How did you discover Klipsch speakers?

[Ole Dollar]

Heard my brothers Heresy’s around 1982 powered by Crown and a Thorens TT. Heard stuff i did not realize was on the albums. That is still my brother’s system and I blame him for my addiction.

[JJkizak]

16 hours ago, dwilawyer said:

Which facility, lab? Do you remember what they said they used that set up for?

I'm not totally sure but they wanted to hear reproduction of sound in speakers. Bell Labs and Western Electric were big on horn type speakers. One of the HI-FI mags detailed the report which is where I read it. Basically they loved it. Possibly that's where the phrase "King Klipsch" originated. Of course I can't remember the name of the magazine but it might have been Stereo Review. Bell Labs never did anything Half-A---. I believe the lab was in New Jersey.

JJK

[Marvel]

First heard of Klipsch in the early 1980s. A good friend of mine in Madison Wisconsin happened to be the brother of Dennis Kleitsch, who was on here as DJK. He was in Iowa, and set us up with a pair of his La Scala clone cabinets to use as a P.A. Dennis had been a Klipsch dealer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as well as other stuff, worked for Rockwell Collins, general curmudgeon, opinionated type of guy. He would also bend over backwards to help in any way he could to keep you on your audio journey.

 

After using his LS clones, I finally migrated back to the real thing. I miss him greatly and would never be able to repay him for all his wisdom and insight (not to mention his jokes and sometimes churlishness).

[MicroMara]

Honestly .....before 2015, the name Klipsch was a little-known term that came to me from and then to my life with audio technology. I preferred to build my own speakers with high quality drivers and crossovers from the Danish company Dynaudio. Before that I owned loudspeakers in the " High End " segment of the brands Jm Lab, B&W, Dali, Tannoy and Nubert.  By chance I heard the series version of the RF 7 MK II at an audio dealer in Germany. I sat in the listening room for a good 2 hours and listened only to music I was familiar with from the RF 7 MK II.
During this music session I was so impressed by the sound that I needed 2 packets of tissues to wipe the tears from my eyes. The vendor was completely speechless, because he had never experienced anything like this before. I bought the Rf 7 MK II immediately, despite the fact that I didn't need / wanted any new speakers. I have never regretted this purchase.  

I always knew that the RF 7 MK II had a much greater potential when it was completely rebuilt after a few years and modified with external " High End "crossovers. This is what I did then. If you want to know how this whole story ended, please read my thread " RF 7 MK II ...the queen is dead long live the queen",in the category " technical - modifications " currently on page 1.  I have found the loudspeaker of my life and it will accompany me until the end of my life, without ifs and buts .......Maybe I'll build another AK 6 when I get retired. Then I have enough time for it and it is again a Klipsch

 

best regards

[cube48]

I'm lucky kid, grew up in 80's and first half of 90's with a pair of Heresy IIs Signature Edition which my father scored from an US soldier that was leaving his post at American embassy in Prague, still Czechoslovakia at that time. I bet these were one of the very few Heresies behind iron curtain. It seems these were not so common even in western Europe either. As a kid I couldn't fully appretiate the quality of these speakers but remember enjoying long listening sessions of vinyl, tape and early CDs of mostly jazzrock and bigbeat but also synth mages like Isao Tomita which defined my own later musical taste. I never really intended to set up home audio due to constant moving and life in rented flats. It's been just recently that I settled down and asked my dad if he's got any speakers he could donate to me. He's built a few of his own design and collected a bunch of other boxes. He offered me some to choose from, including HIIs which I immediatelly recalled had high WAF thanks to cane grills. My wife can't stand dark furniture. I'm personally not fond of black equipment either so I'm happy listener of nearly mint HIIs which were stored last ~25 years. I had to replace the tweeters and recapping is on schedule but they already play amazingly, even with tiny 15W DTA-1 Class D amp which is temporary. I feel honoured and kinda proud to be fresh member of friendly Klipsch community. This forum looks like comfy place. Greetings!

Edited July 20, 2020 by cube48

[MC39693]

Jan. 1978 Ft. McMurray Alberta, -41 deg. I stepped into a “mall” to get out of the cold and heard amazing sound. Found the K-horns playing at thunderous level. Summer 1980 bought my Heresy HBR that @HDBRbuilder built along with Deronda Beavers and NW Bradford. Still have them, and always will. Have moved them 6 times over 3,000 km. By myself.

