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How were you "introduced" to the KLIPSCH Heritage Line?


rockhound

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Tell me about the first time you ever heard Klipsch heritage speakers. Below is mine....

When I was in college (Henderson Stat University in Arkansas) I had a roommate who was a nephew of the klipsch family. He brought in 2 k-horns with 2 heresy's I don't remember the tuner he had. Anyway I was looking at these big ole things and I was like what the heck is that. He says to me its my uncles speakers! Then he brought in these "little" speakers and I was amazed that he had 4 speakers because at the time all I had was a cheap boombox. Anyway he proceeded to run the wire and get everything hooked up. Threw some Bad Company "Rock Steady" actually into the CD player. He told me to stand right here which I guess was the middle part of the room, lastly he said welcome to the best speaker ever made and he hit the play button and turned the volume dial.....holy shit is all I remember. I had never heard anything like that sound before and I was completly blown away. Needless to say that semester was fun to say the least, sure wish I would have kept in touch with him. Anyway that is how i was introduced to Klipsch and to the cops as we got lots of "disturbing the peace" warnings!!

Now how were you?

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Tell me about the first time you ever heard Klipsch heritage speakers.

We had one Khorn from, well, before my birth. My old man built the bass bin/top cabinet, then installed the drivers from Klipsch (we're talking very early 1950s). (He was teaching at SMU at the time, and had no $.) But he apparently knew PWK. Unfortunately, it was just a single horn, so when I was in grade school, we sold it to get a 5" reflector telescope.

After I graduated from college, I visited Sheffield Audio (Houston). They had two Khorns and Belle setup, and played Harry James for us (...I don't own any Harry James albums to this day...). My best buddy from engineering school was with me, and he said that the horns sounded great when playing horns, but otherwise were "colored" in their sound. Then we started listening to other "box" type direct radiator speakers. I remember the Polk SDA monitors that had just come out and their stereo imaging was amazing. Unfortunately, I was living in an apartment at the time, so the Khorns were out (...but I liked them a lot...). I eventually invested in Magnepan MG-IIIs (I still have them). They were nice and quiet for apartment living.

Three or four years ago, I bought a couple of Khorn clones from a guy north of Houston that made very good ones (Shinall), and placed them into the corners of my present listening room. It was amazing, but for reasons that I won't bore you with, I decided to "bite the bullet" and spring for a pair of Jubilees (K402/K-69A two way). However much the step up from my prior speakers to the Khorns - that was the difference between the Khorns and the "second generation Khorn"...Wow.

Chris

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sure wish I would have kept in touch with him.


If you want to get in touch with your college roommate, you could try classmates.com. I've been able to get back in touch with some of the guys and girls I went to high school with back in Quebec City so long ago, many of whom are scattered across the continent. It seems like nearly every high school, college, or university in North America is in their database, plus a number of large companies and the armed forces.

As for Heritage speakers, I'd lusted after a pair for decades, based on their reputation and the logic of their design, but the first ones I actually heard were the 1974 La Scalas that I bought four years ago. I still remember my jaw dropping at the sight of them in the small vintage hi-fi shop, since I instantly realized their being in that shop meant they were used and possibly affordable for me. I had a listen to them, did a bit of research, then went back and bought them the next day.

They're playing right now in the other room and sounding even better than when I bought them, since I've done some updates and upgrades to them. They also attracted some other Heritage family members, so now I have Heresy IIs, a Heresy III, and a pair of Belles to keep them company.

Here's a shot I found on the site that shows the members of my Heritage family. The Belle and the Heresy II are in the correct colours, but my La Scalas are black and are wearing K510 horns on their tops, making them JubScalas, as you can see in the avatar photo of the right speaker.

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post-23736-13819582080186_thumb.jpg

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I also went to Henderson State University, 96-2000. Being from Arkadelphia originally, that was where I also heard my first heritage speakers. A freind of mine, actually his dad, had some old Cornwalls hooked up to an old Pioneer receiver and turntable. They lived right on the Ouachita River, we would drink beer and blast some Allman Brothers from Sundown till the beer ran out. It became almost a nightly tradition our first summer out of high school. I remeber that the music would carry so well, it was perfectly audible across the river. I've been enamored with Klipsch ever since. We too got our share of warnings from the HSU patrol...hahaha.

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It was the day after Thanksgiving in 1974.

