Start Me Up: Klipsch Reference Series
By Sarah Knight
At the first sign of warm weather, my boyfriend Randy brings his racing-striped hugger orange 1969 Rally Sport Camaro out of storage. After a quick cruise around the neighborhood, he purposely parks it near the edge of the driveway to show off, then delicately washes and waxes the body and chrome into a perfect shine. Passersby stop to admire the beauty and mint condition of the other girl in his life - his "Orange Crush."
I get the feeling that when Randy sits in the Camaro's deep bucket seats and hears the powerful rev of the engine, he begins fantasizing about racing down a desolate highway and unleashing her true power. He gets that same wanton look in his eyes that Nick Cage did in Gone in 60 Seconds - the one where Cage spots "Eleanor," a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500.
Most girlfriends might view this behavior as mental, but I grew up around timeless hot rods, so I perfectly understand this intense fascination. My father was also a classic car lover who restored them as a hobby, transforming junky car frames into beautiful showpieces. He would schlep my sister and me from car show to car show and drive us around in everything from a 1956 fire-red Chevy Nomad to a 1951 bright-pink, chopped-top Mercury.
In my four-year stint as a Klipsch employee, I have heard stories and had multiple discussions regarding loudspeakers, only to learn that Klipsch owners exhibit a similar, obsessive behavior with their speakers. It appears that I simply cannot get away from fanatical people - which is just fine by me.
The Reference Series has created a legacy of advanced technology and visual sophistication for Klipsch, just as the Rally Sport and Mustang have for their respective companies. According to our own special community of fanatics, there are three qualities to which they are specifically attached - power, detail and emotion. The Reference Series embodies all three of these traits; maybe that's why Reference loudspeakers are the world's most sought after home entertainment products.
Something special happens while listening to music or watching a film with Klipsch Reference loudspeakers, the combination of high-technology, superior design engineering, and the best possible materials help to reproduce the original passion of the filmmaker and artist.
Reference owners understand that their speakers are not like everyone else's and that the Klipsch sound experience is unique among a sea of "me to" brands that fool themselves into thinking complex jargon and inflated technical specifications make their products better.
Yes, Klipsch fanatics and car fanatics share intense passions for these products. Obsessive behaviors and legendary histories have made companies like Klipsch, Chevrolet and Ford icons in their industries, and given them reputations for creating some of the hottest, highest performance products of all time.