Alex L

Are you referring to a specific comment of mine? Every implementation of ours is multi-year in nature.

This is obviously true for the most part, but there is something brewing with the "rich hipster" demographic that I spoke about earlier. I could see this type of consumer dropping serious coin on Heresys for that 1960s, vintage, handmade look...and just trust the Klipsch name that it'll sound fantastic. We'll see.

Bill, we have let you done occasionally in recent times and we apologize. Heck, we may even do it again. BUT, from what I have seen here, there has been a re-commitment to doing things right. Not just from a "it's right thing to do angle" but also because that is how we are going to stand out and, thus, make more money...and get Alex a big ol' raise hopefully I absolutely don't regret starting this thread. I can take it as good as I can give it! The conversation you had is exactly the battle we are fighting! Very simple, Dave. The Klipsch speakers with folded bass horns should be appearing somewhere on every single "must have" speaker roundup published each year. We are changing PR companies at the end of 2014. We'll see what happens.

One thing to consider. More and more people are moving downtown because so many cities (like Indianapolis) have made the urban center a great, fun, and safe place to live. This means apartments and condos - generally smaller spaces. Also, these small spaces often do not allow for real-deal speakers because they would get a noise violation every single night. Pissing Off The Neighbors is all well and good until the cops write you a ticket. You are right. I think you have seen us do that a bit but giving Heritage a lot of focus on social media. We can do more, of course. Chad is right. We are KILLING people in the REAL home theater segment.

Lots of good points in here! Nodding my head in agreement for most of it. We have gotten in front of hipsters as certain music festival as we partnered with Classic Album Sundays for Bestival and Camp Bestival. Amazing demo opportunity. The La Scalas LITERALLY brought people to tears. We also went to Nashville Food & Wine Festival where the average ticket price was in the 100s. We are definitely on that track. The problem is simple, though. The rich hipster is a target demo that just about EVERYONE is targeting, so these festivals are quite expensive. We obviously are not soley relying on people to tell the dealers what they want BUT it helps. Dealers THINK right now that everyone wants thin, small, wireless chinese crap. We need consumers help to let them know that they aren't satisfied with Sonos, Bose, etc. Dealers will always think they know customers better than us. We are trying to strategically place our high end product in new places and I think you will see a lot more of that in the coming year. Our Heresy speakers are already in Tanner Goods locations for their Vinyl Sundays events. Again, not cheap! We are often forced to buy floor space and/or provide the speakers ourselves. Our partnerships allow a bartering sort of situation. Again, more news this year hopefully. We do need to make it easier to figure out exactly where to demo Heritage. You are correct. Ah, you're a cheeky lad! I can't really even afford Heresys much less Jubilees. I'm OK with being poor...but not pulling-tricks-poor. It is very costly to develop a product from concept to final build.

Good point. I will see on Monday if Jim has an original copy of one of those hand outs. Would be cool to feature!

It was 50% at one point but we aren't quite at that point anymore. Looking to make moves in that regard.

Thread here where I tackled some things brought up in this thread.