I was visiting a buddy at Cornell. He said there was something I really had to listen to. So we went to the dealer in Ithaca to listen to a pair of Klipschorns.

In less than a minute, the world of audio reproduction changed for me. I was impressed beyond recovery.

Wm McD

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For me, it was 1978. I was 18 years old and walked into my local higher end dealer (Carlon Audio in Fairfield Ohio).

Being a curious type... my buddy & I looked at this & that...twirled this & that knobs.... asked dumb questions... (I've not changed much since then in that regard).

Got to the speaker room and looked at this & that... then I saw these curious monsters in the corners. Seems everyone gravitated towards them. Jeff (salesman who's name I still remember) played them and my buddy & I were floored. Never in my life had I heard anything like these.

Heading off to college, I knew that I could never afford those nor...were they terribly practical for someone heading to a dorm.

Finally, I pointed towards "those" (LaScalas) and Jeff quickly hit his speaker selector and turned the Khorns off.

Again, my friend & I were floored with what we heard. What was interesting is, these were "self contained" and didn't need a corner. Now I was getting very intrigued....

While listening (at fairly loud levels) I did get to think..."for such a huge speaker, these sure don't have much punch in the bass"

I looked to ask Jeff about this....and his face was beet red, laughing at us. Long story short... he snookered us and in addition to the LaScalas in front of us, he had some Heresy's sitting on TOP of them. It was the Heresy's that he was playing in spite of telling us it was the LaScalas.

Ya ya ya...joke was on us... hahahahaha. He then turned the LaScalas on...and my buddy & I were again, very intrigued with what we heard. As we left, I patted on of the LaScalas on the top while saying to my friend "One of these days"

I bought a pair of LaScalas in 1979 (new) and still have them to this day more than 30 years later.

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For me, it all started that fateful day.......

I went to Best Buy to get computer speakers. The salesman was trying to push me into some bose......

I test them and they sound so TINY....... I then test the Altec Lansings..... 2.1s..... Better; but then I see the Promedias....... There were only 2 boxes left....... I test.... and was impressed..... They sounded so BIG........

The salesman still wanted to convince me on the blowse.......

("The Klipsch sound too bassy, if that is what you want, but I do not reccomend....")

Shortly after buying and using these.... I was amazed..... Such clear accurate sound for such little $.......

Then, I found The Forum.....

Never heard of Klipsch...... till that day..... Now I see how lucky I am.....

Began reading..... and 5 years later..... got my first pair of used Heresies.

I love my PM2.1s...... But I love my 2 channel and HT even more......

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First Klipsch Heritage, first McIntosh, and first Scotch in the livingroom of a buddy's central-michigan mid-century modern. Speakers were Cornwalls, McIntosh was solid-state, sources were dueling CD and Vinyl (same release of several albums to demonstrate the wider range of vinyl) and the scotch was Aardbeg (which I DO NOT recommend as a starter scotch!)

I was also schooled in range expansion in the form of an RG Pro16 Programmed Attack dynamic decompressor.

My own first Klipsch were Quartets (later sold at a profit,) followed by very nice Designer LS-BL with cane grills (still have them.) I've got some resto-candidate Speakerlab Ks with upgraded crossovers and babycheeks tweeters pulling 2ch duty in my livingroom right now.

I've also had Cornwalls from very late in 1985 (sold to a member here for cost, they have since become cornscalas with fastrack horns I believe,) another set of LS that were in absolutely horrid physical shape and badly miswired crossovers. Fixed the wiring and flipped those for my greatest profit. [;)]

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I had been using reference gear since I bought a set of RF83s- late 90s I think. I bought an RC64 and was blown away. I bought a pair of Rb81s and RB61s to complete my dream HT system. I had a deal working to sell the Rf3s and buy a set of RF 83s- even borrowed a set from a pawn shop buddy to audion. Well the dealer backed out on the deal- Stopped returning my phone calls- really pissed me of to put it lightly. I was considering kicking his @ss. Nobody else in the area had any RF 83s.

