Paul W. Klipsch certainly made an impression on me as a college sophomore with his lecture on acoustic theory one spring afternoon. This company originated in the humble town of my birth, Hope, Arkansas. WW-II brought Paul Klipsch to Hope and he loved the place. He started the speaker company in the later part of the 1940s and the speak line of fine hand crafted wood cabinets and world class audio took off. There are lots of interesting stories about PWK. I always heard about how he would take apart McIntosh stereo amplifiers and re-construct them to suit his discerning ear.
One of his marketing strategies back in the mid-70s created some anxiety for a good friend of mine, John W. Simmons, Jr. of Arkadelphia. Paul Klipsch's response to the supposed superior sound quality of one of his rival's speaker systems was "Bulls$&!+." This was on the backs of Klipsch T-shirts distributed about that time. One day in July 1977 in Fayetteville, John was walking down Dickson St. and the local law took issue with his clothing style.
(Photo from the July 13, 1977 issue of "The Grapevine")
If I remember correctly, within a few days the charge was dropped. Some local DA (no, not dumb a$$, district attorney) was trying to make a name for himself. It didn't hurt that one of John's good friends was a Klipsch sales rep. I suppose the Klipsch lawyer would have loved to pounce on this opportunity, but alas, it never came to that.
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