None of the statements below constitute an official Klipsch statement. These are my personal opinions and thoughts. Please treat them as such... I don't post a lot here (always lurking, though), so I'm not going to pretend like everyone here knows me. In short, I'm the guy who runs social media for Klipsch. I have been the voice of the Klipsch Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Google+, etc accounts for almost three years now. Anyway, in the thread about the big launch we're having at CES 2015, things got a little heated. I don't like to run social media way the traditional way - kissing every customers butt no matter what they say. BUT I do take great pride in being a far more transparent and open representative than you would find at other consumer-oriented brands. In that spirit, I would like to tackle a few subjects and many more in order to continue this transparency and openness. This is gonna be quite rambling and incoherent, but I just want to get a few things out there. I LOVE Klipsch...This is my life. This is how I feed myself (sometimes) and put clothes on my back. I spend way too much time thinking about all of this stuff and that is the same thing for 90% of the people who work there. I love coming into work and it's not like I'm getting rich off this job. I love what the company stood for and what it stands for now. We Love You...From my readings here, I think people are feeling detached from the company here - that we don't care about out. This couldn't be further from the truth. We always ask "Well, what are the forums guys gonna think about X?" Did our marketing drift away from you guys? YES. We admitted that and have taken the necessary steps to appeal both to YOU and the grander audience that we need in order to survive and thrive. We Need You...You want Klipsch to make certain products? You want Klipsch to make more stuff in the United States? TELL YOUR DEALERS! Screaming about it on the forums does almost nothing. We have to make a business case to make a new speaker and that means dealer buy-in. The fact about Klipsch business is that so little of it is done directly. We rely heavily on our dealers to move product because we simply do not have the advertising or marketing budgets to move tons of product on our own. Paul W. Klipsch...Not a single day goes by, where someone does not mention him or his audio principles. When Mark Casavant introduced the latest line to the entire company, PWK was in his very first sentence. His audio principles are literally drilled into us every single. The engineers and product managers are absolutely instructed to make products that stick to these principles. Heck, I even have four photos of him in my so-much-better-than-Chad's cube. PLUS, many of our new marketing initiatives are centered around him aka "Good Poop" blog posts, our CES 2015 audio museum, brand video, etc. As a marketing department, we are working closer than ever with Jim Hunter whose wealth of PWK knowledge is ridiculous. Jim takes almost every single visitor/guest on a tour of Klipsch HQ in which he provides in-depth commentary of PWK and his speakers. All of this is why I take great offense at some posters here who act like we have forgotten him or don't care about his legacy. That is utter horse manure through and through. Heritage Sales...Certain people seem to take great offense still that we make products that aren't Heritage. Come on, guys! If we didn't make Reference, we would have to lay off everyone. It's really that simple. No one, past or present, would/should/could want that. The ugly truth is that many/most companies would just shut down the line and move on. I know a lot of you guys recognize this already, so I apologize if it seems condescending. We would love to expand on the Heritage line but there needs to be a business case. It doesn't matter if someone from the past would be in charge. The situation would be the same. We can't just make every awesome speaker we think of, unfortunately. Made in America...Reading the above paragraph, one might think "Oh, Alex is a young punk who hates Heritage and just buys a bunch of Chinese-made crap." Deep breath! I love, love, love our Heritage line and Made in America products. I am actually saving up for Heresy speakers that I will surely pass down to my kids (if that ever happens). Oh and right now I am wearing a Gitman shirt, Flint & Tinder denim, Flint + Tinder underwear, and Chippewa Boots - all products made in America. The initiative with the Made in America blog series and partnerships with companies like Tanner Goods, Woodchuck USA, Imogene + Willie, etc is my baby and it's an initiative that has backing from everyone. We want to make more stuff in America. Even Vlad and the headphone team are looking for creative ways to get Hope involved. We'll see what happens. Heritage Opportunity...We have a unique opportunity to take advantage of a growing consumer segment - the hipster with disposable income. A popular trend right now is buying handmade and American-made products that, yes, are a little more expensive than the comparable made in China product. Our friends Tanner Goods charge $450 for their Portland-made backpack and they sell quite a few of them! It's quite remarkable. With our current Heritage lineup, we have a unique opportunity to target these consumers. We are looking for unique channels of distribution for Heritage that goes beyond audio-specific dealers. Heritage Marketing...There is a ridiculous misconception that we haven't marketed Heritage products at all and that's why they're not selling. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I don't know how many of you follow our social media channels or blog, but we talk about our Heritage speakers a ton. Also, be sure to check out the relatively new video we made for the line. Plus, our partnership with Classic Album Sundays is centered around the Heritage Series. If you don't know what it is, CAS is special listening sessions in certain parts of the world where you listen to an album all the way through with Klipschorns or La Scalas and a speaker guest speaker explaining the album. These events are great, but they are expensive, so we can't do it in as many places as we'd like. Klipsch Professional...We are making a new push with Klipsch Professional. We have great opportunities to grow here. You should see a lot of cool stuff coming through this department in the next few years. A lot of the growth will also be done behind the scenes. Concepts...Sometimes we make concepts that we aren't allowed to talk about with you guys. These can be Hope-built products that would certainly peak a lot of your interests. Sometimes, these get canned for lack of dealer support. Watch both our own and third party of the Klipsch at CES carefully! Chad and I are asking for permission to show you guys stuff, so we can drum up support for certain things, but no promises. Website Homepage...Our website currently features a bunch of products that aren't favorites here. That's because they are on discount and we have rarely ever done discounts directly through our website. It is an experiment. In any case, website hero slides will go back to our more heritage-y marketing that we all prefer on 1/1/2015. This industry is tough for high-end...Here's a little taste of the market for you. The average selling price for soundbars + bluetooth speakers dropped over 40% in only year! Isn't that crazy? We don't do the low-end market particularly well and we recognize that. In fact, we have recommitted to the high-end market. See this recent article from the Indiana Business Journal. Mistakes...We have made mistakes both in products and in marketing. There is absolutely not denying it. BUT I think everyone here is really going to like the direction we're going in both these departments going forward. Things have change SIGNIFICANTLY in the three years I've been here and I think, now, it's finally for the better. Soundbars...If you read the article above, you will know that CEO Paul Jacobs said "You can’t replace the experience of a premium home theater system with a sound bar.” Everyone here should be VERY happy about that statement and it's absolutely true. We are committed to superior home theater and two channel solutions. That's our bread and butter. That being said, our soundbars do sound great. I know from personal experience that people on these very forums thought they were hearing professional Klipsch speakers but it was actually a R-20B soundbar. So, with that in mind, let's not always scream and shout that these products can't possibly sound any good, please. No Voxx, No Klipsch...I can't go into too much detail but the reality is that when Fred Klipsch (who PWK sold the company to) decided to sell Klipsch, there were two choices - Klipsch lives through Voxx or it dies an unrecognizable death. I know many of you have fears they will run us into the ground, but, at this point, it is what it is and we ALL need to make the best about it. It's been what - 4 years? Time to move on. Criticism...Parts of this post probably come off as me being quite butt hurt and unable to take any criticism. Part of that is true haha! I should let more things go, but I think that also does show how much I care about this place. Anyway, criticism does make us better. It definitely does. That being said, sometimes this place can be brutally negative even when it doesn't make any sense. We need you guys to be part of the solution. Anyway, I hope this was worth reading in some way. I really hope it didn't come off as dick-ish or condescending. I know a lot of you recognize already what I just typed out. I am just trying to be open and honest. If you have any questions, fire them over. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Again, none of the statements above constitute an official Klipsch statement. These are my personal opinions and thoughts. Please treat them as such.

