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Klipsch Heresy Reviews - stevehuffphoto & stereolifemagazine


edwinr

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Rah, VERY NICE!!  Love the classic look like the newer Yamaha integrateds....

 

53 minutes ago, 314carpenter said:

Thought this was worth repeating.

 

To my ears, in order of overall effect on sound reproduction and/or between individual make/models.

 

The room you are in.

Speakers

Preamplifier/receiver 

Amplifier class 

Amplifier make model within same class

Interconnects

Source device make/model

Speaker cables

 

 

 

 

 

I'd switch a couple having a lot of different sources over the years.  Mostly has to do with system synergy.  When it comes to matching and synergy, both our lists can be thrown out.

but I'll take a shot....

 

The room you are in.

Speakers

Amplifier class 

Amplifier make model within same class

Source device make/model

Preamplifier/receiver

Interconnects

Speaker cables

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2 hours ago, rah said:

I wish I could say all amps, receivers etc sound the same, it would make life easier, but in my experience especially with Klipsch Chorus II's and Quartets and various Magnepans I can always count on the amp/receiver to have an effect on the sound.  I loved the looks of my (both now departed) Proton AA-1150 and D-1200 amps with the big beautiful green power meters but not the sound compared to others.  And there were others that failed to impress, mostly forgotten now, guess I'd post this just to have an excuse to show off one of my favorite looking pieces of audio art.

proton aa-1150 front.jpg

WOW!  Bringing back memories of dreaming of owning that amp.   Forgot about that.   Thanks

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In 1985 I bought my first pair of Heresys in Dhahran Saudi Arabia and mailed them back to the US.  Great speaker That I usually used with Luxman receivers with great results.  

 

I have a Pair of Chorus IIs and have not been thrilled with them.  They are good speakers but to me the Fortes sound better, more balanced.  I had a pair of Fortes but sold them to a Friend.  So I am thinking about selling the Chorus IIs and getting 3 HIIIs and do  2 channel  music/home theater.  

 

So does anyone that owns the HIIIs have a opinion on how they sound?     

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I concede that when driving difficult loads (Maganplanars?), some amplifiers will may anemic compared to their more powerful brethren.  Similarly, when a lower powered amplifier is driven beyond it's power threshold the higher powered amplifier will sound better.  But when driving an efficient speakers like the Heresy at sound pressure levels where the lower powered amplifier is operating in it's comfort zone, both will sound the same.  Unless of course the lowered powered amplifier is a SET design (which may be restricted in output at the frequency extremes) and here the listener will will detect this anomaly if this SET amplifier is compared with a higher powered solid state design with improved control at the frequency extremes.

 

 

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12 hours ago, pzannucci said:

Bottom line is I advocate the stiffest, most dense, most rigid material I can find that is thick enough to not vibrate and requires minimal damping for the particular frequencies it is to operate.  Materials such as this would likely need damping material due to reflections when the frequency wavelength is as such to interfere with the output.  Good reason to keep the bass very low in cut off (wavelength is long compared to enclosure) and provide firm but damped material for midrange to maintain snap / non-overdamped sound.

 

 

Interestingly, Alan Shaw from Harbeth advocates speaker cabinets which are based on the BBC thin wall principal using light weight, but well damped panels loaded with bitumen etc on the inside. These panels are designed to absorb resonance in the critical middle frequencies where our ears are more sensitive.  I have linked a YouTube video of a dude reviewing a pair of Cornwall llls.  He was obviously aware of Mr Shaw's philosophy and was trying it out of the Cornwall's using the age old 'knuckle test'.  There are three parts to his review.  By the end of the third video I felt like giving the reviewer a knuckle test on his skull!

 

 

 

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Didn’t Roy Rogers say “he never met a Heresy he didn’t like”?

 

I know I haven’t.

 

I preferred the HII over the original. Neither one was modified. With the titanium tweeter diaphragms they would have been even better.

 

If I didn’t have three pairs of Cornwalls in some iteration, and a pair of LaScalas, I would probably have kept the HII’s.

 

I keep kicking myself for not jumping on a pair of HIII’s that sat for over a week listed at 1100 bucks (CDN!). Could have easily recouped the cost down the road...

 

Somebody else on here, or another forum, said it best recently:

 

“Heresys are the gateway drug to Klipsch!”

 

 

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10 hours ago, jbsl said:

I have a Pair of Chorus IIs and have not been thrilled with them.  They are good speakers but to me the Fortes sound better, more balanced.  

I'm also one (of the likely few) that preferred Fortes over Chorus IIs.  I had too many speakers and decided to put some up for sale.  I had been using the Chorus IIs in my office as a second system (which may have actually been used the most).  When the Chorus II sold, I put a set of Forte's in their place, fully expecting them to not sound as good.  I certainly didn't expect them to sound better than the Chorus II (similar design and all), but they did.  The Fortes are pretty amazing speakers for their size and cost (originally) -- especially for what they go for used.

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16 hours ago, jbsl said:

So I am thinking about selling the Chorus IIs and getting 3 HIIIs and do  2 channel  music/home theater.  

 

So does anyone that owns the HIIIs have a opinion on how they sound?     

 

Damn man, to me that would be a huge step back. I had a pair of new H-III's next to my Crites updated (new crossovers and titanium tweeters) Chorus II's and there just wasn't any comparison, the H-III's sounded muffled and very toned down, life-less next to the CH-II's. 

 

The Chorus II's can be very forward especially in certain rooms and with certain equipment but set up / placed and fed correctly which can be some work they really really shine and are one of the best Klipsch has ever made. 

