Audible Nectar

In a theater setup, there is ONE main - the center. Then you match the front left/right speakers to match that one - now you have THREE identical mains across your front soundstage. There's some room for variance with the rest, particularly with film sound, whereas a case can be made for five/six/seven identical speakers for multichannel music vids that treat five speakers like full range mains with full bandwidth 5.1 channel sound, then using effects speakers (should still be of the same line ideally) to fill out the rest. I tell people over and over and over and over when conceiving their HT setups to MAKE SURE that the center/front soundstage is of all identical mains, in Klipsch fashion as large as the room will allow, and should be set up to suit the center channel requirement/goal FIRST. The question that should be asked is "Where will my center channel speaker go and how big can I have it, and where will my screen be in relation to that?" Just like your screen, we want it as large as we can realistically make it. Three LaScala, or three Cornwalls, etc etc etc......

I think that the Heritage being sold from 1965ish to 1980ish are some of the greatest audio achievements in history. The simplicity, engineering, build quality, and re-buildability still to this day make them as viable an option as there is in the audio marketplace. This does not diminish the sound approaches of the newest product but the OG Heritage comes from a different place and different approach that allows for its own benefits and advantages. Four top flagship line speakers using identical drivers, the fifth only varying one (woofer), that stuff brings a bunch of lifetime ownership advantages.... The only issue with OG Heritage is that most of the good ones are held by people who will own them to the death and therefore are out of circulation, whereas the newest versions are readily available for order. Twenty years ago though we were yapping on here about how you could buy Heritage for pennies on the dollar value, while the B---ification (miniaturization) of the audio world was in full flight. Of course the newest Heritage have a TON of issues worked out too, not the least is the bracing on these new cabs that really do matter in their big picture. The "modding/addressing flaws" is done for you in a Klipsch stock product with painstaking engineering on its own. You can go to a dealer and listen to new product too, many here "guessed" their way to the proper OG Heritage for them. New stuff is still American made and you're really getting something for the money. Sometimes the old OG Heritage stuff needs a little work.....but once done they last for decades again. New is easier 🙂 Since the path with my current OG Heritage has been akin to raising a group of kids, I am really hesitant to move from them. I still greatly enjoy the performance, they are in really good shape, and they have found new love with the newer gears installed on them recently (Mac theater and teflonized tube gears). All of which is to say that there's nothing wrong with liking the old original products. It's quite a statement in a world of ever improving technology that they still hold up as well as they do, and when old parts are at issue, they accept replacements well (including new Klipsch approved/sonically proper crossovers built by Dean himself). So there's no reason NOT to buy good condition OG Heritage, there's a bunch to love, especially if you can source good looking examples (or have the skills to do cab restorations). It can be a much longer road as it's used market stuff, but I had a Heritage fetish for years and as such knew I would be happy here and pretty well what was to work out better in my spaces.

It depends on the listener's room. If you have a room like mine KHorns aren't appropriate. For MANY, MANY people, a Forte or Cornwall will be the superlative choice, albeit while a Klipschorn is the best expression of what Heritage could be over the years of the Heritage line existing. For most, it's the Forte/Chorus/Cornwall that's "most right" because they will be "most right" in the rooms they end up in. If you are shopping for vintage speakers "the best" will be. first and foremost, what will be "best" in YOUR ROOM.

