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Your first Klipsch experience?


Harleywood

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1 minute ago, Gnote said:

Tasdom 

That might be the best score ever . I am officially Green with Envy. 

I had a pair of  Belles for about 4 years and loved them. Had to sell them for my next upgrade . I still miss them and wish I could have hung onto them . Some Day I get some back :D

 

Thanks, i shared that with @Youthman  when I got them. I felt like a southwestern version of him and he was like a proud father:)

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1 minute ago, Tasdom said:

Thanks, i shared that with @Youthman  when I got them. I felt like a southwestern version of him and he was like a proud father:)

I was thrilled to get a pair for $1200 and they weren't as nice as yours . I think my heart might have burst with a deal like yours :lol:

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I liked Weber's comment about tire-kicking.  An apt phrase.

 

My first K-Horn demo was in a university town far away when a friend dragged me to hear "something special."  In 15 seconds I was hooked for life on Klipsch.  I was obviously a college kid without funds or room for them.  The salesman was cool but must have identified me as just another low chance prospect.  Can't blame him. But if I went to grad school there I'd have returned for some Heresy.

 

Many years later I visited two Klipsch dealers in the Chicago area a few years apart.  I was very well Yuppie dressed, BTW, and was serious. One place was a little snobby (at least one of two  salesman) and in the other case very snobby (asked me to leave a Klipsch-Mac showroom because there was not a salesman with me).

 

What these people should have said is: "We can set you up with a budget system and give you a little discount.  Or if you can't buy right now here is my card, and come back in a year.  I'd love to have your business"  In this respect (forming long time relations and a high ticket item) the salesmen didn't have the sense God gave a goose. 

 

This is OT but I like the story told by a beloved professor of mine. Addition by edit.  This about a low cost investment in a long term relation.

 

He had some car which was stalling and he brought it to dealer A.  They told him he needed a new carburetor for a dear sum of money.  He didn't have the money.  So he went to dealer B.  They told him it was a vacuum hose loose which they fixed for free.  Maybe they said, "Come back and see us when you want a new car."  It was certainly implied.

 

Per the professor, for the rest of his life, he bought cars from dealer B.

 

- - -

 

I also like comments about PWK not talking down to kids.  I suspect he was at one time the ultra smart kid being talked down to. 

 

WMcD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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29 minutes ago, WMcD said:

I liked Weber's comment about tire-kicking.  An apt phrase.

 

My first K-Horn demo was in a university town far away when a friend dragged me to hear "something special."  In 15 seconds I was hooked for life on Klipsch.  I was obviously a college kid without funds or room for them.  The salesman was cool but must have identified me as just another low chance prospect.  Can't blame him. But if I went to grad school there I'd have returned for some Heresy.

 

Many years later I visited two Klipsch dealers in the Chicago area a few years apart.  I was very well Yuppie dressed, BTW, and was serious. One place was a little snobby (at least one of two  salesman) and in the other case very snobby (asked me to leave a Klipsch-Mac showroom because there was not a salesman with me).

 

What these people should have said is: "We can set you up with a budget system and give you a little discount.  Or if you can't buy right now here is my card, and come back in a year.  I'd love to have your business"  In this respect (forming long time relations and a high ticket item) the salesmen didn't have the sense God gave a goose. 

 

This is OT but I like the story told by a beloved professor of mine. Addition by edit.  This about a low cost investment in a long term relation.

 

He had some car which was stalling and he brought it to dealer A.  They told him he needed a new carburetor for a dear sum of money.  He didn't have the money.  So he went to dealer B.  They told him it was a vacuum hose loose which they fixed for free.  Maybe they said, "Come back and see us when you want a new car."  It was certainly implied.

 

Per the professor, for the rest of his life, he bought cars from dealer B.

 

- - -

 

I also like comments about PWK not talking down to kids.  I suspect he was at one time the ultra smart kid being talked down to. 

