Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 2)

Happy New Year, everyone! As you can see, I’ve already lapsed in fulfilling my new year’s resolution (“Post more.”) 🙄 Oh well.

But I’ve been using the time well, buying records for the shows and resuming my pandemic avocation of audio restoration. This time, though, compared to the task of restoring monster receivers like the Harman Kardon Citation, I’ve taken on something much more modest but just as much fun: the legendary KLH Model Twenty-one FM Receiving System (more than a mere ‘radio.’ Read on.)

KLH in the late 50’s and through the 60’s was the Sonos of its day, turning out from its Cambridge, Massachusetts factory thousands upon thousand of high quality but (always) reasonably priced and innovative audio systems and speakers that found their way into homes and dorm rooms everywhere. The genius American engineer Henry Kloss (AR, K(loss)LH, Advent, Cambridge Soundworks, Tivoli Audio) had an absolute gift for creating the best sounding products for most people’s ears (and lifestyles) at the most reasonable price point.

One of their first products was a two-box, all-tube FM receiving system, the classic KLH Model Eight, combining an FM tuner with incredible sensitivity and an amplifier, tastefully voiced to complement the Model Eight acoustic suspension speaker. Pound for pound, it sounded (and still does – many are still in use) amazing and arguably better than many ‘real’ systems of its time.

The Model Twenty-one was the all-transistor successor to the Eight, and cleared the high bar set by its older brother. In a single box about the same package as the receiving section of the Eight was a better tuner and a great amplifier, coupled to a high performance acoustic suspension speaker. (It even had a handle built in to the back so you could carry the light from room to room.) And the whole thing was wrapped in a furniture-quality walnut enclosure. Yes, it was mono-only, and yes, you could not plug in an external source (again: read on) but KLH sold thousands of these amazing music boxes, where people could place them where perhaps a larger KLH system wouldn’t reasonably fit.

So, last summer I found a Twenty-one at a yard sale for next to nothing, so I brought it out from its hiding place, brought it back to life and did an almost-full restoration, including refinishing the walnut case to its original glory, replacing the yellowed (and shrunken) grille fabric, and – perhaps the most important part – modding it up to allow for a switchable AUX input for an external source, in this case an AUKEY Bluetooth receiver with AptX.

The AUX input now lets me stream music from my Roon server, so now I can alternate between my own music and the great FM stations in the Boston area. Boston has one of the best and most diverse supply of FM content (and strong signal) in the country, bested only by New York City. I’m able to pull in – using only a simple dipole antenna – crisp, clean FM signal from stations like WERS 88.9, WGBH 89.7, WBUR (90.9) and WCRB (99.5.) The quality of FM broadcasting (I’m talking quality) has taken a steep dive over the past 10-20 years due to greed and consolidation in the , as well as the rise of satellite and internet radio. But: if you have a terrestrial radio station you like/love, the audio quality of that FM broadcast will absolutely trounce any satellite and internet feed.

Try it some time. You won’t regret it. 🙂