jhawk92 Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 In the better late than never category, Ill add my comments and pics on the Indy trip. I do have a good excuse for being late, as I spent all of the week following the visit on the road for various business trips. Ah, the life of a satellite engineer keeping salespeople honest. So, without further ado, here goes. Ill try not to rehash everything that has already been said, but add my own flavor to the thread. I arrived Friday afternoon and got to the hotel courtesy of Steve and his rental PT Cruiser. It wasnt long before my phone rang and I got to meet Andy (HDBR Builder) in person. As folks have said before, Andy is quite a riot. I had to pound on his door since he had already hooked up the HK 430 and Heresys. Boy, even in the small hotel room there was great sound. Im thinking I may need to snag a 430 sometime just cause! We went out for pizza and brought back adult beverages for the evening mixer. It was great fun just listening to everyones stories and getting to hear some great tunes through the Heresys. I guess that is one picture I did not get, so hopefully you will all forgive me. But the Klipsch experiences and knowledge in that room was incredible. Steve was the lone Reference owner, and the rest of us, Gil, Andy, John A., John M., Larry, Art, and myself all have big Heritage. Ive got some new ideas for false corners thanks to Andy and Larry. Saturday morning came early as we didnt pack it in until after 2am, but it was well worth the short sleeping time. Here is a pic of the Klipsch HQ as you drive up. As Steve mentioned earlier, the factory is right next to the highway, so you gotta have a big sign for advertising. First up was a tour around the facility, to include getting to meet Miss Judy. What a great lady and it was wonderful to open up her home to a bunch of strangers. Or are we all psychos??? At any rate, in the lobby, Engineer Jim explained the artwork. Since nobody else has posted the explanation, Ill give it a shot (you know engineers, always the nerdy ones in the bunch). The big copper blades are designed to replicate the Tractrix horn, which you can tell from this pic. The top blade has the electrical symbol of a capacitor; right blade is an inductor; bottom blade is a diode; left blade is a resistor. When looking at the artwork, the outside curves represent different engineering principles. At the 12:00 position, you have electrical current (AC) coming in and sound waves coming out. At the 3:00 position, are polar graphs that represent perfect speaker output. At the 6:00 position is a graph representing what all speakers strive to have; flat response over the entire audible spectrum. At the 9:00 positionwell, that is the only thing I dont remember, so if Trey or anyone else can fill in that blank, Id appreciate it. (Edit by Trey: Low distortion... The mural on the next wall was quite spectacular, complete with Mr. Pauls extra watches and BS pin. I know there have been posters made of it, and it would be quite cool to offer these up on the Klipsch website store. Hint, hint! A copy of this would look great next to my poster of Mr. Pauls book. Hint, hint!! We toured around the engineering area and got to see the Klipsch Library and all the wonderful treasures there. Engineer Jims knowledge about Klipsch is amazing! Its good to see that even Klipsch keeps its engineers on the bottom floor; just like mushroomskeep us in the dark and feed us $#!%. Klipsch has a K-horn cutaway that certainly highlights the folded hornI still cant visualize the last fold the sound makes to exit the speaker and move along the wall. Maybe some day. Next up was one of the main reasons I was excited about the trip; the anechoic chamber, where they measure speaker response. The door is a replica of the 4-ton door to the chamber in Hope, and according to Trey, both are patented and the only two in existence. As John Malotky said earlier, it was quite an experience inside when the door was closed. Ive been told that eventually you can hear your heart beating in the room, but nobody stayed in that long. And then to see the really sensitive microphone pick up sounds from OUTSIDE the chamber was too cool! Klipsch also has a half chamber where they can test just drivers. Here are a few pics, both inside and out of the full chamber. Note the built-in corner for testing the K-horn!! As was mentioned before, the Klipple test setup was pretty spiffy as was the prototype part machine. Who knew you could design such complex parts with epoxy and a laser?!? I was able to be an extra set of ears on the A-B-X wire test, and while I could tell a difference from the back seat I didnt get a chance to take the test myself. Maybe next time. But from hearing about how other people did on the test, I wonder if Id really be able to tell a difference. Maybe I should be happy with my current wire and put money into tube amps for my K-horns! I really enjoyed the informative talk about the new Reference lines coming out. Certainly getting to hear them was pretty cool with the Ronin DVD demo. The system sounded pretty good, especially since it can be had for under $3K. I must admit though, I preferred my current HT system; Heritage is where its at! Im bummed that while I was in the A-B-X room, I missed out on the RF-7 HT demo