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PISSED OFF about "Heritage"


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Do you see the issue in the home market or pro? As far as pro, Danley has some interesting products. Although aren't they in a price bracket significantly higher? Having never heard the pro of either, I can't comment on which sounds better.

As for the home market, I can't think of another company that offers the sound-per-dollar available from the klipsch offerings.

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5 hours ago, twistedcrankcammer said:

any chance of you making it this year to cut up with Kevin, Lisa, Elden and Christy? 

 

I've made plans to be there.  My son and I are coming in a camper.

 

I'm sorry I missed last year.  I had to cancel the day before because of unfortunate things that were going on.   Painful circumstances.

 

 

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I guess Klipsch all along has considered the Forte a "Heritage" product prior to its new release.  You can look at the "discontinued page" of the website and see that the Kg4 was not mentioned as a Heritage when the Forte was:

 

http://www.klipsch.com/products/kg-4

http://www.klipsch.com/products/forte-floorstanding-speaker

 

BTW:  I have great memories in the 80's of hanging out at one of my buds house jammin those Kg4s.

 

The Pamphlet of the Cornwall II and the Forte I neither say anything about Heritage:

http://assets.klipsch.com/product-specsheets/forte-brochure.pdf

http://images.klipsch.com/CornwallIIBrochure_635042119987220000.pdf

 

Even back in the day....when promoting the Forte, Quartet and Chorus line......they would throw in the Klipschorn legacy.....name drop per se:

 

Image result for klipsch forte pamphlet

 

BUT:  The fifteen's?  The One?  I have The One here at my house.  It IS called heritage.  Look at the brochure:

 

http://assets.klipsch.com/product-specsheets/The-One-Spec-Sheet-v02.pdf

 

I love this little thing.....and they say  " The One powered audio system blends the acoustics and classic design legacy of Paul W. Klipsch with the latest technologies available today. "

 

So we bought this thing basically because it is Klipsch and it has a classy retro look.  So yeah....this sells.  I have no idea whether it sounds better than a competing product.

 

 

 

theone.jpg

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26 minutes ago, jwc said:

 

I've made plans to be there.  My son and I are coming in a camper.

 

I'm sorry I missed last year.  I had to cancel the day before because of unfortunate things that were going on.   Painful circumstances.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I couldn't like this because of your "painful circumstances" Don't have any idea what happened but I hope all is well with everyone you care about!

 

Would love to spend some time with you this year!  :)

 

Rog

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If Paul Klipsch had a hand in building the original forte then why would it not be considered a Heritage speaker? What exactly defines a "Heritage" speaker?

 

To me, if you want to get right down to it I don't think the Cornwall III or Heresy III should be considered "Heritage" speakers as they no longer use the k-55 mid driver or k-77 tweeter. If these two models are "Heritage" speakers than the Quartet, forte and Chorus should be as well. Just my opinion.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Chris A said:

 

In my comments above, I alluded to investment in designs for the future.  Perhaps my point wasn't clear.  Klipsch has a potential real and emerging competitor in the PA marketplace (Danley) that has been extremely innovative in the basic engineering and physics of loudspeaker design.  DSL owns a couple of patents that, if turned on the high quality consumer market, would really give Klipsch a run for their reputation.  It's these type of innovations, sort of like what Bell Labs did for years, that put companies ahead in the marketplace, not branding, and marketing.  Real engineering performance.  There are other areas that we could talk about in the commercial marketplace that I believe that Klipsch should be challenging and staying with their competitors, but that would probably leave behind most of the consumer-oriented readers here. 

 

The bottom line is that "time waits for no one".  The engineering achievements of PWK were great and have generally sustained the company thus far...not branding.  But rather that enabler has been performance of horn-loading over direct radiating loudspeaker drivers.  But that singular advantage in engineering can only go so far--then it appears that the company is beginning to recycle its technology, again and again. 

 

That's what I see right now: recycled horn-loaded design coupled with  other enabling technologies (i.e., wireless, Bluetooth, etc.) that have become generally available in the OEM supplier marketplace.  These "innovations" will not sustain over the longer haul, since any competitor can also do the same using these third-party technologies that anyone can buy and integrate into their products (and they are...).  The company is not competing with a technology-ownership edge using these approaches.