[Bigdnfay1]

1974  Junior in high school I went to work at our cities High end audio store(Sound Systems inc.).If you were in the military and stationed at Fort Bragg during that period, you'll know it. They had a sound room with all the Heritage models powered with Mcintosh. One time in I was hooked. Boss was nice enough to let me bring my own music and stay after closing. Good times...Good times. I've owned Klipsch ever since.

 

D

[Coytee]

I've told this before too.

 

Year, 1978, a friend & myself meander into a local audio store (Carlon Audio in Fairfield, Ohio)  Look at this & that like a pair of 18 year olds might do....got into the speaker room and was intrigued with those funky looking speakers (LaScalas).  He had played the Khorns that were in there and I was totally perplexed how a speaker with no woofer could do what it did....after all, it has that solid wood front....  I could not for the life of me figure out how the sound came out of there with no driver in front.

 

I was interested in getting something but Khorns were way too much for me at that stage.  Saw the LaScalas and pointed at them...."Can I hear those??" so he put some music on and as amazing as the sound was, I was again, totally flummoxed at how such a large speaker could have so little bass.....  I looked at Jeff (yes, I still recall the salesmans name)...I looked at him and his face was beet red from laughing (at) us....  seems they had a pair of Heresy's sitting atop the LaScalas.  He knew what I was pointing at but intentionally played the Heresy's, allowing me to think it was the LaScalas....  I guess he was just a funny-boy!!  Anyway, so he clicked over to the LaScalas and again, I was wow'ed....  as my buddy & I walked out of there, I remember patting the LaScala on top telling my friend..."One day....."  This was in 1978.  I've owned my 1979 LaScalas ever since and are currently in the basement doing rear channel duty.

 

At this point in life, I don't think I own a single item that I've had as long as my LaScalas.  41 years.

 

 

[John Chi-town]

Grade school.  Music class had a pair of Heresy's on the wall.

[babadono]

churlish? thanks for that one @Marvel. I was only getting acquainted with DJK when he passed and only online. He is definitely missed.

Back on topic, for me it was mid 70s always invited to a friend of a coworkers house for Friday night festivities. He had La Scalas, as soon as I saw and heard them i was "yea I'm gonna get me some of those". Shortly thereafter it was so...and continues to this day.

[BadChile]

Back in the fall of 1992 I was a sophomore at New Mexico State University (what used to be New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts) when the Paul W. Klipsch Lecture Hall was unveiled in the EE building.  I had my Transistor-Transistor Logic class in that lecture hall and the professor was so happy with the K-horns installed in the lecture hall.  Blew me away.  It took me about 23 years before I picked up a pair of RB-51s, and two years later in 2017 I got my Heresy IIIs for a steal.  I've since also picked up a set of KG1 and another set of KG4.

 

Mr. Klipsch visited in either 1994 when the Department was named after him or 1995 when the school was named.  I was smart enough to head over to the dedication ceremony got to walk by the man and was too young to recognize greatness in my midst but smart enough to keep my mouth shut.  Youth, wasted on the young.

 

Couple notes:

The obituary for Mr. Klipsch at the NMSU website indicates the lecture hall was dedicated in 1993, but the hall was refurbished and the K-horns installed the summer of 1992 and ready for classes that fall as the TTL class was my last as an EE before switching to Civil Engineering, which was in a different building and therefore, that class was the last opportunity I had to hear K-horns once or twice a week.  

 

Once I got my Heresy's my dad - now in his mid-80s and still sharp as a tack - came to visit and was checking out my Elekit TU-8200 amp.  He starts into talking about single-ended pentode amps, folded horns, high efficiency speakers.  Turns out he built a set of folded horn, not really K-horn speakers back in the late 50s while in the Air Force and assembled a few amps himself.  He was pretty despondent remembering those amps and his folded horn speakers.  But one listen to the Heresy system took him back in time.  I just wish I got a chance to enjoy his system at some point.

 

Go Aggies!

[dtel]

I found Klipsch by accident, roughly 24 years ago I was searching for horn speakers, I looked up the only ones I had ever heard, Altic Lansing voice of the theater which were heard in a theater. I searched and all I could find from Altic were computer speakers, so I went looking for horn speakers and I found Klipsch. 