with the Matrix. That is my current HT demo for friends/family, so it would have been cool to hear that in a properly set up room with the Reference line. John M. will have to fill me in on the discussions comparing RF and Heritage!! I think the SACD demo may have me spending some $$ for a new player. I really liked how the Denon DVD-2900 looked and sounded. Glad to hear that it isnt as hard to set up as some folks say. Lunch was quite fun and I tried to absorb as much audio as I could. After lunch I headed for the Heritage room so I could hear everything in one location. It was quite a kick to be able to switch between K-horn, LaScala, Belle, and then Heresy. I am glad I searched and found my pair of K-horns as they have the most natural sound of the whole bunch. The new K-horns sounded wonderful with the new networks and I picked up a few new titles to get for my next listening session. Here is a pic of the Heritage family. Just picture the same thing on the left side of the room! It was near-heaven on earth! I forgot the name of who was helping us in the Heritage room, but he was very knowledgeable and shared great insight on these wonderful products. The Aragon amps also sounded good paired with the Rotel CD player. Two tracks that he played really caught my ear, and many others in the room. They were: Gordon Goodwins Big Phat Band playing Sing Sang Sung from the album Swinging for the Fences Jerry Mulligan from the album Jerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band @ the Village Vanguard (NYC Dec 60) These sounded wonderful on Mr. Pauls big 3-way horns. Then several of us got to play our own tunes and I really enjoyed Ottmar Lieberts album Santa Fe Sessions Eva Cassidys album Time After Time Eva did the title track better than Cyndi Laupers original! Sorry I dont remember who brought these two CDs, but Ill be looking for them soon too. It was great to meet Gregorius and his wife as we had been exchanging a ton of emails about K-horns, tube receivers and Flexy racks. Great system you have there for sure!! I hung out for a long time in the Heritage room just soaking up the sounds, but unfortunately missed out on the subwoofer demo that was outside. It would have been great to hear how the new Klipsch subs sound in comparison to some of the competition. Oh well, next time Ill get to that too. After a great visit at the HQ, Trey invited us over for a demo of his HT in the works. It was here that I really got to hear Cornwalls for the first time and they do sound wonderful. Id love to demo a pair of those against my Chorus IIs. Trey has a great start on what will be a wonderful HT/music room and the THX trailer sounded wonderful. And it was quite a kick to see his little daughter dancing around to the music. Im looking forward to sharing my Klipsch experiences with our baby when that time comes in December. By that time, we were all getting the hungries and rounded everyone up for the trip to the Jazz Kitchen for dinner. I cant count the number of stories that were passed around our table (Andy, myself, John M., Artto, Greg and his wife) over the wonderful appetizers, filets, and cheesecake. What a great group of folks. And we had the best looking waitress in the place!! After dinner, some of us went downtown to see where Klipsch has left their mark. The Lotus Club was quite impressive, though we all felt a bit out place with the hip-hop music. Still, they have quite a kick-a$$ system there, and Im sure their neighbors get to enjoy Klipsch by association! Final stop for the night was a great Irish pub where more great stories were passed around and I got the lowdown on babies and becoming a father from Steve Ps wife, and Rogers (IndyKlipschFan) wife. Sorry I cant remember their names. If I had known they were going to be there, Id have made up more nametags! So John Ais it bad that I am older and taller than what you thought Id be? I dont think Id be able to afford this habit if I were much younger. Well, I think I have drawn this out long enough. I wanted to thank everyone there at KAT for sponsoring a wonderful weekend. It was great to see the future of Klipsch and to meet so many cool folks from the forum. Trips like these usually cost me more in upgrades, new music, etc than the trip itself! Thanks again for an awesome time and hopefully other folks will get to experience what we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 What a wonderful report, and great pictures to boot. I surely missed out on a fabulous time at Klipsch. Hopefully I'll be able to make the pilgrimage someday, but in the meantime I thoroughly enjoyed your thread! Thanks for providing us Klipsch followers who were not able to attend this year's trip, a look into the inner workings of our favorite loudspeaker manufacturer! Much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry N. Cruse Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Wonderful piece. I may have missed a post or two..but What about the Jubilee? Any mention? Does the wood horn 2-way really exist? If so where? Thanks, tc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Terry, There was a thing or 2 about the Jubilee floating around if you knew where to look and remembered what they were supposed to look like. So, that project is still working, but in it's sweet time. Probably, most really