KLH Model Five Loudspeaker Review w/ Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal 

I like your comment.

I bought some jbls from kevin and made payment. Paid off now.. worth it ..

Yes, prices are jumping up. Here in Canada, Prima Lunas and other equipment have jumped a grand

and what is your CD Players? gracias

@@eduardoquintana3504 I still have my old Oppo BDP-83, running it through the GearFab digital breakout box. Upgraded the Ares II to the Venus II 12th… I know there are better players out there, but I am honestly very happy with the Oppo Venus combination.

I have mine a couple of feet out into the room, slightly toed in, and feeding them as much power as my amp will dish out. When they get real muscular power, they open up, and I mean OPEN UP! You will be on the stage, right in front of the drum set in between the lead vocalist and the bass player. Seriously, these speakers are BAD ASS! I'm using the XTZ Edge A2-400, they are getting around or over 200 wpc. I cannot measure this, but the gain is up close to that point. Turn the gain down, and I want to box them up and send them back. Power baby, POWER.

I'm betting that will be a fantastic match.

I'm betting that will be a fantastic match.

Amen brother

And an equally smooth indica

They actually perform great near field, surprisingly. Mine are about 7" away and the drivers integrate extremely well. I can almost get them to disappear.

Kevin is very entertaining and fun to watch, but a reviewer he is not. He’s a salesman. These are infomercials for products he sells. No problem with me though.

@@thomass.9167 Oh, I totally disagree Thomas! Kevin actually takes products apart and looks at the engineering. I never see that with other reviewers.Yes, he is a salesman, but also very technical and breaks down parts and engineering.

@@ericfarr2195 You make a good argument, and that’s perfectly fine. I’m not trying to be right. Kindly just note though that the closest he typically gets to describing the sound of a product is that it’s “bitching”, and that his sales people will be happy to discuss it with you. Anyway, it’s all entertainment and I watch all his videos. It nicely supplements the videos of others who focuses more on the sound.

@@thomass.9167 Bitchen' not bitching - Different word

I've heard these new models extensively in a 16x22 room. His description of the sound is accurate but worked in all over the place here. Bass is very good, fast and seemingly extending lower than the -3db rating suggests. Highs are very clean and extended, but it can be attenuated to room and taste. Mids are very very clear and sweet, it's got some weight in lower mids, but it can't be characterized as warm (a Linton would be "warm", the model 5 is more clear and immediate sounding though). Soundstage is pretty wide and image is dependent on changes with toe in. Can be easily set to have great snapped in center image, but it doesn't really do crazy out to the extreme sides spatial imaging. Because of the tilt base, image comes in at a good height. They sound worse off the stands without the tilt. They can play loud with little distortion if you've got the watts. Edit: spelling and for clarity.

Hi Renso, the Walnut ships with the Stonewash Grille which is white, or at least, whiter than the unbleached look of the Old World Linen. You can buy them separately as well. upscaleaudio.com/products/klh-model-five-replacement-magnetic-grille-each?variant=39847755120824

Nope, not a problem, or overkill... I have been playing around with mine, the gain on my amplifier. The Model 5's LOVE POWER, the more the better. Send them the juice and they open up, and I mean they OPEN UP! The soundstage is ginormous, and then the three dimensional aspects of these is just nuts. I have caught myself looking over my shoulder, or to my left or right to see what the heck is going on? It's the speakers, you are on the stage in the middle of all of the action. If you only have 100 wpc, you will be calling me a liar and boxing them up. These things ROCK! Just give them the power!

I agree, but they have the same sensitivity as the Lintons.

@@scottbernard8824 I have the 5's and I feel they are a tad less sensitive than listed. Not inefficient by any means but they do like more power.

@@scottbernard8824 I have both the Linton's and the KLH model 5's. I have switched them back and forth in my system several times and the Linton's are louder at the same volume level. I have to turn the system up when I put in the KLH. And turn it down when I put in the Linton's.

@@michaelgrissom6103 Thanks. Any other differences? Overall sound? Treble extension, bass...does one sound "worse" on bad recordings? Thanks again.

@@scottbernard8824 Hi Scott: the speakers sound very different to me and I would have to say that some people will prefer the sound of one over the other. I have modified my Linton's. I put some really nice caps in the tweeter crossover and upgraded all the resisters. Sonically what I like better about the KLH than the upgraded Linton's is that to my ears they are a little clearer with human voices. This is mostly true with video sources like movies or the news. It does not seam to be as much of an issue with music. In my system the bass from the KLH is sometimes a little dry or thin sounding. ( I probably don't have the perfect match in amplification. I understand that McIntosh is a really good match for these speakers. And I have not worked a lot with placement.) I think the KLH bass is more accurate than the Linton's however the Linton's sound more open in the bass region and never sound dry or thin in my system. Two other things I like about the KLH are that the grills really go well with the décor in my listening room, and that I can place them a few inches closer to the front wall without messing up the bass. My System: Luxman L-507ux, Denafrips Aris II DAC, Denon 103 phono cartridge, OPPO CD/dvd/ blue ray player.

Offering it as a bonus for buying from him - unlikely to give it away for free.

