fmalloy

I've built the amp camp amp and this 'ain't it. Amp camp amp is only 7-8 watts and has much less parts. Only one output transistor per channel.

Wiring isn't everything. It's the only thing. 😄

To stray off topic - that 1964 Altec catalog is *hilarious*! The model on the cover with a 14" waist, the wood cover for the preamp, the astonishingly low 0.5% distortion on the tube amp...speakers with table legs...and I don't know about you, but I do all my serious listening in an impeccably pressed suit, with the wife in a dress and heels. Baby, can you pour me a Martini and light me a Chesterfield while I spin some Dean Martin?

I have Heresy IIIs, and I was surprised. You see a fairly large box (by today's standards) with a 12" woofer and it *looks* like it should rock the house with bass, given there are small bookshelf speakers with long-throw woofers of half the diameter that rock the house. Then I learned a little about sealed-box designs and ported designs and learned a bit how complex it is. I'm not a big bass person and I use the Heresy with no subwoofer. For me, when the bass is really there and it's recorded well it surprises me, like when there's an fff in a bass drum in a big symphony, for example. Yes, it would be nice to have a bit more in a jazz trio string bass, but what is there is so tight and controlled...

Yep. Totally agree. The Heritage speakers have a long history and design principles and philosophies associated with their creator. You buy and enjoy them knowing and respecting that. The vision wasn't a DIY-friendly product where you're encouraged to tinker and tweak and play. I believe Nelson Pass encourages that with his public domain amplifiers, but this is different. If Grandma Smith spent years perfecting her peach pie, laboring over many trials and experiments, it becomes famous, and you go and change a bunch of ingredients and amounts, cook time, and procedure, should you really be calling it Grandma Smith's Famous Peach Pie? All Chief Bonehead said was they're his to do what he wants, just don't call it by the original name. Nothing more.

I like to rotate the woofers every couple thousand hours of listening, 1000 if listening to heavy metal. 😉

Obviously, you have to change the capacitors when they age and no longer function to spec. Going back to the car analogy, you have to replace the oil filters and the brake pads, because they wear out. Yeah, it's still a La Scala. But change the drivers, the crossover design, the enclosure shape/materials - you've changed the basic functionality and the sound.

I don't get it. In each case, you've changed so many of the key components (I mean - completely swap out a Mustang motor but you call it a Mustang?) that you can say - well, what's left? You said - "Much of the La Scala is in the design, no?" To me, the *design* is the carefully engineered *sum* of the enclosure, drivers, materials, and crossover. You change any of that, you've changed the design. Not a La Scala any more. It's a modded La Scala. Fine, if that's what you want. Some people love tweaking and hacking...

It's a short-but-sweet (and direct) response. And so true... The OP talks about the soundstage and the great sound...before he wants to tear it apart? You can buy a classic Ferrari (F40? I know nothing about vintage automobiles) and replace the engine (you know, it's so outdated), the brakes (they have much more modern materials), the transmission (so many advances since then!), the suspension (computer designed these days!), the exhaust system, dash instruments (go digital!), etc. But would you still call it an F40? Honestly, I don't get it. Just build your own box and stuff it full of the drivers and crossover that you choose. And put your name on it.

I think you're probably correct about 1 - the bass you get is strongly dependent on speaker placement; closer to a wall increases the bass, closer to a corner increases it even more. And the port needs a certain distance to function correctly without being boomy. And looks like you found that your room has bass "nodes" where it peaks. Normally audiophiles correct this with some kind of room treatment or speaker/listening chair placement. Have you tried toeing the speakers in a bit? For 2 - I guess you can't turn off the TV's speech enhancement? I don't think my Samsung Q70 has any such speech processing. You say that it doesn't occur with music, right? How is speech from a source other than the TV? Does your TV have any EQ functionality? Sometimes it's buried in the Sound settings or some such. Still, I'm surprised that this speaker that is targeted for TVs cannot provide clear speech.

This is puzzling. I have used multiple kinds of stereo speakers connected to an amplifier and play the TV thorough them, and speech/vocals always are clear. Speech sits right in the middle of midrange frequencies, which a quality speaker should handle easily. I'm currently using Klipsch Heresy speakers connected to an NAD amp, and the TV sounds fantastic, including speech. If the bass is too heavy, it should not drown out speech. As a matter of fact, speech alone should not have any bass at all, unless the speaker is Barry White or James Earl Jones. Sounds to me these speakers have artificially pumped up bass. Klipsch seems to be marketing the Fives for this very purpose - "Immensely improve your TV's sound with The Fives" so it's extra strange. If this system can't reproduce speech with clarity, I wouldn't say the sound quality is superb.

I think if you have tried sources other than the TV (laptop, smartphone, etc.) and you still hear muffled vocals, either there is a problem with your unit, or you just don't like the Fives' sound.

I'm not familiar with these speakers, so I didn't know there is a main and slave. Maybe turn your other speaker facing away (or facing down on a carpet) and put your ear close to the speaker you're testing at moderate listening volume to see if it sounds muffled, and do the same with the other to see if the muffled sound happens to both. Quite honestly, I can't see an $800 speaker from Klipsch having muffled vocals; they should be very clear. If you've tried multiple sources besides just the TV and listened to each speaker and they're both muffled, perhaps something's wrong with the main speaker electronics. I would exchange them with another set, and if you still don't like them, return them.

One pair is two speakers, correct? Left and right? If both your left and right speakers exhibit muffled sounds it's unlikely both would have the same defect, so it must be that you just don't like the sound signature of the Fives.

If both speakers have the same issue it seems like it's not a manufacturing defect. Perhaps these just aren't the speakers for you.

I thought optical is straight digital, and TVs didn't scale the digital values, so it has to be controlled by the analog audio amplifier.

Has anyone plotted freq response, SPL, etc. of a speaker when it's brand new, and after it's been "broken in" and compared the graphs?

Something is wrong. If this is noticed with both speakers it must be the source material. What are the sound settings on your TV? Make sure it isn't set to "Dolby Digital 5.1" or some similar format. I suspect the TV is doing some kind of processing. Have you tried some other input source besides the TV?

Are you hearing sound out of the tweeters if you put your ear close to them?

If you are using Optical out of the TV check to see that the Audio Format (or whatever it's called on the TV) is set to PCM and not Dolby Digital or 5.1 or some such format.

FWIW, I have Heresy IIIs with SS and found the mids to be harsh and forward on a lot of source material. I love so many other things about the speaker and didn't want to sell it, so I got a Schiit Loki 4-band tone control and cut the mids and highs quite a bit and to me it sounds a lot better.

Heresy has a 99dB/1 watt SPL, shouldn't 3.5wpc be enough to drive it to loud levels, even in a fairly sized room? What's the SPL you get from it at your listening location?

As a side question - what are the audible symptoms of crossover caps in need of replacement?

Can someone explain the purpose of the Zener diodes at the tweeter? Protection?

This made me smile, because it reminded me of that Seinfeld episode where Costanza buys a car from *John* Voight (vs Jon) 😄 Wonder why Mr. Prine sold the K-horns...