 

WMcD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gil:

 

You ever see the Klipsch magazine ad in a journal for dealers about a Klipsch dealer from the late 50' mabe early 60s talking about how he sold so many Khorns?

 

If people wanted to hear them he wouldn't play  them for them in the store, and he wouldn't quote a price. He said he would set them up in their house, no money, no deposit, he would pick them up in a week.  He would return after a week, 80% wanted them and kept them without even knowing their price.

 

I will see if I can get that article from The Historian.

 

TW

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1 hour ago, Tasdom said:

Thanks, i shared that with @Youthman  when I got them. I felt like a southwestern version of him and he was like a proud father:)

That most definitely was an incredible Youthman deal. 


My first Klipsch experience was as a teen, I used to go to Sound Advice and drool over the Klipsch and B&W speakers.  I honestly never thought I would ever be able to afford a pair.  While working at Circuit City, I purchased my first "Surround Sound" system which consisted of Polk RT-800 mains, CS-300 center, FX-500 surrounds and a Velodyne CT-120 sub.

 

It wasn't until many years later as an adult, in Jan of 2008, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a Velodyne F1500 with a pair of Klipsch CF-2 and KV-1 for $450.  I was only interested in upgrading my subwoofer but she wanted to sell it as a package so I offered her $250 for all 4 speakers and she said yes. 

 

Klipsch%20(1).JPG

 

cf2andkv3.jpg

 

Klipsch%20(16).jpg

 

 

I connected the CF-2's out of curiosity and was blown away at the amount of detail.  The Polks sounded soooo laid back compared to the CF-2's.  I immediately sold the system and it was quickly downhill from there.  I ended up purchasing many, many great deals that were too good to pass up (see list below).  Figured I might as well try as many different models as I could.  Since I enjoy photography, I would always bring them home, wipe them down and immediately take photos even before hooking them up. 

 

 

speaker-list-12-14-16.jpg

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My first Klipsch experience  was in early 60s. Living in Little Rock it was  a stones throw down to Hope where I met THE  MAN himself PWK and heard his Demo room set up with K-Horns flanking a Cornwall , powered  as I recall by Early Marantz. WOW!! what an experience! Been a Klipsch fan past 50 years.Have owned K- Horns, Belles,Heresy and currently

a pair of Cornwalls powered by Vintage Marantz. Its A wonderful Life!! Robin1940

Edited by Robinhood1940
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It was somewhere around the later part of the 80's. I was hanging out with my old brother-in-law. He was telling me that his brother just got a new stereo. He said he got some Klipsch speakers and some Carver amps. I new about the Carver amps, my brother-in-law had Bose 601's driven by a Carver cube amp..... and I thought that was the chitt... Anyway we made it over to his house to check out the new set-up. I walked into the living room and saw these rather large speakers.... he had four of them and two Carver cubes... He was telling me all about them... He pulled off the front grill and was showing me the large horns and the front firing 15" woofer and was telling me about the rear firing 15" pass rad.... I'm like OK they look cool.... but surly they can't sound as good as the Bose 601's:blink:...... So he powers up the two Carver's, he asked me "what do you want to hear?" back then I was a big time heavy metal guy.... I wanted to hear some Judas Priest..... he said "I'll play that later I want to put something on that has real good sound...... something with some real hard bass."  I'm like OK.... I forget what he put on 1st, might have been some Madonna... After the 1st track played I was blown away... I was like OMG... Well I wanted more... he asked me "you want it louder"?.... LOUDER I said... you mean these things can put out more.... He was laughing and said something like "You ain't heard nothing yet!!" He put some more music on and turned that volume knob to the right and got those Carver cubes LED lights jumping..... Those LED's were jumping up to the top.... man I could "feel" the music in my chest..... my brother-in-law walked out of the room..... But I stayed and felt every drumbeat.... 

