PWK: The Life, The Legend

[Chris Robinson]

While I've been laid up with lung crud and nursing my Christmas week hangover, I've been reading PWK's book which is very informative, insightful and interesting. As lurkers on this forum, I would think it would fill in all the blanks about this man, the company, and its strategic thrusts from Day One.

Before putting it back up on the shelf, I'd like to forward it to any of you who would like to read it. If you'll email (robinsonc@attbi.com) your name and address, I'll assemble a distribution/forward list ... Just keep the book for no more than two weeks and then forward to the next guy on the list.

Please do me a favor and sign the inside jacket of the book with a comment or two before forwarding onward! Will make for interesting review someday.

Best ~

[NOSValves]

I'd love to read the book. Only one problem I can't read ! Just kidding of coarse !

[Deang]

We know you can read you turkey, but you can't spell worth a sh!t:) You be damn good with a soldering gun though -- so who cares!!

Put me on the list!

[NOSValves]

Your already on my list !! Pretty brave picking on someone with your amp in house

[HornEd]

Chris, that's mighty nice of you... and given the quality of folks on this Forum... should turn-out to be a well-travelled and well annotated volume in your library. Having two autographed copies (thanks to a very special PWK friend on this Forum), I can vouch for the worthwhileness of reading this book.

Since acquiring the books, I have kept one of them circulating to folks eager to read it... and that has resulted in more book sales by readers who want to keep it as part of their library. It is surprising how many people are "out-to-lunch" when the Klipsch word is mentioned... so it's always nice to have a book on your shelf to shower upon the great unwashed.

Someday maybe we can get HDRBuilder to write up a set of his Kliipsch days as an addendum... he really has some blockbuster comments that he could make from his first hand perspective! Not everybody who has worked for the Klipsch company gets a chance to visit with PWK like the Builder has. And for all its enineering prowess... the Klipsch company in its various forms has had a rocky road in the financial and management arenas. It looks like the recent building spurt engineered by "Uncle Fred" and his staff while others are pulling in their horns may prove to be one of the neatest strokes of any audio manufacturer in recent times... if it works. And I am betting it will! =HornEd

[Chris Robinson]

Dean-o, please email me with your address and I'll put you on the list. Craig was first in, you're second. First come, first serve Kind of like our own public lib

Ed, as usual, you're doing something great ~ I think you've got a killer anthology of posts in this place as well ...

Let's see, Mobile, HornEd, Builder, Ray G, Tom B ... there's a lot of wisdom lurking in this place.

[Deang]

Craig,

I must have been out of my mind to make that crack.

Actually, you're one of the best spelers I no.

[michael hurd]

Why, I think that is a mighty nice offer. I would really enjoy reading the history and life of P.W.K. I live in canada, as does lynnm and dale walker - would we be able to participate in this ? Thanks.

[lynnm]

&*^%$#@@ IDEAL BB !! - This is a condensed version of an earlier post that disappeared into the digital mists:

Here is a retyping of a contrarian opinion re: Paul Wilbur Klipsch The Life ... The Legend

I have a copy of the book and while it answers some questions I had about PWK it leaves aside most of what one might expect from a biography. As an examination of Paul Klipsch the engineer it is of some interest. Beyond that the book is of little value and hardly merits serious consideration as a biography. This is regrettable as the life of PWK is surely worthy of being told and examined.

Too many important details of PWK's life are ignored or given cursory treatment. The most glaring example is the treatment afforded Belle Klipsch. She and Paul became engaged while he was working in Chile in about 1938. They married and returned to the U.S. prior to the outbreak of WW II. In 1973 Klipsch and Associates introduced the Belle Klipsch. That is the sum total of what we are told about the first Mrs. Klipsch in this "biography."

I as the reader am left to wonder:

Were there children ?

Was it a happy union ?

Did Belle and Paul divorce ?

Did the marriage end with her death ?

The answers are not to be found easily in this "biography"

This book would never have been published if subjected to editorial scrutiny. There is the germ of a biography there but the book as printed is by no means a biography.

[DizRotus]

Chris-

I sent an email asking to to be put on the list.

Craig-

I asked Chris to put us on the list consecutively. It would give me an excuse to make the trip to Burton to either deliver or collect the book.

Lynnm-

You've got your assignment. Flesh out a real PWK biography. What else is there to do in the winter in Canada?

HDBR-

I drove through Hope, Arkansas a few weeks ago and was disappointed to see not a sign of anything Klipsch. I should have doped (pun intended) out the location of the old telephone company building, etc. It was a sudden and unusual drive from Dallas to Michigan (through an ice storm) and I naively assumed that there would be some signs to facilitate my spontaeous pilgrimage. Where are the Klipsch facilities relative to I-30?

While thinking about it, I was ecstatic to run across a black plastic three ring binder labeled, "KLIPSCH AUDIO PAPERS." Unfortunately, I was equally saddened to discover that its original contents had been replaced by one of my sons with instructions for the Microsoft Flight Simulator (at least PWK would have appreciated the flying connection). The original contents collected by me in the late sixties and early seventies were undoubtedly tossed by me during a cleaning purge. It's sad that I then valued the binder more than its contents.

