How does Klipsch rate?

[Travis In Austin]

I think there are a couple of issues being discussed here.

One relates to marketing/sales. What Klipsch could/should do to accomplish (fill in the blank). I don't kmow enough about their budgets to be able to say what is and isn't possible. I see they have had news announcemts about supporting small live venues, and new artists.

The other issue appears to be preserving the history of PWK and Klipsch and Associates and that will be accomplished with the new Klipsch Musuem (announced at the Pilgrimage by Jim Hunter) in conjunction with the help of Forum members. Klipsch is dedicated to establishing a permanent home for the artifacts and archives in Hope, and so is Mr. Hunter. This will ensure PMK's legacy is preserved right in Hope.

Efforts are already underway to rebuild or mend relationships with any organization that has shown an interest in devoting space to that memory, as well as establishing new relationships to expand the opportunities to share the story about PMK and his company.

Many announcements are coming, and thing are happening very quickly, but I am very excited about the future. Keepers of the flame, I like that, but I wonder if Keepers of the Legend would be more appropriate?

[oldtimer]

Fred S. Klipsch and his wife, Judy, purchased Klipsch & Associates from Paul in 1989, moving business operations to their hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana

 

That's what I thought.  It was not too long after that, under Fred's management, that Marvin Electronics in Ft. Worth stopped selling Klipsch, for what was relayed to me as a dispute between them and the company about ramming down the retailer's throat what they would have to stock or not.  This was a retailer that gave Klipsch a good exposure and selling experience.  This is the same Fred that seems more interested in supporting political candidates in concert with the Koch brothers than running the best American made speaker company that he purchased. 

Edited May 31, 2016 by oldtimer

[dtel's wife]

Fred has since sold Klipsch to VOXX. Fred is now on the Board of Directors for VOXX.

[eth2]

Moving a headquarters to a major city has become a necessary strategy to attract and retain top talent. While it is possible to keep the craftspersons who build the speakers in Hope, marketing, finance, sales, and other professionals will not relocate to small rural communities. Also, I am sure there is a need for integration of the employees of Klipsch with the other components of the parent company which would be more difficult without the relocation. Younger employees seek out active social lives, parents want their children to go to top elementary and secondary schools. These needs are more difficult to provide in rural communities. 

 

This is not a knock on Hope. After all they produced a President! Nonetheless, the relocation was probably a business necessity. 

[oldtimer]

Moving a headquarters to a major city has become a necessary strategy to attract and retain top talent. While it is possible to keep the craftspersons who build the speakers in Hope, marketing, finance, sales, and other professionals will not relocate to small rural communities. Also, I am sure there is a need for integration of the employees of Klipsch with the other components of the parent company which would be more difficult without the relocation. Younger employees seek out active social lives, parents want their children to go to top elementary and secondary schools. These needs are more difficult to provide in rural communities. 

 

This is not a knock on Hope. After all they produced a President! Nonetheless, the relocation was probably a business necessity. 

Quoth the apologist.  Amazingly enough Wal-mart has survived in northwest Arkansas in oh so cosmopolitan Bentonville.

Edited June 1, 2016 by oldtimer

[Travis In Austin]

When and who exactly moved the HQ from Hope to Indiana?

Perfect question for Ask the Historian. He will give you the day, month, year. It was Mr. Fred Klipsch. If it were me, I would have moved it to Austin, with satellite plants in Maui, Newport Beach, CA, Palm Beach, Fla., Newport, RI, and Vail, CO. But that's just me.

[Travis In Austin]

Fred S. Klipsch and his wife, Judy, purchased Klipsch & Associates from Paul in 1989, moving business operations to their hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana

That's what I thought. It was not too long after that, under Fred's management, that Marvin Electronics in Ft. Worth stopped selling Klipsch, for what was relayed to me as a dispute between them and the company about ramming down the retailer's throat what they would have to stock or not. This was a retailer that gave Klipsch a good exposure and selling experience. This is the same Fred that seems more interested in supporting political candidates in concert with the Koch brothers than running the best American made speaker company that he purchased.

Good ole Marvin's. Great place, loved it. And where are they today? With the rest of the dinosaurs that couldn't scramble and adapt to the times. EXTINCT. I am sure he and Dr. Land (Polaroid), and Braniff employess sat around together talking about the good old days and how messed up the buyers and flyers were in today's market.

