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Klipsch to demonstrate the entire Heritage lineup (for the first time ever) at CES 2018


Chad

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On 2/7/2018 at 8:58 PM, Moosee1955 said:

When you think about it, nothing has surpassed the original designs.

I know this is a posting from some time ago, but go listen to Roy's horns (K-510 and K-402) with 2" compression drivers.  I think you'll probably amend your statement to acknowledge that advances have been made to PWK's designs dating back 45-70 years ago.  However, I do get what you are saying.  The drive toward smaller and less expensive has compromised a great deal on PWK's original designs in terms of sound quality, and that's not terribly controversial...although it may not be terribly popular to say it out loud.  This is something that the guys doing the loudspeaker designs tend to avoid acknowledging since it shows that hi-fi isn't really the goal of 99.9%+ of all loudspeaker purchases. PWK said that many years ago.  His company didn't really sell to that 99% then, but it does now...

 

Chris

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10 hours ago, Chad said:

Agreed!

 

Check this out: 

 

 

Great.  But, there is not one west of Las Vegas.   San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland and Seattle need Heritage.  On the west coast, it's hard to find anyone under about 60 years old, or even one techie, who has heard one!  I watched San Jose lose Klipsch to the likes of Acoustat and Time Window in the '80s.  The rest of the Bay Area wasn't far behind (the '90s).  In the shadow of the TransAmerica Pyramid, c. 1988, a sales person who admitted he had never heard a Klipsch was bad mouthing horns.  Across the Bay, in the very store in which Klipschorns totally wiped every other speaker in the place, the new owner told customers that Klipsch were "Headache Producing" and "Grainy."  There is nothing like hearing well positioned Heritage.  Please continue planting seeds.  It would be great if Klipsch's best set-up people could put one pair of new Khorns in each of the cities listed above.

 

And please don't shy away from so called "High End" stores.  I haven't heard the Jubilee yet (hard to find), but if the best bi-amped Jubilee combination, Roy approved, could be set up in a few of these stores, I'll bet they would make an impression.

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Schu, I live just south of SF, and don't know of anybody that sells heritage line of Klipsch. I've listened and owned a lot of speakers in my years. The 2 that made my heart skip a beat were Klipsch horns circa 1974 at the now defunct Matthews TV, and B&W 802's circa 1990, hooked up to Boulder mono blocks. The B&W was so real playing Sinatra through an amazing turntable/ moving coil cartridge setup. Most speakers leave me with yeah, ok. When I said months ago they haven't changed I wasn't refererring to the original 1946 version comparing to the 2018. Although I'll bet the '46 version probably ain't bad.

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1 hour ago, Moosee1955 said:

Schu, I live just south of SF, and don't know of anybody that sells heritage line of Klipsch. I've listened and owned a lot of speakers in my years. The 2 that made my heart skip a beat were Klipsch horns circa 1974 at the now defunct Matthews TV, and B&W 802's circa 1990, hooked up to Boulder mono blocks. The B&W was so real playing Sinatra through an amazing turntable/ moving coil cartridge setup. Most speakers leave me with yeah, ok. When I said months ago they haven't changed I wasn't refererring to the original 1946 version comparing to the 2018. Although I'll bet the '46 version probably ain't bad.

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"Matthew's . . . 6400 Mission Street, Top o' the Hill, Daily City"

 

Did they ever carry Klipsch?

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On 6/20/2018 at 5:03 PM, garyrc said:

 

Great.  But, there is not one west of Las Vegas.   San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Portland and Seattle need Heritage.  On the west coast, it's hard to find anyone under about 60 years old, or even one techie, who has heard one!  I watched San Jose lose Klipsch to the likes of Acoustat and Time Window in the '80s.  The rest of the Bay Area wasn't far behind (the '90s).  In the shadow of the TransAmerica Pyramid, c. 1988, a sales person who admitted he had never heard a Klipsch was bad mouthing horns.  Across the Bay, in the very store in which Klipschorns totally wiped every other speaker in the place, the new owner told customers that Klipsch were "Headache Producing" and "Grainy."  There is nothing like hearing well positioned Heritage.  Please continue planting seeds.  It would be great if Klipsch's best set-up people could put one pair of new Khorns in each of the cities listed above.

 

And please don't shy away from so called "High End" stores.  I haven't heard the Jubilee yet (hard to find), but if the best bi-amped Jubilee combination, Roy approved, could be set up in a few of these stores, I'll bet they would make an impression.

Wasn't there two Klipsch dealers in San Jose in the 70's?  One on Steven's Creek, and one up on, maybe Bascom?

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1 hour ago, dwilawyer said:

"Matthew's . . . 6400 Mission Street, Top o' the Hill, Daily City"

 

Did they ever carry Klipsch?