I own these and cross shopped with L82 so heard those. L82 is more v shaped, so slightly hotter treble, and more bass, but slightly less clear mids. Model 5 more balanced top to bottom, has less heavy bass but slightly better bass detail and clearer mids.

In listened to both; the Littons were $500 cheaper and the salesman tried to steer me towards those instead. I didn’t buy either because the store was so cramped the speakers were on top of each other and it wasn’t a good place to audition them, but when a salesman tries to point you to a cheaper model it’s worth considering. Both I thought sounded pretty good; the KLH’s were on the outside of the Littons and they seemed to have a wider soundstage and image size, but again, bad placement, up against the wall. Both sounded very natural to me with no shoutiness or fatigue but I’d give the edge to the KLH’s.

I auditioned both in my home and kept the KLH's. The Lintons are good speakers but, for me, the Fives are significantly better. As was previously mentioned, the soundstage of the Fives is much larger; the Lintons seemed a bit limited in that respect. I'm not a reviewer, and it's difficult to explain why I love the Fives so much. Like any speaker, you really need to audition them in your listening room to make a truly informed decision. I think the Zero Fidelity review is the most accurate I've seen. Check that out.

Tried em both and the L82s. Short story, Linton's are warmer, more forgiving on harsh stuff. Model 5s are more clear, and bass extends lower has more detail.

About 21 days of around the clock playing/ 42 of 12 hour sessions - by that time you’ll forget that they’re new (or maybe even where you got them in the first place).

@@homerjones3291 So True

500 hrs is ridiculous and the purview of dealers

About 2 years ago. David Kelley ex CEO from Klipsch bought the company and rights to Henry Kloss blueprints. Not the tchotchke of the 80’s-90’s

And Kerry Geist from Klipsch...

I stopped watching after the 500 hours thing. That is laughable. Spend $2k on a pair of speakers and they aren't ready out of the box? No.

Speaker "break in" is pure BS. The thing being "broken in" is the listener.

The process has merit but not everyone will gain the same level of results because of several factors but mostly hearing acuity. Those Hemi's can be LOUD! (LOL). I replaced the woofers on my VMPS Model 4's and they have continued to improve with time, which is really what Kevin is saying. There is no magic exactly at 500 hours, it's cumulative until full break in and the speakers can be totally enjoyed during the process. They also sound their best when they have been playing for a few hours during any one listening session. Same for tubes, as least 30 minutes but an hour is better but after 3 or 4 they are really happy. If you work all day use a cheap amp to let the speakers play while you are not home to use up the time.

@@stillaliveandwell5291 I believe two things are happening. One you are becoming accustom to the sound of the speakers for me at least the metal dome tweeter. Two the bass and midrange drivers are breaking in. (Becoming a little looser.) I believe my KLH's sound better now that I have several hundreds of hours on them than they did when I first set them up. At first set up on some music the bass seamed dry sounding. It is much better now. I thought the metal dome tweeter showed it self as sometimes being a little shrill and metallic (especially compared to my VMPS RM30 Ribbons) but now they seem much smoother. Maybe that is because I no longer have the VMPS for comparison. But I think I am becoming accustom to the way it sounds and it isn't bothersome. Not sure I just know my perception.

You mean it's like just about every other Kevin video??

Correct. That became obvious when he touted the crappy parts in the crossover. Lost all credibility with me. Sad

Yes (I own these)

Looks better than a lot of popular speakers.

Lol do you even know what you are looking at? Go ahead and ask Danny what those crossover parts shown cost.

@@jonuiuc yes I do. I guess I was thinking of Danny' s review of the Revel. This has nicer components than the Revel. Also it is so disingenuous of you to frame this as KLH's best effort producing a crossover. You realize that Danny doesn't have to worry about bean counters or budgets. His mods involve more expensive components and sometimes changes the slopes or even the bandpass characteristics. Have you ever thought that maybe the speaker company can't do that for unknown reasons but we can assume cost is probably a major factor. Oh and how much does it cost Danny to offer that upgrade? Usually hundreds of dollars...not pennies🙄 Big fan of Danny', built several kits and hopefully will build more. Not trying to argue just offering a different perspective.

@@tullskull My initial comment was to the original poster, not to you, we are probably on the same page. Its disingenuous for anyone to frame this crossover as "for pennies" when the sort of inductors and mylar capacitators shown are easily a few dollars each. Pennies? c'mon. be real. Thats why if you show this to Danny he'll tell you the same, most of the crossover shown here aren't penny parts. I understand production speakers are constrained by budget, and I think the cost of the components shown is decent for the price. I think Kevin knows enough about this stuff not to mention it if it was composed of very cheap parts.

@@jonuiuc Thank you and sorry for the misunderstanding.

Yep, no way I'll support that country and it's oppressive regime.

@Lloyd Stout Uh Yea Lloyd I was going to remove the windows but my wife wouldn't allow it. It's a HOUSE. Maybe your wife is more understanding. There are electronic curtains there that you can't see, and the room treatment hasn't been done yet.

YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND! ITS A RETRO BOX SPEAKER THAT IS BITCHIN!

Just stick with Bose and Beats

You’re nuts.