Andre's Blog

My wife and I will be leaving on October 3rd.  Although we still have a few steps of paperwork remaining, the ball is certainly rolling downhill.  I am really looking forward to my new assignment.  My wife is excited as well.  There is alot of stuff to take care of before we leave and hopefully all that goes smoothly. 

Once we get to China we will find an apartment and settle in.  Our dog ralphie will be sent over shortly after we find an apartment.  That will be nice to have him there with us.  He is such a little ball of energy.  He will be a good excuse to go for a walk and take in some of that fresh Dongguan Air.  This picture was from when he was a little tiny puppy.  Now he is a monster.  

Anyway, Please feel free to ask questions except "When do you leave?". 

I'm Andre LaRouche and that's my 2dB

There has been a heist of monumental proportions at the Klipsch Cafe...   

I am going to launch a full scale investigation to find the whereabouts of my wonderbread sandwich holder.  I know the parties involved and they will remain nameless (for now)...  But know that when I find it I will not have mercy on the theif and his/her conspirators. 

I am offering a 14 HKD reward for information that leads to the culprit...

Andre "Sherlock Holmes" LaRouche

If you have ever changed locations or offices within a company, you may be able to sympathize more with my current situation.  To re-cap I am leaving the Indianapolis Headquarters office to go work out of our China office for a few years.  Read my last post if you want a little more detail on this move. 

What is the most popular question I recieve?  That's right, you guessed it "When do you leave?".  It comes in many forms such as "Do you have a departure date yet?" or "How much time left before you fly out?".  But no matter what way you say it everyone wants to know "When do you leave?"   I have actually tried to keep track of how many times on a daily basis I get this question, and honestly I cannot keep track.  It is probably 10-15 times daily.  I don't blame anyone for asking the question because I would do the same thing.  My only problem with this question is that I don't know when I am leaving.  The Chinese government is very detailed in their requirements for expatriats living in their country so the process is quite long.  I am more anxious than anything with the excitement and mystery of living abroad tumbling around my brain.  I am sure I will have a date soon.  I'll keep you all posted. 

I've been trying to spend as much time with my family and friends recently.  God only know's when I will see them in the future.  I think it is important to get together with them as often as possible before we leave.  I went to Michigan this past weekend to visit my parents and other family.  My dad and I went to a Tigers game at Comerica park (don't get me started about the Tigers, this blog would have to change titles), and spent the next day hanging out at my parents house with a bunch of family and friends.  I also sold my car to my parents so mom and I got to have all sorts of fun trying to deal with Credit Unions.  Did I mention that I took 4 dogs with me?  Yes, you heard me right... 4 dogs.  Kelly and her parents had made plans to go to Omaha for her nephews birthday so I offered to watch their dogs.  I accepted and then decided to take all 4 to michigan for the weekend for my visit.  Let me tell you, dogs are easy, but 4 is a little bit of a challenge.  We both had pretty exhausting weekends, but at least the dogs slept good on Sunday Night... 

I've also been playing alot of golf.  I LOVE GOLF.  I'm not spectacular but I hold my own usually shooting in the high 80's / low 90's.  My dad and I played up in Michigan at a nice municipal course and I shot an 81 so that was rad.  On Monday I went to a 9 hole golf course in NW Indy called White Lick Golf Course.  It is a small simple track, but it only costs $6.75 for 9 holes.  That was nice.  My 9 on the last hole was not nice...  But buyer beware, they only have carts for the handicapped...  I am going today to play Trophy Club in Lebanon, IN which is a gorgeous course and on Sunday I think I will be playing somewhere on the south side of Indianapolis.  If anyone has a course suggestion in the Indianapolis area, please pass it along. 

 I suppose I have rambled enough for one day...  Don't forget to ask me when I leave the next time you see me... 

10 points if you can name the movie quoted in the title of this blog.  10 more if you can name what actors played the parents of the main characters. 

There comes a time in everyone's career where your career moves down a new path.  I have been an acoustic design engineer for Klipsch since June of 2003.  I've worked on a myriad of exciting new products and traveled across the globe to get these products out to market on time without sacrificing the Klipsch heritage.  With this experience I have been asked by Klipsch to take a position in the Peoples Republic of China.

Within the next month my wife and I will be jetting off to Dongguan City, China where I will work out of the Klipsch Group Inc. office for a few years.  The Klipsch China office primarily plays a QC role but my role will be to expand the engineering capabilities so that we are a more efficient company.  My wife and I are very excited to begin this stage of our lives.  Currently we are awaiting Visa and immigration paperwork approval.  I'll keep this blog up to date with interesting posts, pictures, and witty commentary from across the pond.  Please feel free to post comments and questions.   

I’m Andre LaRouche and that’s my 2dB         

I need to recognize a few individuals regarding an Anniversary. 