 

I don't know that they ever carried Klipsch Heritage.  Maybe.  Hopefully, they changed hands since the '60s/'70s.  I went to "Top o' the Hill, Daly City" once in the '70s, and found them to be hostile, anti-customer, and of the "move the cheap stuff fast" persuasion. They probably were not up to PWK's standards, which were then enforced.  BTW, it is D-a-l-y City, named after John Donald Daly.   In many ways, it looked bad, compared to the beauty, diversity, and class of San Francisco.  I'll admit that I didn't explore it fully.

 

Back when I lived there, there was no Silicon Valley.  A map, "The Known Universe," was sold that had San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto and New York on it, and nothing else.  Klipsch dealers in the San Francisco Bay Area (as it was known then) were:

 

San Francisco:

The Listening Post

Poor Richard's

Sound Genesis

The little store in Westportal (used Klipsch only).

Berkeley:

Joe Minor's Berkeley Custom Electronics [Paul Klipsch and Rudy Bozak would drop by when they were in town; John Curl (Parasond's legendary engineer) worked there, as did Don Helmholts, at one time.  Arthur Fiedler visited once.  He had Klipsch].

The Good Guys -- believe it or not.  PWK had an animated argument with one of the staff.  I don't know if he flashed his button.

Christopher's Audio

Oakland:

Pro Audio Don Helmholts ["The Best in the Bay Area" -- The Bay Guardian] co-founded it.  PWK held a one day seminar there.

San Jose

At least one, it could have been on Steven's Creek or the one you mentioned on Bascom. or both.  A guy I knew vaguely worked at Sound Advice and bad mouthed Klipsch.  He couldn't believe I had Khorns.  The rub was he had never heard them.  He found some store somewhere in San Jose that had them for audition, and said, "Better than I expected ... not bad, very clear and dynamic ... but not my cup of tea."

 

Nowadays one has to check the Klipsch website. 

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1 hour ago, garyrc said:

Berkeley:

Joe Minor's Berkeley Custom Electronics [Paul Klipsch and Rudy Bozak would drop by when they were in town; John Curl (Parasond's legendary engineer) worked there, as did Don Helmholts, at one time.  Arthur Fiedler visited once.  He had Klipsch].

Don't forget John Meyer worked there, took his future wife on their first date there after hours and played here an lp on a pair of . . . KHorns.

 

Steve Miller would hang.out there too, yeah that Steve Miller.

 

 

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5 hours ago, dwilawyer said:

Don't forget John Meyer worked there, took his future wife on their first date there after hours and played here an lp on a pair of . . . KHorns.

 

Steve Miller would hang.out there too, yeah that Steve Miller.

 

Thanks for that info!  I hear the Lp John played was Sgt. Pepper -- does that sound right?   I wonder if Owsley visited there too.  Joe Minor was a font of knowledge.   He graciously offered his store to me as an after hours place to playback a project I was working on for a client, because my equipment wasn't working properly.  It didn't prove to be necessary, but I thought it was very kind.  Even though he was of "the older generation,"  he was near the center of things in Berkeley, and open minded.  There was a "Ban the Whirlypigs" sign in the front window of Berkeley Custom -- I don't know if Joe objected to the noise or the idea.  That was when John Curl worked there.  All these hip folk, street people, nerds, freaks and geeks streaming in and out, and Joe's mother, who looked 90 something, would do the books and write the letters and never look up. 

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Wow you guys are making me feel my age. The listening post, I remember that place. And yes Matthews was a Klipsch dealer, and they were high pressure. I used tell the salesman let me wander by myself, and I'll grab you if I need you. The album that the salesman had on the turntable in 74 was roundabout by yes. When the full band kicked in after the intro, it made my heart jump. I was only 19 then. At 63 now, I don't know if my ticker could handle it. Keep a crash cart in the listening room these days. Theirs still a Harmony stereo in West portal area of SF. He's been around since early 80's. Doesn't carry Klipsch though. He used to have a second location that I heard the B&W 802's back in the 90's though .

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Isn't there some misinformation in the Audio Emporium's advertisement?  

 

"AK-5 was the original."   This certainly is not true.   "Original" means original, not "former."  The AK-5, if I remember correctly, was introduced in about 2005, to compensate for the change in frequency response due to the horizontal wall seal.  If I'm correct, they are only off by about 59 years.

 

More importantly, the ad mentions:

 

 "AK6 employs a new 2” Phenolic horn mid design."  --  does this mean the K401 has been replaced?  Or the "2 inch" mid diaphragm has been replaced?  Or both? Or neither?  The Klipsch specs don't say that anything having to do with the mid has been changed, but the diameter may match reality a bit better.


"AK6 employs a new 15” accordion surround style composite core woofer."  The Klipsch specification sheet lists the same old K 33-E, which is fine with me.

 

But now I'm hearing that there was something on the infallible Facebook that indicated "all new drivers."

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8 minutes ago, garyrc said:

Isn't there some misinformation in the Audio Emporium's advertisement?  

