DOuG pRATt

200 lbs., free shipping

April 17th, 2009

Here’s something I thought I’d never see. Amazon.com is selling the Klipschorn loudspeaker with free shipping. These things weigh nearly 200 pounds each! The price? $3999. That’s per speaker, not per pair.

Even 30 years ago, when I was in college, the Klipschorn was considered to be an old man’s loudspeaker. I was visiting an instructor’s house with some other kids. He had a 20-year-old mono hi-fi that consisted of a Fisher tube amplifier, a Fisher tube FM tuner, and a single Klipschorn speaker. Classical music was playing over the radio, and I was completely knocked out by the sound. It was one of the most uncanny and impressive home audio demonstrations I’ve ever heard.

After that I fantasized about someday owning a pair of Klipschorns, but it will never happen. A few years later, when I had graduated and was working, I bought a pair of Allison 3’s, new, for half price — $350/pair, the equivalent of $1000 today — at a going-out-of business sale. Like the Klipschorns, the Allison 3’s are intended for corner placement. I still have the Allisons, and they’re in excellent shape, both operationally and in appearance.

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