bentl1

Actually, we were part owners of Beta Sound. They were exceptionally well built with some of the speakers (like the 1001) having over 147 separate pieces of wood. They were "time-aligned" also. Very possibly the best made speakers ever produced. It was the attention to detail and the extreme difficulty of their construction that eventually put us out of biz. There were even two pairs of mini 1001's made for proof-of-concept and to show potential dealers. I can't even guess what they cost to build as they were only about 14" tall ..... mind blowingly difficult to build out of walnut. Had the EV tweeter and a 4" woofer. There was zero cost cutting on any of the speakers, as only the very best electronics we could get our hands on was used. No shortcuts. The 045 model had a sweeter sound than the comparable "K" model. And the 1001 was a significantly better speaker than the corner-horn. I missed the opportunity to get a pair when I should have, and wound up with corner-horns. Not bad speakers, but not remotely as fun/accurate to listen to as the Beta. I actually knew Paul Klipsch and would go to his house (fantastic view from his living room with the two grand pianos) and factory before Klipsch went out of business. I still have the knife and BS lapel pin he gave me. I always loved the anechoic chamber there. (the stuff the new owners make under the "Klipsch" name they purchased, is admittedly a pale shadow of the originals, so check out eBay for the originals) Later on, I used to do commercial sound and even though I was a Klipsch & EV dealer at the time, the Betas were clearly superior.