Brian "Woody" Stout has been reviewing hi-fi and AV gear on Instagram longer than most, and his handle Woodys_soundup has become one of the go-to accounts for anyone who wants to see the latest gear. His audience is part of a welcome shift in demographics: a younger crowd discovering hi-fi on their phones, then wanting to hear it for real.
Earlier this summer we sent Woody a pair of Model Fours, he was one of the first people on Earth (quite literally) to get a production pair, the same units our customers receive. Since Woody handles dozens (hundreds?) of speakers and AV products a year, we wanted to know how Model Four stacks up.
Suffice it to say there’s always a bit of nervousness when sending new products into the wild. Especially when they’re as pivotal as Model Four, which not only has a storied history in the audio world but also stands to solve a major problem for people who want Model Five performance in a more compact—and cheap—footprint.
After Woody spent a month with Model Four, we spoke with him to see what he thought. Here’s that full interview below, lightly edited for clarity.
KLH: You’ve had Model Four for about a month or so, what do you think?
Woody: I love them. I previously had the Model Threes, which were my wife’s favorite speakers I’ve had in the house. You know, I go through a lot of speakers. But when it comes to aesthetics, KLH Audio products fit well, they’re not an eyesore to look at, and they happen to sound good too.
The size is also perfect. My upstairs living room has a limited amount of space, Model Five and Model Seven are just too wide, so when Model Four came out it was just perfect. They’re a really healthy step up from the Model Three without taking up much more space.
What was the first thing you noticed about them?
Just like the Model Three, you know, they don’t take up a lot of room, but the performance packs a punch. I’ve had a huge number of different speakers come through the room, and they just hit that perfect metric of not taking up a ton of space, but play everything well. We watch a ton of movies, TV, music, video games, they just nail it all. They don’t need to be cranked up to sound great, but if you want to crank them up, they’re happy to play loud.
What do you use for amplification?
I swap around a lot. Right now I run with Cambridge Audio EX 2-channel integrated for music, which is one of the company’s higher-end stereo integrated amplifiers. At the moment, I have them in my living room with a Sony ES flagship receiver. So I kind of have them in a semi-surround sound setup. but I do switch out electronics a lot, so month-to-month they might be with a new set of electronics.
When you first get new speakers in the house, what do you listen to?
I always have a few tracks that I dive into… music is typically my first stop when I’m trying new speakers. David Bowie is usually my first go-to, Fleetwood Mac, etc. However, there’s a lot of good new music that’s mixed really well.
And then if I’m diving into movies—while I’m sure my wife has gotten sick of hearing these sound demos over and over—Top Gun Maverick, Ready Player One, Avengers End Game. These are all movies that have scenes I’m really familiar with, and I like to see if products like Model Four give me something new I haven’t heard before. By using these base-level movies and music tracks that I’m familiar with, I can get a really good idea of what we’re working with. But just to drive it home, ten out of ten times when I pull new speakers out of the box I’m putting on Prince, Bowie, Mac, etc. However, I also listen to a lot of movie scores; lots of John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, etc.
On my Apple Music I actually have a “Films and TV scores” playlist that’s updated fairly often, and I hit it a lot when I travel. There’s so many times when a new track comes on and I’m like “what the hell is this” and it’s some obscure TV show, but the track is amazing.
Tell me a little more about actually handling Model Four.
I have a little bit of a leg up considering I’ve had Model Three before, so I was familiar with what the sizing might be like for Model Four. I knew these speakers would be a bit bigger. Obviously Model Five isn’t a gigantic speaker either, but when I pulled Model Four out of the box, they’re literally about the size of Model Three in terms of width and depth goes, they didn’t feel substantially bigger, and that was surprising to me.
They’re definitely bigger than a typical bookshelf speaker, but if you have wide cabinet and a space, these could literally be a bookshelf speaker. But you have the included stands and the stands and that’s a really nice touch. The size is just perfect and it’s going to surprise a lot of people I think when they see just how little space they take.
What are your thoughts on the design?
It’s a classic throwback. It immediately gives you that nostalgia and reminds you what speakers used to look like. It just instantly clicks, these are a cool hi-fi speakers. It does feel like, it’s going hand in hand with everything going on right now. People wanting that analog look and feel. Turntables are ripping right now and these really fit that vibe. It’s an easy sell when it comes to the way they look.
It does feel like people don’t want to keep staring at glowing rectangles right now, doesn’t it?
There’s this movement of people just wanting to sit and listen to music. It’s cool to see that because music became background noise for people for a long time. People would throw on their earbuds when going to work, school, etc. and it’s just music playing when you’re going from point A to point B. But, it does feel like peoples’ lives are so rushed and hectic righ tnow, they just want to escape and unwind. I think a lot of people are finding that the perfect antidote is to grab a beer or a glass of wine, sit down and just sit and escape in music for a bit, or TV or movies, whatever your drug of choice is.
But with that, obviously, when people hear sound at a higher level, they start to get that itch. They realize there’s more to this, and it becomes addicting when you hear your favorite music and movies on a nice system. I think Model Four might be a gateway for a lot of people when it comes to upgrading their system.
How did you get into music and movies? Were your parents into it?
Yes, my dad was in a band, so I was raised on blues music, new wave, rock, typical kid of the 80s. Growing up, my parents—and still to this day—they love going to movies, live music, and that’s how we were raised. Always at the movie theater, always with music on at the house, back in the day my dad had a big ol’ pair of Inifinity box speakers that kind of looked reminiscent of what the KLH model series looks like now. He had that with the silver Integra electronics with the VU meters and all that stuff.
So, that’s always been a part of my life. When I think back to the stuff from that time, and why that vintage style gear is really hitting right now, I think it’s because it makes people reminisce about the old days, when things didn’t feel so stressful. To a time when people weren’t always attached to their jobs via their phones, or worried about bills going up all the time, when we were able to just sit and enjoy movies and music on an awesome sound system.
In your mind, who are these speakers for?
I think they’re awesome speakers for really anyone. You could be a younger person that doesn’t quite have the money to drop on a massive system, but you want some really good sound, I think these speakers will make you happy for years and years, with the performance to back them up. But even people with the disposable income, it’s just a cool speaker. It does everything well. You don’t need a $20K amp to make them sound good, you can run them off an AVR and they’ll still sound fantastic. Whether you’re just getting into the hobby and you want a nice pair of speakers to treat yourself after saving up some money and start something cool and new. Or, if you are upgrading from something you had before, I think Model Four will be a great option.
Interview with Woody from Woody’s SoundUp
