HE2005 was much smaller this year but as bad as the show was here in NY, I managed to still have a good time. One of the highlights for me at the show was spending time in the Odyssey room and seeing Klaus again. I must say the on-wall speakers that Klaus demonstrated were quite well recieved by many people at the show. The demo was really good and I heard many positive comments about them. People were quite amazed at the performance of these speakers and once again, Klaus seems to have done a fantastic job with them-I personally have never heard "paintings" sound that great.
I have heard other models from manufacturers but they always seemed to be missing something sonically. Not the case with the Odyssey line of on-walls though.
They were very dynamic and a real treat even on 2 channel material.
I must say that Klaus is very dedicated to his trade. When I talked to him, he told me what exactly was involved with setting up the room for the show. He drove down to NY with the Rover packed to the hilt and in fact, had to pick up additional equipment at the airport in Long Island.
He had to make special trips to LI just to pick up the 600Lb false wall/fireplace to display his new product. He then spent all night-almost 11 hours constructing and putting up the wall by himself.....talk about dedication!
He was quite tired the last day of the show so I offered to help him break down after it was all over. He took me up on it but had to first pack away some equipment with his good friend (Bob?) and drive out to Long Island to drop the stuff off at the airport. He picked me up at 11pm and we went out to eat because the poor guy was starving as he had not eaten all day. We got back to the hotel at around 12:30 and started packing the leftover equipment. I really began to appreciate all the hard work on his part because of the amount of stuff he had to set up for such a show. There were at least 30 different cables that had to be packed along with many miscellaneous items.....At about 1 am we started tearing down the wall all the whilst being entertained by Klaus's stories on the industry and his personal experiences. It took us almost 3 hours to pack away the equipment and tear down that bloody wall. We had to get rid of the wood and luckily we were able to dump it on the same floor in the service area as per the hotels instructions. The elevator was packed full of equipment and we then proceeded to put it all in his Rover. By the way, the idiotic parking attendants at the hotel smashed the front-end of his car into a pole doing a couple of thousand dollars worth of damage!
Let me tell you, that Rover was packed to the hilt and we had a hard time closing the door. As tired as he was, he insisted that we at least have a drink and proceeded to do just that. He finally left the hotel at 3:30 AM to drive an hour and a half back to LI. From what I understand, he had to drive back out to LI to the hotel he was staying at in order to send the other equipment he had since the cargo station at the airport was already closed the first time he got there! Poor Klaus had to unpack his over stuffed Rover just to put the air cargo stuff back in the next morning! Then he had to repack the car and drive all the way back to Indiana the in the afternoon. That my friends, is true dedication!
Klaus, you are a true gentleman and a scholar and I would like to thank you for putting on a great display at the Odyssey room. I was more than glad to help you even though it was into the wee hours of the morning. Yes, I was a wreck the next day, but nevertheless, I must say it was a pleasure spending time with you and was very glad to help you. Without hesitation, your effort earns you the award for hardest working man in audio show business!
