First Look! Unboxing New KLH Kendall 2F
The Kendall is named after Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts–the birthplace of KLH. Founded in 1957, the company’s loudspeaker designs almost immediately became legendary in the HiFi community, known for being incredibly musical—accurate, engaging bass, seductive mids, and smooth, buttery high-end. It was a highly sought after sound back in the day. And, if you’ve spent any time in HiFi circles today, the love for this type of sounding loudspeaker still remains.
Simple and elegant, with a real wood veneer, available in English Walnut and Black Oak, the Kendall 2Fs are a true North American speaker, handcrafted in Canada, and they come with a 10-year warranty.
They are a 3-way bass reflex design like the original Kendalls—which is different from the very sought after KLH Model 5s. The Fives use an acoustic suspension design, utilizing a sealed cabinet to create accurate, controlled low frequency extension from the bass driver. These, like the original Kendals, are ported, so they use a Bass-Reflex design to reproduce the low end— this produces a rich and solid representation of the lower frequencies. However, like most ported speakers, you will achieve the best results with proper speaker positioning.
The previous model was rear-ported, both ports being on the lower end of the speaker. They now have dual ports in the back at both the top and bottom as well as the front. This results in a more uniform pressure distribution throughout the entire speaker cabinet, reducing internal standing waves and unwanted characteristics.
Moving up to the tweeter, they’ve gone from a 1” Aluminum tweeter to a 1” Titanium tweeter design, providing more clarity and openness in high frequencies over the originals. They’ve also added a new ferrofluid-cooled motor assembly to the tweeter to improve performance.
Additionally, they have updated the material in the mid-range and bass drivers from Kevlar to black anodized aluminum cones, improving aesthetics and performance. And the baskets around the drivers are now cast aluminum—better at reducing resonance than the previous stamped steel baskets. Furthermore, they feature a black powder coat finish, matching the driver cones and completing the overall aesthetic.
Frequency response for the new Kendall is: 36Hz-20kHz with an in-room sensitivity rating of 91dB. And the impedance is 8 Ohms.
All the advancements in design very much came through in the sound of the new Kendall 2Fs. The high frequencies are smooth and present but certainly not overly bright. The mids have a lot of warmth and presence, and the bass—thanks to the new port design– is very open and unfolds in the room very naturally. Overall, a significant improvement over the previous models, taking the musicality that KLH is known for and enhancing it across the entire frequency spectrum. If you are a fan of the KLH sound, or simply loudspeakers that lean musical over analytical, you are going to love the new Kendalls.
And if you are in search of speakers for your Home Theater—good news! KLH is planning to offer center-channels and surrounds in the Kendall lineup—so for the first time, a complete Kendall home theater system.
