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"Improved" KLH 21 FM radio


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After the tubed Model Eight, it seems KLH ran out of names for its radios. For several years they built the excellent Model Twenty-One. It had genuine walnut veneer and a beige & white plastic grille. This was followed by the Twenty-One/II, which was essentially the same--same cabinet and very similar faceplate, but with a black fabric grille and black & silver knobs. Apparently KLH also switched over to a Japanese-built FM front end toward the end of the original 21 model run.

Then they started to slip. The Model Twenty-One FM and its twin, the Model Twenty-One AM/FM were slightly larger, with crappy vinyl woodgrain and sure-to-deteriorate foam grilles.

My Twenty-One FM was in sad shape, with a beat-up cabinet, missing grille foam, damaged power cord and a cracked volume control. I stripped off the vinyl, filled the dings with wood filler and applied genuine walnut veneer (unfortunately the veneer available today is not as nice as what was used on KLH and AR speakers and electronics 40 yrs ago). I made a frame of hardwood molding for the speaker grille and covered it with black knit speaker cloth. I replaced the power cord and plug, replaced the missing aluminum trim strips, repaired the cracked volume pot, and replaced some deteriorated weatherstripping to keep the cabinet airtight.

It's not a true-to-original restoration, but the original was cosmetically crummy, so I'm happy with my improvements.

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Oh yes, there was also the Model Twenty-One CL, truly the worst of the lot. Had the crappiest clock ever made. A technician told me he had a customer who bought the clocks by the case because they had to be replaced so often. They sometimes come up for sale on ebay and the clocks NEVER work! My Kloss radio collection is incomplete without the 21CL and it will probably staythat way.

Here are some KLH Kloss radios from my collection. The Tivoli is a stock photo, and the 21CL is a photo from the 'net. The others are items that I restored.

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OOPS! How could I forget to thank Mark Wilson and, especially, John O'Hanlon for their invaluable assistance isolating the volume control problem.

Thanks! :-)

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