I was so amazed at the sound those speakers put out..... and it wasn't just loud.... it was chest thumping like a concert!!!  I was also blown away that those little Carver Cubes could make those big speakers put out that much sound. Like I said my brother-in-law had Bose 601's with a Carver Cube.... but what I just heard was on another level... Yea that name stuck with me..... well both names Klipsch and Carver.... If you haven't guessed what the speakers were.... they were ChorusII's...

I new one day I would own Klipsch speakers and Carver amps.... 

 

 

MKP :-)

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One of my friends neighbors was talking about some Klipsch speakers when we were kids so we went to check them out. He was bragging about how efficient they were among other things i now forgot over the years, anyways turned out it was a pair of Heresy sitting on folding dinner type tables, i was not very impressed at the time as Dad had his Altec's along with a few other neighbors with larger and smaller Altec Lansing models.

 

It was not until i was older and was speaker shopping for some upgrades to replace my Advent Maestro's purchased a few years before did i come across my first set of Chorus II's and picked them up after spending a few months shopping around to make sure it was the right purchase. Still the Chorus II can outplay most anything near the price and even still have a set though they do not get as much use as they once did as i have moved on to bigger and better things.

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My first Klipsch experience was in the late 70's at a (High School) Party . There were a pair of Khorns playing and i was mesmerized. I don't remember anything from that party but the Khorns :lol: . Went into an United Audio store in Chicagoland (1994) and found some Fortes playing , decided I would save up and get them. Stopped in regularly to visit them and finally had saved enough to get them , went cash in hand to find out they didn't have them anymore but they did have KG5.5's listened to them and bought them on the spot . Lived with those for 2 Channel for years(My daughter is still borrowing them). Fast Forward to mid 2000's I join the Forum become addicted , buy many Klipsch ( Sell a few and regret each sale) . My dream was to someday own Khorns which has not happened but I'm pretty happy with what I have :D

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When I was born I came home to a house in Grand Prairie, Texas with one homemade Klipschorn: since this was at a time before stereo (early-mid 1950s), mono was then the norm.  My father was an electrical engineering prof at SMU at that time and had met PWK in the faculty club at the campus cafeteria several times. Since Hope, AR was not that far away from Dallas, Mr. Klipsch made several day visits for technical talks at the SMU EE department at that time.   He offered tips and pointers on how to build the bass bin and the high frequency horn, and my father used a second-hand table saw to cut all the pieces of ply and wood shapes to build that bass bin and midrange horn by hand.  All this occurred before I was born. 

 

I grew up with that Khorn until about 1966, when I decided that I wanted a telescope, at which point we sold the Khorn to generate funds for a 5" reflector telescope that I wanted for astronomy (which we still own).  At that time we didn't listen to mono--only stereo records, RTR, and stereo FM radio, so the Khorn had been gathering dust for a number of years while we listened to some homemade coaxial acoustic suspension drivers (with wizzer cones) that were driven by one of the first transistor integrated amplifiers that EV made.  That was the stereo that I listened to as a kid and teenager...and which was formed my sense of discontentment over its sound (which I didn't realize at the time)--the sound that I missed from that single Khorn from infancy/early childhood.  That drove my hi-fi itch--which is still present to this day.  I built several 3-way loudspeakers looking for that kind of performance, but was never able to duplicate it.  I kept looking for a sound that was like the real thing--which I knew was possible to have at home.

 

Later after graduating TAMU in engineering in 1978, I visited a hi-fi shop in Houston (this during the biggest of oil boom economies).   I already had the money for Khorns--which were set up in the hi-fi shop using some big Phase Linear amplifiers and using a center Belle in their "best" hi-fi room.  They were simply spectacular while playing Harry James direct-to-disc records and tapes from Sheffield Labs.  I was captivated and was zeroing in on buying them, but then my college best friend talked me out of them (I was apartment living at the time, and the Khorns would have been difficult to co-exist with my neighbors due to the propensity to turn them up--because they sound so good).  I bought AR90s instead, then a couple of years later, I sold the AR90s to him, and acquired Magnepan MG-IIIAs.  Looking back, that path of buying loudspeakers was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. 

