Back in the early sixties the KLH company of Cambridge, Massachusetts introduced the first contemporary integrated stereo system. Packaging it in a suitcase format, they included a record player, amplifier, radio tuner and speakers; all built together into a very portable, lightweight unit. Until that breakthrough you'd have had to purchase a massive piece of fake mahogany furniture designed to take up half your living room in order to get the same components in one package. The KLH line was an instant hit, especially with a bottom-of-the-line price tag of $200. Although KLH strove for compactness and quality at a reasonable price (as do many of the other Cambridge based firms such as AR and Advent), their basic idea was immediately ripped-off and every manufacturer in the field soon had at least one reasonably priced, integrated system on the market. But where you could depend on your KLH

to do the job, the imitators were more than risky — many of them concentrated «their efforts on creating impressive outer packages and threw in the cheapest electronics they could possibly produce. I'm reminded of a HarmonKardon integrated package I once bought (including AM/FM radio, speakers and turntable) which stopped working within ten minutes of first plugging it in; the replacement lasted a good month before the motor on the turntable stopped going around; and to order a replacement needle for the el-cheapo cartridge only took three weeks. All this for over $200.