Amy's Blog

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Whoever named Plato soldering equipment was brilliant in their use of homophones.  After all, most guys who use this stuff have yet to let go of their toys.

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My mom came to visit me at work yesterday, taking a break from her extremely hectic life of being a retired high school guidance counselor.  And yes, she is retired from my high school, where she roamed the halls and presided over lunch duty during all of my secondary school years.  I survived the humiliation much better than my brother did, but you know how cool teenage boys are supposed to be.  Moms at school ≠ cool. 

But survive we did, which is attributable to the fact that our mom is the most likeable human being on the planet.

I mean, what's not to like about this?

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I was lucky enough to take a Palladium P-312W subwoofer home for beta testing this weekend.  Steven was a quick study on the touch-panel screen, finding it endlessly fascinating that he could make the pretty blue lights illuminate with the touch of a finger.  It made for interesting listening, and I certainly got a feel for the sub's entire volume range.

Test Results:

Simple to Connect:  Check

Toddler Proof:  No damage thus far

Ease of Use:  See photo

Bass:  I found crooked pictures in the upstairs hallway later that night

Quality:  I never thought I'd say this, but....  Alvin and the Chipmunks never sounded so good

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The guys downstairs were using this bag of polyfill to stuff speaker cabinets the other day.  Although when I pointed out how dern cute the little 'saurus picture was, which no one had noticed previously, they may switch brands.  "Cute" is so not cool. 

You are looking at the 1954 Klipsch “Tremulant” version of the K-Horn, which was PWKs answer to the Leslie speaker made for electronic organ use.  The Leslie, famous with Hammond B3s, had a revolving HF horn that gave the “waa-waa” effect, but Paul did it with a rotating vane powered by a turntable motor.  Likely the same motor used in the Klipsch turntable*.  In non-techie speak:  see the bow-tie shaped piece of wood with the metal rod through it?  It spins.  

Although I don't know much about the design or engineering of this speaker, I thought its logo was pretty neat. 

* any information leading to the capture of a Klipsch turntable will reap substantial rewards, such as heroism and reverence by all Klipsch fans and employees

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The trees out back are beginning to look so lovely, unlike this box of toothpicks from January.  Almost time for Trey to start huntin' them crawdads.

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It kind of looks like this Palladium Bookshelf speaker had a rough night.

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This framed record was a gift from Cherokee Recording Studios in celebration of their 25th anniversary in 2000, and on display in our engineering library.  Every time I see it, I can't help but think of Christopher Walken in this classic SNL skit. 

The elementary school playground where I take Steven after daycare has the coolest paintings all over the parking lot and sidewalks.  Very clever stuff.  Here he is saying "hello" to all his fans around the world from Indianopolis, which is the new spelling of our fair city according to the news ticker of a major Cable News Network.  English majors take note:  they might be hiring proof readers.

Unfortunately, he had to go potty really bad right when we got there.  We walked all around the school trying to get in, but of course, it was locked up tight.  So we did the obvious and went home early behind a tree where I let him do his business.  

He thought that was totally cool.  

About a half hour later, he went down the slide then announced he had to go potty again, and proceeded to pull his pants down in front of a dozen other parents and their kids.  Luckily I was close enough to him to prevent any exposure, and then had to explain why he was allowed to “go on the ground” earlier, and not now.  It was a tricky distinction, and I’m not sure he gets it.  I don't think most boys ever really get it.

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I have no idea what a yoke and flyback is, but I thought the industrial designers of this piece of engineering testing equipment chose a pretty shade of powder blue. 

I'm such a chick.

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These were parked out in the back lot yesterday, which was probably the most beautiful and warmest days of the year so far. 

Musically speaking, images like this probably conjure up Born to Be Wild or Bad to the Bone for normal people, but for me, all I hear is this.  Quite the contrast.  I blame it on springtime. 

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I’ll begin the blog today with a confession: 

I eat lunch every day with engineers.  Voluntarily.

Yes, it's true.  Some of my favorite co-workers are engineers.  There, I said it.  Maybe it's a warped sense of humor thing.  Or maybe it's that I find their casual conversations endlessly fascinating, such as the technical benefits of front loading washing machines, or the physiological explanation for the aversion of nails on a chalkboard.  Educational stuff like that.  

As with any group of friends, we frequently we get on topics that have us laughing to point of tears.  For instance, Andy mentioned he was out shopping with his wife when she started rambling in a chick-speak which left him blinking rapidly, shaking his head quickly, and chanting "Does Not Compute" in a robot-like manner.  Greg nodded in complete understanding, chiming in with:

"Yep.  She overloaded your Dude Chip." 

The most entertaining conversation followed, discussing in detail the features of the so-called "Dude Chip."  The design was so compelling, it was necessary to document the concept on the engineering white board, as seen below.  

My favorite is the RS-232 cable with a 2400 baud rate connection between Logic portion and the detached Emotion chip, along with the optional switch.  And the teeny tiny memory section.

Good stuff, guys.

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This blog serves two purposes today.  The first, to show you the closet where our loudest and most vigorous testing takes place.

The second, to illustrate why I love working here.  When I emailed product manager Jim asking him to explain what is being tested in this picture, this is exactly how he responded:

Emcee: Amy, you could win this…

Announcer: It’s the shiny new RW-5101-C 10” Cerametallic™ cone, in-ceiling passive subwoofer. (Applause) The RW-5101-C is the newest member of the Klipsch Reference 5000 Series architectural speakers. This fantastic subwoofer is designed for use only with the RSA-500 amplifier. Add deep bass to your custom installed home theater with the RW-5101-C from Klipsch!!!!

Emcee: Ok Amy, you get a chance to win that prize right now. It’s time to play PLINKO!!!!!

Happy Friday, everyone!