Western Electric 100f & KLH Radio set

Many audiophiles tend to concentrate their efforts into the pre-amplifiers and amplifiers set and often neglect the fun of vintage radio set.

The KLH 8 radio is a the famous radio (earlier version of the much famed Tivoli radio). It strength lies in its very good reception. The KLH 13, on the otehr hand, is the "add on" speakers unit inorder to achieve stereo sound effect. Besides listening to the Radio programe using the KLH 8 radio, the KLH13 also allow one to plug in CD as external source as well. The sound from the KLH 8 + 13 + CD player is very warm and its sounded very similar to the normal tubes amplifiers.

The Western Electric 100f amplifiers set from the 1950s are often neglected by many audiophiles as well. During the 50s, like many amplifiers, they were sold as mono unit. Thus, one has to pair them up in order to use them as "stereo".

The Western Electric 100f is an amplifier set that comes with a built in5 inch Jensen alnico magnet speakers. Thus, all one needs to do is to plug in the CD source to both the WE 100f, one can immediately enjoys the stero tube sound!

The costs of the WE 100f varies according to condition, especially the cabinet condition as well as whether it comes with the original knobs and metal cage. One hifi shop in Prince, Kowloon is selling them at HK$30,000 per set because it bears the name Western Electric (and not OEM).

According to the Hong Kong hifi magazine, one readers bought them at HK$15,000 in order to enjoy the Western Electric sound! Normal ebay unist per set is about US$400-600 and shipping is about US$200. Thus, one can expect the price to be in the range of US$600-800 (about HKG $4500 - $6000.

Bearing in mind that many of these units owning to age often are "sold as it is" these requires servicing by Sifu which costs $3500 - $4000 depending on the extend of repairs. Thus, one can expect to pay for HK$8000-9500 for a perfectly matched and working set. For a price of $8000,one can enjoy the Western Electric seems like a good deal!

Happy hunting!