Nirvana, Carl, Brandon, Minnesota Talls, and Hot Pants LaFrance. 

Thanks for my most un-forgettable evening in my college career.  October 30th 1999.

A-1, Soap Chess, Sugar Smacks, Toast, Champion, HCJ.

707 for ever!  

In my previous blog entry I laid the groundwork for an interesting discussion about specifications.  I outlined three specs that frame the performance of a loudspeaker.  In this entry I am going to talk about power handling. 

            Power handling, power rating, recommended amplifier rating, 8 ohms, 4 ohms, 8 ohms compatible, continuous, peak, Ahhhhh!  I would like to highlight an example that will open your eyes to the specification of power handling.    

            A Watt is the International standard unit for Power.  One Watt is equal to one joule of energy used per second.  In electrical systems 1 Watt = 1 Volt X 1 Ampere.  Ohms law states that V = I X R, (V: Voltage, I: Current, R: Resistance).  Without getting too technical it’s the voltage drop across a load is equal to the current running through that load times the resistance of the load.  When you put the two formulas together, Power (Watts) = Voltage (Volts)² / Resistance (Ohms).  W=V²/R. 

Now that I have totally nerded out, I will get to my point.  Power Handling is based on voltage and load resistance.  Let’s make one assumption for my next exercise.  Let’s pretend that all loudspeaker manufacturers use the same method for determining power handling.  Play pink noise through the speaker for a lengthy period of time at a voltage (relative to the expected power capabilities for that system).  Use that voltage and the speaker’s resistance to calculate the power handling assuming there is no damage caused by the test.  Ok, I made a lot of assumptions there, but I needed to in order to illustrate my next point.  So let’s test a fictitious loudspeaker, the BBB speaker (Big Bad Boy Speaker, yea I am really clever).  This speaker is a beast; it can supposedly handle a ton of power.  On the website this BBB speaker handles 250 Watts and is 8 Ohms.  Using our formula from above that speaker was tested at 44.7 Volts.  WOW!!!  That is a pant load of voltage. 

But wait, the website didn’t say what voltage the speaker was tested at.  Hold on, how can we know if that is what voltage the speaker was tested?  Well, it says 8 ohms.  Hmmm…  8 ohms.  Let’s talk about impedance and resistance for a minute.  Resistance is the DC component of a load.  So at 0 Hz, that is the DC resistance.  I’ve never listened to 0 Hz, but I would care to guess that there isn’t much music recorded there.  Impedance is the frequency dependant resistance.  So at 100 Hz a speaker may have a resistance value of 3.6 Ohms and at 2 kHz the speaker has a resistance of 25 Ohms (at least in a horn loaded loudspeaker).  So if the impedance is so frequency dependant, how can we call it an 8 Ohms speaker?  Hmmm... So if you assume the load resistance at 100 Hz (3.6 Ohms) for our BBB speaker you calculate the voltage for our ‘250 Watts’ to be 30 Volts.  That is a big difference from the 44.7 Volts from before.  What about at 2kHz (25 Ohms)?  The Voltage tested would have been 79 Volts.  Holy cow…  Ok, so what we have learned here is that there is one truth: Voltage.  When the speaker was tested it was set to a particular voltage.  That is a REAL recorded number.  That number is the one truth in our search for what is real and fake.  The Power handling, that number you read in Watts totally depends on what impedance you call your speaker.  That is the game that is played out there in the industry.

Peak and Continuous are terms that are also used.  I think I could have an entire blog about peak and continuous power but I will keep this segment short.  Peak refers to the amount of power a speaker can handle in the short term.  When I say short term I mean that when music is recorded there are voltage spikes in the signal and they can often be 6 dB hotter than the nominal signal.  These spikes can last for very short bursts of time (tenths of seconds) and will not cause a system to fail.  However, 6 dB translates to doubling the power twice (double the power equals 3 dB).  So for a 50 Watt signal, the peaks can approach 200 Watts.  Many brands use this opportunity to make their speaker sound like it has more power handling by only specifying peak power.   

Now I challenge you to go look at some of the web sites of popular loudspeaker brands and read their power handling specs.  Beware, there are many * and Ŧ denoting that there is some special test conditions or assumptions made for that particular rating.  You will never look at power handling ratings again in the same way.   

In conclusion regarding power handling, remember that Watt’s are relative to the impedance, so don't be fooled.  Tune in next week when I introduce my discussion about sensitivity:  Part 3 – Your too sensitive you wimp.

