Radios, the older the better

I love old radios: They look great, sound great, and usually work better than most anything made now.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they take up a lot of space that I just don't have.  I truly don't understand why we, as a listening public, have accepted the tone of a digital tuner, and forfeited the opportunity to properly tune a station, to what usually does not have the programming to handle more than 0.1 Hz refinement.  If you were born prior to 1976, you can still name a few of those great American brands (sorry, I was born in the US, and don't know the international brands as well), or at least recognize them.  Prior to that, you probably owned one and most like a couple.  Philco, Zenith, GE, Heathkit, Westinghouse, RCA, Fisher, Singer, even Radio Shack turned out some great tuners in the 60's and 70's.  With the proper antenna and a steady hand, you could pull in stations from all over.  One of my favorite features on older radios, was a secondary fine tuning dial that in some cases covered only 1Hz so you could truly refine the signal.

The better radios were the size of a chair, had huge speakers and pushed a ton of air to get even sound reproduction.  Any radio was expensive, but table-top models were at least almost affordable.  A cabinet style radio started around $100 and could easily reach near $300, while the tabletop model would be $30-$40.  As hi-fi developed, speakers increased in size, and the equipment became more expensive.  A young MIT graduate was to change all that.  His name, Henry Kloss.

The technologies that Kloss invented, co-invented, or perfected made quality radio and sound reproduction affordable and compact: acoustic suspension and electrostatic speaker, the solid state record player, arguably the best solid state compact hi-fi system, Dolby B, projection television (the first affordable large-screen tv format), computer speakers, and a number of high-selectivity table radios providing definition usually only found in expensive stand-alone tuners.  Think of companies like Advent, KLH, Cambridge Soundworks, and Tivoli, that's Henry Kloss.  It would not be an understatement to say he was one of the most transformative figures in home sound during the second half of the 20th Century.

Growing up, I remember a lot of fine music coming out of my sister's (very) used Fisher console stereo, and my father's giant (also very used) mono Klipsch cabinet speaker.  The Fisher sounded great, the bass was nice, the balance pretty damn good, and it was only slightly smaller than queen size bed.  The Klipsch alone was the size of the Fisher.  Other than the room installation a university professor friend of the family had, this was the best I'd heard.  But then a friend showed me his parents KLH model eleven.  A small suitcase and two little speakers.  The whole unit was smaller than a single speaker cabinet on my sister's Fisher.  Other than the bass, it beat the Fisher easily.  Later, Cambridge Soundworks came along, and I remember being blown away by the quality of the speakers.  It was about that time I learned that the same designer was behind the two companies.  When I read about the Tivoli company being founded by Kloss, I had to have one of his radios.  I purchased one of the first model twos and a model CD and have not been disappointed.  But, when I had the opportunity to pick up a KLH model twenty one, I had to grab it.

The KLH Model twenty one was a game changer.  Smaller than a lunchbox with a jack for a second speaker alone, remote speaker, external and internal antenna, and tuner output alone.  I have a fairly early one, serial #12345, with a fully solid wood cabinet.  It has been reported that over 100,000 units were sold. With a second 8 watt Roland monitor speaker attached, it can fill a room, without, it's more than capable of being your everyday desk radio.  The first, truly compact, solid state hi-fi radio, it is still better than most anything out there.  I'd love to get a KLH extension speaker to hear what the full hi-fi system sounds like.  Furhter, the cavity is tuned for the speaker, and then adjusted and baffled with a bag of fiberglass.  The unused jacks are even capped to keep the air cavity sealed.  I currently have it lodged in my garage with a dipole antenna.  Even within that space, in a town notorious for a lot of signal overlap, I get 20-30 stations that sound fantastic.   Below is a sampling of the most famous radios Kloss produced: KLH model eight (tube), KLH model twenty one (solid state), and the Tivoli Model one (solid state).  There is a definite family resemblance, one might argue and evolution.  My model two (model one with a stereo speaker) probably sounds as good as the model twenty one without the balance capabilities.  After Henry Kloss' death Tivoli continues, and has offered some fine models based on his work.  I personally own two Model Tens (stereo), a great clock radio with an equalizer and two slightly larger speakers that is no longer offered and a Song Book.  If you are interested in exploring a quality product at a reasonable price (for top-end audio reproduction) that continues to evolve with new audio technology (I believe all current models are Blue Tooth compatible) you should check out Tivoli.