1904
On March 9, audio legend Paul W Klipsch (PWK) is born in Elkhart, Indiana. He is the only child of Oscar Colman Klipsch and Minna Pearl Eddy.
1930
While working in Chile, South America maintaining electric locomotives, Paul W. Klipsch continues his amateur radio passion. While comparing horn to cone-type radio speakersm he discovers superior effeciency of horns.
1931-1933
In graduate school at Stanford University, one of Paul W. Klipsch’s classmates mentions to him that speakers sound better in a corner.
It was then during his military service at the Southwest Proving Grounds located in Hope, Ark. that Paul W. Klipsch refined his corner horn speaker design. Visitors to his officer's quarters were amazed by the lifelike reproduction and encouraged PWK to start his own manufacturing business.
1938
Using the ideas that horn speakers are more effecient and that they sound better in a corner, Paul W. Klipsch develops a crude prototype of the Klipschorn.
1945
Paul W. Klipsch receives a patent on his Klipschorn speaker design and essentially helps kick off the Hi-Fi era.
1946
At age 42 and initiating his fifth career, Paul W. Klipsch registers the name Klipsch & Associates and begins selling his Klipschorn speakers out of a tin shed in Hope, Arkansas. A local cabinetmaker and the Baldwin Piano Company assist Paul in building his first 20 Klipschorn speakers.
1948
Paul W. Klipsch acquires his first factory building, formerly the telephone exchange building for the Southwest Proving Grounds in Hope, Arkansas, and hires his first employee, cabinetmaker Lloyd McClellan. The first Klipschorn built here is numbered 121.
Today, the original factory is the Klipsch Museum.
1957
Paul W. Klipsch introduces his experimental speaker, effectively the worlds first commercial center channel speaker. A year later, it is demonstrated at the World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium.
Today, Klipsch still manufactures the Klipsch Heresy III in Hope, Arkansas.
1963
Paul W. Klipsch designs the La Scala speaker for the performing arts sector. Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Winthrop Rockefeller later uses it as a public address speaker.
1977
Paul W. Klipsch receives the Audio Engineering Society's second highest honor, the prestigious Silver Medal Award, for his contributions to speaker design and distortion measurement.
1977
Klipsch & Associates beefs up its professional speaker line with the 500-pound MCM speaker. Designed for touring sound and cinema applications, the MCM delivers enough power to rock the house down.
1980
While it's possible that cinemas used the Klipschorn in the early 50's to wow audiences, Klipsch formally gets into the professional theater business after selling an MCM system to John Allen.
Allen went on to establish the first ever "digital" audio presentation of a soundtrack using Klipsch speakers.
1983
Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame.
1989
At age 85, Paul W. Klipsch sells Klipsch & Associates to second cousin and Indianapolis businessman Fred S. Klipsch and his wife Judy. While manufacturing remains in Hope, Arkansas, business operations move to Indianapolis, Indiana.
The company is re-named Klipsch, Inc.
1997
Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame, an honor shared by Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver and the Wright brothers. The engineering and Science Hall of Fame recognizes those who have improved the quality of hunan condition through an individual contribution using engineering and scientific principles.
2002
On May 5, audio legend Paul W. Klipsch passes away at the age of 98. This relentless perfectionist earned 23 patents.
2004
At the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Paul W. Klipsch is inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, which was established in 2000 by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to honor the leaders whose creativity, persistence and determination helped shape the consumer electronics industry.