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Meet Roy Delgado


henry4841

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Guys we have enticed an audio giant to interact with us on this forum! I am honored to have him take the time to do so. Not many have a chance to hear what an audio engineer has to say. I think it is great for him and great for Klipsch as well. The little business I had most of my entire life was built around word of mouth. I cannot think of a better way for Klipsch to have word of mouth advertisement than on this forum. Roy has a big megaphone for word of mouth promotion of Klipsch products here. We get to hear directly from the guy designing the horns and speakers. Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement in my book. What you guys think?

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1 hour ago, henry4841 said:

Roy blush, come on. Only normal folks do that.

 

Do remember that Roy has been a regular contributor to the forum for at least as long as the two years I've been on the forum.  He always chips in when there's something relevant to say.

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11 minutes ago, jcn3 said:

 

Do remember that Roy has been a regular contributor to the forum for at least as long as the two years I've been on the forum.  He always chips in when there's something relevant to say.

It's been quite a lot longer than that. Yesterday I was reviewing a forum conversation that I had with him back in 2008, when he was known as "Bodcaw Boy."

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On 9/19/2022 at 7:49 PM, Edgar said:

Personally, I'd be very interested in how you turned a tractrix horn into a constant-directivity horn.

With an overly simplistic analysis of appearance only, it looks like a conical horn with a Tractrix Curve finish. A hybrid. If you read "What's so sacred about exponential horns" by Don Keele (who apparently did not get along well with PWK when he worked there). The idea of hybrids happened during his time at Electro Voice under Ray Newman's leadership. I have met all 4 of these gentlemen at on time or another since 1976 (also Saul Marantz as a 5th). Great evolution of the ART and science!

 

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1 minute ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

 If you read "What's so sacred about exponential horns" by Don Keele (who apparently did not get along well with PWK when he worked there). The idea of hybrids happened during his time at Electro Voice under Ray Newman's leadership. I have met all 4 of these gentlemen at on time or another since 1976 (also Saul Marantz as a 5th). Great evolution of the ART and science!

Yes, I'm familiar with that paper by Don Keele. (And with Don Keele himself. I worked with Don at Electro-Voice, and got along with him just great. That's part of the reason that I wonder if PWK and I would have gotten along -- I think that we would have either "clicked" or hated each other's guts.)

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46 minutes ago, Edgar said:

Yes, I'm familiar with that paper by Don Keele. (And with Don Keele himself. I worked with Don at Electro-Voice, and got along with him just great. That's part of the reason that I wonder if PWK and I would have gotten along -- I think that we would have either "clicked" or hated each other's guts.)

I had lunch with Don, back in 2014. We talked about his current designs mostly, but he did say that he could have designed some new horns for Klilpsch, but PWK wouldn't let him for some reason. IDK. As far as I know, it was John Pope's PHd thesis, with math and measurements done in the Hope Anechoic Chamber (exponential vs. Tractrix) using an EV DH-1a driver that convinced Paul that tractrix was better, which opened the door to Roy designing the first Tractrix horn for the Forte II and the Chorus II (which I owned for a while). There's a published article with smoke in the picture about it somewhere.

 

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15 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I had lunch with Don, back in 2014. We talked about his current designs mostly, but he did say that he could have designed some new horns for Klilpsch, but PWK wouldn't let him for some reason. IDK.

I corresponded with Don as recently as last December, then he suddenly stopped responding. I don't know whether there is a health problem, or some other pressing matter.

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4 minutes ago, Edgar said:

I corresponded with Don as recently as last December, then he suddenly stopped responding. I don't know whether there is a health problem, or some other pressing matter.

I communicated with Dr. Floyd Tool about 3 years ago. He said Harman owns the patents on CBT's and let Don propagate the technology (probably needed the money). I read somewhere that Don officially retired, so I hope he's sipping fruity drinks on an island somewhere or playing golf, who knows.

When I mentioned the JBL M2, this is what Toole said: "As far as horns are concerned, except for large sound reinforcement systems, the new JBL Pro M2 is state of the art in my experience.  It is an exceptional performer - horn designed by Charles Sprinkle, then a consumer group engineer. I can detect no "horn" artifacts - a first."

 

Having owned 3 pairs of Roy's K-402's in the last 10 years (still have a pair) I can detect Zero horn artifacts on that one either.

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8 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I communicated with Dr. Floyd Tool about 3 years ago. He said Harman owns the patents on CBT's and let Don propagate the technology (probably needed the money).

Free advertising.

 

8 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I read somewhere that Don officially retired, so I hope he's sipping fruity drinks on an island somewhere or playing golf, who knows.

He's retired and living in picturesque Bloomington, Indiana. He's almost 82, now, so slowing-down a bit. Don's Website

 

10 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Having owned 3 pairs of Roy's K-402's in the last 10 years (still have a pair) I can detect Zero horn artifacts on that one either.

I think that the world has finally figured out that horns don't have to sound like "horns" if they're designed properly. Modern computational power and finite element analysis have made that possible. 3D printing has made prototyping much easier.

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1 hour ago, Edgar said:

I think that the world has finally figured out that horns don't have to sound like "horns" if they're designed properly. Modern computational power and finite element analysis have made that possible. 3D printing has made prototyping much easier.

Dr. Earl Geddes is about 1/2 hour from me. His work on High Order Modes in horns deserves some credit. He's all about "waveguides" which, all horns are anyway, semantics. I heard him speak in 1976, after taking Mr. Klipsch's advice in his newsletters, and I joined the Audio Engineering Society. Met quite a few interesting characters here in Michigan. Like the SMWTMS engineers (David L. Clark and others) that invented the AB/X box. I was one of the first people to sit and listen with it, but I digress.

 

Like PWK said: "a horn is a reasonably rigid air column. You just have to figure out what shape to make it."

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@ClaudeJ1, you and I have had the privilege of rubbing elbows with some heavy-hitters in this (and other) industries. Some of them, like Roy, are down-to-earth country boys who will take you fishin' in the morning and then dig deep into the tech in the afternoon. Others, who shall remain nameless, can be real prima donnas who will berate you for asking the time of day. I guess it's the same everywhere.

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1 hour ago, Edgar said:

Others, who shall remain nameless, can be real prima donnas who will berate you for asking the time of day. I guess it's the same everywhere.

I think I already named one of them. [E.G.] for example for example. Not a good impression 50 years ago with no improvement I could hear last time heard. Heavy on theory and math, light on personality and actually building stuff.

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1 hour ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Dr. Earl Geddes is about 1/2 hour from me. His work on High Order Modes in horns deserves some credit. He's all about "waveguides" which, all horns are anyway, semantics. I heard him speak in 1976, after taking Mr. Klipsch's advice in his newsletters, and I joined the Audio Engineering Society. Met quite a few interesting characters here in Michigan. Like the SMWTMS engineers (David L. Clark and others) that invented the AB/X box. I was one of the first people to sit and listen with it, but I digress.

 

Like PWK said: "a horn is a reasonably rigid air column. You just have to figure out what shape to make it."

I must have been in the same room with you at one time or another and did not know it:)

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