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Anyone know HK's middle name?


JKent

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Every reference I find on the web--even the New York Times obit--refers to him as simply Henry Kloss. Did he have a middle name?

Just wondering because I opened up an early KLH Model Eight speaker and one of the 2 drivers had markings on it that included "HEK". Was that Henry? I've never seen this on any other KLH driver. Got me curious.

The number on there was apparently the serial number of the individual driver. On these early Eight speakers--the ones with dual 3" drivers--there is always a piece of masking tape on the cloth that each driver is wrapped in, with a hand-written number on it. The serial number of this speaker system, printed on the metal plate on the back of the cabinet, is 2776 so there is no correlation between the driver's number and the speaker's SN.

Kent

edit: Well, I did discover "E" was his middle initial. How? Ebay of course! A photo of the back of an OLA shows the speaker connection plate where it says "Designed by: Henry E. Kloss". Still wonder what the E stands for and why he put his initials on that one driver.

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  • 1 month later...

Mystery solved!

My friend and colleague Dr. Chung Chang found this fascinating interview in Audio magazine (Feb 1992): http://www.acmebass.com/archive_files/mag_articles/audio_magazine/Henry%20Kloss%20Interview%202_1992.pdf

I won't reveal the middle name. Any Kloss fan should read the interview ;)

-Kent

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Great article. Was there a part two where they got deeper into Advent talking about the 300 receiver & the 201A cassette deck?

I haven't seen a follow-up but speaking of cassette decks, I got my latest issue of the Subaru magazine in which they tout their Harman-Kardon sound system. In that article they claim the H-K CAD5 was the "world's first cassette deck with Dolby B." In the interview linked in Post #1 it says "the Advent Model 200 . . . was the first to combine Dolby with the cassette." I always thought the Advent was first but now here's the H-K claim! Looks like both were introduced in 1970 so take yer pick.

Both the H-K and the Advent were built by Nakamichi. According to Kloss the Nakamichi was inadequate, so Advent went to a rugged 3M Wollensak deck for the 201. That particular Wollensak (without Dolby) was widely used in schools and was built like a tank to survive the kind of abuse you might imagine.

FWIW, my first cassette deck was a Wollensak-branded Dolby B deck that was identical to the Advent 201 except for the knobs (silver on the Wollensak). It also had a dust cover, which I don't believe the Advent had. My fave stereo discount house (in the '70s) did not carry Advent so the Wollensak was a better buy.

Kent

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Nothing to add here about who might've offered the "first" consumer deck featuring Dolby B, but I think the switch to Wollensak parts for the 201 pertained only to the transport system. Wollensaks were indeed very robust, and they could rewind (or FF) an entire cassette in a fraction of the time of decks with lesser horsepower.

AFAIK, the Advent 201 was offered with a dust cover.

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I think the switch to Wollensak parts for the 201 pertained only to the transport system. Wollensaks were indeed very robust, and they could rewind (or FF) an entire cassette in a fraction of the time of decks with lesser horsepower.

AFAIK, the Advent 201 was offered with a dust cover.

I had the Wollensak. It was identical to the The Advent except for the branding logo and the color of the knobs. For some reason they say that Wollensak (and earlier Nak) supplied the "transport". It was the whole shebang.

Found a photo of one--pretty rough--on ebay (of course!). That's the 3M Wollensak 4760 on the left, (David Reaton's pristine) Advent 201 on the right. Now I see another difference--the 3M had 2 VU meters, the Advent had 1.

You're right about the dust cover. Talked to my tech today and he had the Advent but as he recalled the dc was an extra-cost accessory (maybe it was on the Wollensak as well--I really don't recall).

Kent

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Here's a rare bird - - - looks like basically a third variation of the same deck. This is from Popular Mechanics, August 1973, reviewing "Heath's quietest cassette deck", the Heathkit AD-1530, with one fewer knobs on the front row.

......... to your original question, maybe HK was short for Heath Kit. :lol:

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(edit: clearly, this thread has moved beyond KLH territory, then into Advent, and now beyond. Oops.)

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