JohnA Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 I think Gil captured it pretty well. The letter to the Klipsches said we were coming to Hope for a visit and invited Mr. and Mrs. Klipsch to attend one of our gatherings at a local restaurant as our guest. Instead, we became their guests in their home. We all submitted an audio "resume" to show we were enthusiasts and not totally wacked. [:^)] I believe someone contacted the factory and requested a tour of the museum and if possible, a tour of the factory. Hunter did the tours and was a genteel host. On Saturday night Trey took up to some Cut-n-Shoot in Texas for dinner. The meal and hospitality at Old Washington State Park was very good. Looking at its website, it would be a nice weekend destination for a history buff. I still wear my Klipsch tie for some occasions. It is always a conversation starter. The paperweight, a photo and his obituary announcement make up a small shrine behind one of my La Scalas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 snip snip On a TV on top of the Belle they played Roy Orberson and other video. snip snip In the demo room, PWK was in his wheel chair and the guys were cranking the heck out of the system. My perception was that it overloaded PWK's hearing aids something bad. snip snip Wm McD Is Roy Orberson related to the late Roy Orbison? [][][][][] Why were guests of Mr. Klipsch abusing his system so much that it was hurting his ears? That was really uncalled for. If I had been there, there would have been some rude heads bumping against each other, and I never even met him. [:@][:@][:@][:@][:@] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Sorry about that spelling issue. Smile. We can all look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison for the straight dope. It may have been the Black and White video we were viewing and hearing. It was very impressive music. I'm more of a classical rock and classical music guy. But, wow. How do they get that swamp thing out of a guitar? It is now on the list of concert videos to test systems along with the always suggested Hell Freezes Over.. Maybe Trey was behind the choice? I may have given the wrong impression of the specific situation. I may well have aging ears along the lines of, "Turn that dang thing down." OTOH I cultivate the notion that I have golden ears which are sensitive to distortion -- hence a Klipsch fan -- and offended by over-driven systems. ("Yeah, right.") The specific situation was not intended by the knob turners as an insult to PWK. This was a small theater at the Hope factory with the typical stepped down seating. The Jubilee's and amps were down in the pit. None had any reason to anticipate that PWK would wheel in at the upper ground floor level. I was also reluctant to discuss anything which compromises our view of PWK. None the less, PWK was wearing two hearing aids and I think their electronics were overloading. Putting this in perspective, ear damage was not a matter of old age, but rather, young events. He was flying airplanes before there was an FAA. Smile, Wm McD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundthought Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I've heard this fine story before. Sigh..... Great rememberence fellas. Wish I could have been there. Glad you, my Klipsch Forum friends, have rekindled those great memories. Kudos to you, long time devotees, for your insight, thoughts, and kinship in this great passion of ours. Love you guys. As an owner of a pair of '57 Khorn monos, i'm constantly reminded of the lineage as it relates to the woodshed. One man, one saw, and a passion for good sound. Regards, John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 One could notice the strain in PWK's face whenever he listened to anything as early as the mid 1970's. It would seem when he was in conversation that he was studying the timbre of one's voice during the conversation, though. I am sure that his hearing was irreversibly damaged during his WWII years at Hope as an Army Ordnance officer, if not before then. All those years of putting his ears in front of horn tweeters didn't help much either. I am sure that by the time of the first gathering, PWK was easily able to have his hearing aids turned down if need be, after all, he was past 95 years old then. As for abusing a system, PWK was far more guilty of that than any of his guests would likely have been. I can remember him, coming into the listening room,turning on the equpment and while waiting for everything else towarm up, raking his finger across the stylus of the turntable with the volume of the amp cranked up, watching the guests jump out of their seats, and smiling as he said, "It doesn't hurt a thing, just knocking the dust off the woofers". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Merry Christmas Andy!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Reed Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 When PWK heard music he liked, he often wanted it loud. I remember at that same gathering, putting on a piece of symphonic music... He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and smiled. Believe me, it was playing loud. I remember several times listening to music in his living room that was a little too loud for my taste, but he was loving it. