First day at Hope!

[skonopa]

Well, I made it!

Sitting here at the Farm House with my trusty old Compaq laptop and checking out some tunes on the various K-horns/cornwalls, and so forth driven by a motly crue of amps (currently, a pair of VRDs), and pre-amps.

Got at 3:30, left the house at 4:15 to beat the D.C. rush hour traffic. Made it to Little Rock a little early, at around 10:30ish or so. Got the car and hauled butt to Hope and made it just in time for the plant tour!

Now, that was very fascinating to see. It is amazing how much of the work is still done by hand (vs using robots/automation), so anybody griping about minor imperfections (although from what I saw, they are very meticulous about making sure everything is perfect), just be aware just how much of these speakers are still being built by hand, and unfortunatly, there will be that rare unit that'll get out. Today, they were cranking out black ash RF-63s. I was also impressed at the number of Khorns that were being built as well.

Also, those 60'th anniversery K-horns are just absolutely gorgeous! It was friggan love at first site! That piano finish on the upper part, with that beatiful lattice wood front. This thing is as much a work of art as it is a speaker. I'd love to get one, but alas, it won't happen.

The fried cat fish and hush puppies where awesome! That was nearly worth the trip in itself.

Now, just playing around and hanging out with the rest of the folks here.

[Speedball]

Sounds very interesting! Factories and assembly line type places are are exciting to visit.

[Piranha]

Don't forget to have your cholesterol checked when you return. []