Zeke_in_KC

I've been out of the loop. "Congratulations."

I've been around -- and lurking -- for a bit: ever since I acquired Cornwalls (that required a minor bit of cosmetic work) for $40 at a garage sale. I've used them with a Sansui G9000DB for years, to date, and I am pleased. The ONLY thing that has ever irritated me about this board is the ongoing worship of tubes, by SOME, as the only appropriate amplification source. Thus, I just try to stay out of the way, most of the time.

No argument.

I respectfully beg to differ. I would rather buy made in the US products if I can and have paid more to do so. IMVHO made in Arkansas and lineage may matter a lot to any new markets this deal with Audiovox, if it is completed, may open up. For example, well heeled Asian audiophiles may prefer to buy Klipschorns LaScalas, Cornwalls, and Heresies made in the US as a status symbol and as they may still care about lineage more than the average audiophile and music lover here in the US excepting of course many of the Klipschanatics who hang out here of course.I would describe most of the rabid Klipsch fans in this forum as music lovers first, audiophiles second. just my 0.002 db Oh, I have no issues with disagreement. It just seems to me that, if well-heeled Asian audiophiles desired American made Klipsch, they'd just have purchased it now? My point is that there are those who report Audiovox will not make a spec Cornwall. That would be their choice and, at that point, it won't matter where anything is produced. If they DO make a spec Cornwall, it will -- in fact -- be a Cornwall and, again, it won't matter where it is produced. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, acts like a duck, etc... What is the difference between a Recession versus a Depression? A Recession is when your neighobor losses his Job, a Depression is when you lose your Job. Therefore It must not matter where it is made until you lose your job. Or maybe it matters when your country slips to second world status since they are not competitive or it is made here but all the good engineering and management jobs and profits go overseas? Then the key is to ask "why?," and analyze the underpinnings, not demonize an acquisition that we can all see makes $$$ for the purchaser. I am a Klipsch fan and listen to Cornwalls every day, but I don't romanticize that Klispch -- in a business sense -- is any different than the Audiovox group, as they've made their own strategic purchases to further profit. All I'm reporting is that the product, as we know it, will be the same in terms of sound reproduction or it will not. Either way, where it is produced is not important in terms of the end user. If it sounds like a good horn speaker, you're going to get the same folks buying unless the sound is not what attracted them, anyway. (i.e., if it was just the brand, which will still exist.) As cold as this sounds, lets not pretend any of what is ocurring relates to people: that was never part of the overall equation. That's just the way it is.

I respectfully beg to differ. I would rather buy made in the US products if I can and have paid more to do so. IMVHO made in Arkansas and lineage may matter a lot to any new markets this deal with Audiovox, if it is completed, may open up. For example, well heeled Asian audiophiles may prefer to buy Klipschorns LaScalas, Cornwalls, and Heresies made in the US as a status symbol and as they may still care about lineage more than the average audiophile and music lover here in the US excepting of course many of the Klipschanatics who hang out here of course.I would describe most of the rabid Klipsch fans in this forum as music lovers first, audiophiles second. just my 0.002 db Oh, I have no issues with disagreement. It just seems to me that, if well-heeled Asian audiophiles desired American made Klipsch, they'd just have purchased it now? My point is that there are those who report Audiovox will not make a spec Cornwall. That would be their choice and, at that point, it won't matter where anything is produced. If they DO make a spec Cornwall, it will -- in fact -- be a Cornwall and, again, it won't matter where it is produced. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, acts like a duck, etc...

If the "legend" were as profitable as the brand name, there wouldn't be a reason to purchase the company. As I've indicated before, if they continue to produce current models to spec? NOBODY CARES about lineage. And, if they do not? NOBODY CARES about lineage. Either way... PWK was 85 years old when he sold the company to Fred and it was profitable. The legend is intact. Many people here on this forum care about lineage, but 99% of the Best Buy customers couldn't care less....you are right about that. I'm just saying that, if consumers contnue to get the service/products they always have, they won't care about "lineage." (i.e., where/how things are produced, who makes the $$$, etc.) If a Cornwall still sounds like a Cornwall... If it doesn't, they'll still not care about "lineage," because it won't BE a Cornwall. Arkansas versus China, as production locations, do not matter. The STANDARD matters: which isn't tied to "lineage."