 

"AK-5 was the original."   This certainly is not true.   AK-5, if I remember correctly, was introduced in about 2005, to compensate for the change in frequency response due to the horizontal wall seal.  If I'm correct, they are only off by about 59 years.

 

More importantly, the ad mentions:

 

 "AK6 employs a new 2” Phenolic horn mid design."  --  does this mean the K401 has been replaced?  Or the "2 inch" mid diaphragm has been replaced?  Or both? Or neither?  The Klipsch specs don't say that anything having to do with the mid has been changed, but the diameter may match reality a bit better.


"AK6 employs a new 15” accordion surround style composite core woofer."  The Klipsch specification sheet lists the same old K 33-E, which is fine with me.

 

 

I think they were a bit rushed to get that out.  

 

Instead of "original" they should have said the AK-5 is was "the predecessor."  The original was 2 way, with a wood horn (X-5?) with a Western Electric driver.  You can see it in the Klipsch Museum of Audio History.

 

Travis

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"Thanks for that info!  I hear the Lp John played was Sgt. Pepper -- does that sound right? "

 

That is correct.

 

"I wonder if Owsley visited there too."

 

Could be, but Owsley and those guys were all hooked up with Alembic (Wickersham from Ampex, Mathews and Turner) and they had their own audio store on Brady in the City.  They carried McIntosh, JBL, EV, Shure, Gause etc.

 

 

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I spent 1 hour at Audio Emporium (Milwaukee County, Wisconsin) with the entire Klipsch Heritage Collection. Yes that does include the Klipschorn AK6. Dave Holmes is the owner, and was my contact. Dave allowed me and my wife the freedom to listen to what I wanted on what I wanted. He provided us with insight and technical details, and made sure we had a positive experience.

 

The Klipschorns were set up in corners of an alcove. McIntosh at the source and Kimber Cable everywhere. Ipad and Tidal made switching songs a breeze. My time was limited, but I made sure I got 5 songs in on the new Khorns before I continued browsing. There were a pair of Lascalas set up in the main space, but I wanted time with the Forte III's and Cornwall III's sitting side by side in another listening room. I went back and forth comparing those 2 but did not indulge in the Heresey III's that were bookending the Forte III's. 

 

I will be returning for more demo time. I also noticed Elac, Goldenear, Magnapan, Quad, Emotiva, Salamander Designs. I have honestly never in my life been surrounded by this much gear, of this much quality, of this much value, all readily available for purchase. I highly recommend Audio Emporium as a must visit to any serious audiophile that is visiting in the Milwaukee area.

 

Here is a link to their site.

http://www.audioemporium.com

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On 9/29/2018 at 8:00 PM, 314carpenter said:

I spent 1 hour at Audio Emporium (Milwaukee County, Wisconsin) with the entire Klipsch Heritage Collection. Yes that does include the Klipschorn AK6. Dave Holmes is the owner, and was my contact. Dave allowed me and my wife the freedom to listen to what I wanted on what I wanted. He provided us with insight and technical details, and made sure we had a positive experience.

 

The Klipschorns were set up in corners of an alcove. McIntosh at the source and Kimber Cable everywhere. Ipad and Tidal made switching songs a breeze. My time was limited, but I made sure I got 5 songs in on the new Khorns before I continued browsing. There were a pair of Lascalas set up in the main space, but I wanted time with the Forte III's and Cornwall III's sitting side by side in another listening room. I went back and forth comparing those 2 but did not indulge in the Heresey III's that were bookending the Forte III's. 

 

I will be returning for more demo time. I also noticed Elac, Goldenear, Magnapan, Quad, Emotiva, Salamander Designs. I have honestly never in my life been surrounded by this much gear, of this much quality, of this much value, all readily available for purchase. I highly recommend Audio Emporium as a must visit to any serious audiophile that is visiting in the Milwaukee area.

 

Here is a link to their site.

http://www.audioemporium.com

Wow are you lucky to have all those Heritage speakers in one place to listen to. Any thoughts on what you heard between the Cornwall’s and Forte’s?

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The Forte III had a very familiar top and bottom. I felt that the midrange imaged wider. Smoother. Accurate. Defined. Balanced. I think I have the mumps!

I thought the Cornwall III was imaging wider on the low end, but not balanced. I definitely noticed a dip at the lower midrange/upper woofer cutoff. The Klipschorn AK6 was for me a more enjoyable experience on every level without question compared to the lesser models.

 

This all makes me want a Chorus III even more.

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2 minutes ago, 314carpenter said:

From acoustic memory, considering I run a Chorus II/Forte II sysytem, the Forte III had a very familiar top and bottom. I felt that the midrange imaged wider. Smoother. Accurate. Defined. Balanced.

The Cornwall III was imaging wider on the low end, but not balanced. I definitely noticed a dip at the lower midrange/upper woofer cutoff. The Klipschorn AK6 was for me a more enjoyable experience on every level without question compared to the lesser models.

 

Awesome, thank you.

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