Chris-

The book circulation is a great idea. I suggest that you try to locate a sturdy reusable mailer that can have the forwarding address easily changed, but that always has your return address. The lucky recipients should recall that the USPS charges a special lower "book rate."

Best Reagrds to all for the New Year,

Neil

[lynnm]

Neil

I haven't the time or energy to write a proper biography of Paul Klipsch and in any event make no pretense of having the skills needed to do a proper job of it. That said I am capable of reading a book and forming an intelligent opinion as to its contents.

This book does contain some interesting material about PWK's engineering accomplishments and also sheds a very little bit of light on the man behind the Klipsch speakers. I suggest that anyone considering obtaining a copy do so with the understanding that what they will get is more a history of PWK's impressive technical achievements and of his technical orientation than a history of the man himself.

I am not saying that the book is utterly without merit. It is an interesting read for devotees of PWK's speakers but hardly qualifies as a biography.

[Chris Robinson]

When it became clear that my mom was fading fast, I took about sitting with her for hours (the REAL objective behind the project) and going through her hundreds of recipes that were scattered about in the darndest places. She loved to cook and thought it would be a good time so sort through the bits and pieces. Unfortunately, I had about four weeks to complete the project and did so with a PC set up at her bedside. She was unable to speak during the final week. But the book got assembled, errors and all, and it was distributed at her memorial service ... It actually went through three printings, it was so popular. All proceeds were donated to an orphanage in Newark, NJ.

I think the same was with this book ... They knew he was in failing health, and it appears the book was hastily assembled. One of the final chapters is a puzzle to read, since the pages have non-sequitors.

I found the book to be a good, very fast effort as a dedication to the man. They made it by just weeks before he died, if I remember correctly.

I'm willing to concede comprehensiveness and structure in the interest of meeting the timeline.

[lynnm]

Chris

Please accept my condolences for your loss.

Your tribute to your mother is without a doubt a wonderful final gift to her and those she left behind.

[Chris Robinson]

Lynn, thanks ... this was twelve years ago so I'm okay ... but I just had that feeling when reading it ... I think you did too, but I sense that the time crunch was behind some of your issues with it ...

I think a good comprehensive bio of this man would take a few years of research and a few more of writing as well. The authors don't appear to be writers by profession as well

[HDBRbuilder]

I have to agree that the book, although a good BOOK, in no way should be accurately construed as a good biography. It leaves out way TOO much about Mr. Paul. It also skips completely over his life with Belle...concentrating more upon his relationship with Mrs. Valerie. Belle was a devoted wife. There were no children of that union....PWK had no children at all to carry on his name. PWK and Belle's marriage ended in her death...about a year before he married Mrs. Valerie. Belle was a school teacher, and in those early years after WWII, when PWK was attempting to get his speaker business off the ground, it was Belle's income that kept the household afloat. She and Valerie were different personalities, and Belle much preferred a life "out of the limelight"...she was more of a "housewife-type"...leaving all the running around and such to PWK.

There are many things pertaining to PWK's life and his business that are best not discussed on an open forum, especially not on THIS particular open forum. Suffice it to say, he was genuinely concerned for those who worked for him. But, his choice in people to run the business-end of the company tended to negate his ability to do as much for those folks as he would otherwise have been able to do...and his generosity toward his management choices, led him to lose control of his own company...more than once...especially during the 1970's...and even when he regained the controls of the company at the end of that decade, poor choices of upper management he installed again bared no goodwill toward his employees...along with the fact that the debt accrued by the company, in getting rid of the previous management, left little available compensation for those who worked for him for a number of years...which led to a drastic lessening of the average employee annual income(at a time in our economic history when it made a huge difference as prices and interest-rates skyrocketed)...prompting unionization by those employees, the departing of many of his "old-hands" who sought-out "greener pastures", and instilling a period of doubt and mistrust between the management and labor sections within the company. All of these occurances weighed heavily on PWK, who by his own admission, was NOT a businessman, but just an engineer.

Yes, there are reams of his life story that the book never even touches on...which negates its being a good biography. But it is still a good BOOK.

[lynnm]

"PWK, .... by his own admission, was NOT a businessman, but just an engineer."

Ah Yes ....but such an engineer !

PWK was just an engineer in much the same sense that Michaelangelo was just a painter

[HDBRbuilder]

Well, Lynn...that is how he saw HIMSELF...as "just" an engineer. LOL! My statement was in no way meant to be demeaning of him...but was, instead, a QUOTE from him.

Fact is, that while I was there...it always seemed as though the honchos of the company did their best to distance the "working stiffs" from PWK...in order that he would be less likely to realize the HUGE discrepancy between the continually increasing financial successful well-being of the honchos, and the gradual impoverishment of his valued plant employees.