If the "legend" were as profitable as the brand name, there wouldn't be a reason to purchase the company. As I've indicated before, if they continue to produce current models to spec? NOBODY CARES about lineage. And, if they do not? NOBODY CARES about lineage. Either way...

1. What does being a "family operation" have to do with being "woefully inefficient"? General Motors ~ Bankrupt of America ~ now that's woefully inefficient. I can unequivocably say that 35+ years ago when I bought my first Klipsch I was trreated with a personal level of attention and speed of service that is still unmatched by the larger, "more efficient" (as so implied) operation that it is today. 2. Perhaps you haven't taken a look at what remains of the products of the other brands Audiovox has purchased. Yes, I too am sure Audiovox will keep the "brand" ~ and reduce it to nothing more than earphones for iPods at best. 3. I couldn't disagree more. I've been playing the bass longer than I've owned Klipsch speakers. And I have well over two dozen basses, many of them Fender, US, Japan and Mexico made, vintage and more recent models. Yes, it's possible to find a perfectly good Mexican made Fender bass but you'll have to spend a lot of time looking and picking to find one where the fret work doesn't look like an old dilapidated railroad track. 4. Again, take a look at what Audiovox's Acoustic Research, RCA, Jensen, etc. make. Actually they don't make, nor design/engineer anything ~ it's all outsourced. Acoustic Research cables? Give me a break!!! There's no AR3a in there, never will be, and there won't be any Klipschorn either!!! 5. "IF". Yeah right. "IF" my grandmother had balls she'd be grandpa. It does matter. 6. The only one you got right. My concern is not so much that Klipsch will most likely be sold, it's who it's being sold to ~ a company known for simply buying brand names and destroying the original product/philosophy/quality (whatever postive things we can think of). I Think I'll post some price charts of Audiovox (VOXX) and then you can tell me what the market thinks of Audiovox since they went public January 12, 2000 (hint: all time high was $72.50 on March 7, 2000). The same is in store for Klipsch with this scenario. 1. "Business" was not a PWK hallmark. 2. I said they'd keep the brand. 3. Apples to apples, they're the same quality. If you desire to cherry pick... 4. If spec is the same, who cares? 5. No, it doesn't, if the spec isn't the same. 6. Incorrect. Everything I said is true. Are you just a little emotional and romanticist? I warned against such knee-jerk pleadings... I would prefer to provide a proper and appropriate answer to your inane response Zekie, but I'm quite sure I would promptly be banned and the thread locked. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity someday to tell it to your face. The horse is dead. Audiovox is a piece of crap company. It always has been. Possibly someday Klipsch will be rescued from these dire straights (like McIntosh from Clarion or Fender by a group of well-heeled & dedicated musicians). But age 59 I doubt I will live to see it. Basically, you don't HAVE a response -- either proper or appropriate -- and use fear of locking/banning as your out. "Fine." I get it. Take your ball and go home when you're getting whacked with impunity. (Making it unlikely you'd have the stones to tell me, bearing your ongoing irrational vapidity, about anything.) But here's the deal: what I've reported is correct, not in dispute, and you ARE being a knee-jerk romanticist. As for not caring for Audiovox, you have no idea what is going to occur. I, am merely being truthful: if new owners produce to the same standard, your fears do not matter. If they do not, again, your fears do not matter. It's well out of our hands, you may as well not whine incessantly.

