gigantic

I’ve been enjoying the Alesis power amp, bit a naked rack amp looks pretty janky sitting on the credenza, so Itook some mahogany I had leftover from a deck project and made a case for it. I still need to get some grill material for the top, but it looks better than before. (The center channel speaker is well aft of the vent area)

I really like the mods that I’ve done on them, but I feel like they deserve their own cabinets as they’re only Klipsch in spirit; I’d like to make these H700‘s as close to stock as possible as a counterpoint and the tweeters are bugging me.

I feel that way about the Marantz that replaced the Denon AVR. There was really nothing wrong with it, but compared to the Marantz, which has a somewhat sweeter tonality, the Denon was dull and lifeless. The Marantz will stay for avr duty and should pair well with a tube power amp to drive my Klipschs

I have been guilty of this. on the 90's & 00's, I had a pretty decent system, not audiophile quality, a mid level Pioneer receiver and Infinity SM112 speakers that I got at the AAFES PX, later, a better Marantz AVR with surprisingly good Peavey PA speakers and JBL monitors & an upper echelon Denon turntable. I had some health issues which led to me temporarily moving to the midwest, only to come back Philly, 6 weeks later, leaving all of my stuff behind. I spent the better part of the decade listening to music on my phone, eventually upgrading to a portable speaker at work and a Bose Wave radio at home. I'd digitized all of my music, a collection of +5000 cds and a few hundred LPs and sold all of the physical media. Listening to music was something that was in the background via playlists and random, not necessarily the active experience it had been previously. That all changed recently, like in the past two months, when I was gifted a receiver, sub and 6 speakers. Ironically, I've upgraded most off that and purchased a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable and now have a handful of LPs. That's changed how I listen to music: I've returned to the ritual of listening to records, savoring the sound, analyzing the playing, production and enjoying the sound; my Heresies have been a big part of that, too. At any rate, back on topic... Here's what I've done and why: because of space limitations in my flat, my Heresies are placed about 8 feet apart, which is narrower than I'd prefer. to widen the sound stage, I've added a pair of Energy bookshelf speakers that are about 12 feet apart. These are set as the front speakers in my AVR, with a subwoofer for 2.1 channel. My Heresies are running off of an Alesis RA100 power amp from my recording studio, on the pre out front channel of my Marantz AVR. I had to upgrade my AVR, as the denon I'd been gifted didn't have pre outs. at any rate, it's working pretty well. Eventually, the Alesis will be cycled back to the audio and replaced with a tube power amp, but for the time being, I like it.

After some comparison with the leading aftermarket tweeter, which was really remarkable, I've decided to return these to stock and use the super heresy bits in another project, which won't be detailed here. The 51 year old tweeters sounded a little fizzy compared to Dave A's finest, I was frequently checking my turntable stylus to see if it has accumulated lint. This leads me to believe that the diaphragms are in need of replacement- which ones are best? I've seen differing comments and it's difficult to parse it all out.

Who's to say? 🤷‍♂️ I do know that I want tube power, I just need to choose between vintage options (dynaco, Fisher, HH Scott et al), which likely means a soldering project; a vintage clone, a kit or chi-fi- the Willsenton R8 looks promising. I have a bit of time to decide, I have a check coming in the next 1-2 months which may or may not give me a little slush to make it happen. That said, apart from a Fisher console receiver I pulled in the late '90's and ran until it melted down (in retrospect, I should have recapped it, but I was a 20-something kid who didn't know jack-sh¡t...) and a plethora of tube guitar amps (60's Fender & Silvertone; recent PCB reissues), I'm a noob to tube hi-fi. While I have assumptions about the pros and cons of the various options, I don't really know for certain.

that's the goal, but in the interim, I realized that I have the perfect temporary solution to drive the Heresies right under my roof: in my spare bedroom recording studio, I have an Alesis RA-100 power amp hooked up to my laptop to drive a pair of vintage, unpowered KRK near field monitors. a little shuffling, sending the old Denon back to the studio and the amp to the living room, I'll have it totally sorted. bully!

Now it gets interesting: what to drive the Heresies? I could do a solid state integrated amp, which is sensible enough, I’m seeing a few options available locally on fb marketplace and Craigslist , notably a not quite vintage Yamaha VX 770 at a very reasonable price and an almost new Yamaha VX-701 for quite a bit more. Tubes really have my interest, but I’ll concede they’re not necessarily better, just different. On the semi diy front, I’m seeing a number of Dynaco amps in various states of repair from $500-900 that would be fun projects to recap and tighten up and at the other end of the scale, the Willsenton R8 and R300 are at the limit of my budget and would only need some tube rolling, although they could be pressed into service immediately. What to do? The Yamaha vx770 is only $85, so I think I’ll get that for the time being, until I get a chunk of cash for something perhaps nicer or at least more expensive.

My ex wife would have said that I’m parsimonious to a fault, but in this case, I won a round trip to Score City: the receiver is in new condition and will meet my AV needs and then some; likewise, the speakers, well reviewed, Canadian-made Energy Connoisseur center channel and surround speakers and a Velodyne 10B sub, all for a crisp C note. He even has the remote! I also got some high quality cables for the sub and a quartet of banana plugs for the speakers. I know I should wait to plug it in to pass judgement, but I’m justifiably pleased.

seller wants $100 and is including 3 speakers and a subwoofer of an unknown brand that I can't quite make out in the photos. I can afford spend an additional $35 on a remote if i have to. selling the speakers should cover it.

it looks like I've found an upgrade for my AVR, A mid level Marantz 1605 that will have adequate power for my surround system and with a separate amp, more than enough power for my Heresies (even as it is, I suspect)

yep. my thought is to use the AVR to power the satellite array, then use a 2 channel integrated amp that is perhaps less neutral and clinical, to power my Heresy speakers. The 80's NAD amps seem to fit that bill, although in full disclosure, I should admit that I also have tube aspirations, if not a vaccum budget...

it's my understanding (I may be wrong here) that if I use a line out to a 2nd amp instead of a preamp out, that if I change the volume on the receiver, it won't change the volume on the preamp, but if i go from a pre out to an amp in, the volume will adjust accordingly.