to be perfectly honest I Dislike the new line. Now obviously people can say all day I don't work for Klipsch. But as a so called "advisor" as I talk to tons of people and push klipsch products like it is my dang job, I get asked so many times about the new reference stuff at best buy. It is irritating cause I have to explain that it is not the same as the reference ii stuff. The prices are so close and I think Klipsch did a good job of getting into pockets of people as they are now selling "reference" stuff to everyone. I just think, to me, they kind of cheated people. Because for a small percentage more, the reference ii stuff is much superior. All my opinion if course. Everything will make sense in due time, my friend.

That's definitely fair.

Yawn. You don't work here, so don't act like you know what's happening inside these walls. Quite frankly, it's insulting to me and everyone who actually cares about the company. Alex: if you feel insulted that is your problem to own and to deal with and your attitude is as I see it just the tip of the problem iceberg where you work. It is not difficult to see on your site and in the shops what the company you are working for is promoting. Frankly I find it insulting that you presume to know how I feel about Klipsch. I have deep respect for the company that PWK started and ran. If I see the company that you work for do a 1/4 of what Paul did and you will begin to earn my respect. Sorry but just because a corporation buys up a company does not give them a gimme on the respect that the previous folks built, you have to earn the consumers respect for yourself. I see you are doing a bang up job of that today. Yawn yawn yawn? Alec you better wake up you buddy are sleeping on the job. Best regards Moray James. Happy Holidays!

Yawn. You don't work here, so don't act like you know what's happening inside these walls. Quite frankly, it's insulting to me and everyone who actually cares about the company.

You're wrong on just about everything. Merry bleepin' Christmas.

You should hear them. David Wilkes really pulled off something amazing.

I vote for slippers.

Let me dust off my old PR skills.... No comment. ....