new speakers take this long when they are different enough to get a patent. Being enthusiasts, we probably heard about the home version earlier than normal. Rob, It's not bad how anybody looks vs my imagination. It's a humorous comment on the images we create in our minds of what others must look like. I don't think I've ever been correct! I should not be surprised that we are all of similar age and occupation, but I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Having missed it because of work, I really appreciate the wonderful post. Great job with the pictures and commentary. Truly outstanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted July 12, 2003 Author Share Posted July 12, 2003 jt- Happy to keep folks informed on things and thanks for the nice comments. I think the entire trip went well, so I bet the Klipsch folks have another before too long. It may not be an every year thing, but I wouldn't doubt this happens again. The pics are courtesy of our new Canon Powershot G3, a sweet 4 megapixel digital camera. Great little unit for sure. Terry- Sounds like from John's comments I should have been nosing around more, or hanging with folks who are in the "know" about the Jubilee. That is one of the things I am bummed about not making the original Pilgrimage in Hope a couple years ago; getting to hear the Jubilee and the outstanding HT they have set up there. John- Actually, I figured I was going to be one of the youngest there. I think I probably was in terms of Heritage owners, though I think John M. and I are pretty close in age. I hit 34 this year, so is that older than you thought? Dean- Thanks for the kind words. I hope it didn't end up being too verbose, but it was quite a fun time. Now if I can just get someone to fill in that missing link on the artwork I'll be happy. Oh, and for Klipsch to set up posters of the PWK mural! I know they'd sell like hotcakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted July 12, 2003 Share Posted July 12, 2003 Rob I hit 40 this year. Thanks for the complement I think you and Steve K were the youngest at the hotel. Steve P's wife's name was Beckey. I forgot Rodger's wife's name. It was really fun hangin out with you guys in Indy. I'll be back next year if we do this again. I wish we would have had more time to meet the others who were down for the day on Saturday. Most of them came for the tour and left. Next time you guys have to come over for Friday night and Sat night too. As for the Jubilee, we did talk about it a bit. Word is, There is a very real chance that it will not go into production. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 ---------------- On 7/12/2003 11:05:15 PM j-malotky wrote: Rob I hit 40 this year. Thanks for the complement I think you and Steve K were the youngest at the hotel. JM ---------------- You are probably right. I am "only" 33 years old. After seeing all the other folks, I was probably the youngest one there. Anyway, regardless of age, it was truly an awesome time and I look forward to doing this again. Hopefully, by than, I'll have digital camera. The pictures I took with that disposable camera did not turn out as good as I'd like. Oh well. At least there are anough other pictures around. I saved some of the pictures off this forum onto my own system for achival purposes, making sure I give credit to the person that took the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry N. Cruse Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 ---------------- On 7/12/2003 11:05:15 PM j-malotky wrote: Rob I hit 40 this year. Thanks for the complement I think you and Steve K were the youngest at the hotel. Steve P's wife's name was Beckey. I forgot Rodger's wife's name. It was really fun hangin out with you guys in Indy. I'll be back next year if we do this again. I wish we would have had more time to meet the others who were down for the day on Saturday. Most of them came for the tour and left. Next time you guys have to come over for Friday night and Sat night too. As for the Jubilee, we did talk about it a bit. Word is, There is a very real chance that it will not go into production. JM ---------------- For some reason, I had always thought that the "new Klipsch b oys" would cannibalize the Jubilee ($) for the pro theater sales. Maybe I am too sentimental, but I considered the design to be Pauls dieing gift to the world. If you are not going to produce it, email the auto CAD design specs to us. We will build it ourselves. tc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry N. Cruse Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 Was my comment a bit harsh...or simply correct? tc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Reed Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 The 2 way Jubilee was a dream come true for PWK. I'm sure he "studied" on this for many years before it came to be. It should be produced. