Tivoli Audio
Henry Kloss Model One Table Radio
 Radios used to be cathedrals.
They were huge, vaulted, exquisitely marquetried, deco monuments to the age of
broadcasting. They enjoyed the same honored place in the home that pianos had even earlier
in the century. They were the centerpiece of the bourgeois parlor and the primary source
of family entertainment.
Then radio got small. Or perhaps it was the radios that got
small -- I'm not certain which happened first. Certainly, the double-whammy of the
transistor and television changed the way we listened to radio. We no longer gathered
round to listen to radio shows; instead, radio became our companion when we didn't want to
be alone. Radios themselves went mobile and the programming changed.
And, in the process, the table radio stopped being a
product people seemed to want -- or did it?
Go to people's houses today and you'll see their hi-fis
(most of which contain tuners), but as you walk from room to room, what you're likely to
see is a collection of boomboxes -- those now ubiquitous portable combinations of tape or
CD player, radio and powered loudspeaker. And like most multi-use tools, boomboxes do some
things better than others. They're convenient and they're portable, but most of them just
don't sound that good, and most of them don't have particularly good tuning sections.
Obviously people still listen to radio, but have you
actually gone out and looked for a good sounding table radio lately? Bose offers one for
$299, and between their aggressive advertising and the lingering desire for a
good-sounding, well-built radio, it has been phenomenally popular. I've only heard the
Bose table radio briefly, but its success proves that the market is still there for a
radio people can be proud of.
Radio is a sound salvation
Tivoli's $100 Henry Kloss Model One is another such radio.
It is a small (4.5" x 8.375" x 5.25"), five-pound, wood-clad box whose
front panel is dominated by a speaker grille, two small knobs (volume and power/AM/FM) and
a huge tuning knob. It sports a determinedly retro look that resembles the clean style of
mid-sixties Scandinavian furniture. Eero Saarinen would have loved it. It comes in four
wood cladding/faceplate color combinations: cherry/cobalt blue, maple/hunter green,
walnut/beige, and white laminate/silver.
Yes, the name Henry Kloss should sound familiar. He
was one of the design geniuses at Acoustic Research, which more or less created American
hi-fi; he was the K in KLH, which introduced real hi-fi to the masses; he was the
motivating force behind Advent, which brought high-end sound to a new level of
affordability with the larger Advent loudspeaker. At Advent, he also championed the
combination of cassette and Dolby noise processing that made the popularity of the
cassette format possible, and he also anticipated the popularity of projection and plasma
television 20 years ahead of its time. Later, at Cambridge SoundWorks, he popularized the
satellite/subwoofer concept for the mass market.
Those of us with really long audio memories also know Henry
Kloss as the creator of one of the classic table radios, KLH's Model 8 (I just ran an eBay
check and they go for over $750!), which later evolved into the
only-slightly-less-sought-after KLH Model 21. At Advent, Kloss was responsible for the
Advent Table Radio, another standard-bearer for high-quality sound combined with
functionality.
What about his latest effort? Let's face it: The Tivoli is cute.
The wood veneer and colored faceplates, combined with the unit's compact size, make the
Tivoli seem like a decorator's dream. Fortunately, there's even more to the Model One than
meets the eye.
The Model One employs what Tivoli calls "a
state-of-the-art, discrete-component FM tuner featuring GaAs MES-FET mixers." GaAs
MES-FETs were designed to enable cell-phones and scanning radios to zero in on closely
spaced or distant signals, but Tivoli claims to be the first to employ them in a tuner.
This sophisticated front end is coupled to a huge honking
tuning dial, which is geared down at a 5:1 ratio to facilitate fine-tuning. An amber LED
glows in response to tuning in a station's precise frequency.
And it works! I can tune in an astounding number of FM
stations here in NYC -- remote NJ college stations and stacked-on-top-of-one-another city
stations alike.
The Model One uses a heavy-magnet, long-throw 3"
loudspeaker, which relies upon the radio's ported enclosure and a sophisticated electronic
multi-band equalizer (fixed) to produce its rich, astonishingly satisfying sound. There's
not much (if anything) coming out below 150Hz, and what's there seems a tad plummy. I
suspect the EQ is set to thin out the midrange, which means that there's very little
overemphasis of male voice -- a common complaint with small radios which tend to turn DJs
into testosterone-drenched giants.  The speaker's top end is a tad on the soft side, too -- again, this might be
considered advantageous, rather than a shortcoming. The result is a mellifluous sound from
top to bottom -- easy to like and easy to listen to.
