Surrounds and Center to match Heresy II?

[sansnipple]

I've had my pair of unbelievably perfect sounding Heresy IIs since last december and i'm starting to feel that it's time to start thinking seriously about what surrounds and center would be an ideal match for them to bring it up to propper surround sound. does anyone have recomendations for what i should be looking at? I'm worried that it'll be tricky to find anything that measures up to these for any sort of reasonable budget, and I dont think i have the space for more heritage speakers.

(btw, my receiver is a pretty good sounding onkyo sr507, and the Heresy IIs are a mint condition sequential serial pair, 1985 4ohm model, honey birch w/ cane grills.)

[jhoak]

That's easy... More Heresys []

Heresys aren't that big. Really...

[psg]

I agree, buy two more pairs as a base for a fantastic 6.1 system! The ideal "small" speaker with a crossover of 80 Hz and a good sub.

[dtel]

I agree, buy two more pairs as a base for a fantastic 6.1 system! The ideal "small" speaker with a crossover of 80 Hz and a good sub.

Yes, there's your answer.

Your not going to find a better match and the only thing smaller would be a bookshelf speaker and the sound would not match.

If nothing else buy some that are not in great shape to save money and finish them in black, 6 Heresy's and a sub would sound really good.

[Malcolm]

Yep, Heresey IIs and a good sub...

I have Heresys all around and a sub. Makes an excellent surround system.

[sansnipple]

but what about the center? a heresy isnt exactly shaped to be shoved
under (or hung over) the tv screen like a modern horizontal design
center. while a full set of heresys would be awesome, does anyone have
any more practical recomendations for a center that will work well? and
i may actually start keeping an eye on craigslist for a cheap set of
old heresys for the surrounds, but that aside, are there any
recomendations for any smaller (wall mountable?) surrounds that would
mesh well with the heresys?

[Cal Blacksmith]

Heresys are wall mountable (so are Fort'es for that matter) and thee is nothing like all the speakers being the same, even the center which is ironic because the Heresy was intended to be a center for Khorns, so there you go, a 7.1 all Heresy setup is where you should go!

If you REALLY MUST have a smaller speaker for a center, try an Academy, but with what they are selling for, you could buy a pair of Heresys[:$]

[dtel]

You can turn the center Heresy on it's side, I do that with a Forte and it works fine.

[psg]

but what about the center? a heresy isnt exactly shaped to be shoved
under (or hung over) the tv screen like a modern horizontal design
center.

Here's a wall-mount. I used to use it for a Heresy center but now use it for three Heresy surrounds.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/73477/722354.aspx

[sansnipple]

yeah, i definitly want a low horizontal center to go under the tv. (wall mounting above is not an option where its located) the Academy looks to be about the perfect size, but actually finding one may be bit of a challenge...

Am i correct in assumming that none of klipsch's modern refrence series would be anywhere close to a match for the heresys?

very nice wall mounts though, may try that if i end up getting heresy surrounds.

[Malcolm]

Am i correct in assumming that none of klipsch's modern refrence series would be anywhere close to a match for the heresys?

Yep.

You could build a center with two appropriate 10" woofers on either side of the tweeter and squawker. Depth would still be the same because it is limited by the squawker/

If you cannot come up with an appropriate center, if might be better to use a phantom center than a real one that isn't timber matched.

[sansnipple]

normally i would only ever buy speakers locally where i can listen to them before purchase, but there's an Academy (with cosmetic damage) up on ebay right now for $180 (+ $47 shipping). is that a good enough deal to be worth the non-refundable risk of not being able to listen to it beforehand or inspect it personally? from what i gather the academys are really rare and i might never find one locally (eastern CT).

[clermontcop]

Yes sir I still have one academy left, but could transfer the parts into a different cabinet, another academy empty shell cabinet, if you did not want the oiled oak. The other one is black. Please feel free to call me at 321-662-2030. My name is Matt. Thanks.

[willland]

but there's an Academy (with cosmetic damage) up on ebay right now for $180 (+ $47 shipping). is that a good enough deal to be worth the non-refundable risk of not being able to listen to it beforehand or inspect it personally

Yes. The Academy for sale on Ebay is a forum member's. I have seen and heard this speaker. Great buy at $180.00 plus shipping.

Bill

[sansnipple]

ok, i pulled the trigger on the academy on ebay. the beat up oak cabinet is fine, it's just gonna get shoved under my tv stand anyway, won't be too visable.

[sansnipple]

ok, so i got the academy, and while its actually in better shape than i thought it would be from the ebay photos, its not not really a good enough match for the heresys. i wasnt expecting it to be perfect, and its certainly not a bad sounding speaker for a 2 way, i guess it's just really suffering from the lack of a mid horn compared to the heresy IIs, its not a good enough tone match espicially in midrange clarity, its more mellow/laid-back and slightly less dynamic and detailed, it just sounds kind of "meh", compared to the heresy's "wow". (it also seems to be a little more fatiguing than the heresys)

Also, for some reason, it seems to Negativly affect the imaging of the system quite a bit in some ways, including significantly narrowing the front soundstage. With everyone always telling me how the center is the most important speaker in a HT, i was expecting Any center to be a big improvement to imaging even if it wasnt a perfect match. But (discounting maybe a little improvement in soundstage depth) overall the imaging seems to be a bit worse with the center than without it.

so bottom line is that at the moment, in both sound quality and imaging, i think my system sounds a fair bit better with the center off (just the heresys running in stereo) than with the center on. So I'm gonna keep playing with the positioning and levels, but it's starting to look likely that i'll try to re-sell it. Anyone looking for an Academy in eastern Connecticut?

[dtel]

How far apart is you two front mains ? If not far apart try it for a few minutes with the receiver set to no center or phantom center which sends the center signal to the front R&L just to hear what it sounds like.

That difference your hearing with the Academy is why a perfect match in the center is important, there is no real Heritage center. And looking at the size of an Acedemy it would probably be even bigger than that anyway and an Academy is not much smaller than a Heresy. [:S]

[psg]

there is no real Heritage center.

I thought the Belle, La Scala and, yes, even Heresy were the original Heritage centers! [6]

[dtel]

Your right but not a small thin "typical looking " center like every thinks a center should look like. []

[sansnipple]

How far apart is you two front mains ?

they're pretty far apart, maybe a good 10 to 15 feet (toed-in of course). and what i was saying was that they DO sound a lot better with center turned off.