 

Two ways to address the forwardness; one is try out the k-55v or variant mid driver which is about -2db on average, not only does this even out the sound creating a nice balance similar to the forte but it gives the mids a slightly lower tone and bigger overall sound. Or an option that I haven't tried would be to replace the stock autotransformers with adjustable ones from Crites and just lower the mid output 2-3db depending on your tastes and room situation. 

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8 hours ago, edwinr said:

I concede that when driving difficult loads (Maganplanars?), some amplifiers will may anemic compared to their more powerful brethren.  Similarly, when a lower powered amplifier is driven beyond it's power threshold the higher powered amplifier will sound better.  But when driving an efficient speakers like the Heresy at sound pressure levels where the lower powered amplifier is operating in it's comfort zone, both will sound the same.  Unless of course the lowered powered amplifier is a SET design (which may be restricted in output at the frequency extremes) and here the listener will will detect this anomaly if this SET amplifier is compared with a higher powered solid state design with improved control at the frequency extremes.

 

 

Three areas where you will most perceive differences in amps are in the highs (tizziness), bass drive, and thinness in the midbass-midrange.  If you listen carefully....  I liked my Heresys better when driven with my old Yamaha vs. a Sherwood I had.  Definite difference.  You won't notice the problem with the Heresys bass because of the lack of extension though with some amps you will hear the thinness.  Highs, especially in H1s can be ruthless with the wrong amplification.  IIs and IIIs (from what I understand) significantly cleaned that up.  Definitely a matching thing.

 

6 hours ago, JMON said:

I'm also one (of the likely few) that preferred Fortes over Chorus IIs.  I had too many speakers and decided to put some up for sale.  I had been using the Chorus IIs in my office as a second system (which may have actually been used the most).  When the Chorus II sold, I put a set of Forte's in their place, fully expecting them to not sound as good.  I certainly didn't expect them to sound better than the Chorus II (similar design and all), but they did.  The Fortes are pretty amazing speakers for their size and cost (originally) -- especially for what they go for used.

I did like the Forte IIs over Chorus IIs as the Chorus seemed to have a midbass that was too telling before crossover.  Perhaps the room I listened to them in was too small or they were too close to the walls but I did have Forte IIs for a while.  Would love to find another pair.

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4 minutes ago, pzannucci said:

I did like the Forte IIs over Chorus IIs as the Chorus seemed to have a midbass that was too telling before crossover.  Perhaps the room I listened to them in was too small or they were too close to the walls but I did have Forte IIs for a while.  Would love to find another pair.

I found that having the Chorus II's about 18" from the side walls and toed in with the closest corner about 8" to the back wall worked best in my old room, any closer to the side walls and bass got a little too strong and the soundstage narrowed. The further away from the side walls the more they opened up but at the cost of bass response, 18" seemed like the happy middle. 

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3 hours ago, jjptkd said:

I found that having the Chorus II's about 18" from the side walls and toed in with the closest corner about 8" to the back wall worked best in my old room, any closer to the side walls and bass got a little too strong and the soundstage narrowed. The further away from the side walls the more they opened up but at the cost of bass response, 18" seemed like the happy middle.

This is exactly the configuration I use for my front pair of Chorus II's. I lack one side wall on the left though.

 

If anyone is tired of their old Chorus II's send me a PM. I'll be your huckleberry.

 

 

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On 2/18/2018 at 10:20 AM, sunnysal said:

Love these quasi-religious fights about cables, SS versus tubes, write anything you want here compared with anything else you want here....in the end, what sounds good to you, with your music, in your system, in your home IS best for you.  If you’re system playing music moves you to get out of your chair to dance with your wife, you truely have mastered the subject!

As always Sunny it's nice to have you, and your level-headed voice, stopping by.

 

I agree and disagree so I guess I'm conflicted. 

 

Hey what ever floats your boat and makes you happy gets my vote.  Some of the greatest musical moments of my life were songs through an AM car radio.

 

But on the other hand, building thee a godlike sound system can enervate and elevate you above the astral plane, so to speak.  To mount the godhead (snicker, snicker) you need to spend some time, some money, some real effort before you can ascend to musical Valhalla.

 

Both approaches will let you boogy on down, but a proper melding of the joy of music and the paying of attention to the hard science of sound will place yo usolidly on the path to sonic wonder.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Those who cannot hear differences are skeptical. Those who can hear a difference are confused by those who can't.  All my amps sound different too.  But it will depend on what perimeters you listen for.  If you concentrate only on a couple of perimeters you notice or you care about, you'll miss the others that may be where the difference lies. 

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On 2/17/2018 at 3:43 PM, thebes said:

They all be better speakers if they had Paul Klipsch design their products.

 

Baltic Birch. Me likeum!

 

Oh and MDF is about 40% cheaper than Baltic Birch, so gee, I wonder why they use it.

Hardwood plywood applications

 

 

Smooth surface and accurate thickness combined with the durability of the material makes birch plywood a favorable material for many special end uses e.g.:

  • High-end loud speakers

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plywood

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17 hours ago, kink56 said:

Those who cannot hear differences are skeptical. Those who can hear a difference are confused by those who can't.  All my amps sound different too.  But it will depend on what perimeters you listen for.  If you concentrate only on a couple of perimeters you notice or you care about, you'll miss the others that may be where the difference lies. 

 

How big are these "perimeters" ? A square mile? An acre?

 

JK, btw....

 

You are right. All amps do NOT sound the same. Even the ones with the same input sensitivity, output impedance, and power ratings. They all sound different.

 

Now if one is a casual listener (background music, cleaning the house, company over, etc..), he might not hear the difference. Or if said amp neophyte doesn't have a system that is resolving enough to hear the differences, same thing.

 

Shakey

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