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Wm McD, thanks for clearing this up for me. Thanks to you other gents too, who echoed Wm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 That is Roy in the second pic, and that's me giving PWK a bottle of his favorite Irish whiskey. What a great day! Tony Tony. You look like an outlaw in that black leather jacket! Bushmills. Great Irish whiskey since 1608, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Of course we'll probably never know the cause of PWK's hearing problems. Maybe, as Andy suggests, it was work during WWII. At least this could be a contributing cause. One comment of his gave me pause. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/47124/445306.aspx#445306 In that article he reported ambient noise in aircraft as 103 dB and some up to 117 dB. And he had plans to use a K-500 in the airplane. Of course what made me wince is that he was considering a better loudspeaker rather than some over the ear headphones. Even in those days, headphones would have given 10 or 20 dB of attenuation, I expect. I'm being a lot more careful of my hearing these days. There was something on the local NPR station in Chicago last weekend. Yet another musician with hearing loss who has become an advocate and stated that current OSHA levels are not low enough. Best, Wm McD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Bill, if I may call you Bill?, I wouldn't give a flying **** for anything I heard on NPR. I can't stomach the NPR voice. Hearing loss is a fact of life though and there's not a soul who isn't affected by it as he grows old. You might be surprised you might not be surprised at the number of individuals in the music industry who have bad hearing. They are the ones calling the shots, musically speaking too! [8-)] [8] [:^)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I once read about desert tribesmen who likely never hear a loud noise in their lives. Even the elderly ones have fine hearing. Noise wears out your hearing, not age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Bill, if I may call you Bill? I'm pretty sure no, you can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Bill, if I may call you Bill? I'm pretty sure no, you can't. Fini, you old wood butcher, you crack me up!! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Gil, I too am trying to protect my hearing but unfortunately those years I spent near the stage at The Bottom Line Cafe in the 70's has pretty much doomed me in terms of my hearing. I count my myself lucky not to have tinnitus problems but I have lost some of my high frequency hearing sensitivity (thus my apparent lack of problems with my k-horns hot treble). Great memories of ALL the great rock groups of that period. Now I just have to convince my kids to protect thier hearing.....Regards, Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMays Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY???? Years of fire arms and loud music has doomed me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjones4841 Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 If I may chime in with my PWK "moment"... In Spring, 1971 PWK addressed the MS State IEEE student meeting in Starkville, MS. A good friend was the local Klipsch dealer (Steve Shepard, Ideal Acoustics) and made all the arrangements. A host of speakers and electronics were set up in the campus Physics building. Don't remember the details, likely a pair of K'horns with a Heresy or Cornwall, driven by Marantz electronics and a Crown reel-to-reel. I was an EE student at the time and cut a day of classes to drive PWK around between the dealer's house, the local Holiday Inn, and the campus. I had a Plymouth GTX car at the time, 8-track and all. I remember Paul telling me of a fella that mounted Heresys on the rear deck of his car. He told me that he had just quit running 5 miles a day per his doctor's orders. At the IEEE meeting, the girl that introduced him pronounced "Klissphh," I wanted to get up and slap her. PWK ran down the aisle at full speed, took one step with those long legs of his and leaped up on the stage. Of course, most of what he said was over the heads of most in attendance - vaguely remember a discussion on intermod distortion of woofers, dopper effect, etc. But I am sure that the following demo sold some Klipsch speakers to future grads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Bill, if I may call you Bill? I'm pretty sure no, you can't. As suggested by my friend, don't favor the term, Bill.. Gil or William are my preference. Now, (pause) Batsman Robin (pause) kind sir. We all like newcomers who have enthusiasm. And you're certainly one. Good to have you here. However we see that your posts have **** indicating some use of edited Billingsgate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billingsgate. Interesting etimology. We keep a civil ship here on the best gosh dang forum on the Internet; and there are ladies on board. Could you tone down the vulgarities? Smile. Wm Gil McD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Could you tone down the vulgarities? Yes, well said Gil.there are ladies on board.So be respectful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmans Robin Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Oh **** I mean oh shucks. I will use language that PWK would use were he still alive. [bs] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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