Klipsch at Wal-Mart

[TBrennan]

Save for Horn Ed, who's reasons make sense, I can't see why some of you guys wouldn't buy Klipsch from WalMart. It's just a product, what's the difference where you get it? Are you buying a speaker or a status-symbol?

[John Warren]

Hold on Tom, I'm not so sure! I can't believe there would be any "up-side" to this. Walmart suppliers adapt to suit Walmart business model, not the other way around. Klipsch paired with Goldstar, what a combo.

OTOH, maybe Freddies' building that big warehouse in Hope to hold the gazillion RF-7s they need to make for the "Blue and Gray" monster.

"A Klipsch in every Trailer"

[kenratboy]

Whats wrong with Wal-Mart. I will admit I do not like the fact that mom and pop get screwed. But it's the same with:

Home Depot

Lowes

ALL grocery stores

ALL drug stores

Chain book stores

Circuit City

Good Guys

Target

Kmart (285 stores closing!!!)

Mervyn's

etc...

We have ALL shopped at one of these stores in our life. It is a fact of life. Wal-Mart has unconditional return polocies. They actually know more than a 2-year old (WAY better than most chain stores)

I do not like the censored media, but al least they have the guts to sell guns. Wal-Mart has never dissapointed me. They accomidate, exchange, return, bargan, and whatever else they need to do. However, I have been a few ghetto ones in the Bay Area.

If they had Klipsch at a low price, I would buy.

HELLO!!!

FORUM

ADMINISTRATOR

GO

ASK

YOUR

BOSS

IF

WAL-MART

WILL

BE

SELLING

KLIPSCH.

IT

SHOULD

ONLY

TAKE

A

MINUITE

IF

HE

OR

SHE

KNOWS

FOR

SURE.

I

REALLY

WANT

TO

KNOW

FOR

SURE.

THANKS!!!

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Receiver: Sony STR-DE675

CD player: Sony CDP-CX300

Turntable: Technics SL-J3 with Audio-Technica TR485U

Speakers: JBL HLS-610

Subwoofer: JBL 4648A-8

Sub amp: Parts Express 180 watt

Center/surrounds: Teac 3-way bookshelfs

Yes, it sucks, but better to come. KLIPSCH soon! My computer is better than my stereo!

[justin_tx_16]

if someone misses kenrat's post i will

BE

A

MA

Z

ED

AND

TOTALLY

BEWILDERED

AT

THE

ABILITY

FOR

ONE

TO

BE

SO

ENRAGED

BY

THE

OTHER

POSTS

THAT

THEY

COULD

NOT

READ

T

H

A

T

!

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-justin

SoundWise Support

A technical help site created by me and my fellow Klipschers

I am an amateur, if it is professional;

ProMedia help you want email Amy or call her @ 1-888-554-5665 or for an RA# 800-554-7724 ext 5

Klipsch Home Audio help you want, email support@klipsch.com or call @ 1-800-KLIPSCH

RA# Fax Number=317-860-9140 / Parts Department Fax Number=317-860-9150s>

[T2K]

I talked to the audio specialist at my local Wal-Mart today and he said they were getting their Klipsch speakers from an unauthorized dealer in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Keith

[John Warren]

I talked to my Walmart specialist today too.

When she graduates from High School she wants to be an

astronaut.

[HornEd]

Kenratboy, Wal-Mart is the cutting edge of lower prices at the expense of nearly everyone and everything... it is all pervasive from the simple concrete block buildings of its headquarters to its bare bones corporate culture. It is a win at all cost strategy that goes far beyond any of the other firms you named.

How am I so sure? Back when Sam was still alive and touting his "Buy America when it meets my price criteria" program, my "think tank" was invited to explore the solution of a major paperwork bottleneck in Wal-Mart headquarters. So I put my prejudice aside long enough to see for myself. After a good hard look, I unilaterally withdrew even though our technology to solve their particular problem had no rival... and Sam knew it.

The nature of my previous business allowed access to many leading corporations at fairly high levels. I am trying to share my insight... not toot an old HornEd horn. I have had dealings with those in the inner circle that guides Microsoft and understand (and dislike) their corporate strategies... but Microsoft's corporate culture is nowhere near as insidious as Wal-Mart's quasi-religious zeal to be all things to all people for less.

Wal-Mart executives take pride in Spartan ideals and self-sacrifice for themselves as well as their army of low paid, low benefit, worker bees. It is a level that Sears, K-mart, and Montgomery Ward (the original department store) and the rest of the competition would seemingly rather die than match.

However, I can not blame Fred Klipsch if he can move boxes through Wal-Mart to build his company. My "think tank" company was lean and mean... with a waiting list of Fortune 500 clients. A manufacturing company HAS to move boxes to survive and grow... or be swallowed up or starved out by its competition.