 

It took me until the fall of 2007 after both my kids had entered college (whew...it's all a blur) when I finally invested in a previously owned pair of Khorn clones made by Gary Shinall in Spring. TX, which were beautifully made and are still located in my study.  Then a couple of months later, I invested in a pair of Klipsch Jubilees for the main listening area.  The rest of the story you can read about on this forum, including Heresies, Cornwalls, and Belles, with a tri-amped JuBelle upgrade thrown in later--until the K-402-MEH hit the scene earlier this year (wow). 

 

I still listen to the Jubs every day, all day.  I've found there is nothing that can compare with the sound of the Jubs (...except the center K-402-MEH of course).  That sound blows away everything else that I've heard--by a large margin.

 

Thanks again, Roy.  It's been the second best investment I've ever made and has brought me very great enjoyment for these past 9 years.

 

Chris

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I have had exactly two moments of audio nirvana in my life: The first was when I saw Cream play live for the first time (in March of 1968 at the Shrine Expo Hall in L.A.), and the second was the first time I ever heard a pair of Klipschorns (at a downtown Minneapolis audio store during the summer of 1976).

 

In the first of these life-changing moments, my best friend and I were standing in the audience about 25 feet from the stage, directly between Jack Bruce’s twin Marshall stacks and Ginger Baker’s drumkit (the perfect spot, since my friend played bass and I play drums), waiting for the band to arrive. When Ginger, Eric and Jack finally walked on stage, Clapton went up to his twin Marshall stacks and ran the edge of his hand along the tops of all the knobs on both amps, turning each and every control all the way up; Bruce did the same to his bass amps. My friend and I turned to each other wide-eyed and said in unison “Holy shit!” Then Cream launched into “Tales of Brave Ulysses”, and the first chord of the song was so loud, so powerful, that the air seemed to become the texture of cottage cheese, and it stayed that way for the next hour, until they finished their set. I had never heard (or felt) anything like that in my life — it was as if the sound itself was a living, tactile thing, enveloping you, making contact with every part of your being, getting you physically closer to the music than you ever thought possible. The seed was planted; I wanted more.

 

Playing in loud rock bands for the next ten years satisfied my urge to get as close as possible to music while I was playing my drums, but when I was listening to music for my own enjoyment at home I was never able to recreate that visceral, impactful involvement that I got from playing music live (or from that first Cream concert). Our band’s bass player (Bill) owned a pair of Altec Valencias, which came closer to it than anything else, but it was still a long, long way off.

 

After I lamented about this one day to our soundman, he told me “Man, you should go listen to some Klipschorns.” So on our next off day, he and I made a pilgrimage to the local Klipsch dealer in Minneapolis and told the salesman we wanted to hear the Klipschorns. Well, he took one look at us and knew he had a couple of rock n’ rollers. He took us to the big demo room with the Klipschorns and played “Magic Man” from the (then brand-new) first album by Heart, and the whole room filled with sound; the Klipschorns created an absolutely huge soundfield. Every instrument was crystal-clear, the drums had real impact, and Ann Wilson’s voice sounded like she was singing a couple of feet in front of me!  (Bill’s Valencias never sounded like that.) And the sound was completely effortless; it sounded like the speakers weren’t even breaking a sweat.

 

I told the salesman that I played drums and he said “Well then, I have the perfect thing for you”, and he cued-up the drum solo from “Tank”, on ELP’s first album. I was a big ELP fan and had listened to this solo so many times I knew every note Carl Palmer played, but through the Klipschorns it sounded like he was there in the room, so close that I could reach out and touch his drums. It was the first time I’d ever heard a recording of a drumkit sound like my drums sounded to me when I was playing them. But what happened next really closed the deal — the bass drum hits during the phasing effect at the end of the solo completely pressurized the whole room; I could feel them all the way into my chest. For the first time in my life I was hearing a home audio system deliver the same kind of sonic impact and involvement that I had experienced at that Cream concert. I instantly became a lifelong 'Klipsch-phile'.