The Model One's rear panel is packed with connections.
There's a switch that toggles between the unit's internal antenna and an external one.
There's a DC power input, which allows you to use the Model One from a 12–16VDC power
supply. There's a stereo miniplug input for a line level source, such as a CD player, and
there are stereo miniplug outputs for a headphone and to transfer the tuner's (mono)
output to a hi-fi system. There are also antennae connections for external FM (F
connector) and AM (spring clip) antennae. The power cord is a modular appliance cord 9'
long -- another nice touch, in that you can put the radio just about anywhere.
You better listen to the radio
Personally, I like the Kloss Model One's retro look. It'll
look just as funky in 20 years as it does now. Show me a boombox that can say that -- they
all look like Vegas robots these days.
But its compact good looks mask heavy-duty innards. Pick it
up or twirl its supremely tactile tuning knob and you'll immediately realize that it's not
just another pretty face(plate). It's reassuringly solid. It feels good to use. If you buy
it, you won't regret it -- you'll actually love the Kloss more, the more you use it.
What's so nice about the Model One is that it does what
it's designed to do really well. It sounds good and it picks up stations like crazy. The
huge tuning knob has a luxurious feel that reminds me more of the fabulously expensive
custom pots offered by companies like Cello -- knobs that by themselves probably cost more
than the Tivoli's $99.99 list price!
You might think that the "feel" of a knob is a
silly thing to focus on. Perhaps so, but when you consider how much you'll use the tuning
knob, the fact that it has a pleasing tactile interface doesn't seem so inconsequential a
detail.
You could say that the radio doesn't exactly
personify high-fidelity principals, given its blatant manipulation of its 3"
speaker's output. It isn't anywhere near flat. Yet, given the same choices to make, I'd
have probably made them myself. The mild emphasis of its bottom octave gives the radio a
rich sound that is far from hyped-up. And its mild manipulation of the midrange makes for
a balanced sound and eliminates a lot of proximity-effect chestiness in male news readers
(not Bob Edwards, of course, but that guy's voice is deep).
The radio's not perfect, however. I haven't found its AM
reception to be exceptional, although, unlike on most modern radios, AM is listenable.
Most contemporary radios have horrible AM tuning sections -- and what's worse, they sound
shrill and static-y.
Before you say that's the sound of AM, you should
listen to some of the old radios that are still around. Those big wooden arches concealed
high-quality electronics -- heck, I even have an Advent table radio from the early '80s
that has a great-sounding AM tuner. I still listen to Yankees games on it.
Wonderful radio, marvelous radio
Obviously, I think the Tivoli Henry Kloss Model One AM/FM
Table Radio is a cool product. It's well designed and it's well built. For a lot more
money, you can buy a tuner worthy of your hi-fi, but the whole point of the Model One is
that it lets you put a good-sounding radio anywhere you want one -- in the bedroom, in the
bathroom, in the kitchen, or out on the porch.
I could wish its AM section was more sensitive and sounded
better, but that's really my only complaint. For FM listening, it's hard to cavil about
the Tivoli. It sounds rich and sweet and warm and it picks up everything. What more
could you ask of a $100 radio?
So, take the seasonal hint -- what, you thought it was a
coincidence that I reviewed a product this reasonably priced in mid-December? -- and
consider the Kloss Model One for your favorite gift-list candidates this holiday season.
It's a perfect gift -- and you'll be immediately elevated to favorite uncle (or whatever)
status for the coming year. Or you could just be a greedy so-and-so and add it to your
"want list." Giving or receiving, it's a guaranteed feel-good winner.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
Tivoli Audio Henry Kloss Model One Table Radio
Price: $99.99 USD
Warranty: One year parts and labor
Tivoli Audio
82 West Broadway
Boston, MA 02127
USA
Phone: (877) 297-9479
Fax: (617) 464-0008
E-mail: mail@tivoliaudio.com
Website: www.tivoliaudio.com
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