Heritage HT on a budget????

[winchester21]

I am not here to debate heritage vs reference. I have owned and loved reference stuff since 2001. See my many posts expressing my approval of this great line of equipment. At some point I hope to build the ultimate 7 series reference system with all old Phase linear 700s or Carvers in my den.

I have recently put together a pretty decent heritage system. I sat down and added up the damage and I was pleasantly surprised at the bottom line vs the result. So ... If you are ready for a puff from the crack pipe read on. Otherwise do the smart thing and click to mouse to a different section of the forum. Ever since I was a teenager hanging out in the local stereo shops and spending every dime on I could beg borrow or steal on albums, I have wanted a set of heritage speakers. could not afford it- settled for Altec Segovias, ESS Heil towers, and JBLs diriven by Sansui integrated amps.About 5 months ago I decided to heck with it- Im gonna buy me some k horns. I joined this forum and started doing some research. I was listening to a reference system and I was hard pressed to jump ship. On a wild hair I answered an ad from Cigarbum and decided to ride doen to ga and listen to his Mac amp and his Cornwalls.From the first note from those Cornwalls through that delicious Mac 275 I knew where this was going. I was screwed. I bought his Cornwalls and evntually a then a set of K horns and lascallas from Coytee. Tonite i bought a RSW 15 sub and I am still looking for a single Lascalla for a center. I am in 7th heaven listening to this setup both for 2 channel music and HT. HT took some time adjusting and tweaking as I still have an RC64 center bit is is sounding unbelievable. When i get the sub next week it will be even better.

So bottom line- what does it cost to get into a other worldy Ht system with heritage monsters? When you add it up the results amy surprise you.

Panasonic plasma 780 p 1000.00- remember- we are saving money here-great bang for the buck

K horns- fronts 1600- 2200- maybe less than perfect appearance- all over e-bay- craigs and the garage

Cornwall surrounds( if 7.1)- 700 pr- absoulte no brainer

Lascallas- rears- 750 .00pr- widely available on e- bay craigs or here- Cornwalls will also work- personal pref

Single Lascalla or Cornwall center 400.00- this one requires patience- still waiting on mine

SVC or other comparable new/used sub- 800.00

High end flagship HT reciever- Sony, Marantz, Denon, or wahtever you like- demo or last years model- 800.00

3- 2 channel power separates- mono running center- off E-bay- Crown- Cavrer- B&K- HK-or whatever you like 1600.00

Sony 550 blue ray- 300.00 another no brainer

So you have roughly 8300.00 in a system that sounds like 25 grand or more...Sure this is a rough draft with many variables. But when you consider what the used market has to offer it is a real show stopper.The 30 grand systems in ths showrooms pale by comparison. And smart shoppers can sell out without losing money if necessary.

Food for thought.

[Guest " "]

K horns- fronts 1600- 2200- maybe less than perfect appearance- all over e-bay- craigs and the garage

Cornwall surrounds( if 7.1)- 700 pr- absoulte no brainer

Lascallas- rears- 750 .00pr- widely available on e- bay craigs or here- Cornwalls will also work- personal pref

Single Lascalla or Cornwall center 400.00- this one requires patience- still waiting on mine

Heresey's can have a good place as a surround since there is really not that much low end program material in surround channels....cornwalls will work also..but the cornwall's have excellent low end response that will never be used in surround mode.

[wsu99999]

I got it done for even cheaper than that!

2k Samsung LCD

550 - LaScalas x2

40 - Single Heresy Center

400 - Forte II's (surrounds)

250 - Behringer ep2500

500 - Marantz 7001

100 - Dayton DVC 12

100 - Custom Sub box

End result - priceless! (under 4k!) Even less if you skimp on the TV. Of course, I didn't include the HD-DVD Player, PS3 or the hundreds of HD-DVD's, Blurays and DVD's.

The bottom line is you can have an AMAZING used Heritage system for around 2k if you shop smart! You can't even get a RF-82 setup for that, and believe me, do an A-B comparison between a pair of LaScalas and an entire RF-82 setup and see what happens!

[winchester21]

Agree totally about the bass/surround/Cornwalls- I bought the cornwalls first- then the K horns and the lascallas. They do a killer job as surrounds as their top section is very adequate. I have only heard 1 set of Hereseys/ no Fortes- and I am sure they are both more than up to the task. Cornwalls seem to be the most available in this price range and very easy to re -sell if you choose to change something. They will also work for just about any application in any system. I swap some banana plugs around- pull them out into the middle of the room and play them as fronts on occasion in my 2 channel Mac setup.

