KLH Audio isn’t chasing the slim, minimalist towers that dominate today’s showroom floors. Instead, the American brand is leaning hard into the classic floorstander silhouette of the 1960s and ’70s — a wooden cabinet, understated grille cloth, and a profile that looks like it stepped straight out of a reel-to-reel-era magazine. The Model Four, unveiled at High End Vienna 2026 on June 2, 2026, wears that nostalgia proudly.
But the vintage stops at the surface. Inside sits an honest three-way design, with each driver handling its own slice of the spectrum and nothing forced to overreach. Bass comes from an 8-inch woofer with a cellulose cone, the midrange is covered by a 4-inch driver also using a cellulose diaphragm, and the treble is handled by a 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter.
That mix of materials is deliberate. Cellulose has long been prized for a natural, slightly warm presentation without harshness — the kind of cone that built the reputation of valve-style sound in decades past. The aluminum dome up top, meanwhile, adds resolution and precision where a paper tweeter would start to soften fine detail. The result is a hybrid voicing: nostalgic tonal balance below, modern crispness above.
The quoted frequency response is 46 Hz–20 kHz (±3 dB), with low-end extension down to 35 Hz at −10 dB. Those are grown-up numbers for a three-way built around an 8-inch woofer. A lower limit near 46 Hz at the tight ±3 dB window points to controlled, well-gathered bass, while the roll-off to 35 Hz delivers a genuine sense of foundation — enough that most music genres won’t beg for a subwoofer.
A few things worth keeping in mind about systems like this:
- The three-way architecture unburdens each driver and cuts intermodulation distortion at the crossover points;
- The cellulose woofer and midrange cones shape that recognizable vintage character — soft, musical, and easy on the ears over long sessions;
- The aluminum tweeter pulls the top register toward detail and air.
In short, the Model Four isn’t a cosmetic tribute act. KLH is trying to build a speaker that genuinely sounds like that era while meeting today’s expectations for resolution and clarity.
Pricing is set at €999.00 per speaker. For a three-way floorstander with a complete driver complement and the signature KLH aesthetic, that’s an offer aimed squarely at listeners who are tired of sterile hi-tech sound and craving something with character you can feel. The Model Four was announced on June 2, 2026, at High End Vienna 2026.
