Description
Model Five first appeared in 1968 and went on to become one of the best-selling loudspeakers of its era. We brought it back in 2021. Today’s Model Five keeps what was worth keeping: a sealed acoustic suspension cabinet, a dedicated midrange, real wood veneers, and that wide, unmistakable face. However, much of the engineering under the hood is new. A 10-inch woofer handles the bass, a dedicated 4-inch midrange takes care of voices and instruments and a 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter rounds out the top end.
The result is full-range sound with tight, controlled bass that has real weight behind it, in a cabinet built to look great in a living room for decades. If you have the space for a pair, and you’ve been waiting for a speaker that sounds as good as it looks, this is probably it.
Looks right, sounds right.
Three finishes, each paired with its own linen grille: English Walnut with Stone Wash Linen, West African Mahogany with Old-World Linen and Nordic Noir with Medici Grey Linen. Want to mix and match? Every grille cloth is sold separately.
Because Model Five is a sealed acoustic suspension speaker, it’s less fussy about sitting near a wall than ported speakers. At 13.75 inches wide and 11.5 inches deep, it has undeniable presence, but shouldn’t have you rearranging furniture.
Every room sounds a little different. That’s why we include a three-position Acoustic Balance Control on the back of every speaker, which gently tames the mids and highs. This allows you to adjust Model Five for bright rooms full of glass, tile and hardwood or dull rooms replete with soft, carpeted areas.
A heritage speaker. Not a retro one.
Model Five looks the way it does because the original did, and the original looked that way for good reason. We didn’t add nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. We kept the real wood veneers, the wide front baffle and proportions, then used modern materials and testing to bring the sound up to modern standards.
Real Wood Veneer – English Walnut, West African Mahogany, or Nordic Noir. Natural grain means no two pairs are quite alike. We consider that a feature.
Wide Baffle – Most speakers are narrow and deep. KLH speakers are wide and shallow. It’s our signature look, and it has a practical purpose: the broad front baffle helps keep more of the music in front of you, where it belongs.
Die-Cast Aluminum Frames – Take the grilles off and you’ll see them: die-cast aluminum frames around the woofer and midrange, and a machined aluminum faceplate around the tweeter. They’re as rigid as they look, holding each driver precisely in place and resisting resonance.
Reinforced Cabinet – A structurally reinforced 3/4-inch MDF enclosure. Each speaker weighs 44 pounds. Knock on the side. That thud is exactly what a cabinet should sound like.
Magnetic Grilles – Magnetically attached, low-profile linen grilles provide a classic silhouette. Take them off to see the drivers in action. Each grille cloth is also sold separately, if you’d like your Walnut paired with Medici Grey instead.
Slanted Riser Base – An included 5-degree riser base in powder-coated 14-gauge steel tilts Model Five back toward your ears and completes the look.
A bigger woofer, used conservatively.
Model Five is a three-way speaker, which means the work gets divided three ways. The 10-inch woofer handles bass. The dedicated 4-inch midrange handles voices, guitars and pianos. The 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter takes care of the high notes.
A lot of modern music has bass that drops below what many older speaker designs were designed to handle. A 10-inch woofer in a sealed cabinet is how Model Five provides bass output without it distorting or sounding sloppy.
The drivers are built with parts you’ll never see, but will be glad to have: a 2-inch flat-wire voice coil, a flux-stabilizing ring and a magnet structure checked with laser measurement. None of this makes for thrilling reading. It’s the kind of thing you should hear rather than read about.
10″ Pulp-Paper Woofer – Deep, accurate and controlled bass from a sealed enclosure, reaches down to 32Hz (-10dB). Die-cast aluminum frame.
4″ Pulp-Paper Midrange – A dedicated driver for the frequencies that matter most: voices, guitars, pianos, everything in the middle of the mix. Die-cast aluminum frame.
1″ Aluminum Dome Tweeter – Smooth, extended treble with soft rubber surround, behind a machined aluminum faceplate.
Three-Position Acoustic Balance Control – A three-position switch on the back of Model Five, “Hi, Mid, and Lo” trims everything above 400Hz by 1.5dB–up to 3 dB–and leaves bass alone. Bright, hard-surfaced rooms tend to want more trim; while soft, carpeted ones want less.
Thirteen-Component Crossover – Iron-core inductors and Mylar capacitors, handing off at 380Hz and 2,850Hz. The crossover decides which driver plays which note. Not the place to economize.
Iconic Mid-Century Modern Styling
Acoustic Suspension Design – The most accurate and linear enclosure design available today
Three-Position Acoustic Balance Control to tailor the loudspeaker’s output for the most difficult acoustic environments
Dedicated midrange driver to reproduce the critical mid-frequency band
Non-Resonant Die-Cast Aluminum Midrange & Woofer Frames
Die-Cast Aluminum Tweeter Faceplate
KLH cabinetry featuring a structurally reinforced ¾” MDF enclosure
Thirteen component network using high-quality iron-core inductors & Mylar capacitors
5° slant riser base made of powder coated 14-gauge steel (included with speaker purchase)
Low-profile magnet attached grille
Dimensions (with riser base): 34.25″ H x 13.75″ W x 13″ D
Dimensions (w/out riser base): 26″ H x 13.75″ W x 11.5″ D
Weight (with riser base): 52 lbs
Weight (w/our riser base): 44 lbs