Digital smigital.

[oldtimer]

Marvin's adapted quite well by doing home theater.  It was the owner's decision to close up shop and retire in their old age.  They always had the most up to date equipment and products, always went out of their way to give the customer that personal touch, and went out as a success.  I think you are completely wrong on this one.

Edited July 23, 2016 by oldtimer

[Travis In Austin]

Marvin's adapted quite well by doing home theater. It was the owner's decision to close up shop and retire in their old age. They always had the most up to date equipment and products, always went out of their way to give the customer that personal touch, and went out as a success. I think you are completely wrong on this one.

Home theater? I wasn't aware of that.

Shutting it down to retire? I don't really think that was the case. I think when they were ready to retire the only option they had was to shut it down because the life cycle of the brick and mortar stereo store was in major decline due to stiff competition. Successful businesses either go to the kids or get sold off.

[oldtimer]

You're still talking off the top of your head without any knowledge of the situation.  Your response was.at best a vicarious defense of Fred, and still lacks any of the facts particular to the example.  i supose it goes without saying that you will continue to gainsay anyway.

[Travis In Austin]

You're still talking off the top of your head without any knowledge of the situation. Your response was.at best a vicarious defense of Fred, and still lacks any of the facts particular to the example. i supose it goes without saying that you will continue to gainsay anyway.

I am throughly familiar with the situation, on a macro level, the market, and the micro level, their location. They refused to go internet and decided to get out and pursue real estate. Which is fine and admirable, they realized they were in a shrinking market with increased competition.

This is the reality of the market at that time:

"Cue up the statistics: In 1998, The New York Times estimated that high-end audio sales totaled approximately $500 million a year. In 2010, the CEA says, sales were around $200 million.

Defining high-end audio is a tricky task, says Doyle. And "it's not entirely a matter of declined sales so much as sales being spread out across a wider spectrum of products and companies." He points out that price deflation and international competition also affect the sales numbers.

But "the key takeaway here," says Doyle, "is that the market has shrunk not grown."

And maybe, Doyle and others suggest, the audio market is moving into a metamorphosis — stereo-style.

On one channel: While the sales of high-end devices that deliver high-quality sound may have decreased, the sales of low-end devices that deliver better and better audio quality — such as those sold at big-box stores — is on the upswing."

It's a big box liquor store today, that keeps opening stores all over Texas.

[garyrc]

In my 37 years of owning Klipsch, I doubt I've come across more than a dozen people who know the brand.  Those that do, are more recent conversations.  Thanks I suppose to Best Buy and the like.

 

Edited to add:  That is, until I found the forum!

 

In my 34 years of owning Klipsch:

• I first found 3 other people who lived within a few blocks of my house who had Klipsch Heritage (Cornwalls -- they envied my Klipschorns). 
• Then I started to go to Drama Labor Day weekends with theater people of the Bay Area, and a participant from McCune Sound Services (Mort Feld aka Firstenfeld) brought several McCune owned Heresies (with modified crossover networks) to provide the sound.  Even with super loud rock, they filled a great, great hall.  That was in 1979 - 1985; I don't know what McCune uses now http://mccune.com/about-harry-mccune-san-francisco
• A friend told me he had experienced the most free floating sound ever -- Klipschorns in one of the 8 S.F. Bay Area stores that carried them.
• John Curl (Parasound) used to sell Klipsch at Berkeley Custom Electronics, and helped spread the word.  He also did custom engineering for BCE.
• When our audio facility was being replaced in the Psych Dept., I recommended Klipsch speakers (for 22 rooms, most small).  The then Chair told me that he and his friends has just bought a terrific Klipsch system for a couple who were getting married.  The Klipsches for the Dept. didn't  happen.  The lowest bidder offered something lesser that sounded significantly less clear than the 25 year old speakers we already had.
• The Cinema Dept. used Belle Klipsch for movie playback.  Some liked them, some didn't -- what would you expect with optical soundtracks?  The magnetic ones sounded better.
• The biggest Art House in Berkeley used a pair of La Scalas.
• A large record/CD store in S.F. had about 6 to 8 Heresies attached to columns that held the two story roof up.

So, when I was in the Bay Area, Klipsch was all over the place.  I left in 2004. 