It is a pretty sorry state of affairs when a company is making record profits on record sales, which are in turn aided by two 10% price increases of the products in less than a 12-month period(for ONE example), while its laborers are going with little if any hourly pay increases (ten cents maximum per hour/per annum...normally a nickel...if any at all!!), while their quarterly bonuses(which they RELIED UPON FOR SURVIVAL!!) diminish from 75%-120% of their quarterly wages to under 10% of those quarterly wages in less than a year's time(overtime pay was not included in the bonus figuring)...and these same employees are invited outside after work to look at the company president's new Rolls Royce!!...right after having a sorry explanation given to them of just why their bonuses have continued to fall over the last two years, as the company has continued to have record sales and profits!! It is no wonder that the company lost most of its "old hands" during that time period...me included! You get pretty tired of busting yer butt during 12-hour days...and half a day on Saturday...just to stand in line in the grocery store after paying your bills with your lb of bologna and loaf of bread to live on the next week!!...while the honchos are building nice new multi-million dollar homes and washing down Beluga caviar with imported Champagne!! Know what I mean?

PWK just never realized until too late what was going on...and the company never really did recover from that time period...as far as losing some real talent and experience goes!!(and NO...I am NOT referring to me, necessarily!!)

One of PWK's biggest downfalls over the years was his reliance upon others to manage the company in his name, while assuming they were doing it in the manner HE wished for the welfare of his employees...while he remained unemcumbered with the "business" part so that he could concentrate on "just being an engineer"...and it bit him on the arse, more than once!!

The saddest part of it all is that PWK had to have fealt betrayed by his labor force when they brought in a union...but he just didn't realize WHY it happened...he had been so well insulated from them for so long by the honchos...who told him their version of the events in order to cover up what they had been up to! It doesn't take very long for a company with a reputation of being "a great place to work", where an employee is "treated like a member of the family and makes GOOD money", to change to "just another local low-paying job"...with the attendant problems associated therewith...ie., the quality of workerforce who are willing to apply for and get the jobs there...pretty simple! Even worse, was the replacement honchos that were installed after the "big turnover upstairs", since it was akin to jumping out of the frying pan into the fire!! But, again, his want to be "just an engineer" caused this to occur! It was a sad period for the company, but the company marched along...just WITHOUT its former complement of seriously dedicated, quality-minded, dependable laborers!

It must have seemed strange to PWK, as he hastily would make a walk through the plant, to see fewer and fewer faces he recognized in his workforce as these long-time employees departed for greener pastures over a period of just a few years...and there is no telling the reasons he was given for this by his ill-trusted company heirarchy as it occurred...but I can guarantee one thing...it definitely wasn't the TRUTH he heard from them!! Once he was literally told by that heirarchy that what he wanted didn't matter anymore, because he was not the controlling-stockholder of the company anymore, then he began to see what had been going on...and he was VERY lucky to stumble upon a way in which to regain control...but the damage had already been done, by then! And once the seeds of mistrust are sown between the heirarchy and the labor force, it is almost impossible to ever get things back to where they had been...sadly!

Nevertheless, PWK WAS one helluva man...with the absolute BEST of INTENTIONS!! And I do and shall miss him!

[lynnm]

Andy

I recognised that the "Just an engineer" quote was from Mister Paul himself and I did not for a moment believe that that put down came from you. I should have been clearer that I was citing the master himself. My apologies if my post appeared to attribute the comment to you.

Anyway - What's the big deal ? So Klipsch was into speakers and Michaelangelo had a thing about fancy ceilings ! Hell the Cistine's a pretty big place but I still coulda done the whole thing in a coupla months with a decent roller!

[HDBRbuilder]

Lynn...I didn't take any offense at all...was just making a meager attempt to point out how his want to be left alone with the business aspects of the company so he could pursue the engineering aspects led him to have problems by doing just that. Believe me, all the old hands still loved PWK...and we all realized what was going on behind the scenes, but could do nothing about it...but as the old hands left, and the new ones replaced us...they did NOT know PWK as we did...and he being the head of the company again as major stockholder(but not as corporate honcho) caused the corporate/labor rift to continue, but even worse, it caused him to APPEAR the reason WHY the company was no longer a great place to work...sadly!! He deserved much better than he got from those he entrusted with running his company! There was MORE than enough to go around, but the greedy took all they could get!! And it really was a SAD thing to watch it happen!...especially when you KNEW the HEART of the man!!

[HornEd]

LynnM, having visited the chapel and with an art background, I am truly impressed by your "Holy Roller" potential opening up a career field with even more commuting! LOL

I agree with your engineering vs. biography assessment of the book... and, from HRDBbuilder's above contributions you can see why I said that he could write an interesting sequel about the man and his relationship to his wives, employees, various Klipsch corporate heads, etc. The problem is that much of what could be said might not be construed to be beneficial to the current Klipsch image, the comfort of some current and former Klipsch employees and even the sensitivities of PWK's surviving widow.

By a lot of folks standards, the unexpurgated version of the biography of Paul W. Klipsch has enough intrigue, excitement, controversy, annecdotes and catastrophic business decisions to be the basis of a biography that would rival just about any "Great American Novel" candidate I have read. From the perspective of a local boy making good by talent, by guess and by golly is a story that should be told... but not at the expense of those PWK himself chose not to compromise in their lifetimes.

Who knows, the real story may one day make a movie that could rival "Citizen Kane"... with the sound coming out of our future upgraded Klipsch speakers. =HornEd