Malcolm

Probably won't make a bit of difference in what you hear. The old barrier strips are ugly but very effective. The only reasons to replace them are looks, convenience, or the ability to attach big speaker cables. You probably won't hear a difference in internal wiring either, unless you had cold solder joints or loose connections to begin with. There are better places to start tweaking your Heresys. Search the archives. All the Heresy tweaks are described in detail.

You might want to put foam gaskets between the wood and your horns. Some of my Heresys had such a thing on the squawkers.

No, they are Chinese secret societies.

Sorry, no pictures right now. Basically, they look like most modern speakers, 5 way binding posts in a recessed cup. I mounted them in the lower center part of the back panel. As you can probably guess, I went the $4 route. Check what is available at www.partsexpress.com. They have many styles. For that matter, your local Radio Shack dealer probably has some. They are certainly not as nice manufactured or tricked out as the Cardas binding posts. But, they do the job. But then, the original barrier strips did, too.

New diaphragms are available from Klipsch. Call tech support. Assuming you have a K-77 or K-77-M you ought to be able to get an EV T35A diaphragm from just about any speaker repair shop or EV pro dealer, and much cheaper than Klipsch. Don't know about sources in Mexico. But here are some in the U.S.A.: http://www.simplyspeakers.com/12diaphragms.htm http://www.speakerrepair.com/ocsdiaphragms.html Don't know if they ship to Mexico.

I replaced the barrier strips on my Heresys with flush mounted binding posts. Nothing to stick out and get damaged or damage something else. IMHO banana plugs are attractive but problematic. The problem is that it is hard to get a reliable, solid connection with them. They also stick out and are susceptible to damage. If you go with banana plugs, I suggest you get the kind that can be locked in place. As far as the binding posts you are looking at, if you can use a drill and solder you ought to be able to do it with little trouble. The barrier strips you have now are held in place by just two screws. Remove the back of the speaker. Remove the barrier strips with a small wrench, nutdriver, or socket and fill the holes. Then drill holes for the new ones wherever you want, and install. Looks like you'll want the long ones because of the thickness of the back panel. If you don't want to solder the connections, you can terminate the cable between the binding posts and the crossover network with appropriate size ring terminals and use the mounting nuts to hold them in place, just like Klipsch did originally. If you use flush mount posts like I did, you'll need a jig saw or something else to cut the square opening for them. Cardas is nice and respected. Something around $4 a pair will probably work as well.

Pure lemon oil, with no additives like linseed oil, beeswax, or silicone, is recommended by some of the experts.

I thought CFC based dusters were phased out long ago because of concerns about the ozone layer. Aren't most of the canned dusters now just compressed air? Anyway, Freon should not hurt your circuit board. CFCs are used during manufacturing to clean circuit boards. Freon is also used to give a board a cold shock to make intermittent connections act up during trouble shooting. I just use compressed air and a vacuum when I need to clean a dusty electronic component.

Nominal impedance of a K-22 is 8 ohms. There is a small difference in timbre between K-55-V and K-53-K. I don't know how to describe it. Close match but not perfect. Big enough to be annoying to me when I mixed 1984 Heresys with K-53-K in a HT system with older Heresys with K-55-V. Maybe part of the difference was because the K-55-Vs were on metal horns and the K-53-K were on plastic. Others may not notice a difference. I would suggest staying with one or the other in a system.

I think they phased out paper in oil in the smaller systems because of supply problems. I don't think there is a major manufacturer that still makes paper in oil caps, they have long since been phased out and replaced by metallized polypropelene in oil. They look the same externally but are different inside. Which brings up an interesting question. Are the oil caps in the later Klipschorns paper in oil or metallized polypropelene in oil?

Yep, capacitor selection is about as heated a topic as tube v. solid state and speaker wire selection. My guess is Klipsch continued using oil caps in the Klipschorns because people who buy them expect oil caps.