 

However, the innovations that have appeared on the PA marketplace, to me, signal a danger that should be met with continued R&D into deeper technology ownership.  That's what I was alluding to, above.

 

Just talk to anyone that's heard one of these competitor's products in a living room environment: I think that should get the attention of Klipsch management and investors.

 

Chris

 

This is exactly the point I was trying to make about updating the Cornwall III. The Cornwall III in my mind is a lesser product than the previous versions and there are a dozen ways to improve upon the design. Klipsch has done nothing to try and fix it so secondary markets (at least two I'm aware of) have popped up and flourished big time because of this.

 

 

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24 minutes ago, jjptkd said:

If Paul Klipsch had a hand in building the original forte then why would it not be considered a Heritage speaker? What exactly defines a "Heritage" speaker?

 

To me, if you want to get right down to it I don't think the Cornwall III or Heresy III should be considered "Heritage" speakers as they no longer use the k-55 mid driver or k-77 tweeter. If these two models are "Heritage" speakers than the Quartet, forte and Chorus should be as well. Just my opinion.

 

 

 

 

Only hole in your theory is that the K-55 isn't the original midrange driver of the Heritage speakers nor the only midrange drive of Heritage speakers now is it? No, the only continuity is that they are all Paul's original designs! How then do you call something after Paul death that he never lived to see any part of Heritage??

 

Roger

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28 minutes ago, jjptkd said:

If Paul Klipsch had a hand in building the original forte then why would it not be considered a Heritage speaker? What exactly defines a "Heritage" speaker?

 

To me, if you want to get right down to it I don't think the Cornwall III or Heresy III should be considered "Heritage" speakers as they no longer use the k-55 mid driver or k-77 tweeter. If these two models are "Heritage" speakers than the Quartet, forte and Chorus should be as well. Just my opinion.

 

 

 

 

The speakers that Paul had a hand in personally but did not personally design himself have long been called "Extended Heritage" to denote that ever since this forum has existed to my knowledge, although Roy himself still considers them Heritage also, and I would never try to take Roy's Love and Loyalty to Paul lightly in ANY fashion, I for one of many, do differentiate between his personal work and his leadership of others designs. I for one as a woodworker at the time was rather pissed off when Klipsch all of a sudden came out with these MDF speakers when for so long they had been so revered for their 11 ply plywood!  :)

 

Roger

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13 hours ago, Ski Bum said:

How can you be pissed at this?

Klipsch Ces 2017 The Fifteens

It might not be worthy of the Heritage name, as neither Roy nor PWK had anything to do with it.  But this does not appear to be Voxx bleeding the name.  This particular speaker looks like one of the best, most Klipsch-like, bad *** new designs they've uncorked in ages.

 

Doesn't piss me off and I dig the design, but I worry about longevity with these. Their long therm track record with integrated electronics/amps is less than stellar and this is a big friggin door stop if those components fail after a decade.

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1 hour ago, twistedcrankcammer said:

 the only continuity is that they are all Paul's original designs! How then do you call something after Paul death that he never lived to see any part of Heritage??

 

Roger

I guess it would depend on which definition of "Heritage" you're using.

 

From my understanding Mr. Klipsch did have a hand in designing the forte / Chorus models, so shouldn't those at least count? Am I to assume based on your fab-five speaker list of "true" Heritage speakers that Mr Klipsch had no help at all in any of their designs? Is that where the line is drawn, whether or not he had help designing the speaker? At what level of influence do you deem a speaker PWK design?  

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1 hour ago, twistedcrankcammer said:

 

 

The speakers that Paul had a hand in personally but did not personally design himself have long been called "Extended Heritage" to denote that ever since this forum has existed to my knowledge, although Roy himself still considers them Heritage also, and I would never try to take Roy's Love and Loyalty to Paul lightly in ANY fashion, I for one of many, do differentiate between his personal work and his leadership of others designs. I for one as a woodworker at the time was rather pissed off when Klipsch all of a sudden came out with these MDF speakers when for so long they had been so revered for their 11 ply plywood!  :)

 

Roger

Sorry, I didn't see this before my last post.