 

I was wanting horns because besides the Huge theater speakers I heard I had built some speakers from a book I had and they sounded great. I had those for about 15-20 years and the drivers started going out. After I found Klipsch I later found the Heritage line, come to find out the speakers I built were about 1/4" different than a Cornwall, 3 way ported,  horn mid and tweet.

 

I first started with a Ht setup of the Klipsch Synergy line, moved on to better for Ht and set up a separate system for 2 Ch. Gave the Synergy's to a relative, he fell in love with them when he first heard them here more than anyone else so he got them. I had gone through other speakers earlier but was never really thrilled with them. The horns did it for me.

 

Now were done, we are completely happy with what we have now, possibly change some electronics (maby) but not speakers.

For the first time in my life I feel no reason to look at any other speakers.

[Islander]

My origin story has also been told a few times, but here’s the origin of the origin.  It started long ago, in 1971, in Toronto.  At a nearby shopping centre, there was an audio/video shop (or maybe it was just audio.  I can’t remember if it had any TVs.) called Executive Stereo.  They had some good gear, like a Harmon/Kardon Citation 16 power amp, whose sound and power impressed me.

 

I was in there out of curiosity more than anything else, but they had a listening room for Klipsch Heritage Series speakers.  I was very impressed with them, but their prices put them way out of reach for me.  I went home with some brochures, and decided that La Scalas or Belles were the speakers for me.  I never forgot them, but they were in  a “someday when I get rich” kind of slot in my mind.

 

Fast-forward to 2006.  It had definitely been a long strange trip, but here I was, motivated to finally put together a really great stereo.  I was partly motivated by the loss of my brother due to illness, followed by a similar diagnosis for me, which happily turned out okay.  Even so, time waits for no man.  So there I was, getting to know the hi-fi shops in Victoria, the purveyors of new and used quality gear.  I wandered into the vintage hi-fi shop in August of 2006 and nearly ran into a big black speaker.  It’s a small shop, called Q-Electronic.

 

The speaker, and its brother beside it, were unlike anything else in the shop.  Then two thoughts occurred to me in rapid succession.  First, “Those are Klipsch La Scalas!”, and second, “Hey, if they’re in here, maybe I can afford them!”  I had them demonstrated for me, and I liked what I heard.  I went home to think about it, and came back the next day.  They were asking $1400CAD, but we settled on $1200.  I gave Medium Rob a deposit (The shop was run by three guys named Rob:  a little Rob, a medium Rob, and a really big Rob.) and dashed to the bank to get the rest.  Medium Rob delivered them the next day, covered with moving blankets, in the back of a little Japanese pickup with a camper top.  The bed of the truck was nearly full.

 

He brought them upstairs and placed them where I asked, on either side of the 35” CRT TV set on its stand.  I joined this forum a month later, and eagerly read the posts and their replies.  A couple of months after that, psg, a member I’d communicated with a few times, told me he’d be in town for a conference, and was staying in a famous old hotel, which I knew was just a 15 minute walk away from my place.  I met him there and brought him over to see and hear the La Scalas.  As soon as he saw them, he told me I must move them.  They were only 5 feet apart, bookending the TV, so he was totally right.  I didn’t have long enough speaker cables to do it that day, but a few weeks later, I got a buddy to come over and help me shift the TV, its stand, both Scalas, and the sofa and armchair.

 

We basically turned the whole room 90 degrees, from the short north side half-wall, to the the big west side wall.  It was perfect, and is still the same today, apart from a few minor tweaks of the angles the speakers were facing.  They went from being only 5 feet apart (centre-to-centre) to being 11.5 feet apart, and about 12 feet from me, and it made a huge difference.  I messaged psg and thanked him for the tip.  That was just the start of the things I learned from other Forum members, and it hasn’t stopped yet.

 

I thought I knew a lot before I joined this forum, but it was just a fraction of what I’ve learned from other Forum members, and is still a fraction of what some of our more advanced members know.  I’m happy that I joined the Forum, and really glad to have met so many audio fans and friends.  The Forum is a cool and friendly place to hang out.

[DJEditor]

I updated speakers in 1992 from some Altec Lansing 2 way  model 5s with foam surrounds gone bad to a pair of  Klipsch Kg-3s. At the time the smallest horn speaker Klipsch made.  It was time to update my speakers again, the Kg-3s are still doing the job but I had a itch to scratch, and I wanted made in the USA.  I bought a pair of Heresy IVs and am really glad I did. They are a huge upgrade from my Kg-3s.  Long live the Heritage Series. 