Cool! I will be doing something similar to match my 60s and 70s Heresys as soon as time permits. All of the components you listed show up on eBay from time to time. Complete Heresy IIs are much more common, though. Simplest and cheapest way to get everything except the woofers would be to buy another Heresy II, or two if you can only find a pair. The K-24 woofer from the one you use the other components out of would be easy to sell on eBay, as would be a single Heresy II. You ought to be able to get more than half what you pay for a pair from someone who wants a single as a center. Net cost, less woofers, after you have sold the unneeded stuff, ought to come in under $200. eBay seems to be the easiest route, but you may pay less if you can find them locally. Any fairly recent Klispch woofer with a V on the end of the model number is shielded. You may need bucking magnets for the squawker and tweeter. These should be available from Klipsch. Some of the components you listed may be available from Klipsch. Call or email tech support with your requirements and they will give you the part numbers and prices of the ones available. You might want to consider a pair of K-1011-KVs as used in the Academy. They have a good timbre match, similar efficiency, and are available from Klipsch parts department for $86 retail each.

I use Solen 5% metallized polypropelene caps. IMHO they work just fine. Lots of other reasonable choices as other posts indicate. Klipsch used oil filled caps in the past because they were what was available at the time that could do a reasonable job at a reasonable price. In terms of stability and longevity, they were better than nonpolarized electrolytics, which were the other choice at the time. In the later Heresys, Klipsch replaced paper in oil caps with metallized film caps. Capacitor technology has progressed a lot. The fact is, better choices are available today. Would you use nonpolarized electrolytics in a crossover now because Altec, ElectroVoice and other big names used them in their crossovers in the past? If he prefers originality to better sound, just about any paper in oil cap with the appropriate capacitance and voltage rating will work as well as the original. They can be found on the used market, including eBay, for a few bucks. Klipsch used product from whoever they could get it. Voltage ratings, form factor, and mounting lugs varied a lot. Anything from 100V up should be fine. Newer "audiophile" oil caps might sound better than the originals, but are a lot more expensive.

The folks at McIntosh did blind tests many years ago. The result was that listeners could not hear the difference between cables as long as they were large enough gauge. Admittedly, this was before many of the esoteric speaker cable designs came about. There is no doubt that different speaker cables affect the signal differently because of differences in resistance, capacitance and inductance. And there are other factors that affect the signal. The questions are: Can your hear the difference? Is the difference in sound worth the difference in price to you? Can you get the same result by tweaking your tone controls? Would you rather spend your time finding the ultimate cable or listening to music? Its all up to you. Yes, there are shielded cables that work. Even twisted pair is an improvement over parallel wires in this respect. FWIW I am using 12 gauge twisted pair architectural cable in the walls and twelve gauge zip cord from the walls to the speakers. I am quite satisfied. But, then, I am not as critical a listener as some.

There are good tube amps and good solid state amps. In general, tube amps require efficient speakers because most of them don't put out as much power as the typical solid state amp. Hence the connection with horns. My preference is for solid state amps but none of the reasons has to do with sound.

Depends on what you want to do. I think most people use the digital out (coax or optical) and let the receiver decode the signal. If that is what you plan on doing, then you don't need the decoded outputs. OTOH if your other equipment cannot decode the signal, or you intend on tweaking the DACS, etc., you will need the decoded outputs or an outboard decoder. This is case with some high end setups, but not an issue for most of us.

I had a KV-3 for a while. While it is a nice center, IMHO, it is definitely not a good timbre match for Heresy. Might be better match of Heresy II.

Nope. All part of the same circuit. The threads sticking out are the ends of the screws that connect the cable going from the barrier strip to the crossover network. My guess is that the screws are longer than necessary so they can be used as a quick connect in the factory during testing. If you terminate your speaker cables with ring type connectors instead of spade type, you can use the threads along with a nut to achieve a very secure connection if you want.