 

A couple of years later (after the band broke-up and I became a productive member of society), I was the salesman at the local Klipsch dealer (back in L.A.) and was the proud owner of a brand-new pair of Klipschorns. I finally had audio nirvana at my fingertips (along with fresh copies of the first albums by Heart and ELP).

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6 hours ago, hsosdrummer said:

 

I have had exactly two moments of audio nirvana in my life: The first was when I saw Cream play live for the first time (in March of 1968 at the Shrine Expo Hall in L.A.), and the second was the first time I ever heard a pair of Klipschorns (at a downtown Minneapolis audio store during the summer of 1976).

 

What Coytee said........awesome post.... Welcome to the forum...

 

MKP :-)

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IMG_0128.JPGIt was 75 or 76 living in Arkadelphia.  One Sunday afternoon an old college buddy and K&A employee from Hope dropped in for a quick visit on his way home from Hot Springs.  He had been providing SOUND for a live band (Terry Williams aka TW) playing at the Sawmill Depot in Hot Springs.  When I discovered Jack was transporting LaScalas in the back of his pickup not another word was spoken, we just grinned at each other and were out the door.  Half hour later the loaners were inside and connected to my 10 cent receiver and I was experiencing Wet Willy, Poco and Pure Prairie League like I had never imagined.  I was grinning so big by this time my face was about to break.  I knew I had to own a pair of these someday and the dream came true after getting hired at K&A as a LS builder, then building and purchasing my very own pair which we still enjoy almost forty years later.

 

The build happened during the Christmas Break of 76 after collecting the best looking boards for months and receiving a cash present from Mom and Dad.  My roommate Gary, foreman over final assembly and one who had a key to the factory dropped me off and let me in.  Eight hours later Gary returned and the Pair had been built.  I signed the top of the bass bins and stamped the date (12 30 76) and my initals on the top edge of the back of the bass bin).  When the factory re-opened and we returned to work Gary followed the Pair through sanding and finish making sure they got the custom treatment including five coats of clear.  Gary completed the build using components he had tested and matched for a pair of Klipschorns he wanted but donated them to my project instead.  After a few days I was summoned to shipping after work to see the completed project on display.  After a while of being admired Alan (packing specialist) boxed um up, we loaded um on Andy's truck (shipping foreman) and Gary and I followed Andy to the house.  It was a farm house with no neighbors to piss off but lots of friends came out to give a listen.

 

I have added a Split LaScala for center, KLF 20's for surround and KLF C7 for rear surround.  

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It was the early 80's and our local small town High School had combined the Jr. High and Sr. High schools into a single school, so that meant that the school was becoming 7th-12th grade....as I was entering the 7th grade. On the first day of school I entered the Band Room the sound of Lynyrd Skynyrds Roll Gypsy Roll (One of my favorites that I would get to hear live renditions of the piano solos from the great Billy Powell numerous times in my lifetime....but that's another story for another time) playing loudly through multiple sets of Heresies hanging from the walls around the room. I remember thinking how great and clear they sounded and how loud they got...and was floored when I would later find out that they were being fed a mere 10 watts each.

 

