Heresy IIIs arrived today

[Beta]

I had a brand new pair of black Heresy IIIs delivered today. I would
appreciate any advice with respect to anything I should know about
breaking these speakers in, or anything else in general that I should know.

I was a littel bit nervous making this purchase as I have read the H3s perform best when powered by a tube amp. My gear is solid state.

I am powering the H3s with a Parasound Halo A-21 amp and Halo P-3 pre amp connected via quality XLRs. I am running an Ipod via a Wadia 170i transport, Channel Islands Audio VDC-9.0 high current DC supply and Cardas digital cable into the DAC in a Cambridge Audio 840C CD unit. The H3s are connected via Kimber 8TC speaker cable. To add to the low end, I am using a Polk PSW 450 12 inch sub.

So far so good. Believe it or not, the H3s do not seem significantly more "bright" than my Polk RT2000i towers do.

I chose the H3's over the Cornwall IIIs because of their smaller size. I also considered the RF-83 and RF-7, but determined their rear firing ports would not work with my limited speaker placement options.

At any rate, any advice or tips on the H3s would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Richard Guba]

Congratulations on the new speakers. I have had my Heresy IIIs since May 2009. I power mine with a 1991 Carver HR-752 solid state receiver. I also chose the smaller HIII over a bigger speaker (Cornwall III) because of size since the living room and the WAF ruled out the larger ones.

That being said I really like the HIII. They shine on piano such as Dave Brubeck's Time Out and sound great on RCA Living Stereo classical music. The bass is good to my ears on Herbie Hancock's Headhunters funny electronic Chameleon.

I did not do any sort of break in.on the speakers I did experiment with toe in and distance from the back wall. Since you have a sub I think your placement issues will be more about sweet spot and toe in versus corner and wall distance for bass.

An interesting thing is because of the short size and tilt riser they sound best to my ears when you the listener are about 15 feet back. This is so that the horns will have a straight line to your ears. The riser compensates for the speaker being shorter than ear level Have fun and experiment to your liking.

As for solid state versus tube I think the major issue is quality. Quality components in the signal chain will sound good on the H3. I am sure other H3 owners will chime in. I may someday get a nice tube amp, but the Carver works well for me.

Rich

[cfelliot]

I got my IIIs a few months ago. They were replacements for my old Cornwalls now retired to the basement!

I haven't noticed much difference post break-in. I have noticed that the amount of toe-in has a big effect on the soundstage with about 5-10 degrees out from the prime listening chair being best.

I run the low end to my 2 subs below 100Hz. The IIIs run on a SS Bryston 2B for now, but I may build a tube Dynaco ST70 clone to replace it. I had a Mac 275 for a loaner one time on the Cornwalls and it was the best they ever sounded.

[sammyr]

As for solid state versus tube I think the major issue is quality.

True. I power my H3's with an SS McIntosh 4100 receiver, and they sound great. I've tried two tube amps with them, a fully restored Eico HF-81 and a little 2 wpc Decware SET amp. Neither sounded better (or worse) than the 4100, so I ended up selling the tube amps. Didn't see the point of messing with tubes and sacrificing the convenience of the 4100 for pretty much the same sound. The H3's will sound good with good amps and bad with bad amps, ss or tube.

[russ69]

I'd say you are in pretty good shape, the Parasounds and the 840C should be a good match. Give it a week and report back. The Heresys are fairly neutral until you force them to go to the warmer side.

Thanx, Russ

[Beta]

Thanks guys....

My first impression is that the H3's lack just a little bit of "warmth". Again, they are brand new and were unboxed and hooked up for the first time only yesterday. I am hoping they warm up over time.

Unfortunately, my speaker placement options are limited. My system is in our living room and I need to be sensitive of my wife's decor.

My next upgrade is the sub. The 12 inch Polk PSW 450 sub I am using has a huge footprint and rear firing ports. I am hoping there is a sub out there that has a smaller footprint (preferably without rear firing ports). I am not looking for ground shaking base. Can't stand that. Just the perfect subtle amount for music.

I could use some recommendations, and education, on subs.

Thanks again!

[russ69]

I could use some recommendations, and education, on subs.

You can see my little sub in the picture. It's a Velodyne 8 inch front firing with built in room correction software. Perfect match for Heresys.

My first impression is that the H3's lack just a little bit of "warmth".

Put a Cardas 300b cable on your amp, if that's too warm move it to your CD player, that will warm up the Heresys. Give it a week but they will not get much warmer. I was looking for a warm sound, so I used all my tricks, tube amp, warm pre-amp and the warmest cables I had.............I'm living large now, pure tube sweetness.

Thanx, Russ

[Dennie]

Congratulations on your new speakers, Beta! You are going to enjoy them for years to come. Take your time and enjoy the music.

Dennie

[Beta]

Russ,

Which Velodyne model is that? Love the small footprint!

