Great conversation... I was selling most of the above gear back in the 70's and 80's... Brings back memories... Many diverse opinions as always in this hobby.
Sold enough Klipsch to be able to drink too much whiskey with Paul Klipsch himself and remember him saying through the fog "What the world really needed was a good 10 watt amplifier!"
Yep, K-Horns 104db at 1 watt!
I think my pride and joy around then at home was a Marantz 2230 while some of my clients just had to have that Phase Linear 700 or an AmpZilla!
Sold enough B&W to drink wine with John Bowers and hear his wisdom on B&W's efforts to make their products sound wonderful as well as be reliable... In John's words "We make every effort to make our speakers idiot proof... the problem we find is that idiots are so F...ing ingenious!"
These guys always made me laugh... Some AG forums do too!
I often had to leave the sound room when doing demos on K-horns, Belle's, La Scala's, Cornwall's etc because after long hours on the sales floor I was craving peace and quiet... Too much Dark Side of the Moon or E. Power Biggs maybe... And OMG delivering them to a home was often insane... especially when an unsuspecting wife said "and exactly where are THOSE going to go???"
Regardless, I often used a double stack of La Scala speakers as live sound reinforcement... Great for big bands like Tommy Dorsey or Jim Miller... They were the "LIVE" sound of the day for those crowds of listeners. La Scala's were great for portable sound back then, not only because of their remarkable efficiency but because the horns provided "SQ throw" that other designs did not have... Electro Voice LR7's like the Beatles were set up to perform with were not even close... JBL was also great after their Bi Radial horns appeared but they were not as efficient and I remember them being harder to move due to their weight... Probably denser particle board compared to the Klipsch birch marine grade plywood which could also stand up to incredible abuse, even rain.
I did own several versions of Heresy speakers and it's interesting to know that the very reason Paul Kilpsch called them "Heresy" was because in his mind that is exactly what they were!
Remember to enjoy the music!
Sold enough Klipsch to be able to drink too much whiskey with Paul Klipsch himself and remember him saying through the fog "What the world really needed was a good 10 watt amplifier!"
Yep, K-Horns 104db at 1 watt!
I think my pride and joy around then at home was a Marantz 2230 while some of my clients just had to have that Phase Linear 700 or an AmpZilla!
Sold enough B&W to drink wine with John Bowers and hear his wisdom on B&W's efforts to make their products sound wonderful as well as be reliable... In John's words "We make every effort to make our speakers idiot proof... the problem we find is that idiots are so F...ing ingenious!"
These guys always made me laugh... Some AG forums do too!
I often had to leave the sound room when doing demos on K-horns, Belle's, La Scala's, Cornwall's etc because after long hours on the sales floor I was craving peace and quiet... Too much Dark Side of the Moon or E. Power Biggs maybe... And OMG delivering them to a home was often insane... especially when an unsuspecting wife said "and exactly where are THOSE going to go???"
Regardless, I often used a double stack of La Scala speakers as live sound reinforcement... Great for big bands like Tommy Dorsey or Jim Miller... They were the "LIVE" sound of the day for those crowds of listeners. La Scala's were great for portable sound back then, not only because of their remarkable efficiency but because the horns provided "SQ throw" that other designs did not have... Electro Voice LR7's like the Beatles were set up to perform with were not even close... JBL was also great after their Bi Radial horns appeared but they were not as efficient and I remember them being harder to move due to their weight... Probably denser particle board compared to the Klipsch birch marine grade plywood which could also stand up to incredible abuse, even rain.
I did own several versions of Heresy speakers and it's interesting to know that the very reason Paul Kilpsch called them "Heresy" was because in his mind that is exactly what they were!
Remember to enjoy the music!