: The legendary KLH Model Five was first introduced in 1968 and served as the heart & soul of KLH's success throughout the late 1960's and 1970's. At its core was the acoustic suspension design that dominated the loudspeaker industry for decades and made the Model Five one of the best-selling loudspeakers of its era. In 2021, KLH re-introduced the Model Five; building on the original acoustic suspension design and using today's advanced loudspeaker technology.

3-Way Driver Design: The KLH Model Five is a 3-way design featuring a dedicated midrange driver housed in its own internal enclosure. It's the midrange driver's responsibility to handle the most significant, middle part, of the audio spectrum. This portion of the audio band contains the vocal and musical instrument fundamentals which are most familiar to the human ear; and where accuracy, or inaccuracies, are most easily detected. In a three-way design, having a dedicated midrange means the driver can be optimized for this specific use, since it doesn't have the additional burden of reproducing lower & higher frequencies in the audio band. This results in truly remarkable clarity of vocals & instruments with less distortion.

• 1" Tweeter: The 1" aluminum dome tweeter features a soft rubber suspension and a machines aluminum faceplate.
• 4" Midrange: The 4" pulp/paper midrange driver features a reverse roll rubber suspension and non-resonant die-cast aluminum frame.
• 10" Woofer: The 10" pulp/paper cone woofer features a reverse roll rubber suspension, 2" diameter flat-wire voice coil, and a non-resonant die-cast aluminum frame.

Advanced Crossover Network: The KLH Model Five's thirteen component network uses high quality iron-core inductors & Mylar capacitors.

3-Position Acoustic Balance Control: A 3-Position Acoustic Balance Control helps to tailor the loudspeaker's output for the most difficult acoustic environments. The selector switch is located on the back of each loudspeaker and provides the ability to tailor the output above 400Hz.

• HI Position: This is the default position, or 0dB. Its is the preferred selection for neutral to dead listening spaces.
• MID Position: This adjusts the loudspeaker -1.5dB above 400Hz. Use this setting for slightly live listening spaces.
• LO Position: This adjusts the loudspeaker -3.0dB above 400Hz. Use this setting for very live listening spaces (for example, a room with a tile floor).

Acoustic Suspension MDF Enclosure: The KLH Model Five incorporates an acoustic suspension (sealed) enclosure for accurate and linear sound reproduction. The enclosure is made from structurally reinforced 3/4" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). In an acoustic suspension design, the volume of air inside the enclosure serves as a cushion of air, or air spring, to provide a restoring force for the woofer cone. The air inside the enclosure essentially becomes the dominant part of the woofer's suspension. Since the volume of air inside the enclosure is more linear than the mechanical parts of the woofer's suspension, this enables the woofer's diaphragm to move in a more linear fashion. This also enables the driver to operate at higher excursions with less distortion than more traditional bass-reflex or ported type systems.

Low-Profile Magnet Attached Grille: The included low-profile, acoustic cloth grille magnetically attaches to the front of the speaker cabinet with no visible fasteners for a flawless appearance.

5-Degree Slant Riser Base: The KLH Model Five comes with a 5-degree slant riser base made of powder coated 14-gauge steel that can rest comfortably on your floor. The slant riser base has integrated feet that can be used on carpet, wood, or tile flooring.

• Dimensions Of Speaker With Riser Base: 13.75" (w) x 34.25 (h) x 13.0" (d); 52 lbs
• Dimensions Of Speaker Only: 13.75" (w) x 26.0", (h) x 11.5" (d); 44 lbs

Gold-Plated Binding Posts: The KLH Model Five is outfitted with gold-plated, binding posts terminals that will accept bare wire (up 12AWG), pin-connectors, spade-lugs, and banana plugs (single only). The gold-plate binding post terminals provide excellent signal transfer and resist corrosion.

Placement Options: Room acoustics can play a major role in the sound reproduction characteristics of the Model Five loudspeaker. Experimenting with loudspeaker placement is an important step for optimum acoustic performance and ensuring the customer gets exactly what they pay for. Fortunately, the Model Five is very placement friendly, and only a couple of factors need to be kept in mind.

• Low frequencies (below 400Hz) are heavily influenced by the loudspeakers position relative to the boundaries of the room. Mid & High frequencies (above 400Hz) are mostly influenced by the reflectivity of the listening room boundaries and the type of furnishings.
• The KLH Model Five loudspeaker is tuned for 6" to 24" off the back wall and at least 24" from the corner of the listening room. For an otherwise neutral listening room, this should be considered the best starting position when first setting up the loudspeakers.

Note: The Model Five exhibits a broad horizontal sound dispersion pattern. The sonic signature remains essentially the same over a +/- 20 degrees angle off the horizontal axis of the loudspeakers. As a result, the loudspeakers can be toed in or out about 20 degrees without any significant change in the direct sound from the loudspeaker arriving at the listening position. However, as the loudspeaker toe-in is adjusted, it does affect the sound energy reflected off the side wall of the listening room which directly effects the soundstage and ambiance.

Break-In Period: The KLH Model Five loudspeaker will sound great right out-of-the-box. But since a new speaker include many moving parts, these parts need time to adjust to one another and therefore some amount of "break-in" is required. In order for the loudspeaker to sound its best, KLH recommends the speaker to be played at a moderate volume for at least 8 hours prior to any critical listening.