Every product MUST earn its keep on the production line or face extinction... and that includes the mighty Klipschorn and all its Heritage. IMHO, Klipsch has done more for its customer base while still moving forward to be a survivor and growing force in this millennium.

Sure, we owe Paul Wilber Klipsch homage for starting it and setting the tone of playing fair with Klipsch consumers... but it is Fred Klipsch's understanding of the business jungle, how to pick and lead executives, and how to use his resource set that is making Klipsch expansion possible... while its rivals are in awe.

The trend in America is toward the creation of half a dozen specialty "mega-box-movers" like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Office Depot, Target, Toys-R-Us, etc. No volume manufacturer can afford to ignore the installed base of their product in homes and the floor of business operating costs that can be covered by the volume of sales these no-frills/price slashing behemoths provide.

As consumers who dote on the Klipsch sound, we must understand that the continuation of that sound in our marketplace means that our beloved company must have some strange bedfellows from time-to-time in order to survive.

For the time being, the U.S.A. is the greatest consumer nation the world has ever seen... and it did not become that way because Americans prefer to "Buy American" ...any more than the ancient Romans would elect to buy only products that were entirely sourced and fabricated in Rome. Rome became a world based economy in its world... just as we are in ours today. As consumers, we are not willing to make the sacrifices that Wal-Mart executives are as executives in the most fat-free corporate culture I have ever witnessed.

Does this fill me with grave concerns for America? Of course it does. But, until someone comes up with a viable alternative, global economic forces will keep milking our fat cow of an economy.

How fat? I remember when I wrote a graduate paper on economics that was downgraded by my professor (the Dept. Head) because it forecast a trillion dollar GNP (Gross National Product) for the U.S.A. in the coming year... and the professor thought it overly optimistic. For the record, that was the first year that the U.S. economy hit a trillion dollar GNP! That happened in my adult lifetime... and today, a trillion dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to...

I am just a little guy who had the luxury of swimming with much bigger fish for a time... and I have the scars in my economic hide to prove it. And as a little guy, Forum friends, I like to support other little guys... and so, while I can, I would rather spend my money with little guys. Sometimes those little guys are salesmen working on commission for a medium fish like "Good Guys" (or it's equivalent)... or buying a used Klipsch speaker from a private (little guy) party for a fair price to both of us.

In both cases, the little guy in question probably benefited more from the transaction than Klipsch did in making the speakers... and my little guy bank account went to helping other little guys trying to survive in the economic jungle that we ourselves as consumers have made possible.

Yes, I am not happy with our consumer direction as a nation or as a world... but I have to face the reality that it is the consumer who votes a market in or out with his/her purchases. As long as there is a drive to buy more for less in the consumer mind... there will be those who will find new ways to take their money. Wal-Mart is just the latest champion in a very long line... but now the stakes should be a world-wide consumer concern. Perhaps it is... but certainly not one that will offset the lure "falling prices" all over the store.

Yes, if Klipsch were only available at Wal-Mart and still had the sound that PWK made real... I would buy it... and remember the advice of my favorite attorney who said, "Ed, never let your principle outweigh your principal... and you can spell it either way in either position."

I must confess that I enjoy the many moods of consumerism I was never money motivated... my head was usually too far in the clouds... but my back pocket was always finding wretched excess in the marketplace. So, by what right should I cast the first stone?

By the right we have as consumers to wake up and buy responsibly... but right now I need a nap! -HornEd

PS: I believe this economic stuff is more important than my search for a better tube solution for my K-horns... but, frankly, living out a K-horn fantasy is a lot more fun.

How I envy the Q-man for all he has done that I may not have time to do. And fini for his astute Tag-sale consumerism, mdeneen for his enlightened circuits for less, and Clipped & Shorn for making art out of all of it. H.E.

This message has been edited by HornEd on 03-15-2002 at 01:16 AM

[fini]

I must say, we all are damn lucky to have HornEd here, sharing his thoughts so eloquently. He is perhaps the person most deserving of the oft used monicker (not talkin' Lewinsky, here), "Gentleman and Scholar", here on this board. Thank you, Ed!

fini

P.S. You all are right about the DVD's at Walmart not being censored. All of the XXX-rated DVD's I've picked up there have been fine. -f.

[kenratboy]

I think most people, like HornED (though he did bring it up!) understand the fact that Klipsch isn't going to stay in business by us on this forum, Klipsch will thrive by us going to a store and buying a pair, or HT make of Klipsch speakers.

I would say I am a threat to Klipsch because of my constant mension of JBL!

I know someone who has taken a part time job at Wal-Mart, and, well, its not that bad of a compensation package. They make $1.50 more an hour than they would at Target, Home Depot, etc. After 6 months, they get profit sharing privilges. It is NOT a bad deal, Wal_mart is probably one of the best places to have a part-time job if you want money. Oh, and Wal-mart isn't going Kmart way, they are opening more and more stores.

