Your first Klipsch experience?

[Harleywood]

For me it was in high school in the early 80's. I was in the band and the band director had a pair of LaScala hanging from the ceiling. We would listen to our recorded performances on them and two or three times a year we'd have a band party on Friday nights. We were allowed to bring our own music in LP format of course and Mark Wilson one of the drummers would bring his Harmon Kardon system up and plug it into the LaScalas. I was blown away with how much clear dynamic sound would fill the band hall being driven by a modest home stereo system. I vowed to one day own a pair of Klipsch and some 20 years later I bought my first pair of Epic CF-2's. 

[derrickdj1]

Hmmm, my first Klipsch experience.  Well, I had never heard of Klipsch or could correctly pronounced the name until I brought the HD 500 HT at Best Buy. The salesman told me about Klipsch. The HD 500 was powered by a 100 watt Sony 5.1 avr.  I liked it so much, one month later I purchase some Icon V bookself speakers.  I was blown away by how well they sounded.  The rest is history and in my signature, he, he.

[wvu80]

I heard a pair of Khorns in the exclusive upstairs room of an audio store in Morgantown, WV.  I was in graduate school and in 1980 It left a sonic signature in my mind that I still can remember to this day.

 

Now I own a pair, 36 years later. 

[Peter P.]

3 hours ago, Harleywood said:

For me it was in high school in the early 80's. I was in the band and the band director had a pair of LaScala hanging from the ceiling.

Your high school had a pair of LaScala's?! Some suburb you must have lived in!

 

I remember reading the stereo magazines as a teenager and when I was in the Air Force. The Klipsch ads, the product reviews; I wanted them and I hadn't even HEARD a pair!

 

Then, while in the service and shopping for my first stereo, I stopped at an audio shop in Starkville, Mississippi. You know how you would dare not enter the stereo rooms that had gear outside your price range because you weren't worthy? Well, that's how I felt standing in the room with a pair of Klipschorns in the corners. I timidly asked the salesperson if I could hear them. He put on a direct to disc recording of Steely Dan's "Can't Buy A Thrill" and played "Reelin' In The Years".

 

The only way I could describe the sound was "effortless". I remember the salesman telling me (above the amazingly loud but clean music) that they were barely consuming 1 watt of power.

[Travis In Austin]

4 hours ago, Harleywood said:

For me it was in high school in the early 80's. I was in the band and the band director had a pair of LaScala hanging from the ceiling. We would listen to our recorded performances on them and two or three times a year we'd have a band party on Friday nights. We were allowed to bring our own music in LP format of course and Mark Wilson one of the drummers would bring his Harmon Kardon system up and plug it into the LaScalas. I was blown away with how much clear dynamic sound would fill the band hall being driven by a modest home stereo system. I vowed to one day own a pair of Klipsch and some 20 years later I bought my first pair of Epic CF-2's. 

Did that school happen to be in Texas.  There is another forum member who has posted photos of that exact setup from a Texas HS.

[dtel]

Years ago there was a contest by klipsch for stories like this and I can't find it, there were some great stories.

[mattSER]

First Klipsch I ever heard were the ProMedia 2.1 demo at best buy. Even with those teeny, tiny little horns, I could tell something special was going on. I bought the ProMedia set and aimed my sights at a set a real floorstanding pair. 

 

By the time I landed my first big ones, RF-35s, I thought I had raised my expectations high enough, but was completely blown away! I had never heard speakers anywhere near this level of performance. I will never forget the expressions of shock and disbelief when I played "Enter Sandman" for my friends for the first time.

 

Almost 40 pairs later, I've settled on KLF-30s. 

 

[chriswhotakesphotos]

My friend was given a pair of Promedia 2.1s by his uncle when we were both kids, and even for their place in the Klipsch lineup they were some of the best speakers I'd ever heard. I still think nothing sounds better for $150. You also have to like that they've been true to the Klipsch mantra of getting it right the first time, it hasn't had a serious update since 2000 because they really don't need to change anything.

 

As much as I'd always liked them, I never got my own pair. But they're the reason I bought my first Klipsch floorstanders, and my second ones, and my subwoofer, and now my Heresies, so who knows what I'd be missing if not for those $150 computer speakers.

[ricktate]

Well it all started with the adds in Rollingstone then I heard Paul was going to be at The Stereo Bug in KC. Had my mom take to meet him and he gave me a hand full of cool yellow buttons he did not treat me like a stupid kid which amazed me.. Then the salesman turned on the K-Horns powered by that little B&O system that looked more like a slide rule toy  lol. Then I swore Klipsch speakers were  going to be in my house. It took me till 1980 though. First started with AR2ax then Altec Model 9 I think it was  [ below ]. I bottomed out the woofer on the ARs sold those after having them repaired. Then I sold the Altecs to a friend. Drove to a stereo store in Overland park and ordered New LaScalas with top grill. I really could not afford them but I scraped the cash it up some how..lol

[DizRotus]

I met her in a shopping mall parking lot . . .  oh you mean listening to Klipsch.

 

My first exposure to Klipsch was at Almas Hi-Fi in Birmingham, MI in the late 60s or early 70s.  They were Klipschorns powered by McIntosh.  Why not start at the top?

 

Exposing young people to the effortless dynamics of Klipsch was part of my motivation for restoring a pair of Ohio bar beater La Scalas for use in the band practice room at Birmingham Seaholm HS.

 

[Harleywood]

19 hours ago, dwilawyer said:

Did that school happen to be in Texas.  There is another forum member who has posted photos of that exact setup from a Texas HS.

