KLH Albany
Us-based company KLH has produced a compact and clear, but somewhat imperfect, speaker
If you’ve never heard of KLH, you’re not alone. Despite it being big in the early 1960s, few on these shores had heard of the Us-based company until the former president of Klipsch bought it in 2017.
Since then, KLH has developed a new range, comprising standmounts, surrounds, subwoofers and floorstanding speakers – all named after Boston streets. So here we have the Albany “bookshelf” speakers, the marginally bigger of two standmounters within the 12-strong range.
Shoe-in
Roughly the size of a shoebox, each speaker weighs a reassuring 5kg. The Albanys are well built and finished to a fine standard; our review samples come in a smart black veneer, but they are also available in the walnut you see here. It’s a two-way design, featuring an anodised 25mm aluminium dome tweeter and a 10cm woven Kevlar mid/ bass driver.
There’s no reflex port, which is rather unusual. It’s a surprise not to find one here, as most of the competition uses the port to augment the bass performance. However, KLH specialises in getting results from smaller, sealed cabinets, the benefits of which tend to be better low-frequency grip and agility.
KLH suggests that the Albanys should be placed at least 30cm from a wall, but in our test room they sound best when placed a little closer. We carry out our test with the Albanys plugged into our reference Naim/gamut system, though more likely partners at would be the Award-winning Marantz PM6006 UK edition integrated amplifier and 6006 CD player, at £299 each. Despite being labelled bookshelf speakers, the Albanys need suitably solid stands to position them at ear level.
Glass act
Our initial impression of the Albanys’ performance is of a clear and forwardfacing sound. Kate Bush’s ebullient vocal slashes through the tinkling jaggedness of shattering glass in Babooshka.
Midrange, percussive guitar riffs and keys are also competently handled. The sparky drum fill in Melissa Etheridge’s I Wanna Come Over does exactly that as we note nothing out of place in a fast, punchy and notably agile mix.
Further down the octaves, the KLH Albanys struggle to deliver the grimy, popping, head-nodding bass which makes D’angelo’s Chicken Grease exciting. They’re nice and tight through the deeper tones, with notes beginning and ending well, but there’s little of the expected weight or authority. Even from a speaker of this size, we’d expect more vigour and spirit through the bass – more snap down into the soles of our boots. We sample The John Dunbar Theme from John Barry’s Dances With Wolves soundtrack, and while things hang together well – there’s admirable clarity within the strings – the lilting, rumbling orchestral build that puts us in mind of the haunting expanse of Dunbar’s long journey across the prairies is absent.
Our main issue here is balance. The emphasis is on the higher frequencies, which presents a problem. Though initially pleasing, increasing the volume to find a deeper, fuller, more animated bass makes the treble become edgy and slightly coarse. The upshot of concentrating heavily on delivering coherence through the upper register is a thinner and more piercing sound overall, which needs fleshing out at the bottom.
We can’t expect a model of such compact proportions to rival the likes of its far bigger and brawnier alternatives in terms of delivering a weighty bass. But for all their chirpiness, pop and response, issues with the forward treble and lack of bass authority mean the Albanys fall short of class leaders such as B&W’S similarly sized 607s.