Tom Adams

Wow……almost 1.378 hours of my life I won’t get back reading this thread. In the almost 40 years of “conversing” via the internet, the one thing that can be counted on is the hijack post followed by getting off into the weeds followed by the “my nose is bigger than yours” argument. Alas (sigh) this thread has followed suit. I’m beginning to think that maybe I should apply for a government grant to study this trait that compels folks to go down this road. Is it a need to feel relevant? To try and impress folks? I dunno….but it sure seems that internet chat rooms/forums/whatever are fraught with this phenomenon. At a certain point in internet history, some enterprising programmer decided to devise a mechanism for this tendency of forum posters and included the “personal message” option in the forum software program. It’s just my speculation, but I think the programmer’s intent was to have folks that wanted to engage in this type of ***-for-tat, my nose is bigger than yours bickering to take it off-line, as it were. So let’s see if we can make some sense of this thread. The OP made note of some new products that Klipsch intended to bring to market. Reading between the lines, the OP was open to feedback. Some relevant feedback was offered and opined. However, at some point, these new products apparently flew in the face of some folks that have very strong opinions (that’s an understatement Tom) amd notions and whatever about what Klipsch should do/build/market/whatever. And….true to form…..we have the hi-jack and the de-evolution of the thread. To be sure, I am NO WHERE NEAR the level of audio knowledge of many of you here. And – quite franky – I really don’t care. Honestly, the posts some of you pen is quite comical. And having been here since Dr. Who was a snotty nose starving college student, I’ve seen my share of back handed compliments and flame wars. It’s also the reason that I (and I suspect others) just stopped coming here because of the snootiness and condescending attitude that was, and apparently still is, pervasive among some of you “Audiopiles”. I wanna pass along this gem that I adhered to over my 40+ years of being an Engineer and manager in the aviation industry and was hung on the wall of my office so my team of 20 Engineers could always see: It takes absolutely, positively no talent nor intellect to criticize. The genius in in the solution. You know…..I was always amazed and puzzled by folks that had the courage of their convictions to opine ad nauseum, but 99% of them had no courage to not just run their mouths and actually go out and DO something – kinda like being a Monday morning quarterback. Klipsch should do this and Klipsch should do that. Klipsch is heading in the wrong direction. And on & on. Here’s an idea…..if you are so dam sure you are so dam enlighted, then might I suggest you quit wasting your time here and put your time into developing a better product? Seriously…some of you sexual intellectuals seem to have all the answers. And with this – I bid you adieu and ask that the forum admin please have pity on me and ban me from this forum. Tom

SOLD!! It's yours. I'll PM you. Tom

This is a shameless bump. C'mon folks.....I need these gone. My wife & I have had a ground rule for years - she doesn't bring in another pair of shoes without another pair being gone. And she only agreed to this if I agreed to not bringing in another piece of audio gear unless another piece was gone. So if you buy these, I'll be able to help the economy and Klipsch by buying a new pair of speakers. That's a win-win in anybody's book. Tom

I've got a Denon DVD3910 which wuz, back in the day, the schitz. For the last few years it's been relegated to SACD duty. Since I wanna replace it, I'm faced with either someone giving me 50 bucks plus shipping, selling it at our upcoming garage sale (which will probably fetch only $20), OR.......just pitching it in the big green trash receptacle which I will undoubtedly face the wrath of the audio Gods. So........ Please......will one of you guys take this off my hands and give it a good home and rid me of the guilt in throwing it away??? Tom

Yes - Ideal Acoustics was in Starkville, Mizzipee. Wow - we might have met!! You probably wouldn't recognize me today because when I entered the witness protection program, they made me change my......uh.......nevermind. Tom