Yes it was. I grew up in Pasadena on the east side of Houston. I couldn't tell you if any other high schools in our area had them. I never asked and at that time I'd never seen or heard of Klipsch but the iconic emblem and name on the front stuck in my head. 

[Harleywood]

10 hours ago, DizRotus said:

I met her in a shopping mall parking lot . . .  oh you mean listening to Klipsch.

Hmm… I'd love to hear that story as well. I'm sure there'd be quite a few synonym quotes like "wow and flutter, driving those puppies hard, you should see these babies bounce, I put a little to much into it".  Lol. You get the picture. 

[Coytee]

I've told the story before.

 

1978, a buddy & I walked into a stereo store in Fairfield, Ohio (Carlin Audio).  Ended up in their high end room and saw some funky speakers in the corners.  For the life of me, I could NOT figure out how they were putting out any sound, specifically bass...there were no drivers to be seen!

 

Loved what I heard but, too expensive for a kid heading off to college.

 

Ohh...what are THOSE over there?  (as I pointed to what turned out to be LaScalas)

 

"Those will be better contained since they don't need corners, you can put them in many more situations much easier"

 

I'd like to hear them.

 

As I recall, he put on some Emerson/Lake/Palmer.

 

My friend & I were a bit confused and the confused look was on our face.

 

They sounded stupendous however, for such a large speaker, it sure had teeny-tiny bass output....  I would have expected better bass response in such a large speaker.

 

I turned to look at the salesman (his name is Jeff and I remember this like it was yesterday)

 

His face was beet red as he was laughing at us...

 

Turns out he was playing the Heresy's which were sitting on TOP of the LaScalas.  He had done this trick before and evidently got some kicks out of it.

 

Ok, so we laughed and the joke was on us.  He then switched to the LaScalas....we were appropriately impressed.

 

As we left, I patted one of them on top and muttered to my friend "Someday..."

 

I bought my LaScalas the following year, they're 1979's and I still have them.

 

 

[Harleywood]

18 hours ago, dtel said:

Years ago there was a contest by klipsch for stories like this and I can't find it, there were some great stories.

Some really great stories here. I'd love to read some in the post you're talking about. 

[jfjacques]

I live in Southern Maine and there is a local seasonal amusement park "Funtown" that has an indoor ride called "Astrosphere" - it basically is an indoor twirl ride in the dark and has a great light show - in this "arena" they had and still have La Scalas in each corner they would play the instrumental parts of ELO "Fire on High" during the ride - left a permanent impression and everyone in this area talks about that experience and wanting "Speakers like that" - that was in high school - then while in college my girfriend's brother in law had a pair of Cornwall 2 with a Rotel pre and 100x2 amp - we stayed up all night listening to all kinds of classic rock and I was hooked.. went out the next week with him to the local klipsch dealer here in Maine and while my ears wanted the Forte - they had floor model KG5.5 on sale and I went home with those - NO REGRETS! The KG5.5's served me well and I still have them - along with Forte's too! 

http://wjbq.com/the-history-of-funtown-spalshtowns-most-unique-ride/

 

 

[wvu80]

19 hours ago, dtel said:

Years ago there was a contest by klipsch for stories like this and I can't find it, there were some great stories.

It was a Father's Day thread, maybe in 2015.

[TasDom]

Not my first Klipsch experience but this was my first Klipsh "Heritage" experience. I already had a very satisfying Reference surround sound set up but as most of us here tend to do, I look on Craigslist occasionally and saw this. I think I stared for several minutes in disbelief before I grabbed my phone. Still available after 17 hours on CL Maybe being in the furniture section helped delay the feeding frenzy.

 

 

I arrived at the scheduled time we set up and could only see the 4 tops in his garage. The dark marks on the top right is from me sweating while I leaned over them as it was very hot that day. They were extremely dry and in need of some oiling.

 

Leaned over to snap a picture of the front of one

 

 

I really went there with the intention of buying a pair as space was an issue if I took both pairs. He said "I'll knock off 50.00 if you take all 4............SOLD! I'm not really into flipping gear but I knew I could more than recover my investment by selling the extra pair. I did let the extra pair go after more than a year of them sitting in a spare room. I sold them for about 500 to 1000 below market value to a forum member and have zero regrets as they are now being used and enjoyed. The gentleman that I got them from had bought them new in '82 and knew what they were worth. He just wanted the space and was happy to see them go to another enthusiasts.

All loaded up and safely home. 4 fit easily in a Ford Ranger with the tailgate closed.

 

 

Some cleaning and a few applications of BLO. You can see on the end how dry they were before oiling in the before and after pic.

 

                                               Current resting area

 

 

 

 

 

[Woofers and Tweeters]

55 minutes ago, Harleywood said:

 

19 hours ago, dtel said:

Years ago there was a contest by klipsch for stories like this and I can't find it, there were some great stories.

Some really great stories here.

 

There are so many post I can relate to here, but this one is one I hope someone can unEarth. 

 

I can relate to the stuffiness that some sales people administered, then drove home in a Chevette...not that i blame them, there are a lot of tire kickers - me included.

My first experience was in a showroom where everything was dialed in from sound dampening to tube amps. Now look at me, an addict. Thanks Klipsch 

 

  

[Woofers and Tweeters]

8 minutes ago, Tasdom said:

 

Not my first Klipsch experience but this was my first Klipsh "Heritage" experience.

 

Such a sad story 

[Gnote]

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'll get some back 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Gnote
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