Introducing the NEW Klipsch Reference R-20B Soundbar: www.klipsch.com/r-20b PLUG AND PLAY The Klipsch Reference R-20B is designed to quickly connect to most TVs. An included digital optical cable connects to your TV’s digital output to the back of the soundbar. For the few TVs without an optical audio output, there is a 2-channel analog input. Once connection to your TV is made, you just plug the soundbar into a standard electrical outlet and turn it on. The built-in Dolby Digital Decoder takes over and allows the Klipsch Reference R-20B to automatically reproduce detailed, high-output sound in almost any size room no matter what format of sound is coming from the TV’s output. TRUE 2-WAY SOUNDBAR Two ¾” horn loaded textile dome tweeters with 90° x 90° Tractrix® horns deliver crisp highs. Four 3" polypropylene woofers round out the enhanced sound with crisp vocals and powerful lows. WIRELESS SUBWOOFER With a 10" side-firing driver and solid MDF cabinet with a slot-port design for deep, powerful bass. BLUETOOTH WITH APTX It is compatible with most Bluetooth® wireless technology enabled devices including mobile phones, audio devices and computers for wide-ranging use. AptX™ audio coding technology enables lossless, high-quality music streaming. COPPER CONES Distinctive Klipsch Reference copper cones and detailing make the Klipsch Reference R-20B a quality statement piece

When!? I am ready to buy one two weeks ago; promises, promises of a new one, but when? It's either the SB 3 or this mysterious 'new one'... Rick R-10B is already out. R-20B later in August.

Oh brother. The new Reference actually has a lot of the same tech as Reference II. Same with the soundbars. Times are changing. People want soundbars and we are the company that can actually make them sound good. 5.1 market is shrinking more rapidly than anyone can imagine. We simply have to adopt our tech into a new form factor. Tractix horns in both. Without lines like the new Reference, there would be no Reference II. No Heritage. Period.

Well, they're not "gold".....COPPER. Haha.

Hey gang, Drew Boyd is one of the guys who runs the Klipsch Gear Store and he is looking for feedback on what stuff to sell in the store. We figured we would make a thread about it, so he view/respond to your feedback because my guess is that you fellas are the ones buying our branded merch! Anyway, the first thing he wants feedback on is a pair of wood signs. They would measure 16" x 24". Are these things something you would purchase potentially? Feel free to offer up any changes or ideas for new merch that y'all would want!

No issue with putting it out there. Not keen on the name however. To me, reference means more than slapping copper woofers on a driver. The reference series was once meant to be the premier in home theatre by klipsch. The thx and palladium series has pushed the envelope on what it meant to be premier, that is fine. Now I would say reference means an introduction into serious home theatre, and the icon and quintets were meant to be the introduction to klipsch. These new reference series speakers seem to be an introduction to an introduction into serious home theatre without taking things too seriously.....?! The product line needs to be distinct from the other lines, don't blur the lines and create confusion with your established market base. I will agree though, more than 50% of people I have talked to have never heard the name klipsch, even fewer have actually bought klipsch speakers, and I would say less than .5% have attempted to go into klipsch upper eschelon of sound. This tells me that klipsch puts less money into advertising and more into R&D.... But this new shakeup isnt looking very fruitful at all... Just sour grapes... Hopefully the best showcase is left for later, the track record so far seems to be about 25% enthusiastic. The enthusiasm from this board for the new tier of Reference speakers isn't high, but that's fine because these products aren't really targeted towards y'all. We knew there would be some confusion initially with naming but we had to take our lumps at some point. Naming and products will be differentiated very clearly in due time. Like I have said 50 times before on these forums, 2014 and 2015 will be awesome for fans of Reference speakers and EVERYONE will be happy. Also another new soundbar coming soon...

More subs soon. Very soon actually.

For those wondering, here are the differences between Icon and this new line of Reference. All new Reference Linear Travel Suspension tweeter design for smoother, more powerful high frequencies. All new mechanical woofer design with seamless dustcap for minimized mid frequency diffraction and distortion. All new Spun Copper IMG woofer cone is incredibly rigid, with new design adding structural integrity for minimal cone break up at high excursion levels. This makes for even cleaner, more accurate low frequency reproduction. All new Brushed Polymer Veneer finish is exceptionally durable with a much more contemporary aesthetic over the previous wood grain vinyl of the Icon series.