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57 minutes ago, Thaddeus Smith said:

 

Doesn't piss me off and I dig the design, but I worry about longevity with these. Their long therm track record with integrated electronics/amps is less than stellar and this is a big friggin door stop if those components fail after a decade.

Yes, this was my immediate concern when I learned of these speakers but as someone else has pointed the immanent failure of the electronics may be a blessing in disguise in the near? future for bargain hunters like myself. :ph34r: 

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What was Heritage when Mr. PWK was here is different than what it is now.   Everything he had a hand in back then is considered "Heritage" in my eyes now.  I think the new retro look of the F III is a big nod to PWK's timeless history.  Its also great to see new products and "updated" old ones brought back in to production and what a great relief to see they are being built in Hope. Im the biggest fan of the big 5 Heritage models that have survived decade after decade, but I think these new F III's may do things a little better than two of the 5 on paper and possibly through most ears.  

 

I would love to see a "Hot Rod" department for mods offered for the old Heritage 5.  This might be a bridge to preserving the true Heritage line and offering avenues for others that want to push the envelope without being labeled as an outcast and keeping their boxes fully Klipsch rigged.   Either way, Klipsch has to sell products and Im happy to see them bring some of the old back and the same time bring new floor standers to the table whether powered or not.

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2 hours ago, Thaddeus Smith said:

Their long therm track record with integrated electronics/amps is less than stellar and this is a big friggin door stop if those components fail after a decade.

Yep.  I'm not the only one clamoring for a passive version for this very reason.  I think that would sell, at least as well as other fringe, large format speakers do.  

 

The speakers themselves appear to have the makings of a highly capable music machines.  Large format tractrix crossed at 800 to a 15" has the potential for excellent directivity characteristics as well as high sensitivity/low distortion.  I was actually shocked that Roy wasn't involved in the development of these, with the apparent seriousness of the design.

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3 hours ago, Thaddeus Smith said:

 

Doesn't piss me off and I dig the design, but I worry about longevity with these. Their long therm track record with integrated electronics/amps is less than stellar and this is a big friggin door stop if those components fail after a decade.

Would have been nice to put in a fail safe IF the amp went kaput one could let's say disconnect it from the amp and go external. That would be a huge selling point imho.

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I have no problem with this, I feel that it extends his legacy by paying tribute.  Many, years from now when speakers are made of things and ways, we cant imagine, someone will look up Klipsch Heritage, and find out about the wonderful story of Paul Klipsch. As time passes the search will just be harder, but the originals will be listed somewhere.

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4 hours ago, jjptkd said:

This is exactly the point I was trying to make about updating the Cornwall III. The Cornwall III in my mind is a lesser product than the previous versions and there are a dozen ways to improve upon the design. Klipsch has done nothing to try and fix it so secondary markets (at least two I'm aware of) have popped up and flourished big time because of this.

Bigger horns, no they didn't change that but one big thing they did was move the woofer up, after testing it proved to remove the resonating in the cabinet that was a problem with original models.

From the way it sounds Klipsch doesn't care about secondary markets, just don't switch out the horns for something completely different and then still claim it's a Cornwall. Improvement or not it's not the same speaker and it looks like they at least for now will leave them pretty much as originally designed, for Historic reasons, I don't know. They have some very good horns that could be used but it seems they want to mostly keep them to original design, respect for the designer and the speakers history I guess. I don't really have a problem with that because there are many other speakers just as good or better, your not forced to buy the Cornwall and at the same time everyone is completely free to change whatever you want on them.    

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3 hours ago, jjptkd said:

I guess it would depend on which definition of "Heritage" you're using.

 

From my understanding Mr. Klipsch did have a hand in designing the forte / Chorus models, so shouldn't those at least count? Am I to assume based on your fab-five speaker list of "true" Heritage speakers that Mr Klipsch had no help at all in any of their designs? Is that where the line is drawn, whether or not he had help designing the speaker? At what level of influence do you deem a speaker PWK design?  

 

 

The original 5 are fully Paul Wilbur Klipsch designs, he designed the himself and are therefore "Heritage", Chorus, Forte', and Quartet designs did not originate from Paul, but it was still Paul's Company and according to Roy, Paul certainly had his hands in all of their development and therefore are refered to as "Extended Heritage" by many of us  :)

 

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