Lessee......blowing off the brain cobwebs, it looks like the year 1978 when I was in college - Mississippi State University. GO DOGS!!! I was studying Mechanical Engineering and a friend of mine (Aero Engineering) invited me and a couple of other guys to go to an audio store that Dr. Sheppard (the Dean of the school of Aeronautical Engineering) had opened up - Ideal Acoustics. We go in and there was two different rooms in a shotgun style store (narrow & long). The rooms were separated by a middle section where the register was, audio doo dads, a test bench and other junk. The front room was stuff like Sherwood, Pioneer, Akai, Advent....stuff that was lower/mid price. The back room contained the crappy stuff like Thorens, Garrad, McIntosh, Klipsch (the only marquee sold in the back room), Crown.....you get the picture. All the usual suspects. Dr. Sheppard decided to ruin us for life by a set up consisting of a Thorens TD125 TT with SME tonearm & some sort of Sure cartridge, a Mac amp and preamp, and the KHorns. The test subject was none other than the New York Philharmonic's 1812 Overture. There was some trickery/magic trick going on because when the cannons went off, one felt the concussion, yet there was no holes in the wall where one would think the cannon ball went through. Not really sure what happened after that since I suppose my brain turned to jello. But man-o-man....I was sold on Klipsch - nothing else would do. About a week later, I got a part time job at Ideal Acoustics which further led me down the road to not accepting such pedestrian products like Kenwood and Polk and Akai. Yes - I was an audio snob in training. That turned around a couple of weeks later I was humbled when a man came in the store identified to me that my shi.... does indeed stink. The man? Paul W. Klipsch who was on a first name basis with Dr. Sheppard. I just about pooped my pants. He was down to earth, but blunt and honest. I lost count of how many times he used the technical term of "Bullsh*t - but it was often. Awesome day. I was allowed to work for my speakers - a pair of Heresy's which I have to this day. In my dorm room I had a Garrad TT with cheapo Sure needle, an early production Nakamichi cassette player (the one that looked like a wedge of cheese) and a bottom rung Sherwood receiver that, I kid you not, output 15W/Ch (we bench tested it) - and that was on a good day with the wind out of the SE. There was NOBODY that could touch me in the dorm. Not even David Dodd across the hall with his Pioneer 75W receiver and a pair of Blows 301's. One day he turn it up to just about a THD level of 137 and it was ON!! I countered with my rig drowning him out all the while that little watt meter needle on the Sherwood would bounce between 5 and 6 watts. David saw that watt meter and got pissed. I then switch to my Police (first album) cassette and rolled it up to 8 or so watts and body slammed his pathetic Pioneer. By now we had crowds wondering what in the hell was blasting out tunes like that. Yep......I was DA MAN!! Tom

I recently watched a video seminar sponsored by Parasound and the featured speaker was John Curl. I'll leave you to do the research on this man who has done some amazing things in the audio industry. During the Q&A session, an attendee asked John a question (and I paraphrase), "Looking around the room I see a bunch of old farts. And I see the same old farts at every audio store I go to. I have kids and my friends have kids and they could care less about cleaning a record or trimming a tube amp or learning to set up a stack of equipment 50' tall - not to mention their attention span. How, or is the audio industry gonna survive given the realities of the current and future generations that feel a compressed MP3 file is just fine by them?" John's answer was he had no answer. But he did say that the industry is giving this issue serious thought and the truth is you either create a solution, adapt and survive or die. It's just that simple. And BTW....at 61, I'm one of those old farts that bought his first Klipsch when I was 21. Personally, I like the direction Klipsch is appearing to be headed. One can mumble grumble all day about Bluetooth 3.0 or 4.0 or wireless this or built in amp that, but I'll leave you with what my Dad use to say, "Hell son....do something - even if it's wrong. But just don't stand there". All us old farts can get all giddy about our old stuff and how we scored on some old stuff that was waaaay cheaper than the new stuff and how our old stuff sounds better than the new stuff cause it's got sonic character marks like that water ring from when your Ex (may she rot in hell) set her Bud Light can on your Belles or that dent in your KHorns from the party where Billy Joe Bob decided to practice driving a golf ball. Hell - I do that too. But here's the hard cold reality - although Klipsch really loves us and appreciates our stories of modding and barn finds, WE ARE NOT THE ONES THAT WILL ENSURE THE SURVIVORABILITY OF THE COMPANY. That only happens by selling new stuff. So go back and re read my first paragraph. IMHO, these new products, and others like them from competing manufacturers, give us a good idea where the industry is heading. Two words - wireless and simplification. Our current crop of young-uns don’t want a pile of electronic gear 6’ tall (yet). Companies need products that gives them a chance to hear what true detailed wide dynamic range music is all about and not that compressed crap that folks have on their phones. But it has to be simple, intuitive and user friendly to entice them to wanna hear/know more. The high end industry is pretty scared right now because they know that current and future generations are all about convenience, digital, and gotta have it right now. The generation that loved the experience of warming up the tube amp while cleaning the record, sitting the record on the turntable and feeling the anticipation of the needle contacting the record surface, tubes a-glowing and then sitting back with a scotch or wine and basking in the immersive sound from those massive speakers is GONE!!!!!!! Folks don’t have the patience for that now (sadly IMHO). Nor do they want the complexity of the gear and having to learn a bunch of shi....uh....stuff to put together a very good system. The manufacturers know this and can see death at their door if they don’t adapt. Audio is rapidly changing and I think it’s for the good. Personally, there is something special that happens when you can sit back and listen to music that takes you away from the realities of the day and places you in that concert hall where the musicians are. When you hear a recording that’s real – background noises, a musician accidently kicking a mic stand, the squeak of a guitar player’s hand while moving from one fingering to another, or the singer who has a voice that brings you to tears (Alison Krauss), is just something special. Nobody seems to have time for that now....or maybe they don’t want to make time...I dunno. All I know is that it moves my soul to a happy place. Audio companies and us old farts need to do our share to expose those MP3 tone deaf folks to what music reproduction REALLY sounds like. And maybe we get some converts that will allow Klipsch and others to go on. And IMHO The Fifteen is a fine example of just that. Is it the end all, be all. Absolutely not. But how much simpler can it get to introduce someone to the "dark side" of vinyl that's just as big a hole in the water as a boat?? Anyhow.....the products that I’m all gacked about is “The Fifteens” and the “Forte III”. One of those systems is gonna be in my house by the end of 2017. Most likely it will be The Fifteens since I can get a turntable and be back in the vinyl game. Ohhhhh yeah baby. Going down (again) that rat hole. So help me out. One of you old farts buy my Cornwalls. Sorry, they have no sonic character marks. Oh - sorry for the soap box. That's what old farts in retirement do. Tom

