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"Phonographs are a caricature of music" (PW Klipsch)


MeloManiac

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Today I bought my first Klipsch Tape Reissue (vol 1). See below.

One of the tracks is a 10 minute interview with PW Klipsch himself. Very informative indeed.

Two of the things I learned after listening to it,  I want to share here:

  1. Up to now, I pronounced Klipsch with a 'sh'-sound at the end (the German way). That's wrong, it is a simple 's', so it sounds like the word 'clips'. 😲
  2. PW Klipsch is not a fan of vinyl records - phonographs, in fact he calls them "a caricature of music"...

Klipsch_Tape_large.jpg

Klipsch_Tape_Project_Vol_I.pdf

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47 minutes ago, ILI said:

Today I bought my first Klipsch Tape Reissue (vol 1). See below.

One of the tracks is a 10 minute interview with PW Klipsch himself. Very informative indeed.

  1. Up to now, I pronounced Klipsch with a 'sh'-sound at the end (the German way). That's wrong, it is a simple 's', so it sounds like the word 'clips'.

Klipsch_Tape_Project_Vol_I.pdf 341.16 kB · 1 download

Have you ever considered that MAYBE PWK was doing his "audio pun" thing when he told the interviewer that about the pronunciation of his name??...CLIPS, as in an amp that clips when pushed to hard??  He had a habit of interjecting puns into conversations with those unwary of his habit, in case you wondered.  I had many conversations with him during the 7+ years while I worked there, and he never once winced over how his name was pronounced when I pronounced it the German way...like EVERYBODY else in the plant pronounced it. He was kinda "PUNNY", that way!  By the way, he was the one who came up with the term "Klipschirt" for the most popular of his t-shirts for employees.

 

Klipschirt.jpg

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24 minutes ago, HDBRbuilder said:

He was kinda "PUNNY", that way!

I' m going to listen to it again, for sure. It was the female journalist who said Klips.

 

Both my assertions above are wrong...

  1. It is Klipsch, the German way.
  2. All recordings are 'caricatures' of the original sound... No matter if the carrier is a vinyl record, magnetic tape, or a digital file. The miracle is that an amp together with the speakers can fool the brain in believing it hears the sound of, PWK's example, a 16 foot long organ pipe sound wave.

As always, I was jumping to conclusion.

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1 minute ago, ILI said:

I' m going to listen to it again, for sure. It was the female journalist who said Klips.

 

Both my assertions above are wrong...

  1. It is Klipsch, the German way.
  2. All recordings are 'caricatures' of the original sound... No matter if the carrier is a vinyl record, magnetic tape, or a digital file. The miracle is that an amp together with the speakers can fool the brain in believing it hears the sound of, PWK's example, a 16 foot long organ pipe sound wave.

As always, I was jumping to conclusion.

Just relax a bit....PWK was pretty quick to begin "sizing-up" people he didn't yet know in conversations with them.  One of the things he dearly loved to do was throw out a quip or pun to see the reaction...but even moreso, to see if they even CAUGHT it!  At that point he knew how to carry on a conversations with them.  He would throw something out, then pause and look at the person and wait for a reaction...and if there was NO reaction he would still wait...HOPING for a reaction!    I went thru that routine with him myself...the first conversation we had...and it didn't end with that conversation, either...he was a conversationally "playful" sort of character...very witty with relatively dry humor.  All he wanted was a reaction of some sort...I normally just gave him that "Yes, I actually GOT THAT!" look, and he immediately KNEW...and would continue on with the conversation.  That is one trait that Roy either picked-up from PWK ...OR, already had...which is probably exactly WHY they worked so well together for so many years, IMHO!  It is a kind of "intellectual respect" thing, ya'know? 

 

During one of our conversations, PWK just stopped in midstream, looked into my eyes, and said "You are able to think and conceptualize in three-dimensions!"  Then he just continued on with the conversation as though he had said nothing.  I'll never forget that!  He WAS paying me a SERIOUS compliment, though!...and as I left after our conversation, I thanked him for telling me that he realized that about me...he just smiled really big!  Why did I consider that a SERIOUS compliment??  Think about it...how could somebody conceptualize something like the Klipschorn bass bin WITHOUT the ability to do it three-dimensionally??  He was actually able to perceive that ability in others, too!  Go figure!😉

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5 hours ago, ILI said:

I' m going to listen to it again, for sure. It was the female journalist who said Klips.

 

Both my assertions above are wrong...

  1. It is Klipsch, the German way.
  2. All recordings are 'caricatures' of the original sound... No matter if the carrier is a vinyl record, magnetic tape, or a digital file. The miracle is that an amp together with the speakers can fool the brain in believing it hears the sound of, PWK's example, a 16 foot long organ pipe sound wave.

As always, I was jumping to conclusion.

 

My x-wife pronounced it clips, just to anger me. 

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Where I live there's a nearby road named "Schenck" which everyone dutifully pronounces "skenk."  Not having moved here until an adult (and having grown up in a largely German-influenced location) I did not properly "learn" to say it that way.  I had an acquaintance also new to the area who, while riding his bicycle to and around a nearby yet-smaller town saw the name on a mailbox with a woman standing on the porch.  For kicks he stopped and asked her how to pronounce the name.  She replied "Skenk; it's German."

 

My last name has two less letters than "Klipsch" but the same number of vowels...

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On 10/7/2019 at 12:44 PM, ILI said:

Today I bought my first Klipsch Tape Reissue (vol 1). See below.

One of the tracks is a 10 minute interview with PW Klipsch himself. Very informative indeed.

Two of the things I learned after listening to it,  I want to share here:

  1. Up to now, I pronounced Klipsch with a 'sh'-sound at the end (the German way). That's wrong, it is a simple 's', so it sounds like the word 'clips'. 😲
  2. PW Klipsch is not a fan of vinyl records - phonographs, in fact he calls them "a caricature of music"...

Klipsch_Tape_large.jpg

Klipsch_Tape_Project_Vol_I.pdf 341.16 kB · 6 downloads

 

Reel to Reel is my preference over vinyl. Listen to taped music often.

 

On 10/7/2019 at 7:49 PM, JohnA said:

 

My x-wife pronounced it clips, just to anger me. 

 

I hope you responded with a turning up of your 'clips' system.🎼 👺

The 1812 Overture is always appreciated and a BIG Hit here early in the morning. 😉

 

Wb

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