Oh, you may think Wal-mart is evil, but some of the local audio stores, including chains (GG & CC) and independent (Wild West, only a few stored in Reno) will try to swindle you and take advantage of you. Wal-Mart does not do this, and I respect them for that.

Also, someone said that if we buy from slimey, online retailers, why should we NOT buy from Wal-Mart? Well put, I order camera gear from the cediest New York City area camera stores, as long as they have the product, cheap, I will buy.

------------------

Receiver: Sony STR-DE675

CD player: Sony CDP-CX300

Turntable: Technics SL-J3 with Audio-Technica TR485U

Speakers: JBL HLS-610

Subwoofer: JBL 4648A-8

Sub amp: Parts Express 180 watt

Center/surrounds: Teac 3-way bookshelfs

Yes, it sucks, but better to come. KLIPSCH soon! My computer is better than my stereo!

[erdric]

>>So we would not buy Klipsch from Wal-Mart but we will buy from an Interent non-dealer that we know nothing about or some likewise yahoo on E-Bay?<<

Not a bad point guys...

------------------

Primary System:

Main KG-4

Center KV-3

Rear RS-3

Yamaha HTR-5250

Sony DVP-S560D

Panasonic PV-9664

Sony DBS system

Studio:

Main KG-3

Sony STR-AV920

Pioneer PD-4351

[peterm]

What's wrong with buying Klipsch at WalMart? Does Klipsch speaker sound affected by the store it sells? If so, then maybe we should buy Klipsch from a Beverly Hills boutique store.

[justin_tx_16]

i think the problem for most enthusiasts is the chance that Klipsch "sells out" and becomes a mass market speaker company like BO$E has done. Selling a high end speaker at a store that sells lawn mowers and eggs across departments just belittles the Klipsch "heritage". that is just MHO.

also... i am related to Sam Walton, have his biography. My great grandfather was... his brother or cousin, we are real sure about this yet... We think cousin, either way, I am a walton at heart hehe

------------------

-justin

SoundWise Support

A technical help site created by me and my fellow Klipschers

I am an amateur, if it is professional;

ProMedia help you want email Amy or call her @ 1-888-554-5665 or for an RA# 800-554-7724 ext 5

Klipsch Home Audio help you want, email support@klipsch.com or call @ 1-800-KLIPSCH

RA# Fax Number=317-860-9140 / Parts Department Fax Number=317-860-9150s>

[mike stehr]

Night, John Boy!

[Clipped and Shorn]

Like fini, I too have never noticed that the XXX DVDs from Walmart were censored (btw did you see the one about the blown woofer? arf !).

To continue,

Inspired by HornEd's, as always, gobal profundity:

All kidding aside, about the only thing I have resorted to buying at the local Walmart are replacement wheels (complete with tires) for my ever growing fleet of recycled wheelbarrows, used mostly for moving firewood to the house and many other chores around the ranch and gardens.

There was a time in America, not so long ago really, that you could get the local gas station or tire service to patch these little tires or patch the tubes that you sometimes put inside. Now the cost of that labor, believe it or not, is at least the same price as buying a whole new wheel and tire at Walmart.

So what is going on here?

Walmart and all those other stores exist because there are people in so many other countries working for incomprehensibly (to us) low wages. Because of this, it is cheaper to make new things that we can buy at Walmart than it is to fix the old stuff with local labor.

What happens to the old stuff? You toss it, just as you do yesterday's computer. The whole equation is ultimately an instult to old Mother Earth and his atmosphere and her oceans and her rivers, and his forests etc . etc. You try to fight this trend, but one is ultimately swept up in it, unless one becomes a total Luddite spending all one's time patching old wheelbarrow tires, which I did for years. I finally gave in, but I feel a bit guilty about it.

One has to live with so many contradictions these days. In a certain way , any embracing of technology is contradictory to some primitive instinct to stay tuned into the ways of the ancient spirit forces, the gods if you will, although in a sense, one of those spirit forces does rule iron, steel, and things technological, it is just that everything has gone so far ahead with this. It would appear that the trend is ultimately motivated or justified by the assumption that this Planet is itself an expendible resource and merely a stepping stone to some interplanetary destiny.

Right, so when we finish trashing this Planet, we will move onto trashing the rest of the planets and then the rest of the Universe? Something in me says this is sick and highly unfortunate. I also notice that our culture lately is on the fast track to accomplishing this diabolical goal.

The old (very much alive, even up to the 60's) discarded Utopian visions and clear (logical) solutions simply must be reinstated and updated with details regarding the delicate and definitely conceivable balance between nature and our various technologies. As mentioned before, the only obstacles are the ignorance, greed, arrogance, delusions, and power (economic and political) of the Blue Meanines, and you all know who and/or what they are.

