chriswhotakesphotos

To my ear, Heresies are like a pair of rose colored glasses. As long as the source material is of good quality then it will sound great through them. When I moved up from RP-280F, I could suddenly listen to all kinds of music that was too bright or too this-way or that-way on the RP. I don't know what the KLF sound like/should sound like for comparison since I've never heard them, but your remarks about switching to Heresies sound a lot like what I felt when I got them. I couldn't believe how much better they sounded.

Since we're here, I'll chime that I have KG 5.2 and KP-201 (Heresy 2 pro) and there's a huge difference. I actually did really like the KG for video games when I had them plugged in, the extra-pronounced treble made for nice atmospheric sounds (very nice when I completed my Twilight Princess play on them) but the Heresies are more universal and much more musical. I use them exclusively now and they're great, the Chorus should just be bigger and better.

Nicely done! I've also made my way into heritage with industrial Heresies, mine are KP-201. I probably created a similar story for someone else when I got them, I happened to see the listing within an hour or two of when it went up and contacted right away. The guy had them for $200, I didn't even bother trying to get him to go lower. When I got there the next day (wasn't letting that one sit) he told me he'd heard from a few other people by then, including a guy visiting from Texas (I live in NJ) who wanted to take them back with him. I wondered on the drive back if I really needed to spend $200 on more speakers, I had already gone from F20 to RP-280F. They're my favorite speakers now though, I don't think I'll ever get rid of them.

I think it would be sensible for modern preamps to add a control for stereo separation. Digital preamps could do this easily. A lot of masters made for vinyl would have hard panning because (I assume) the pressing wouldn't have total stereo separation, but a lot of those masters are digitized with no compensation for this which leads to that problem. They're finally getting their wits and giving preamps bypassable filters for 2.1 systems, so this doesn't seem unreasonable.

Recently I've been investigating the source of some unpleasant distortion at work (dance studio, pro speaker system) and conveniently had a pair of Synergy B-10s and a 15w T-amp in the car. I wanted to see if the Behringer DAC or computer were causing trouble, so I set them up with the T-amp during a quiet time of day and turned it up a bit. I was surprised on my own how much tidy sound came out of them in the big ballroom. The person at the front desk a room away was surprised what he'd heard was the small speakers, too. Not saying they're going to replace pro speakers any time soon, but they're definitely the most tireless tiny speakers I've ever heard. I've never had reservations about pushing them and they just endure. Never did an SPL test with my KP-201s (small room) either, but my ears say they go very loud with 150w.

Visually I think the Heritage speakers are pretty cool looking, especially the Cornwalls. Both visually and aurally I think it's worth redecorating to fit them in.

Interesting to hear all these impressions, I'm still after the right way to do tubes and this sounds tempting. How does it hold up with busy music? I'm thinking of larger big bands for example. I've tried both an extremely low budget tube amp and tube preamp and both times found that while they could do well with single instruments, they would smush the sound together a bit when there was some commotion. I use an Emotiva amp right now and am after something that can be a suitable stand-in for it as needed. For those of us who wouldn't want to mod it, would it be detrimental to the sound to feed it with a solid state preamp to keep a subwoofer in the mix?

Have there been a lot of comparisons to RF7 II yet? I remember a lot of people were wondering about that since they're going to be priced similarly

I got my Heresy IIs at a steal just to find out what the Heritage hubbub was about, someone nearby was offering them cheaply enough to be worth it to test the waters. After having them for a little over a year now, I think if something happened to them I'd be looking at new HIIIs and wondering how badly I really need to not spend $2k. Heritage is definitely worth the plunge!

Is the consensus so far that the CWIII still sounds better? It does cost a bit more, so I suppose that shouldn't be too surprising.

Considering that this is the market for powered floorstanders, I suppose Klipsch realized that if people are going to buy these they should at least sound decent

Can't chime in too much since I haven't heard either but I'd probably get FIII. I have Heresy 2s already and even though I know the CWIII has driver and crossover upgrades compared to these, I undrestand it to use the same horns as the Heresy. So I'd want something different. Plus the word is the FIII has nice smooth mids with that mumps horn, and the mids were the first thing I liked when I went from RP280 to H2, so that sounds just right for me.

Nothing too exotic (and everybody's already mentioned them) but I'll always put in a good word for the KP-201s. They're my favorite speakers by far, I got them quick in a craigslist sale after the forum recommended them. After having Synergy towers, RP-280Fs, and KG 5.2s, the KP-201 turned out to be everything my ears wanted from a speaker. I use them in a small room with a Synergy Sub 12, Emotiva A-300 amp and Adcom preamp. They'd like a little more breathing space, but they still image nicely in the corners.

I want to go to that party! What kind of music will you be playing?

Wow, they're already shipping! They look great next to those Heresies, do post impressions once they're broken in!

Reminds me of when I first got Heresies after having RP-280F for a few months, the first thing I noticed was that a lot of tracks I was used to hearing sounded like everything had moved back and forth all over the place. I soon came to like the Heresy more, but it was a bit disorienting at first.

Have any 396 owners on the forum ordered a pair? Given all that's been said it'd be interesting to hear someone's thoughts comparing them head to head.

Very cool! They look great set up there. I'd be curious to hear about the sub too, I forgot about those oddball passive radiator subwoofers but they do look cool. Must play pretty loud!

Can vouch for this. I used to use F-20s in a basement and the bass was huge. Then I moved and put them in a smaller room and it was much less, and then when I upgraded to RP-280F even less. Room response is weird.

Odd question, but were the grilles on? I didn't believe grilles really made a big difference in sound, but when I first got my Heresies (1989) I thought I didn't like them until I took off the grilles. Prior to that I found the mids a bit piercing as well.

Maybe throw in horns from the Heresy and give it bass drivers all the way to the floor, that'd be something

Wow, 1000w with LaScalas! Be very gentle to the volume knob! They should sound good with emotiva though, I use Heresies with emotiva and really like it.

I would tell anybody to try Heritage, it's definitely worth it and hard to know what you're missing without hearing it first. When I had Synergy F-20s (lowest tier Klipsch that I bought on Newegg) I enjoyed them but wanted to upgrade. They were bright, and the RP-280Fs by contrast looked big and cool. I got a pair and was satisfied, no need to make further upgrades. I ended up getting a pair of Heresies anyway when am attractive Craigslist listing went up, I mostly wanted to see what the fuss was about and if they'd really be that different. Since then I've barely used the RP-280Fs. To my ear there's no wrong genre for the Heresies (and presumably other Heritage,) as long as they're fed a decent source it will sound good. By the way, PA speakers give horns a bad rap. I hear PA speakers every day at work (EVs) and while they sound good for what they're supposed to do, I wouldn't want to hear them at home. By contrast, I hear Klipsch speakers every day at home and would want to hear them anywhere!

I found the CL ad for my KP-201s (Heresy II) about three hours from when it was posted, and if I had responded an hour later, I would probably have missed them. The seller wanted $200 and they were in great shape, and when I went by the next morning to get them he said he'd heard from three other people since we first talked. Just recently I almost did the same with a pair of LS! But the seller decided he wanted to keep them. Must have set them back up for one last listen and enjoyed it too much. (I was afraid the guy selling the KP would do the same, he started to get nostalgic when I tested them with him and I paid out the money and ran) They're out there, you just have to check frequently. It's definitely worth it.

I didn't realize they were only 13" deep, that's pretty cool.