 

More advertising in Audio magazines couldn't hurt(?) ... or the audition rooms several of us discussed on another thread.

Edited July 25, 2016 by garyrc

[Travis In Austin]

 

In my 37 years of owning Klipsch, I doubt I've come across more than a dozen people who know the brand.  Those that do, are more recent conversations.  Thanks I suppose to Best Buy and the like.

 

Edited to add:  That is, until I found the forum!

 

In my 34 years of owning Klipsch:

• I first found 3 other people who lived within a few blocks of my house who had Klipsch Heritage (Cornwalls -- they envied my Klipschorns). 
• Then I started to go to Drama Labor Day weekends with theater people of the Bay Area, and a participant from McCune Sound Services (Mort Feld aka Firstenfeld) brought several McCune owned Heresies (with modified crossover networks) to provide the sound.  Even with super loud rock, they filled a great, great hall.  That was in 1979 - 1985; I don't know what McCune uses now http://mccune.com/about-harry-mccune-san-francisco
• A friend told me he had experienced the most free floating sound ever -- Klipschorns in one of the 8 S.F. Bay Area stores that carried them.
• John Curl (Parasound) used to sell Klipsch at Berkeley Custom Electronics, and helped spread the word.  He also did custom engineering for BCE.
• When our audio facility was being replaced in the Psych Dept., I recommended Klipsch speakers (for 22 rooms, most small).  The then Chair told me that he and his friends has just bought a terrific Klipsch system for a couple who were getting married.  The Klipsches for the Dept. didn't  happen.  The lowest bidder offered something lesser that sounded significantly less clear than the 25 year old speakers we already had.
• The Cinema Dept. used Belle Klipsch for movie playback.  Some liked them, some didn't -- what would you expect with optical soundtracks?  The magnetic ones sounded better.
• The biggest Art House in Berkeley used a pair of La Scalas.
• A large record/CD store in S.F. had about 6 to 8 Heresies attached to columns that held the two story roof up.

So, when I was in the Bay Area, Klipsch was all over the place.  I left in 2004. 

 

More advertising in Audio magazines couldn't hurt(?) ... or the audition rooms several of us discussed on another thread.

 

 

It seems like in the late 70s there were 3 or 4 full stocking dealers within 10 minutes of each other in the South Bay area.  Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and on and on. 

 

But I don't think "MATTHEWS, Top of the hill, Daly City" carried them.

[garyrc]

It seems like in the late 70s there were 3 or 4 full stocking dealers within 10 minutes of each other in the South Bay area. Berkeley, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and on and on. But I don't think "MATTHEWS, Top of the hill, Daly City" carried them.

 

Right.  There were four full line Klipsch dealers in Berkeley (Berkeley Custom Electronics, a shop the name of which I forget on College Avenue, Christopher's Audio and the Good Guys, believe it or not), one in Oakland (Pro Audio), in San Francisco, The Listening Post, another one in West Portal (for a while), and Poor Richard's.  So, a total of 8.  I didn't get to San Jose very often, but I remember there was at least one there, bringing the count to 9.  "MATTHEWS, Top of the Hill, Daly CIty" was a laughing stock, as it seems you know.  My new girlfriend (now wife for 41 years) and I hit the road one day and drove down to UC Santa Barbara, where she got her BS.  We went into a big shopping center and found a store with a lot of excellent stuff, including Klipsch Heritage, room treatments, and an Altec AcoustoVoicette 1/4 octave equalizer.  I didn't own Klipsch yet, but was able to introduce her to the Klipschorn sound in that store.  It seemed that Klipsch was everywhere.  A few years later, Rolling Stone picked Klipschorns as the best speakers to have in one's dream system.  A few years after that, Playboy's Moving up in Style also picked them, as the "best without question," based on the input of a New York dealer.  That year we bought a pair, which we've had for 34 years.  About 2005, my wife helped me take them apart and install AK4 upgrades and the K401 horns, as well as building a new High Hat for our flush mounted Belle center channel, with a K401 in it, as well as helping me design our music room/home theater.  She built and stained diffusors for it, and helped solve many problems in the room build.  She likes that kind of work, music, movies, and Paul Klipsch stories, so it all worked out well, thanks, in part, to Klipsch.

[Marvel]

^^ Great story, Gary!