3 good examples of low buck pre owned Heritage stuff in awesome sounding systems

[colterphoto1]

let's see, on the Heritage side of things:

LSBR TG- $750 pair and DeanG made me some custom networks

CWO - $500 per pair with cane grilles

KLF-C7 - got probably $150 in a neat oakie

THX sub system - not telling.

That's $1400 total for the 5 main speakers.

[winchester21]

Just watched Max Payne- Blu - Ray on this system and OMG- Everything worked so perfectly- the Cornwall surrounds sounded like the MP5 sub-machine guns were popping off rounds in my living room. The lacalla rears carried the doors slamming and the choppers flying from back to front.The k horn fronts were just in the words of a guest-- Absurd.....The RC64 center- soon to be changed out- carried the mail to a fault but not exactly what I need for the horns. The RF15 Definitive sub will be replaced by a RSW 15 next week... but did extremely well for now at high voulme levels. Not yet perfect but the pre owned hand me down heritage stuff is absolutely ridiculious for this HT application. I am telling you like a friend.. this is the most bang for the buck. Jaw dropping performance for box store prices.

[colterphoto1]

yessiree, you're one of US now. Kinda feels like you've been shot out of a cannon, doesn't it?

Welcome to the Madness, now you hear what we've been talking about all this time, eh?

Your sworn duty now is to preach it to the others. Soon they will understand.

Michael

[colterphoto1]

Heresey's can have a good place as a surround since there is really not that much low end program material in surround channels....cornwalls will work also..but the cornwall's have excellent low end response that will never be used in surround mode.

Beg to differ- use Cornwalls as LARGE and you'll FEEL the difference. Nothing like haveing that LF swooping around the room with you! There isn't that much low end in surround channels if you set up your HT with speakers to small. No need to do that with the Mighty Cornwalls. Let em rip!

Try it, you'll like it.

[jbsl]

Heresey's can have a good place as a surround since there is really not that much low end program material in surround channels....cornwalls will work also..but the cornwall's have excellent low end response that will never be used in surround mode.

Beg to differ- use Cornwalls as LARGE and you'll FEEL the difference. Nothing like haveing that LF swooping around the room with you! There isn't that much low end in surround channels if you set up your HT with speakers to small. No need to do that with the Mighty Cornwalls. Let em rip!

Try it, you'll like it.

I agree!! I tried putting the speakers to small and did not like it. It just sounded wrong to me. Put everything(3 La Scalas up front, KLF 20s for rears) to Large and much better!!

[colterphoto1]

Thanks for the backup, but LS should be set to SMALL, their response tapers around 90 and they're about dead at 65 hz. They don't come close to being as full-range as CW's in a HT application. I have mine set at 80, with THX subs taking up the rest. But the mighty CW's ( and your KLF20's) can take a hit and LARGE it is for these babies.

Suggest setting them back to small. Remember you can lower the crossover point so you get more sense of movement across your front soundstage, but there's no point on sending 20-60 Hz to a speaker than cannot reproduce it. Let the sub do it's thing.

[winchester21]

OK - The system is complete- I spend a ton of time shopping. Roughly 3000 miles of wheel time picking up components. Came in way under budget.

TOTAL COST- INCLUDING TV- RECEIVER-1450 WATTS OF SEPARATE AMPLIFIERS-SPEAKERS- 7775.00- not counting power strips- wires- connectors- TV brackets- racks- Direct TV stuff-gas- Ect- Ect

I have recovered 1200.00 from the sale of Reference components- prospects for the remaining 700.00 worth of items- so after I sell out I should have a net upgrade cost of 5875.00 Not to go on about the results but I will put this system up against pretty much anything except for Jubilees which I have not heard. These are older examples of top of the line speakers and amps. New- recently discontinued flagship- Receiver and current blue ray player

If you think that a killer Heritage HT system is out of reach- you may want to re-think that conclusion. Al of these speakers came from other forum members. The used amps came from e-bay members with extensive positive feedback. Food for thought-(and trouble).

Front- K horns- Center- Lascala- surround-Cornwalls-Rears industrial Lascalas-Sub- RSW-15 Receiver-Sony DA4300ES-Front/center amp-Carver 753-3 channel- Surround amp HK870- Rear amp B&K 4420 Sony 550 Bluray DVD- Panny 50" 780 P plasma

Footnote- The k horns are also used in a separate 2 channel system using a MAC 2105/C34V amp/preamp- cost 1200.00- result - amazing for pennies spent.