Thanks

[cfelliot]

...I need to be sensitive of my wife's decor...I am not looking for ground shaking base. Can't stand that.....

I needed to account for the WF too. This is why I had to retire the Cornwalls. Too much floor space used by them and the Subs.

I built the subs from Part Express 3 ft^3 enclosures and NHT 1259 drivers - no longer available! They are -3 db in the upper 20HZs and run on their own dedicated Anthem MCA-20 amplifier. I also am not a fan of overdone bass, but I've heard lows with them that I've heard on few speakers.

[russ69]

Which Velodyne model is that? Love the small footprint!

It's an SPL-800R (SPL=Small Plays Large) 1000 watt amp with room correction. The minivee is the same thing without the room correction (still sounds good).

Thanx, Russ

[Marvel]

Which Velodyne model is that? Love the small footprint!

It's an SPL-800R (SPL=Small Plays Large) 1000 watt amp with room correction. The minivee is the same thing without the room correction (still sounds good).

Thanx, Russ

I have an older Velodyne that my BIL gave to me a few years ago. I don't even remember the model, but I've used it with my HIIs. Right now it sits under my desk to go along with my JBL 4311s, fed from my computer. I usually have it set to where I can't tell it's on until I turn it off (if that makes sense)

Would love some Heresy IIIs, but ... I don't really need them and have enough stuff in the house as it is.

Bruce

[Beta]

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

I'm going to focus in on the smaller Velodyne products. Love the small size. If I can get quality lows out of a significantly smaller footprint, I'll be really happy.

[Richard Guba]

If you are looking for a small sub there is a Definitive Technologies Super Cube that is a 10.5" cube.

I have never heard it, but I have seen in at the high end Best Buy Magnolia stores. It is small and appears to have good reviews. Has anyone heard the super cube? My set up is space constrained and if I go with a sub it will have to be something small.

[runninshine]

I felt like after a few days of my Heresys being in my home and they had a chance to get acclimated they warmed up nicely. I think a sub might be needed in a bigger room but, in a smaller room the Heresys are perfect w/o a sub. (just my 2 cents)

[Beta]

I felt like after a few days of my Heresys being in my home and they had a chance to get acclimated they warmed up nicely. I think a sub might be needed in a bigger room but, in a smaller room the Heresys are perfect w/o a sub. (just my 2 cents)

That's my hope. At this juncture, I do detect a slight bit of harshness with the H3s. Not sure if that will "smooth" out over time?

Back in 2001 I purchased a brand new pair of Polk RT2000i towers (with built in subs). When I got them home, the Polks sounded just horrible. In an effort to compensate, I upgraded my reciever to a Denon 3802. The Polks still sounded horrible to me (for the money spent).

About a year and a half ago, enough time had passed that I could justify in my mind the revamping of my system. I started first by acquiring all the components and cables articulated up in my initial email in this thread. Afiter completion of that, I was absolutely blown away by how good the Polks sounded.

I did not need new speakers. But hey, the Polks were 9 years old. Like most of us, this hobby has taken a hold of me. I have always been a 2-channel fan (I still remember my first rig as a teenager in the mid 70's. Pioneer SX-450 reciever, Genisis I speakers and a Technics direct drive turn table).

At any rate, I have been coveting H3s for about 6 months, so I found a great deal and pulled the trigger.

If my brain isn't playing games with me, I seem to hear pieces of music in the H3's that I don't in the Polks. At the same time, I hear pieces of music in the Polks that I don't in the H3s. If I could use colors as a description, the Polks are a beautiful shade of blue and the H3's are a slightly different beautiful shade of blue. Both are really good. Just to clarify, the RT2000i's seem to be a realitvely "bright" speaker for Polks.

Given my limitation in speaker placement due to furniture, the Polk Towers worked well because the highs and mids were elevated up about 45 inches (above the furniture). When placed on the ground, the H3's get blocked by a sofa and a chair. Therefore, I have elevated the H3's up about 12 inches. Problem solved (except for the fact that my sales pitch to my wife about obtining smaller/lower speakers for her living room just went out the window).

So......

My comparison will go on until I decide which I like better. The other pair will be going into a second room and connected to the Denon 3802 for the initiation of construction of rig #2.

The journey continues.....

[cfelliot]

The first week I had my Heresy IIIs, I placed them on top of my Cornwalls. This was 36" up. Later I removed the Cornwalls and placed them on top of the subs as you can see in a previous post. This is about 18". They sounded the best at 36" and I am going to build stands to return them to around 24-30".

I'm sure this is room dependent so your milage may vary. This placement will lower the base output of the IIIs too, but in my case the subs handle all the heavy bass and they remain in the corner and on the floor.

[jamesV]

Beta,

Good luck on your journey and post some pictures of those new speakers. We always like seeing new speakers.

James