IMHO......you're missing the big picture with this product's focus. The audio industry is facing a significant challenge - i.e. how to develop audio lovers given the current generation and future generations where folks are not interested in sitting in a quiet space and relaxing with an immersive audio experience. You either keep on doing what you've been doing and last until the last baby boomer is dead - OR - you can develop a product(s) that is simple, easily to use, non-intimidating yet makes the end user go "OMG! Is that what it's suppose to sound like?" And once you have that fish on the line, you can slowly introduce them to the world of HiFi. Tom

These are a couple of my favs http://www.homecrux.com/2017/01/10/60011/ces-2017-furrion-elysium-luxury-rv-comes-with-a-mini-helicopter.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL_ybU3Pu2o The only feature I'd add to the ornament is for it to display a sad smilie face when the recipient doesn't like the gift. LOL Tom

Dang.....we might have something in common. In my divorce, the Cornwall's and some other gear (and my clothes) was about all da judge said I could have - well....and the debt. I sent ya a PM. Tom

Yep - you be right. And I be braindead. Thanks for catching my faux pas. I corrected the OP. Tom

Thanks for the interest. I've edited my post to tell where I live. As you can see, you & I are only about 2 hours apart. AND - the wife and I just love to do weekend get aways in Charleston (hint, hint ). Tom

Thanks for the feedback and info. Tom

I apologize for appearing to double post my speakers for sale. Just wanted to ensure that interested folks knew about them For sale are my 1972 vertical horn Cornwall's. The cabinets were refinished by me some years back and they've had a stable life ever since. All the drivers are original except for replacement tweeters from Crites. The crossovers were re-done with higher grade components, but are the same as the original design. The speakers are consecutive serial numbers and I'd rate them as a 9 out of 10. They work perfectly and if one wanted to hear them, it would only take some back breaking lifting to get them to a source. I've been away from this forum and audio in general for so long that I'm not really sure what they're worth. Ideally I'd like to get $1100. I've tried to get a reading on what's a fair price and honestly come up empty handed. Maybe I don't know where to look. So I'm open for feedback. And don't be a smarty saying they're only worth a dolla two ninety eight. I didn't fall off the compost wagon yesterday. Anywho....I'm willing to negotiate, but since I don't HAVE to sell them, I'm not gonna give them away. Since I don't hang out here much anymore, the best way to contact me would be via my home email. td3adams - at - centurylink - dot - net. Oh.....forgot to add where I live. I live just outside of Hinesville, GA which is about 30 miles southwest of Savannah, GA. Thanks!! Tom

Hey Jim......I sent you a note. Tom

Hello - I've decided to sell my 1976 vertical horn Cornwall's if you (or anyone else for that matter) are interested. The cabinets were refinished by me some years back and they've had a stable life ever since. All the drivers are original except for replacement tweeters from Crites. The crossovers were re-done with higher grade components, but are the same as the original design. The speakers are consecutive serial numbers and I'd rate them as a 9 out of 10. I've been away from this forum and audio in general for so long that I'm not really sure what they're worth. Ideally I'd like to get $1100. I'm willing to negotiate, but since I don't HAVE to sell them, I'm not gonna give them away. Since I don't hang out here much anymore, the best way for you or anyone else that's interested would be to contact me via my home email. td3adams - at - centurylink - dot - net. Thanks!! Tom

To all those who looked at this post - Thank You! To all those who said complimentary things - Thank You! To Coytee - Thank You (I think??) To Bill and (ironically) Bill - y'all are the winners. I'll be emailiing you guys shortly and we can work out the shipping. Last, but not least, to the folks that looked at my Cornwalls but never bought nor made an offer - y'all are some cheap sumbitches. ROTFLMAO.......... Tom

