Klipsch was on my local news last night

[Guest Joshua Ryan Hall]

Joshua Ryan Hall has deleted the previous thread with this subject line because there was misinformation and speculation that was too inflammatory or insulting toward Klipsch management and too disrespectful to current and recently laid off Klipsch employees. This was a choice I made as public relations manager. I felt it was best to eliminate the material and start over with a better explanation.

The following public notice from Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Klipsch was sent to the Hope area media following meetings with every person employed at the factory and distribution center in Hope.

FROM: Mike Klipsch

RE: Klipsch Discontinues Vinyl Speaker Production

I regret to announce that effective immediately, Klipsch Audio Technologies has stopped making vinyl speakers at our factory in Hope, Arkansas. This shutdown affects only the vinyl production operation. The rest of the factory and the distribution center remain open. The vinyl production operation at Klipsch employed approximately 60 union-represented people.

Consumer demand for edge-banding, the type of vinyl speakers manufactured in Hope, has significantly dropped in favor of profile-wrapped vinyl speakers, as well as for speakers made from plastic and metal. The technology and machinery needed for profile wrapping is just too expensive, and our Hope factory does not have the capability to make plastic or metal products.

Klipsch is continuing its real-wood products in Hope, including the original Klipschorn and other Heritage Series and Reference Series models, as well as the cinema products.

Klipsch will pay extended wages and benefits to every employee laid off or terminated as a result of the vinyl production shutdown. We also plan to offer job placement assistance through the Arkansas Workforce Center Office. Approximately 90 people remain employed at the Klipsch factory and distribution center.

END Public Notice

From Joshua: Further, Klipsch designs and engineers every Klipsch product, regardless of where it is made, at our Audio Engineering and Technology Center in Indianapolis. We manufacture almost all of our high-end, more expensive and real-wood models at our factory in Hope, Ark. And our plastic, metal and lesser-expensive speakers are manufactured overseas.

We are currently evaluating whether or not we will be making changes in the line-up.

I sincerely hope this posting helps to answer some of the legitimate questions posed in the previous thread. I do not think we have ever before taken down a thread and reposted it with a company response; I hope there is never again a need. When we are discussing the reasons and causes of why people are laid off or why Klipsch has closed down a specific type of production line, we must all take great care in maintaining the dignity and respect of those affected. I did not feel the previous thread reflected that and I chose to take the extreme measure of deleting it altogether.

Please contact me directly if you have specific questions or if you want to discuss any of these statements.

--Joshua Ryan Hall

Public Relations Manager

Klipsch Audio Technologies

[Guest Joshua Ryan Hall]

Sorry guys. I chose to take the thread down again. I'm not going to argue with someone who refuses to identify himself while he takes pot shots at us in public.

Based on the statements made by greyhound, I suspect he is a person we fired a couple of years ago or was getting his information from this person. He knew enough about the company to make his statements sound plausible, but ultimately what he said was inaccurate, half true or simply accusatory without merit.

Bottom line: Klipsch is a global company that makes its products from and in the global arena and we distribute and market to the global arena. We make great-sounding products that people love to have in their homes and in their theaters and bars and restaurants and retail stores and churches and to use with their computers and video game consoles and who knows what next.

--Joshua Ryan Hall