The advantage with electric cars (as well as other electric replacements for combustible gas engines) is in the savings of fossil fuels during the device's service life. It is actually the case that it takes somewhat more fossil fuels to create these electric devices vs. a similar gas machine, but once in service they run laps around the gas counterparts in terms of "green/less fossil fuel usage". The biggest limiter here is of course the battery storage itself, when they crack that code electric EVERYTHING that you are used to pouring gas into will be the norm. So YES, it is "greener" (less fossil fuels used) from device conception to end of service life to use electrics, at least where they are "up to par" and get the job done, and as technology (especially on the battery end) improves it will increasingly become the "phased in" norm. I think of all this like vacuum tubes: Sure, people even today use them, but they are not the norm, and neither will pouring flammable liquids in a tank be for most people. I have a gasoline powered John Deere Signature Series tractor that I have no plans or worry to change. Someday, they will make that in a battery version but will still be some time away from now, and I'm not worried wither way on that front either. It will happen when that tech "happens" in a way that works for that level of work, and a future generation will buy it, while I run the yet 20-year remaining service life on my existing machine. All that said I still see MOST of the "mowing world" being a little short of "ready for prime time" on the rechargeable front, particularly for anything beyond a small city 1/4 acre type patch. If it needs a tractor it needs a gas one, I still think the early electric versions you see now are "prototypes" by and large which we are still learning how to make the most of these. EV walk mowers and such are great for small properties but once we start talking tractor need (too much to walk) then we're still in "best use gas" territory. BUT - I think we're only "one leap/step away" on the battery front, one more reasonable step forward will have a LOT in play re: electric that's just not quite "ready for prime time" now. I think to consider the type of torque that an electric John Deere Signature Series could muster and realize that once the battery is up to snuff that such a machine might charge through all manner of jobs, as electric motors can really bring the torque. When this next leap in battery and motor efficiency does occur, then the EV "revolution" will really be "on" because no matter how much certain types state that the "green is BS" it's not only the opposite, but the best economically viable way to do this as we move forward in time. Poured gas will fall like an avalanche in terms of thinking because it will make all the sense in the world to change. So much of where we have been is "trial", it's really close to becoming "the way we do things". If it's "clean", it makes economic sense, especially if over time and scale it ends up costing less. I'll buy an electric car when Toyota builds one and a tractor when John Deere builds one that works like the 700 series do now. I expect I will see these in my lifetime (assuming I make the average, another 20 years or so) but probably won't need to replace the Deere but could if I wanted to. I disagree with Shakeydeal in the general sense that the future really is closer than you think. Yes, still not quite ready for primetime but we are getting close. Much like that Upwork guy keeps getting closer to his grave.

You're right about the specifics of that particular tweeter, but as I mentioned above, if it were a K77 I'd still have the same opinion. or, this:

They aren't. They are 5db more efficient and ever present in the sound. They are a very sweet sounding tweeter but they are "hot" if not accounted/adjusted for (and on high end gear, whoa....). But that said, they wouldn't be "laid back" with the Klipsch tweeter either. All of my spidey sense points to something else being off here. "Laid back/muddy mids and highs" just don't match any average result that would be expected from any Cornwall, reasonably modified OR stock.

Something else is up. With those tweeters and those caps, there's no way in hello that the mids and highs would come off "muddy". If anything, I would expect to possibly hear complaints on the "high energy in the high frequencies" and not "muddy". Something up with a driver, internal phasing, something not right in the basic operation, but"muddy" with that topside and cap combo don't fit. It wouldn't fit on a stock version either, and this "version/variant"would have more top side energy than a stock/stock replacement version (primarily from the tweeter as it's more efficienr). I would start by checking each individual driver for clean play (like not distorted or obviously hindered), then if no issue seemingly apparent, check the internal connections and each lead for proper phasing. Something along this line is up here. I also wouldn't exclude a "rewiring" being wrong on the crossover recap if done by the end user and not installed correctly by someone with experience.

Klipsch wants all non-Klipsch mods and aftermarket off the forum - period. "The "mods" forum isn't the "mods" forum, it's "restorations" now. AK and other places are where these types are hanging out. Klipsch has edited portions of posts as well as whole threads not in compliance.

We used to call these "Grateful Dead concerts" where the cannabis (as well as other things) were craft grown and produced by a number of the attendees. Not just improved auditory acuity but visual as well, LOL.... Let's just say that they had their own version of "4K" back in the day 🙂 The strain that "makes a class D sound like a set of WE 300b's were used in the output stage" is pretty chuckle-worthy, LOL.....maybe we see a "Mc Daddy #30" in our future.....

