KLH MODEL THREE > Stereophile Review
Aesthetically, the M3 exudes character. Its wide-baffled, rectilinear aspect isn't just timeless. It's iconic. I felt that on first sight, at the 2022 Montréal Audiofest. Despite being short—technically, it's a bookshelf speaker—it radiates stoic strength. Back-tilted on a black, powder-coated, 14-gauge riser base, its square-jawed chin juts out defiantly. It's like the face of an Eastwood Western character, except that, instead of a cigar, there's a flap at the bottom to pull off the magnetically attached fabric grille. As tempted as I was initially to yank those flaps—I have a great distaste for fabric grilles—that impulse changed quickly. I was enchanted by their silvery color (officially "Stonewash Linen"), and soon loath to remove them. (That never happens.)
Design
The KLH Model Three may be new, but its core technology—the acoustic suspension design—arrived on the market in 1954, when audio engineers Edgar Villchur and Henry Kloss, cofounders of Acoustic Research, incorporated it in their company's first loudspeaker, the AR-1. Three years later, Kloss and two AR employees struck out on their own to found KLH. Retaining the legal right to use the acoustic suspension design in their own speakers, they incorporated it in their first, the Model Five (M5). It was a hit.
End
The Model Three was fun. I hesitated to use that word—fun—because it could be (mis)construed as meaning good but not quite audiophile-good. So let me be clear: The M3 delivered both fun and refined audiophile sound, at a price I consider almost laughably low. It delivers music in a way that made this long-time audiophile shake his head and smile.
I love all gear, even the crazy-expensive, boundary-pushing stuff, but I have a soft spot for earthy, classic, overachieving, approachable components with character, guts, and a human core.
My first impression was that the essence of the M3 was timelessness, but that isn't quite right. After two months of living with them, I found their true spirit, and it's not something you'd expect from an iconic design. The KLH Model Three possesses the spirit of youth—vitality, confidence, hope for the future. It has a young heart, like me.
- Robert Schryer, Stereophile, Dec 29, 2022