Increased interchangeability is a key feature of the new KlassicPro Boom Poles from K-Tek, an evolution of the award-winning Klassic Boom Poles from the company.
The new KlassicPro Boom Poles from K-Tek have a long story, that starts in 1996, when the company’s founder, Manfred N Klemme, started desigining and manufacturing, in the United States, boom poles that were lightweight, strong and would be adequate to make the sound engineer and boom operator’s jobs smoother. In 1999 K-Tek won a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Klassic Boom Pole. The KlassicPro Boom Poles inherits the key features of the original model and introduces some new and much asked options.
Still built in the original shop in Vista, California, each KlassicPro is made with the same care and attention to detail as the original. To keep up with the demands of today’s professional boom operator, the new KlassicPro incorporates the best features of the original, including: lightweight high-density graphite tubing, modular bases, quick-locking and quiet handling.
No more soldering needed
The new design offers increased interchangeability, says the company. That’s where K-Tek’s new removable headpiece comes in. Gone are the soldered and sealed poles of the past. Today’s redesigned headpiece simply threads on and off the tube smoothly. The cable of choice can be removed or installed—without soldering. The boom pole is readily transformed to un-cabled, coil cabled, straight cabled or with a transmitter at the top or the bottom. There are no more time-consuming transformations and no need to purchase a completely new system just to comply with a cabling change.
The removable headpiece makes field reconfiguration practical. To support this, K-Tek has created a higher quality coiled cable featuring a brand new, low profile right angle connector. The new KlassicPro Cable incorporates thicker gauge wiring and aluminum shielding to make it both stronger and ultra-protected from radio frequency (RF) interference. The new KlassicPro Right Angle connector is smaller, lighter, serviceable, and made with the popular Neutrik connector as its base. A new solid strain relief makes the Right Angle connector remarkably robust while securely holding the wiring in place. As an added benefit, the connector orientation can be changed by simply removing two screws, rotating it to the desired position, and locking it back in place. These improvements all add up to a much-desired lighter load on top of the pole.
New design features add strength
K-Tek has designed poles that are more rigid and have a shorter collapsed length that is preferred in today’s production environment. KlassicPro’s maintain the original light weight of the tubes, yet the new design features added strength. Also, adding a sixth section and wider tubes increases the stiffness and optimizes handling balance. The result is quicker cuing and more user control of the microphone.
Another new benefit is a change to the locking collars. The traditional K-Tek captive collett has been modified with a thicker yet smoother surface allowing for more subtle gradual extension of each section. A new anodizing process combined with changing the exterior dimples to oval divets gives a better grip and smoother feel when opening and closing each collar. The finish between the tubes has also been modified so the KlassicPro sleekly glides open and closed.
New KlassicPro poles are hand-burnished to diffuse handling noise. They come in a choice of 4 six-section models: 9’ (KP9), 12’ (KP12), 16’ (KP16), and 20’ (KP20), extended lengths. Coiled Cable and Straight Cable kits can be purchased separately or in a pre-configured boom pole package. Bottom right-angle XLR bases (KPCCR), Flow-through bases (KPFT) and the popular Side Kick Transmitter adapter (KPTA) is also improved.
K-Tek KlassicPro Boom Poles are available from authorized K-Tek dealers.