Somehow we have to replace this politically enforced stupidity with a likewise politically enforced englightenment, which is to say I am growing skeptical about the ability of the average person, who struggles just to survive and keep up with all this consumerism, to spontaneously change the course of this cultural (consumeristic) and infrastructural self destruction. Inevitably we, Americans, may become very unpopular in the world if we do not find a way to lead this turn around.

I would like to believe there is hope, but frankly it is getting difficult to conceive of the plan at this point. I know there are those who are simply planning the inevitable and are devising the technology for colonizing "space". I am not so sure about the timing of all of this. It is hard to estimate. Is this Planet actually running out of time, or is it just me as an aging human, or both?

Another solution: Squirting that aerosol Goo into the Wheelbarrow tires {ah....mmm...}. First it oozes out the thorn hole, then it sets up and holds air again for awhile, then you throw the empty can into the trash and then to the land fill and then to the water table.....later on you eventually thow the whole wheel and tire into the landfill along with all that Goo inside, and later still, you bathe in water flavored by all that crap. What is that Goo, anyway?

Tonight is the debut of my new band (latin jazz) at a local venue. {fini will be the audio engineer}. Fun and hope. I continue to dream of various possible tube amp mods that I will learn from mdeneen and dream of the soon to be legendary meeting of HornEd, fini, and mdeneen, me, and other audio visionaries out here in the Bay Area and surrounds.

-twisted, braided, and wired.

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Cornwalls

currently upgrading

to all tube components

This message has been edited by Clipped and Shorn on 03-14-2002 at 04:30 PM

[TroyD]

Kudos to HornEd....I couldn't agree more.

Companies such as Klipsch often find themselves at a crossroads having to decide which route to take. Unfortunately, mass retailers is the hot thing right now and companies have to decide for themselves if that is the right thing for that company.

Having said that, corporate policies aside, I don't think that having your product on the shelves of WalMart in the worst thing in the world. Does it lessen the quality of the product? That is up to Klipsch. Does it harm the reputation of Klipsch? Maybe. I rather look at it that you are going to reach more folks with your product (one you consider superior to others) than you would ordinarily. Your loyalists, largely will remain loyal. The folks that will abandon ship just because they don't like where the product is sold, those will probably be fairly minimal.

My main gripes would be the same as they are for BB or CC. Piss poor auditioning facilities and folks selling them that know practically nothing. That problem is not Wal-Mart specific though.

just my .02

Troy

[mike stehr]

I just don't like Wal-Mart.

I have my reasons.

But, if they sold a good Klipsch product at a good cost, of course I would buy them.

I'm ignorant, not stupid.

What would be the limit of Klipsch lines that they would carry?

Well, my shoe tastes pretty good.

HornED, Clipped, Excellent posts!

THANX!

This message has been edited by mike stehr on 03-14-2002 at 04:31 PM

[Guest BobG]

Not gonna happen folks. Klipsch is approached all the time by bigger and bigger retailers desiring the brand. We don't know how to make money selling the extremely low priced product that is the specialty of such retailers. Now, we have all the respect in the world for successful giants such as Wal Mart. You don't get to be their size without doing a heck of a lot of things right. Anyway, it's not going to happen. You'll still have to go to a store that can demo product for you and can give you options and even their strongly held opinion on what you should purchase. Even if they sometimes do try to dissuade you from buying our brand. We have the best dealer network of any speaker company and we are not giving that up. Not gonna happen.

[kenratboy]

Thanks Bob!

------------------

Receiver: Sony STR-DE675

CD player: Sony CDP-CX300

Turntable: Technics SL-J3 with Audio-Technica TR485U

Speakers: JBL HLS-610

Subwoofer: JBL 4648A-8

Sub amp: Parts Express 180 watt

Center/surrounds: Teac 3-way bookshelfs

Yes, it sucks, but better to come. KLIPSCH soon! My computer is better than my stereo!

[matthew2]

Bob, THANX for that!

Although I don't like wal-mart, (my dad won't step foot in there for his own reasons) if they sold Klipsch, I might try to get another store to match their price.

Someone up this thred mentioned London Drugs, here in Canada. The store here is newer, and the room is very small, (my bedroom size allmost) they have everythinig on display that you could afford. However, I disagree with them having good service. They have no passion for audio at all, and watch me like I'm going to steel something. Their prices are all MSRP and are placed badly.

Does Klipsch have any...umm..Specifications that a store must meat to sell their product?

----

PS

Please ignore spelling mistakes...Im not to good at that!

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Matthew

Klipsch Rocks

[T2K]

Point # 1: This conversation is 30 years too late.

"Also, never forget that whatever lever you employ to hold another man's wages down is the exact same lever he is employing on you!"

mdeneen,if you lived closer I'd drive over and kiss ya.

Anyone ever heard of NAFTA?

Keith