I saw an ad in the Forum from Cigarbum for a mac amp and Cornwalls. I had the RF 83 money in my pocket which was just enough to but both items. I was thinking of doing a separate 2 ch setup anyway as I was never satisfied with the Ref 2 series channel sound . I dragged an old preamp out of the attic and hooked up the Cornwalls. I was immediately hooked. I them thought about a mixed Ref/Heritage setup. Several forum members suggest the unthinkable- a 7 channel Heritage setup. Then I get this crazy e-mail from some guy named Coytee who has a set of K horns and a set of industrial lascalas from an estate sale. Next thing you know I am at his place on VALENTINES DAY 2009 with a van loading up a boat load of speakers and other gear.We roll in the the house at 2 AM and start dragging the booty into the living room. My wife is having a fit but my older son is there so she cant really go off on me.

Sold off all of the reference stuff- some less than 2 months old.

All this because of a dealer backing out on a set of RF 83s.

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Walked into Myer-Emco in July 1980 with a sweaty wad of bills in my pocket. They were unpacking a pair of zebrawood cornwalls to use as floor models. I'd never heard of Klipsch but they were so beautiful, I counted out the $1400 plus tax (made the salesman's day) and had them loaded into my Dodge Tradesman. The rest is history as they say. 30 years, 3 college houses, 5 other residences, a wife and 2 kids and a tube amp later, they still reside in my family room. I'd give up my Khorns long before I would let my Cornwalls go. Too much sentimental value. Plus, they do sound amazing!

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My dad had Khorns when I was a kid in the mid 50's - one of my earliest memories is of him blowing out matches with them at a party. Then when I was living in San Antonio in the mid 70's I came across a stereo store ("Bill Case") where there was a really nice salesman by the name of Bjorn (who later left & opened one of the great brick & mortar audio stores - "Bjorn's") who would let me & my friends drop by the store and listen to everything they had. I spent most of my time listening to Klipsch. I've finally gone back to Klipsch now & don't think I'll ever stray away again...

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I bet you Henderson guy's really pissed off the Ouachita folks. Myself, I was at UofA in the early 80's.



Yes we did! The chicks would always come "scumming" over to us Henderson trash :)

Yes, They'd come to the darkside to let their hair down, so to speak. And if any tell you different, they're lying.

After HSU I went to the UofA, and I'm still in Fayetteville. I love the area, just beautiful, but the demographics are changing quite a bit. Less down to earth folksy feeling and more psuedo yuppie BULL#@$*& from the corporate invasion spurred by Wal-Mart and those sniffing its A$$.

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I bet you Henderson guy's really pissed off the Ouachita folks. Myself, I was at UofA in the early 80's.

Yes we did! The chicks would always come "scumming" over to us Henderson trash :)

Yes, They'd come to the darkside to let their hair down, so to speak. And if any tell you different, they're lying.

Yeap I had plenty of OBU Ho's :) no offense anyone.

After HSU I went to the UofA, and I'm still in Fayetteville. I love the area, just beautiful, but the demographics are changing quite a bit. Less down to earth folksy feeling and more psuedo yuppie BULL#@$*& from the corporate invasion spurred by Wal-Mart and those sniffing its A$$.

I love that area I had several friends that went to UofA and I hope that is were my son goes. I'm currently transplanted in Texas however I will be moving back to the Natural state this summer and can't wait...no place like home.

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It's only been about 2 years for me for the Heritage line. I got a new coworker and he saw me on the Klipsch site and he said he had a pair of Heresy speakers and would trade them for this HTiB system I had in my office. I thought long and hard because if I took the deal that would leave me with no music in the office. I traded for them took them home and refinished them. Now they sit in the bedroom so the wife and I can enjoy them. She likes them as well. I was familiar with the Klipsch sound since I had bought RB 61's, RC 10 and RS 42's for my modest home theater. I was looking to upgrade from my old Onkyo HTiB system and I started looking on the web for speakers. I read about Klipsck and went to a home theater store about 3 hours away to hear them and instantly stopped looking once I heard them. I'm hooked for life.

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Late in life, 1990. A friend of mine got into some financial trouble and I "helped him out" buying taking his k-horns off his hands for $1,100. At the time I was using some Maggies driven by McIntosh SS electronics and was quite happy with the sound BUT after plugging in the K-horns I knew there was no going back. I had spent most of my adult life trying out different speakers and electronics and never getting what I wanted out of my music, until the Klpischorns entered my system. Since then I have done some tweaking and made some experiments with drivers, electronic, crossovers, etc. but I learned that day in 1990 that horns were for me! Thanks Klipsch! Warm regards from sunny El Salvador, Tony

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