[twistedcrankcammer]

Heard my first Klipsch in 1982 at a dealer when I was into Car Stereo and later the same year really heard them for the first time at a Kid I knew from HI school. My buddy was friends with him and we went over because he was selling two pair of speakers and his Receiver. He had a really nice top of the line digital top of Yamaha line receiver with a Red LEDs and a nice remote. A nice remote was big time in 1982. He also had one new pair of La Scala's only about a year or so old and a pair of Heresy's about a year or two old. He was selling because he got his girlfriend pregnant and got married. With the LA Scala's playing, you couldn't even tell when the Heresy's were on or off. My buddy bought the Yamaha receiver and the La Scala's. Big steps for kids still in Highschool. 

 

Roger

[twistedcrankcammer]

8 hours ago, dtel said:

I found Klipsch by accident, roughly 24 years ago I was searching for horn speakers, I looked up the only ones I had ever heard, Altic Lansing voice of the theater which were heard in a theater. I searched and all I could find from Altic were computer speakers, so I went looking for horn speakers and I found Klipsch. 

 

I was wanting horns because besides the Huge theater speakers I heard I had built some speakers from a book I had and they sounded great. I had those for about 15-20 years and the drivers started going out. After I found Klipsch I later found the Heritage line, come to find out the speakers I built were about 1/4" different than a Cornwall, 3 way ported,  horn mid and tweet.

 

I first started with a Ht setup of the Klipsch Synergy line, moved on to better for Ht and set up a separate system for 2 Ch. Gave the Synergy's to a relative, he fell in love with them when he first heard them here more than anyone else so he got them. I had gone through other speakers earlier but was never really thrilled with them. The horns did it for me.

 

Now were done, we are completely happy with what we have now, possibly change some electronics (maby) but not speakers.

For the first time in my life I feel no reason to look at any other speakers.

 

 

Eldon, 

 

You left out the Colter connection 

 

Rog

[Coytee]

Eldon is a poser.....  heck, he didn't even pay for his Cornwalls....  I know.....I was there.   

 

(but I'm not holding any grudges)  

[dtel]

9 minutes ago, twistedcrankcammer said:

Eldon, 

 

You left out the Colter connection 

 

Rog

Didn't realize but i left out alot more.

 

When I was looking to move from the Synergy to something better, we had added on and the living room was now twice as big and the Synergy's weren't doing as well in the bigger room. I needed something bigger and was thinking Hersey's for HT but none came up for sale and Colter called me and told me of some Forte ll's for sale 1.5 hours from me. Never heard of them so I looked them up and went and got them for HT. Added another pair later and a third pair of 3's for mains thanks to a friend. RIP

Around this time Colter bought some LaScalas from someone about 3 hours from me and asked if I would go get them and I did. He couldn't get them from me for months so I got to listen to them and this got me looking for what we could use for 2 ch, it was the first time I had heard Heritage. I won some Cornwalls at a Pilgrimage in 2006 and was good, but then heard some pro speakers and it started over again. Were finished looking now.

[dtel]

7 minutes ago, Coytee said:

Eldon is a poser.....  heck, he didn't even pay for his Cornwalls....  I know.....I was there.   

12 minutes ago, Coytee said:

(but I'm not holding any grudges)  

 

Very true they were the best kind FREE, I won them at a Pilgrimage, and to think when they pulled my name I was hoping for a T-shirt. I almost fell out my chair when the said what I won, I was sitting by Fini and family and he could not stop laughing at how surprised i was.

There in the bedroom, and there special because of all of that, they are not going anywhere.

 

12 minutes ago, Coytee said:

(but I'm not holding any grudges)  

I didn't pull my name, Trey did, and it didn't cost all that much for that.............OK just kidding.

 

What would you need Cornwall's for, you have LaScalas and Jubs, but the free part does change things alot, and when does "need" really come into any of this.

 

[Coytee]

pffffffffffffft.....  but I'm not angry....

 

 

Yeah, that was a good weekend.  Got to put some faces behind some names.  Heck, that was what, 14 years ago???

 

but I'm not holding any grudges.....