Your submitted story, Please post yours here!!

[IndyKlipschFan]

I wanted to read the stories from the people on the board. Here is mine, submitted today, I just hope it made it in safely.

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Heresy Loud Speakers, My story.

The sign inside my local stereo store said, "No admittance to minors, children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult." I was 15, and riding my bicycle over 20 min just to get there. But this was also to be a big weekend at the store because they had just started carrying a line of speakers called Klipsch. They had a private open house for customers only, so on this particular Saturday, I was allowed in.

I looked like most pimply faced kids at 15. I felt trapped in that age when your "too young" to do anything, yet also starting to have your own opinions on things too. The local HI FI / Stereo store, had employees that I considered my friends. I say this, because I loved music and audio gear and most of employees in this particular store did also. I knew all the model numbers and stats of the products they sold. I also learned from listening to them, what were the differences between consumer average models and the high end pro stuff too. If they had a question, sometimes they would even ask me. The employees were very excited about this line of speakers called Klipsch. They said, "You have to come here Saturday to our event, your not gonna believe this new line!"

School had just let out for the summer, so I had my Mom drive me early. After all, I had a "special letter" mailed to me from the store to let me in. They were going to show the Klipsch line for a customer appreciation day. The coolest part was that the founder of Klipsch, Paul Klipsch himself, was to make a visit too.

The event started at 11:00 AM, which of course meant I was there by 10:30 AM hoping to get a glimpse of everything as soon as I could. I didn't know much about Klipsch at that time, we didn't have the internet to look things up. The only thing I had was a newspaper article that I really think was a newspaper ad produced by Klipsch to talk about their speaker line. There was a guy that lived at 65th and Dean Road that had Klipsch on his mailbox. I gave him a copy of the article the week before the event saying, "You have to be related to him somehow, after all, how many people with the last name Klipsch can there be?" He said, "It might be a cousin or something." He didn't seem too interested at that time, except he did notice that I was full of enthusiasm too.

The event started in the store and they had the more expensive demo room still blocked off. Every once in a while, you could hear music being played turned up then down. I could have sworn they had a live band hidden in the other room. It was with great anticipation I waited wanting to get inside and see and hear what all the excitement was about.

As the doors were finally opened, I squeezed into the room with the rest of the crowd of people as they only let about 10 people in at a time. Once inside, I got to hear the story of Klipsch and hear demos of different music on the Heresy, Belle, and Klipschorn, models. They started with the Heresy and moved up.

I am not sure what feelings everyone has at their first listen to what I call the "Klipsch Experience." I will try not to use jargon that sounds like an ad, or what people say is "cool," it is more than that. You see, music matters to me. Sometimes too much. What I heard, for me, was music so lifelike it went right through my body into my soul. Something that sounded so pure and clean and alive, like if you closed your eyes a person could imagine the artist right before you. By the time I heard the Klipschorns I was, as I still am today, "hooked" on the Klipsch sound for life.

Paul Klipsch showed up at noon, and I had a picture of him from an advertisement from the store. Here was this man that wore two wrist watches, had a billfold full of notes sticking out of his back pocket, handing out yellow buttons that said "bull****" and a chrome folding pocket screw driver with a nail file that looked like a pocket knife that said "Stolen from Paul Klipsch" on them. How could I wear a button like this in front of my parents, let alone have something that said "Stolen" on it, and keep it? I put these items in my pocket, but pulled out a pen and asked him to sign his picture for me much like a sports fan would to his idol on a baseball card.

It was here he laughed out loud at me. Paul said, "Why do you want my autograph?" I had explained, stuttering really bad, and more than normal, and he was kind to let me get it all out. "Well, m-m-mister Klipsch, I think you have the m-m-most fantastic speakers I have ever heard." "I want to own a p-p-pair someday and wanted something to put at my desk at home to remind me to work hard to get m-m-me some Klipsch speakers." He saw I was being sincere and said, "Yes, I will sign this for you," and he signed the advertisement for me. This was really a great day for me, I had finally for the first time in my audio listening life, heard speakers that could sound as powerful as a pounding ocean, and as clean as the whisper of the receding tide. I said to Paul Klipsch, "I knew my life would be in audio heaven if I could someday own a pair." Paul said, as I walked away, "If you work hard enough, you will have them someday." This older grandfather like person said those words that changed my life.

Six hundred and eighty dollars was a lot of money for a young man that didn't have a real job ever in his life for a pair of Heresy's. And again, at 15, not many people were hiring "kids." The only job I could find close by that would hire me, was at a gas station. I had to be there at 6 am sharp, 5 days a week. I could only work till 12 PM, so 6 hours a day. I was paid $1.32 an hour in those days, so if you do the math, lets just say I worked all summer and then worked other jobs around the house for some extra cash. I was responsible for two self serve car washing bays, making change and cleaning them out, and a full service pump (Yes, I would clean the windshield and check for oil) and a self serve. I was alone basically, although they checked in on me at 6:00 AM when we opened, and again just before noon. Every Friday, when I got my paycheck at the gas station, I would deposit it all into a savings account. No candy, no other things to take me away from my dreams.