The current "center of attention" is the MC255 which is powering the five Cornwalls in my newly refashioned Cornwall Theater. It's very neutral/true of temperature/lacking in coloration, the newest iterations demonstrating how "beyond the good looks" exists in the actual performance capabilities of these amplifiers. Even in its direct coupled build (as opposed to the preferable autoformered) a very impressive device whose finer qualities show and grow on you over time......very refined. The transformer and filter cap casings resemble auto batteries 🙂 I've also run MC250s and MC30s on two channel rigs (MC30s - best midrange evah, my MC250s also pretty good although I think would benefit from rebuild). In my mind Mc pretty much is "The Amp Company" and very much so for Heritage speakers, and while you might find amps you like better sonically, there's an aspect to the fact that if you get a properly operating Mc amp for your Heritage you will get very good results. They can be beat but it's a helluvalotta work and listening, and they RRALLY like being mated with their preamps of similar vintage - for the person who wants "really really good" without getting TOO "in the weeds" swapping gears, one can get a Mac amp and pre to satisfy the desired feature set of the system, and it will be one of those "top percentile" systems that easily can take exorbitant sums and efforts to beat.

Ahhhh, just gotta love the "LaScalas have no bass" arguments (along with the tubes have no bass arguments). Always humored by those. I think it was Craig (NOSValves) who cured me of that misconception while the VRDs shook the sound room, while Craig shouts over the din "Whaddaya mean, LaScalas have no bass, hahahahahah...." like some sort of mad scientist, LOL.....nothing like driving seven hours to be proven a point..... As a Belle owner I can identify with so much of this review, and was the way I cured my "all horn loaded" desires (KHorns and Jubes being outta the question here). LaScala is still a very viable and formidable choice.

I have found that components routinely exhibit break-in characteristics and are especially noticeable in a number of circumstances on the highly revealing speakers that Klipsch are. The extent to which these characteristics are audible can vary from "not much" to "pretty substantial" depending on what exactly we are talking about: Crossovers, new "hard" gear (such as amps/preamps) digital gear, and then the "esoteric parts", like the RTX polystyrenes and the grand champion of "break in gestation period" - the teflons, which in the right spots can elevate a piece of gear markedly, but most don't have the money or patience to try it. Most other typical stuff doesn't vary as widely or for as long to be that big of an issue. MOST gears - from a new Mac to a NOSValves new amp with film and foils to a new pair of Klipsch Heritage will "get through" most if not all aspects of break-in within 250 hours, and most of that in about 100. Speaker woofers seem to settle in about 50. All of which is to say you won't be waiting long, but for NEW gear buyers, just run the stuff as much as you can for the first few weeks you have it, and put a signal on it as much as you can. For the "exchange/return" policy you should run the snot out of it for two reasons: one is break-in, two is for electronic viability, the defects in workmanship usually show early. For these same batch of "most" gears, they don't usually exhibit a HUGE change in that break in. If anything, I would say the most likely "break-in" change would be with a pair of new speakers -in a set of Heritage the caps and woofer will benefit from 100 hours of work in the finer details of imaging and "top side" (mid/tweet) and resonance with the woofer. At that point you either like them with the room and gears present - or you don't. There could well be gear mismatches, positioning problems, or other stuff at work but the majority of "break-in" should be done by now and the "house sound" (general characteristics) of your gear known at this point. The changes you get will be better images, more "snap/bounce/better resonance-acoustic", better "flow"/less "gear" sounding. It's subtle in most cases, and it applies to new builds primarily or gear that has been dormant for extended periods of time. With the esoterics (like polystyrenes like the RTX, it's sorta like 10 caps in one) and teflon stuff, these are another matter entirely, and out of the norm. RTX caps are a tough break-in, and there are points with these where you might well think you made a mistake from the super sharp edge these caps develop as they break in. But in time - a longer time (like 500 hours) they give up that edge and leave pure resolution faithful to that signal instead. They just smoooooooooooth out without masking a thing, but you would never believe it unless you knew to be patient. See also teflons, which in custom audio builds are the eighth wonder of the world once "aged", but they are only meant for stuff you already know you like and wish to keep, because it will take 1000+ hours to get the full max benefit of what these can do. Some of the earlier versions (which I have used because I got a deal on them) take 1000ish hours for the initial "bloom" and another 600-1000 for the "smoothout" - where the resolution gets past that "let me show you how deeeeeeeeeeeeetailed I can get" to a place whee it's simply transparent, extracting the signal/recording with nothing else. The newer formulas, like the V-Cap, are burnt in at rated voltage for a few hundred hour burn before they are sent out, to help the end user save time. But you will STILL have 1000ish hours before full maturation and smooooooooooth clarity desired and obtained from using these magnificent little devices. Listening to a teflon bloom in a piece of gear is a lot like witnessing a live birth, it seemingly happens all at once after months of waiting and then all of a sudden the skies open and the gear becomes a completely different animal. But these are the far-exception and are stuff that very few are using. Then there's the "each session" change from gear warm up - most notable on tube and Class A gears, which sound their best once hot/at operating temperature. My tube rigs always took an hour-is to start showing their best qualities, albeit the general "house sound" is present in a few minutes, once at proper operating voltages. But MOST new stuff is a shorter and more subtle change duration. Many don't notice those changes much at all. Much is based on listening habits too - Metallica at 100db doesn't quite come off the same way or have the same listening considerations as say classical or jazz ensemble, so habit and focus can make a difference. But for a buyer like one reading the Stereophile LaScala 5 recently published, who is likely to have high end electronics and best use recordings for system evaluation in use, where that "advance break-in time" is the way to go. They should NOT be reviewed until they've had that sort of advance work. If I bought a new set of LaScalas, I would run those for a week solid if possible, when I installed teflons in the NOSValves NBS I ran that for WEEKS at a time. It took SEVEN WEEKS for the initial bloom because I used NOS Cardas teflon caps (at about 1/5th the price) instead of V-Caps (which were $1400 for two). The mylars in a new LaScala aren't reported to take that long and seem more in line with most other typical caps and gears, the 100 hour rec from that reviewer seems to be pretty "on point".