Check the archives, many tweaks have been described for Heresys. One you might not need is the Dynamat/Moretite tweak to damp the squawker horn because yours is not metal. I would at least replace the 33 uF electrolytic cap on the Type E2 network with a decent metallized polypropelene cap. It is certainly possible to change the speaker terminals to whatever you want. It probably won't result in an audible difference. But you might find different terminals a lot more convenient. You might want to check someplace like www.partsexpress.com to see what kinds are available.

Academy, KV-4, and KLF-C7, in that order, has been the historical answer. Maybe RC-3 now? Definited not SC-1 IMHO. I use another Heresy, but will be building a custom center as soon as time allows.

Maybe they don't have one for the same reason Packard Bell did not have one for their computers.

Hmmm... BobG, Trey, or any moderator, can you shed any light on the Type D network? I think the Type D is relatively rare, at least in the number of years in which it was used. But that is not a problem for you. The networks for all the Heresys and H700s manufactured between 1965 and 1984 I have seen are very similar. They all have the same inductor in the woofer circuit to roll off the woofer at 700 Hz, and the same autotransformer to match the more efficient tweeter and squawker to the woofer. With the exception of the last few years of production, the network changes appear related only to matching the woofer, which changed many times, to the tweeter and squawker, which were essentially constant for about 20 years (K-77 or K-77-M and K-55-V). My 1965 and 1972 Heresys have Type C networks with a 1 uF cap and a 2 uF cap. My 1975 and 1977 Heresys have Type E networks with two 2 uF caps and uses different taps on the T2A than the Type C. My 1984 Heresys had Type E2 networks which were the same as Type E except they had a 33 uF cap added, apparently necessary because of the change to the K-53-K squawker. I always wondered if there was a Type D crossover. Looks like it was used sometime between 1972 and 1975. Have you had your 1975 Heresys since new? The caps in all of mine, except the 1984s, were originally paper in oil. The brown plastic caps in yours make me think they might have been replaced somewhere along the line. It is also possible Klipsch had a problem getting paper in oil caps, just like they had a problem getting alnico woofers. Either way, you might consider replacing them with your favorite "audiophile grade" caps on principle: paper in oil, metallized polypropelene, or what ever else you prefer. The other thing that interests me is that your 1975s have K-22-EF woofers with ceramic magnets. My 1975s have K-22 woofers (CTS, alnico, smaller magnet structure). If the K-22-EFs in yours are original, it means Heresy went from alnico to ceramic, then back to alnico for a while, and finally to ceramic for good. You might want to look at the Type E network schematic that has been posted here and should be in the archives. It sounds like the only difference in the Type D may be the taps used, since the values of the components are all the same. If you do, let us know what you find. All of the tweaks listed in the archives for the Heresy apply to yours. The most common complaint with the Heritage series is midrange harshness or ringing. It can be tamed by damping the squawker horn with Dynamat or Moretite. This is the first tweak most people seem to do on the Heresy. You can do the same thing to the tweeter, but it doesn't seem to me to do much. But most people don't have a problem with the tweeter, anyway. Of course, you can always turn down the treble, too.

12 gauge twisted pair architectural cable in the walls. 12 gauge zip cord from the walls to the speakers. FWIW judicious use of tone controls can tame your high end.

Villchur certainly proved you can get low bass from a small box in 1954 with the AR-1, which used acoustic suspension. The Heresy also uses acoustic suspension. The issue is the match of the woofer parameters to the volume of the box, which is fairly critical. A different woofer may require a larger volume box, or a smaller volume box. BTW the Heresy box isn't really as leaky as it seems, although it could certainly be improved a bit. As soundog points out, a woofer designed for an acoustic suspension cabinet won't necessarily work well in a reflex enclosure, and vice-versa. As JonM points out, there are tradeoffs when swapping woofers. He lost efficiency and has crossover issues.

My guess is that the bidder is just trying to get it for less than $275. I don't think he expects to get it for $75. Note that this speaker has had its original finish removed. So it is not worth as much to most folks as some of the others that have appeared on eBay. $275 may not be such a good deal. Hmmm... Don't suppose the bidder is thinking of refinishing it then reselling at a higher price?