Well.....my Cornwalls didn't have any takers so I'm gonna throw some chum in the waters and see what happens (yes - I still got the Cornwalls). OK - here's the deal. I've got a couple of pieces of DVD audio gear that I'm never gonna use and I want them GONE but to go to a good home. So for the price of shipping, they are...... Are you ready for this??? FREE! Here's the catch (there's always a catch, right??) - you name what you want and you can ONLY GET ONE (don't be greedy), you pay shipping, you get the item, and then YOU decide what it's worth to you and you send that to me. If it's $20 or $2 or a thank you card or a picture of your dog (sorry - don't like cats) or whatever. And if you feel compelled to send me flowers, I prefer Tulips or yellow roses. But you gotta send me something or else Karma will see to it that you loose all your hair. This sounds like a joke but I'm serious. This stuff needs to go!!!!!!!!! Email me at td3adams@centurylink.net. So here's your choices: Denon DVD-2900 or Denon DVD-5000. Here's the DVD's

Now the right one with a pic of the damage I spoke about.

I managed to catch the Cornwalls sleeping and shot a few photos. Left one first.

Never thought I'd do this, but it's time to scale back and let someone else enjoy that which I have, yet no longer use too much. Like many of you here I'm gonna let the Klipsch faithful (and those new to Klipsch) have first crack at them. - Year model: 1973 - Serial No.: 2K655 & 2K656 - Woofers: Both original and in perfect condition - Mid Horns: Both original and in perfect condition - Tweeters: Both original and in perfect condition - Crossovers: Rebuilt using Crites components - Finish: Oiled Walnut. When I got them they had some minor water stain issues. I hand sanded to remove the spots, finished sanding both cabinets with progressively finer paper ending at 1500. I then hand rubbed I think three coat of boil linseed oil and buffed. There's only one issue on one cabinet that I'm not fond of and that's a bit of Walnut banding coming loose. Honestly, I've just been too lazy to repair it. Plus, it's on the lower corner and one can't see it from 3 feet away. I'd give them a 9 out of 10 for that reason. - Other: I installed additional speaker connectors in order to use banana plugs. However, the original speaker connectors are still in place. They also have risers. Asking: $1000 for the pair, but I'm open to offers. Just don't insult my Cornwalls (they're sensitive) and say you'll take them off my hands for $800. I'm willing to negotiate shipping and/or delivery. I live just outside of Savannah, GA. Sorry I've not included photos, but the speakers were too shy to have their picture taken. I think their Dad knows he's trying to find them a good home. I will post some pics and will email more if you're interested. Since I don't hang out here much, please email me at one of two addresses: td3adams@centurylink.net -or- tom.adams.iii@gulfstream.com If you wish to talk, just send me a message and I'll get back to you. Thanks!! Tom

What I'd like to know is why (how?) a folly artist decides to make a rubber tire "squeal" when someone peels out on dirt. WTH??? I've ridden dirt bikes all my life and driven a couple off-road cars and I never got my tires to squeal on dirt.

I don't post here much anymore, but I do lurk often. Not sure why the "audio bug" has dwindled in me a bit, but it has. However, music still olds a special unique place in my life. Recently I was having a conversation with a buddy and it triggered a thought that I felt you guys would probably understand. I guess music (practically ALL music) has been important because I heard it in my house from the beginning of my existance on this Earth. The sounds ranged from my Dad's strumming a banjo to Mom singing to my oldest sisters 45's & Beatles records. I don't really remember this, but my Dad said I whittled a pair of drum sticks out of a couple of tree branches, then collected various cardboard boxes for their "tune" and made a drum set. LOL..... Bet they didn't stay in tune for long. ARGH.....the dreaded piano lessons, watching my oldest sing & act in little theater productions, playing trombone from the 6th grade all the way through college culminating in the pinnacle of my music career being second trombone in the almost world famous Art Cissle and The Stardusters big band! Hey don't laugh - some of those American Legions could get really wild! LOL..... Anyhow - back to the topic. Anyone else hear a song and it reminds you of a specific time, place or event? I'll share one. The Doobie Brothers - Black Water. I was in the back seat of my '68 Camaro Rally Sport with Sherry Kingston (first girl I ever kissed) and we were parked on a beach turn out parking area on Hwy 90 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The sky was clear, a warm breeze off the gulf, the windows open and a Doobie Brothers tape in my Craig 8-Track stereo. Tom

Sorry......I know I don't post here much anymore, but I do lurk from time-to-time. Anywho...... I was wondering if any of you Reference Series experts can tell me which model these speakers are. I know they're not RF38902's as the ad says and I don't think they're RF-7's judging by the woofer size. http://savannah.craigslist.org/ele/4754291535.html Thanks!! Tom

No - but I guess I can take some. I just figured if anyone wanted to know what they looked like they could go to the Denon and/or Crown website. Tom