Anyone ever hear of Bolivar Speaker Works?

I was the Denver Regional Service Manager for the old Burstein-Applebee Co, based in Kansas City.  We carried the BOLIVAR line of speakers which looked EXACTLY LIKE the JBLs.  Our merchandisers were ALWAYS coupling a pair of Bolivars to Marantz receiver/amps, and the huge problem was that Marantz stuff clipped like crazy... JBL speakers were also used for these "deals", and tolerated the clipping marginally, but the Bolivars were 4 ohms, versus the conventional 8 ohms... this meant you were drawing twice the current, and on clipped signals (essentially square waves), both brands suffered many, many failures.  The Bolivars MORE.  These speakers were made in Bolivar, TN and story we got was that the designers were from a JBL "brain trust".  They looked nice, were built well, and sold at fair market prices, BUT unless you used them in pairs (series), you'd often wipe out the output transistors or large-scale ICs.  They attempted to take care of us on warranty claims, but the failure rate got so bad, we quit selling them.  I still have (and wear) a Bolivar belt buckle - the local rep insulted my wife behind her back [not knowing I was married to her]... (she was the AdminAsst for the district office, right next door to the shop), so instead of decking him, I simply took ALL of his "salesman perk" items and passed 'em out to my techs - THEN I got him fired.  -  T. Carl 

Try the City of Bolivars website. http://www.bolivarnet.com/ For Bolivars cigars: http://www.bolivar-cuban-cigar.cigarco.net/main.html

I remember them from 20 years ago. I remember someone telling me they folded in the mid 80s. Someone was trying to sell me a pair of their speakers at the time.

Osclib, thanks for the info. I'll drop by next time I'm up there.

I'm from the Nashville area and I have not heard of Bolivar either. Just aware of Eggleston in Memphis and Nearfield(Pipedreams) in Nashville. Carl, you can hear the Pipedreams at Nicholson's HiFi in Nashville...sound is wonderful.

I'm in southeast TN, but I never heard of Bolivar; sorry, but good luck finding what you need. BTW, did you know that the Pipedreams speakers are made in Nashville? I ought to peruse their place sometime...

they make wonderful cigars lol sorry had to (cuban)

The 99 Orion blue book lists 6 models of Bolivar speakers made from 77 to 83 ranging in price from 200.00 a pair to 380.00 a pair. Models are 18 and 18H 64 & 64H and 125 & 125H.