I’m Andre LaRouche and that’s my 2dB

            As an Engineer I live in a world of truths.  Earth’s Gravitational Acceleration = 9.8m/s/s, The Inverse square law, Avogadro's number = 6.0221415 × 10²³.  These are scientific phenomenon based on measurements and years of research.  These truths are the very basis upon which we (engineers) base our careers.  In loudspeakers there are many truths.  Paul Klipsch talked about our design philosophy (I am not going to get into the details of that philosophy in this blog, perhaps another time) and those speak to measurable attributes ok Klipsch Loudspeakers.  These truths are some of the reasons that Klipsch has been successful. 

            As an innovative company Klipsch is always trying to push the envelope and increase performance.  However in today’s economy, the customers are asking for smaller and smaller loudspeakers.  This is difficult because physics tells us that larger speakers can play louder and lower in frequency with less input stimulus.  So the customer is throwing us a challenge.  I like a good challenge.  I am a big advocate of delivering a performance product that blows away other speakers in its class and price range.  Well, how do we compare ourselves against our customers? How does Jon Q Consumer know that a Klipsch speaker outperforms a competitors speaker?  Especially, from their home where many people these days are looking to research their large purchases?  Cue Music (Taa Daa) SPECIFICATIONS!!! 

That’s right, specifications (I’ll refer to them as specs for the remainder of this blog).  Specs are a necessary evil to our industry today.  How else can a person find out how good a speaker is without listening to it in a store?  I understand that specs are needed, but has anyone ever asked how accurate they are?

I am going to address the big 3: power handling, sensitivity, and bandwidth.  I feel that these three ‘specs’ alone could draw a box around the performance of a product.  Of course there are other attributes that the customer is interested in, but these are numbers that a customer can simply use to compare one speaker to another. 

            In the next few blog entries, I am going to capture each of these 3 ‘specs’ and speak about how our industry uses and abuses them.  I will have a stunning conclusion that will pull all of my obscure thoughts together into one cohesive argument.  Look back soon to read:  Part 2 - Power Handling, Watt is that?

I'm Andre LaRouche and that's my 2dB.

I am dedicating today's blog post to my family.  We sometimes get caught up in the daily grind so much that we forget about some of the most important things in life.  I most recently was reminded about this by my family.  They have always been a very supportive bunch of people but this past weekend they went way beyond that. 

My house was badly in need of a new roof.  I bought the home 4 years ago and knew when I bought it that I was going to need to put a roof on it.  My wife and I are wanting to upgrade to a larger home and I knew that I needed to pull the trigger on the roof.  I asked my family (who are all quite skilled craftsman) if they were interested in coming down for a weekend and throwing a new roof on the house.  Without hesitation I was offered their services. 

Long story short, We put about 29 squares of roofing, including 86 sheets of Plywood, only after tearing off the 2 layers off roofing that was currently on the house.  It was quite the back breaking adventure and I am forever in debt to all those that helped. 

I would like to thank:

Uncle Mike (MIG) - We call him MIG cause those are his initials and the name of his roofing and construction company.  He took days out of his own schedule to come down and work for free for his nephew.  Thanks MIG. 

Arvis (Trey) Cannon - My colleague and friend.  Trey was a huge help coming over everyday to help.  Thanks Buddy...

Guy LaRouche - My brother and best man.  You are a shingling fool.  I am so glad you came down to help out. I also want to thank Guys Wife and Kids for letting me steal him for another weekend.  Ana, Ciara and Leo.  I love you all...

Dave LaRouche - My dad and the oldest of those on the roof helping out.  This guy was the carpentry master that put down all the plywood.  Love you Pops...

Freddy Law - My uncle Freddy.  You were one of the most valuable people on the job site.  You fed us materials from the ground level and helped with cleanup. 

Josh Frisbie - Your tear off skills were unmatched on Saturday.  You were an absolute Madman.  Josh Frisbie ladies and gentlemen.  Josh is my line mate on my Hockey team. 

Scotty Hancock - Scott came out on Saturday and Tuesday to Help with destruction and cleanup.  Scotty is the Goalie on our hockey team. 

My Wife, Kelly LaRouche - Kelly kept our fuel source supplied with cookies and Pizza and Gatorade.  She also put the gloves on and did some cleanup work. 

This is a long winded blog, but overall I have a new roof just in time for the thunderstorms this week.  I owe all of you a debt of gratitude. 

Thanks again to everyone. 

Lastly, this wouldn't be a Klipsch Blog if I didn't mention that we were all entertained with music courtesy of my AW-525's on the back porch and the KI-102's in My Garage.  They rocked out for 4 solid days at a pretty loud level.  I don't think we could have finished the job without some tunes.   

Andre

This week I am overseas in China.   We are overseeing the Mass production of some of our products.  I hope to post some photos of some interesting stuff while I am here...