1. What does being a "family operation" have to do with being "woefully inefficient"? General Motors ~ Bankrupt of America ~ now that's woefully inefficient. I can unequivocably say that 35+ years ago when I bought my first Klipsch I was trreated with a personal level of attention and speed of service that is still unmatched by the larger, "more efficient" (as so implied) operation that it is today. 2. Perhaps you haven't taken a look at what remains of the products of the other brands Audiovox has purchased. Yes, I too am sure Audiovox will keep the "brand" ~ and reduce it to nothing more than earphones for iPods at best. 3. I couldn't disagree more. I've been playing the bass longer than I've owned Klipsch speakers. And I have well over two dozen basses, many of them Fender, US, Japan and Mexico made, vintage and more recent models. Yes, it's possible to find a perfectly good Mexican made Fender bass but you'll have to spend a lot of time looking and picking to find one where the fret work doesn't look like an old dilapidated railroad track. 4. Again, take a look at what Audiovox's Acoustic Research, RCA, Jensen, etc. make. Actually they don't make, nor design/engineer anything ~ it's all outsourced. Acoustic Research cables? Give me a break!!! There's no AR3a in there, never will be, and there won't be any Klipschorn either!!! 5. "IF". Yeah right. "IF" my grandmother had balls she'd be grandpa. It does matter. 6. The only one you got right. My concern is not so much that Klipsch will most likely be sold, it's who it's being sold to ~ a company known for simply buying brand names and destroying the original product/philosophy/quality (whatever postive things we can think of). I Think I'll post some price charts of Audiovox (VOXX) and then you can tell me what the market thinks of Audiovox since they went public January 12, 2000 (hint: all time high was $72.50 on March 7, 2000). The same is in store for Klipsch with this scenario. 1. "Business" was not a PWK hallmark. 2. I said they'd keep the brand. 3. Apples to apples, they're the same quality. If you desire to cherry pick... 4. If spec is the same, who cares? 5. No, it doesn't, if the spec isn't the same. 6. Incorrect. Everything I said is true. Are you just a little emotional and romanticist? I warned against such knee-jerk pleadings...

Klipsch was once a woefully inefficient family operation that, more than once, faced insolvency while making labors of love. It is not that, now, and hasn't been for a long time. (That doesn't imply products are poor, etceteras, but it is what it is.) Don't romanticize this, the Klipsch being mourned is long since gone unless what you actually fear is losing the name. If that's the case, "fear not." I'm sure Audiovox will keep the brand. This is just business. As a comparison? A non-American Fender bass is just as good as an old American one, if you are willing to pay and compare apples to apples. It's not as if Klipsch doesn't churn out some consumer grade products... If they continue the Klipschorn, and if it retains quality and spec, it won't matter where it's made. If it doesn't? Well, it doesn't matter then, either. This is out of our hands.

I feel just a tiny bit outclassed: I have approximately 40G of tunes, most in 256k AAC. If I could hear the difference between this and lossless, I'd worry about it. (I keep the library mirrored in two locations, as backup, so I guess I have 80G of stuff...) Some of you guys have incredible amounts of storage! All together, I only have about 420G.

Sansui G9000DB is out for bulb replacement and my friend/tech has kindly loaned a Marantz 2285B for use with my 1984 Cornwalls. It is impressive synergy.

I occurs to me that I've been enjoying my garage sale Cornwalls for >6 years, now. I drove by the house where I bought them, recently (it's at the other end of my neighborhood), and the home was empty with a "For Rent" sign in the yard. I'm glad I saved these things. For what was originally asked for them -- they did have to be cleaned up -- they may have been discarded! Since obtaining these, I've sold or given away every other transducer that I had, including vintage models made by Altec Lansing and KLH: I just couldn't enjoy them, anymore. These 1984 Cornwalls are the best $40 that I've ever spent.

And ROCK SOLID advice.

I was fumbling around neighborhood garage sales and came upon two big boxes with no grills. They were, clearly, three-way designs and the back (paper tab) said Klipsch. $40. I figured I couldn't go wrong. When they guy delivered them, he had located the original cane grills. I re-glued some veneer, used a staining pen in a few places, fixed the grills, re-did some internal wiring and tightened everything down. 1984 Cornwalls. FORTY BUCKS.