Jump to content

Good Old Days.


Big Bean

Recommended Posts

The very first time I ever heard and heard of Klipsch was when I was living in Denver in the early 70's. A friend and I went to a stereo store to do some listening. I remember one large room (maybe 30 x 30) in particular because it had only two speakers strangely placed in the corners. A sign on top of one of the speakers proclaimed this as being the loudest transistor radio in the world. On top of the speaker sat a small radio no bigger than a box of Campbell's onion soup mix. Two wires led from the radio to the back of the speaker. A saleman asked if I would like to hear the radio and I said "of course."

Never had I heard anything like this! A little runt of a radio driving this huge speaker! The salesman asked if I wanted to hear what the speakers really sounded like and again I said "sure."

I listened to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" as I had never heard it before. The memory of that has never left me. Nothing I have ever heard or listened to since has equaled that experience.

Dave

This message has been edited by Dave in Nashville on 01-20-2002 at 03:09 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Klipsch Employees

If I want to remember the old days I just walk into the living room...there sets the 1967 cornwalls with the 1982 Yamaha receiver...1982 14ga speaker wire...

It all still sounds just like it did way back when...

Wink.gifs>

------------------

Trey Cannon

Technical Support

Klipsch Audio Technologies

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's some history for you...

My first HI-Fi = A KLH component system, consisting of KLH Model 7s, KLH tuner, Garrard TT, Shure cartridge,

KLH integrated amp.

My first real component system = (on a real college student's budget in 1972)

* Dynaco PAT-4 preamp

* ESS M500 amp (waited over a year for Dynaco ST-400; gave up and bought the ESS unit)

* Sony top-of-the-line tuner

* Dual TT top-of-the-line changer

* Shure V-15 Type 2 cartridge

and for speakers...special factory order, special Electronics Show prototypes...

Cerwin Vega Separates, consisting of two large satellite speakers in walnut (real wood-very heavy) with DHORM (horns with dome tweeters) tweeters, and 10 inch midrange drivers, and a side loaded - side firing horn for low-midrange) each weighing about 100 lbs,

coupled with a separate subwoofer cube (very large-very heavy - again, all walnut) featuring two 15" drivers, each with 30-40 lb magnets, firing and facing downward,

for all musical info. below 125 HTZ.

This system was often demonstrated at consumer electronics shows, and was not generally available through Cerwin Vega dealers (very limited production and very expensive). The subwoofer supposedly achieved

great output with very low distortion, all the way down to 18-20 hertz region. I verified this with some pipe organ music from my collection. The efficiency of these speakers was very high, requiring very few watts to reach high decibel levels. Definitely over 98 DB..

These speakers were among a handful of speakers at that time, achieving great SPLs > 125 DB with low distortion, and small amps! I had a monster amp (250 RMS per channel)so today I feel very fortunate to still have my hearing.

Cerwin Vega's slogan at the time was...

"Loud is Beautiful, if its Clean"

The cost of these speakers in 1972 was about $1450, through Myer-Emco in Washington DC. 3 sets were sold

over a 3 year period.

I soild mine in 1976, because they were next to impossible to move around (too heavy!).

I went with an original, personally assembled by the namesake himself in his Baltimore factory, Polk Audio Monitor 10s in walnut. I still have these today, coupled with two Polk Audio LF-12s (these are large subwoofers housed in original Monitor 12 cabinets).

But I want a pair of Klipsch's for my HT setup!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...