I also learned a great lesson that would help mold me somewhat to where I am today. What I learned from Paul and working toward a pair of Heresy's was that if you put your mind to something and work hard to get at that goal, you can do about anything you want. That summer I learned about commitment to myself, and working for your dreams. The final week of the summer I had just enough to get my dream speakers. My Mom drove me to the bank and I had just a little more than I needed. We then drove to the stereo store where the manager had saved me a pair with my name on the box in the back. I was the new proud owner of a pair of Birch Raw Heresy's. They threw in some upgraded speaker wire for free, because again they were my friends, and they wanted to help me out too.

I put that picture in a frame and had it through High School, and College and still have it today. As for those Heresy's, I still own them to this day. I will never sell them. The Heresy's are too much of a sense of pride issue for me at any price anyone could offer me. They still make me smile even though I am 41 yrs old, and they still sound great 26 years later. I later also purchased a used pair of Cornwalls that also are prized possession's as a present to myself after saving for them after graduation from college.

Oh, and that neighbor that used to live at 65th and Dean Road? As taken off the Klipsch site, "Up to the age of 96, Paul Klipsch played an active in the company he and his wife Valerie sold to a cousin and Indianapolis businessman Fred Klipsch in 1989." I later learned he had carried a clipping he had gotten a long time ago around in his wallet for almost two years before contacting Paul about the company. And two years after that meeting, he bought the company. I do not know for sure if it was something I gave him a long long time ago or not. But it was Fred Klipsch that lived close by, and he knew nothing really of Klipsch speakers made in Hope Arkansas when I was a kid. Fred is now guiding the company into the 21st century.

I was saddened to hear for a while you stopped making the Heritage line including the "new and improved" Klipschorn. After many years studying in high school then on to college getting a degree and getting married, having a baby, etc. Life has just flown by. I still have the advice I got from Paul that will stay with me, "If you work hard enough, you will have what you want." I would love the opportunity to have a lifetime of dreaming and working hard to own new pair of Klipschorns.

IndyKlipschFan

[Herc]

As the snow fell, looking over the people helping my dad, I saw the splintered Klipsch Heresy speakers scattered along the roadside.

Growing up in a family with old way traditions and values. I was taught, that if you do your part, the family would provide for you. So I did not ask for much.

As soon as I could raise a hammer, I was in construction. Dad worked a full time job and built houses on the side. He knew he didnt have the education to do anything else, so he worked hard and did the best he could to provide for his family. We knew it and loved him for it.

I was 14 when I first heard these impressive sounding speakers and remember asking myself Where is the sound coming from? It was my introduction to the Klipsch Khorns and that sound I liked so much.

By 16, I was already a few years into my low-end stereo console, as most of my friends had entry level jobs and where graduating to component stereos. I did not have a paying job, as I was helping dad and he felt I was too young. I did the most tedious and labor intensive of the jobs on the work site. One task in particular was taking the dried cement off and removing every nail out of every board used to form the foundation, so it could be reused on the roof. I remember letting out a big sigh, as I started at the top of the pile. It took me 3 days.

With the most laborious of tasks done, I was with dad in the truck running an errand. It was quiet in the truck, when I got up the courage to ask something, Ive been working hard, can I get speakers? After a short moment of silence I was asked "Where are they and how much?" I told him which store and quietly said that they cost $500. I knew what he would say, as I knew they where too much to ask for. To my astonishment dad said Ok, Ill get them for you tomorrow.

With a smile growing on my face I sat there a moment, then said Thanks dad.

Dad then said something that I will always remember, he turned to me and said youre my son and youve worked hard. You dont have to say thanks to me. I was choked with emotion and had to look out the passenger window to compose myself. Emotion was seldom shown.

The speakers where used, but dad helped me refinish them and I cherished them. I had those Klipsch Heresy through my adolescence, the envy of my friends.

I was 18 and about to leave my small town to go to university in the big city, when we decided to take turns driving the moving fan with the trailer in tow. One was to follow in the car.

It was a crisp March morning with a light dusting of snow falling. Dad was driving the moving van and I was behind him when the accident happened.

A deer darted across the road in front of the van and I saw dad try to correct. It looked like he might, but the trailer in tow fishtailed and rolled three times finally landing on its roof, causing the van to flip on the drivers side and skid on the sleet covered road. As the trailer landed on its roof, it spew some its contents across the road. The very last items I securely packed where the Klipsch Heresy speakers, as I was using them until the very end and wanted to make sure they where the first items taken out. Only a dresser and the speakers escaped the trailer to be shattered to bits.

It took 3 of us to get my dad out of there, to a waiting nurse who happened to drive by. My dad passed away three days later from the injuries he sustained.

. When I got the speakers, dad got to appreciate why I wanted those Klipsch Heresy speakers so much. More then once I would catch him with his eyes closed, listening to his old tapes of Italian folk music on my Klipsch Heresy speakers. I didnt mind.

The accident happened 22 years ago and to this day when I hear the name Klipsch I just pause and think how something as simple as a speaker can draw two people together.

[IndyKlipschFan]

Attn fellow BB members, please post yours here too!

Wow surprised more people didn't re post em here?

This way, I thought people could enjoy them from the regular posters on the BB. So please submit yours here! Thanks