There is an NAD 1600/2600 combo available in my neighborhood at a reasonable price, however in reviewing the back panel of my AVR, I've realized that I'll need to upgrade that first, to a model with pre outs so I don't have to futz with two set of controls every time I want to change the volume. So, first things first...

to keep with the theme, L'Shana Tova! 👍

yes, but perhaps not me. Klipsch's non-heritage line are really fine products and stand up well against the competition in the market place, however, as a craftsman who makes heirloom grade cabinetry and works on projects with budgets between $700k - $30,000,000.00, I have a stronger appreciation for things that are hand made, with enduring quality. I regard Klipsch's non heritage lines as essentially consumer products that, while being of high quality, don't hold their value as strongly. They are cheaper for the company to manufacture, easier for the average consumer to buy, However, I have a feeling that in 50 years from now, people won't be clamoring for answers on how to restore their R-800s, the same way that people are maintaining their vintage Heresies, Cornwalls & Klipschorns today. It's the Heritage line that has my attention, even as I realize that they're largely out of reach due to my social class and income. To that end, as befits my annual earnings, pretty much everything I own is either 2nd hand, but high end; modified to perform beyond the manufacturer's spec or hand made by me to approximate the quality of things I can't afford to purchase (the latter points are primarily with regard to guitars- one of my hobbies is building and finishing custom guitars that retail between $2200-$3500.00. Because I have a modicum of skill, I can make a lot of things like furniture and musical instruments that are of equal or better better quality than I could ever afford to buy). That's what I mean by "I'm not Klipsch's target market." My current impressions about not being welcome here not withstanding, I might buy a Klipsch subwoofer or satellite speakers, but I can only fantasize about buying new Fortes, La Scallas or Cornwalls. Given the warm welcome I've received here, well... I'll let youse read between the lines.

I'm new here. I joined when I decided to resurrect a pair of H700 Heresies that I rescued from a fire ravaged house, 16 years ago and had been sitting in my carriage house, collecting dust. I'm a 52 year-old polymath and autodidact; an inner city dwelling working class slob; a Joe Blow master carpenter, specializing in very high end residential remodeling, whose income just barely places him in the middle class; a grad school dropout, just 8 hours shy of his Masters. I have a strong appreciation of things that are hand made and built to last; I have Grand Cru tastes, but a Bota Box budget. I am probably not Klipsch's target demographic. When I decided to rebuild my H700's, I wasn't sure that I wanted to spend a lot of money; I literally chose between throwing them in the trash or fixing them up. I dove into the archives and read everything I could about Heresy speakers, the original networks and updates through the years. There is a treasure trove of information here and I am incredibly grateful for that. However, reading the comments on the Heresy H700, H1-3 iterations, it became clear that my initial impressions of my ratty and ancient, 51 year-old speakers weren't far off the mark, and became concerned that even after bringing them back up to spec on a budget, I might still be dissatisfied. In doing research, I couldn't help but notice the infectious enthusiasm for the experiments and modifications to early versions of the Heresies to bring them up to contemporary listening standards, excitement that has all but evaporated in the past year. As such, I followed the threads, modified my H700's to the "Super Heresy" spec and could not be more impressed or satisfied. Yeah, I noticed the plugs for the "authorized vendors" when I first posted my project, but brushed it off. Coming from the motorcycle industry and being a lifelong BMW Motorrad fan, I'm well accustomed to the chorus of "stock is best" and assumed that was what it was. However, as I've been on the site close to a month, it's looking increasingly more like outright shilling, a dogged and rigid orthodoxy and even a decent amount of overly-creepy fan-boyism, from what I assume are middle-aged men. It. Is. Weird. What I'm getting from the new and improved forum vibe and this thread in particular, is that I am not welcome here. It is insisting is that I must leave my components stock, use only official parts and if I'm not satisfied, I am wrong, because I'm not using my components correctly and am required to shell out between $5000-$6500 to get products that perform to my expectations. That's a fine how to do.

Weekend spins...

pre-sunrise in my Philadelphia neighborhood:

$80 shipped

I rearranged my living room yesterday, to better optimize the listening field. i have to say, as these Delta Pro woofers break in, they’re sounding better and better, the subwoofer is barely needed, although one could make an argument that it’s not needed at all. I wish I could take credit for it. While it’s absolutely in the realm of my skill set, for the price of what this aftermarket vendor charges, it wasn’t worth my effort. Figuring my hourly rate as a carpenter, I’d likely head into the red just making the templates. I feel like I’ve saved money, buying them; well, not really, but I’ve saved time, which is rather valuable to me.

I messaged the seller of the NAD 3020 and it turned into an epic snipe hunt. I went to the address I was given and the young man who answered the door, looked at me like I was crazy. I messaged the seller and they ghosted me, although I could see that they'd read my missives. $90 for an NAD 3020 was too good to be true, anyway.

sMAHL order placed with @Dave A; by this time next week, my Heresies should be super. 😁

So this happened… I have a sheet of 3/4” Baltic birch in my shop and enough spares to make another set…

A subwoofer is an excellent compliment to Heresy speakers; the Heresy IV's are said to have improved bass response than the line has had typically.