I run two JBL 4638 cabs in my all-Cornwall theater. These have the efficiency and brawn to keep up with these high efficiency speakers. Another is the JBL 4642 (single 18"), then to look at Klipsch they have the KPT-904 and similar. These woofer cabs can run with the big Klipsch Heritage beasts and can do it and not be horn loaded - these are made for pro use. My JBL 4638 pair run effortlessly with my Cornwalls and make "keeping up" with the big Heritage a breeze, and modern pre-pros can adroitly blend these beasts with your existing mains. I am a big proponent of using these types of cabs for LFE on Heritage as they are capable of the job and relatively inexpensive as well (oft can be found used, especially out of "theater rescues"). You don't have to get fancy on power either, biggest issue is QUIET power, in my case a Crown K1 driving the two twin woofered cabs. I really believe these new Klipsch beasts are another animal entirely, that is if powered is OK. They do appear to have the ability to blend the liver, to be sure. Klipsch has really upped their game on subs. I'm a pretty hard bitten passive guy though, and I'll probably die with mine (these cabs do half a century in theaters and they'll do that same 50 years here).

Yep - as well as Tannoys, high efficiency JBL, Altec, etc etc etc...

I am amazed this hasn't sold yet, Listen to me now and believe me later, this is an amplifier that was BUILT FOR HERITAGE and as such is difficult to find such an excellent match at this price point. If I didn't have VRDs already I'd have this. I sold a fair load of vintage Mac gear because when it came down to it, I already had one of the best, most transparent amplifiers for my 2 channel Heritage that money could buy, which was the VRD monos. You'll miss pretty much not much with the stereo version, and unless you had them side by side you couldn't tell anyway.... Given the geography it appears in reach of a lot of people, for a buyer near Chi/Mil that's having a custom amp in their backyard. GLWS, can't rec this one enough.....