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry N. Cruse Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 ---------------- On 7/14/2003 6:59:05 PM Tony Reed wrote: The 2 way Jubilee was a dream come true for PWK. I'm sure he "studied" on this for many years before it came to be. It should be produced. Tony ---------------- Tony, thanks for the support. Go Hogs tc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluless Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 JHawk.. And here I thought that your delayed post was due to the fact that you lost GPS to your own personal satellite and couldn't find your way back home...J/K. Very nice pics and editorial. One question for the Klipsch folks....thats alot of cherry? veneer for a doorway to a test vault? Very pretty but it opens up the question....is the facility open to the general public? or does cherry veneer have hidden benefits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 ---------------- For some reason, I had always thought that the "new Klipsch b oys" would cannibalize the Jubilee ($) for the pro theater sales. Maybe I am too sentimental, but I considered the design to be Pauls dieing gift to the world. If you are not going to produce it, email the auto CAD design specs to us. We will build it ourselves. tc ---------------- Terry The Jubilee is in production as a Pro speaker. At least the PWK bass bin. http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=502 Since it is in current line there is no way to get a CAD drawing of it. It was Engineer Jim who made the comment that the Jubilee may never be produced. From his comments, I got the idea that it was finished as far as the engineering etc, but it is just too expensive to offer as a home speaker. The costs of vaneering the entire cabinet are very high. I assume (my opinion) is that marketing and MGMT does not feel they will be able to sell them at the cost it takes to make them. I heard once that the Jubilee is a $15K speaker. If that is a marketing goal of what thay feel we will be willing to spend, they need to make the speakers for $12K or less for example. It is a lot easier to make money selling RB-35's at $300 a pop than to build a $15K speaker. How much are you willing to speand on PWK's last design. $20K? $30K? Is it that much better than a Khorn for $7K? Maybe Klipsch should ask us for some marketing input to see what we would be willing to spend on this speaker and who would order one? We here at the Forum are probably the only people really interested in this speaker. Remember, they are having problems getting dealers to display the Heritage line too. I bet its been 10-12 years since I have seen a Khorn on display in Milwaukee WI. I can see there delema. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorius Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Greetings Gentlemen, Trey mentioned to me that they are having trouble finding someone that can produce the wood Jubilee HF horn with any consistency, there is too much variance between samples, probably because it is wood, and not metal or plastic which is inert to atmospheric conditions. Regards, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted July 15, 2003 Klipsch Employees Share Posted July 15, 2003 The door is made of Mahogany and Birch all just lacquered.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted July 16, 2003 Author Share Posted July 16, 2003 John M. Wow, you certainly don't look 40. Good on you!! I knew Steve and I were about the same age as we had chatted before the trip. But I think I can say I was the youngest at the hotel (until Steve showed up) and probably the youngest of "Big Heritage" owners at the whole gathering. Clu- Well, you aren't too far from the truth about the GPS thing. I was all over the country for the two weeks prior and week after; three different time zones, 6 different states, whole lotta airports. I'm just glad the pilots know where to go. My dogs had a hard time recognizing me when I did get home. Then again, my wife almost said the same thing! Trey- Thanks for chiming in here. Had a great time with you and the group. Maybe Engineer Jim can post the missing element in my description of the lobby artwork? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorius Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 ---------------- On 7/16/2003 9:25:00 PM jhawk92 wrote: Thanks for chiming in here. Had a great time with you and the group. Maybe Engineer Jim can post the missing element in my description of the lobby artwork? ---------------- Rob, check your original post, Trey inserted the description there, it's Low Distortion. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted July 20, 2003 Share Posted July 20, 2003 Cluless, As Trey said, the door panels are made of 3/4" birch plywood...and it was nice that the majority of those birch plywood panels were CONSECUTIVELY veneered...it makes for a nicer "look" on the finished product. The trim around the edges of the door sections is solid Honduran mahogany...renowned for its dimensional stability under temperature and humidity changes. All of this was pre-fabricated in Hope, AR and shipped to Indy for final assembly and installation. The gentleman who did the majority of this work of pre-fabricating this door is also the same gentleman who was a major participant in the fabrication of all of the Jubilee prototypes and the final Jubilee version under the tutelage of PWK and Engineer Roy Delgado...and who remains in Hope as a major part of the R&D division still remaining there at Hope, AR. He is one of my greatest friends...we graduated from high school together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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