KLH 911B ($50) excel in Treble, but failed in midrange.
After auditioning this speaker (5-1/4 woofer, 1" tweeter) for one week for late night listening purposes in my system (TV/Music), I returned them. It is surprisingly well made and solid for $50, and it is acoustic suspension design.
What stired toward this speaker was its higher frequency response. Its Treble sounded much better than other KLH offerings, and any other speaker in the Bestbuy that I auditioned that were under $100. The midrange sounded OK, but it had kind of boomy sound to it that masked detail in the midrange region.
I believe that is a common problem with most [low priced] bookshelf speakers. With only one woofer speaker to take care of midrange and/or midbass, the manufactures try to kill two birds with one stone by forcing woofers to do double duty producing midrange and bass notes, resulting in muddy sound.
<img src=" http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/images/products/3066/3066443cva.jpg">
At first, I thought you were...
...referring to vintage KLH stuff... my dad bought a pair of KLH stand-mounts back in 1970. Not that they were great, but it might have brought back some memories...
Anyway, who the hell makes the KLH stuff now? The new products have NOTHING to do with the company's design philosophy of yesteryear - i.e., the "New England" sound. Another sell out, merger, whatever... the new speakers are probably made in the far East (not that everything made in the far East is bad, just that... ya know...)
As far as the sound is concerened, the cheap box (along with the inexpensive driver) will result in the muddiness (sp?) you heard. Think they're bad? You should have heard the Jensens I bought for $10 (!) each...
By the way... am I allowed to say "Hell" in here now?