Fast Forward a few years and long after I realized that I could play the radio far better than drums and that I was much better with tools than drum sticks... our Track Coach Mr. Byrd  came into the "Industrial Arts" Building and approached our Wood Working/Carpentry Teacher with a set of plans that looked like they had been copies of copies of copies.....degraded to the point that you could barely make out the measurement dimensions of the plans themselves. He asked if the class could help him build these large speakers that the school could use in the Gym, Cafeteria etc... for Assemblies/Dances/Pep Rallys. We agreed that it would be our "Class Project" and set about building these massive odd looking speakers. He provided all of the components and when he came in to assemble everything I saw the familiar name that was on the speakers in the Band Room...Klipsch. Once put together he brought in a Fisher Amp and the very first CD player that I had ever seen along with a copy of Eagles Hotel California. He fired that system up and I couldn't believe what I was hearing....it was like the sound just enveloped me and sucked me in. I listened to those odd looking speakers hundreds of times over the course of my High School days. They just pounded all genres of music at Pep Rallies, Talent Shows, Homecoming Dances....and played effortlessly. It wasn't until years later when I was dropping off a set of Realistic Mach Ones to be repaired that I saw those odd looking speakers on the showroom floor at a local Electronics Store/Repair Man. I asked what they were and was told Klipsch LaScalas. We had built a set of LaScalas...or at the very least something VERY similar. All of our children have gone to that same High School....and those speakers are still standing at the corners of the stage in the auditorium....but haven't been played in years. We took our youngest two children up to the school this past summer for a Meet and Greet with a local kid that graduated from that same small school that had just gotten back from Brazil with some Gold Medals for the US Swim Team. Ran into Mr. Byrd and asked about the speakers...said they were going home with him when he retires at the end of this year....said the school wanted them gone because they took up too much space......and he winked at me and said he told them he'd take them off their hands.

 

Since then I have acquired and sold many Klipsch speakers, KG's, KLF's, Epics, Reference...but have yet to dive into a set of Heritage speakers....just waiting on the right time/place for a listening room.

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2 hours ago, scallywagger77 said:

 the dream came true after getting hired at K&A as a LS builder, then building and purchasing my very own pair which we still enjoy almost forty years later.  

It's awesome that for the past 40 years you've been able to enjoy the results of your own skill and labor. I know if it were me I'd be beaming with pride each and every time I cranked them up! (Unfortunately I can barely nail two boards together...)

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2 hours ago, hsosdrummer said:

It's awesome that for the past 40 years you've been able to enjoy the results of your own skill and labor. I know if it were me I'd be beaming with pride each and every time I cranked them up! (Unfortunately I can barely nail two boards together...)

Amen to both :lol:

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5 hours ago, scallywagger77 said:

IMG_0128.JPGIt was 75 or 76 living in Arkadelphia.  One Sunday afternoon an old college buddy and K&A employee from Hope dropped in for a quick visit on his way home from Hot Springs.  He had been providing SOUND for a live band (Terry Williams aka TW) playing at the Sawmill Depot in Hot Springs.  When I discovered Jack was transporting LaScalas in the back of his pickup not another word was spoken, we just grinned at each other and were out the door.  Half hour later the loaners were inside and connected to my 10 cent receiver and I was experiencing Wet Willy, Poco and Pure Prairie League like I had never imagined.  I was grinning so big by this time my face was about to break.  I knew I had to own a pair of these someday and the dream came true after getting hired at K&A as a LS builder, then building and purchasing my very own pair which we still enjoy almost forty years later.

 

The build happened during the Christmas Break of 76 after collecting the best looking boards for months and receiving a cash present from Mom and Dad.  My roommate Gary, foreman over final assembly and one who had a key to the factory dropped me off and let me in.  Eight hours later Gary returned and the Pair had been built.  I signed the top of the bass bins and stamped the date (12 30 76) and my initals on the top edge of the back of the bass bin).  When the factory re-opened and we returned to work Gary followed the Pair through sanding and finish making sure they got the custom treatment including five coats of clear.  Gary completed the build using components he had tested and matched for a pair of Klipschorns he wanted but donated them to my project instead.  After a few days I was summoned to shipping after work to see the completed project on display.  After a while of being admired Alan (packing specialist) boxed um up, we loaded um on Andy's truck (shipping foreman) and Gary and I followed Andy to the house.  It was a farm house with no neighbors to piss off but lots of friends came out to give a listen.

 

I have added a Split LaScala for center, KLF 20's for surround and KLF C7 for rear surround.  

 

remember, i'll be right down to pick these up. same place as last time

 

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