Since I don't have any interesting photo's yet here is a little fun nugget about the beginning of my trip. Just before a 24 hour journey, you are hoping for a smooth morning as you begin to go through the usual airport mess.  Since I travel very light when I go to China, (2 pairs of Shorts, 4 shirts, 5 undergarments, and 5 pairs of socks) I carried on my luggage.   Thinking that this will make my life easier as I go from port to port.  The first issue I ran across was that the self check-in kiosk was not recognizing my ticket, so I had to talk to a United person.  This is always a fun experience.   After some shuffling around I get my ticket printed and I am off toward security.  I over-think everything, so that when I go through security I am in and out.  I untie my shoes so i can slip them on and off.  I put all my watch, keys, wallet, etc. in my bag so it doesn't set off the alarm.  I even went and put Dr. Scholls Foot Powder in my shoes so they didn't stink when I took them off on the trans pacific flight.  Well, this proved to me a costly mistake.  Apparently the machine that blows air around and sniffs for explosives thinks that Dr. Scholls Foot powder is an ingredient in explosives cause the TSA person told me to step into the 'special' line to get the full workup of tests and searches.  I was then told that I tested positive for explosive substances and all of my luggage was going to be thoroughly inspected.  This is not the way you want to start off a long trip.  They went on about trying to find my mysterious explosive device that I must have had hidden somewhere within my luggage.  To their surprise I was clean and after about 20 minutes was released to go sit in the terminal with the rest of my colleagues.  Luckily I had no further incidents and cruised along to my destination.  In case any of you are wondering, the non-stop flight to Hong Kong from Chicago is 15.5 Hours.  We fly economy and it is a really fun experience.  NOT. 

Anyway, I am looking forward to sending some interesting photo's or sharing some more interesting stories from this trip...  Keep looking back to find out how the rest of the trip goes...

I'm Andre LaRouche and that is my 2dB.

I have an interesting debate I would like to throw out there to all those folks that read my blog.  (yes, all 4 of you...).  If you had a fully active speaker (where the amplifers for the HF and LF sections were built into the speaker, and there is a power plug to the wall) how would you prefer to hook it up?  With 1) an RCA wire, or 2) with a speaker wire.  Now, keep in mind that this speaker does not need amplification from an external amplifier, but accepts a speaker level input for flexibility of hookup.  How would you hook this speaker up in your current System as your Front R/L Speakers?

My Busy Weekend.   

I had a rather busy weekend.  My friend Jason (also and Acoustic Engineer at Klipsch) asked us to watch his dogs for the weekend.  He has two quite active little short haired Dachshunds (wow, I had no idea that it was spelled that way until I looked it up, I thought it was like the pickup truck Datsun).  Just to clarify the situation, I have 3 dogs of my own.  I have a Golden Retriever, a Yorke poodle, and a Yorke Maltese (quite the mix).  Needless to say I was running a dog pound this weekend.  It was fun though, cause all the dogs like to run free in the back yard and dig holes in my horseshoe pits.  It was all good until I tried to feed all of them at the same time...  If you've ever fed this many dogs simultaneously you know what I went through.  Some eat faster than others, some are more aggressive, some respect other dogs food bowls, and some do not.  So in order to escape the chaos that would have ensued, I had to separate them into different quadrants of my house.  It was really fun. 

On Saturday my grandmother in-law (can I say that or do I have to say my wife's grandmother?) is moving down south of the City and her two grandsons came into town this weekend to help her move.  After the move Kelly and I (Kelly is my lovely wife) went to the Colts/Lions game at the RCA Dome.  I am a Lions fan having grown up in Michigan and Kelly is a Colts fan.  This of course causes friction in our seats cause I am the only Lions fan in the entire stadium (at least it seemed that way).  Anyway, the Lions loose an embarrassing 37 to 10.  I sulk back to the car, at which time I am over it and delighted to sit in post game traffic.  We then went to a friends party and stayed till 3 am. 

That is pretty much all I did this weekend.  I realize that this story didn't have anything to do with audio, but hey...  its not like I sit at home on the weekends and play with speakers.  Well, at least this weekend I didn't... 

I'm Andre LaRouche, and that's my 10 dB.

My name is Andre L.  This will be the space that I occupy with clever thoughts about Music, Movies, Life, Loudspeakers, Concerts, Television, and other topics (not necessarily in that order). 

Some Stats on me:

• 28 Years Old 
• Grew up in the Northwest Suburbs of Detroit
• Attended Michigan Technological University (Grad. 2002)
• Began working for Klipsch in June of 2003. 

I've worked in the Acoustical Engineering Department at Klipsch since I started here in '03.  Its really a great work environment.  Besides the talented people working here, we actually have fun.  I know, honest to goodness fun.  

So, on that note I am going to head home for the day and get ready for my softball game.  Look back soon as I will have a post game report on the Colts loss to the Lions.  

Before I take off, I will leave you with this thought:  "If a tree falls in an anechoic chamber, does it make a sound?"