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What Is It About Klipsch?


jazzer

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Over the years I have seen numerous posts online and in the pronted media that Klipsch speakers of all types that describe their sound as being to bright,too high in the treble,lack of front to back sound staging,etc.Why do these people put down Klipsch speakers when so many have been sold the world over?

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What you are referring to imo, is what is known in sales as an "Ear Worm." Back in the day when sales folks were trying to get people to buy their non-horn speakers which sounded dull in comparison (Klipsch salespeople refer to this as "putting a blanket over the speaker") they would say they were "Bright and Ear Bleeders." 😳 Vivid picture, no? Anyway, there are also several other things in play including: Garbage in Garbage out--Klipsch can show lousy recording quicker than other speakers. Also, some rooms are "bright" and when coupled with cleaner speakers the room becomes the problem. And third, sometimes people expect too much out of the speakers they purchase and/or don't power them sufficiently in their room and experience what you describe...That's my take. 

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In 1980 with my 2nd or so paycheck from a real job (first and only company I worked for ... 40 years), I went to a small stereo shop in Edmonton (long since gone).  I listened to a number of speakers I won't mention the brands.  They sounded to me like listening to music in a cave.  Then the sales person put on a set of Heresy. OMG.  Still have 'em, still love 'em.  Built my own E crossover, that's all that's changed (oh, and 5 way binding posts instead of the terminals).  That's what it is about Klipsch.  They sound great and they last, and you can work on them!

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So if you have Klipsch in your system, put this on and turn it up....

Edit to add this, My RF7 ii's sound awesome...Rocking with with Transcendent Sound equipment and Rocking with with Wred 4 Sound

 

 

Give this a try...

 

 

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The Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers.  It is the truth....period. 

 

On the other hand, addressing the "bright" complaint. Most pop/rock records are TOO BRIGHT.  And Klipsch speakers reveal that better than most other speakers do. They also reveal crappy electronics, and that make a bright/fatiguing combination.   However, they do not sound too bright on well recorded source material played on appropriate well designed amps.      I suspect the reason Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have that 3-D deep soundstage quality has to do with time alignment between drivers.   Different designers and different listeners have differing priorities. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Klipsch was and still is more about the emotion of listening to as close to a live performance as possible...with as little distortion as possible. When you go to live concerts can you actual pick out the different instruments/notes played? With Klipsch you need to pay careful attention to the room and if you do you are rewarded by better sound depth imagery without limiting the great side to side imagery.

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Live by the sword die by the sword. Small low budget built isn't a very good mix for klipsch's bread and butter (horns). And small low budget horns with high sensitivity only adds to the bad. They know it we know it. But non klipsch groupies  don't. They hear a klipsch $300 all in 5.1 HT at friends house and walk away maybe shaking there head. Imo. In contrast a bose set up in that price range is all about not being noticed (we all can agree for good reason). Small hidden and polite really sums up bose experience. Now the friend that came over didn't even notice the new set up until his friend pointed it all out. And even after didn't care one way or the other. The klipsch experience in this low budget example might have the feeling of "I wish he would turn it down soon" Probably missing polite as a review.

 

Personally if i was klipsch (no one would be here lol) I might go another direction then horns in those lower price ranges.  

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Personally like some of the above posts on room condition. I couldn't agree more. Aggressive speakers can be there own worse enemy. The room is a speaker within a speaker. I don't completely believe or support this argument per say. But I could make a pretty strong argument that the room CAN have more control of the sound than even the speaker or the choice on what speaker has. 

 

Good room set up cant by itself make everything sound good. But it can by itself prevent bad sound because of room issues. 

 

IMO 😉 

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On 3/23/2019 at 6:37 PM, kink56 said:

 

The Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers.  It is the truth....period. 

 

 

Sorry but you are wrong.  I have experienced Klipschorns in a really good room image more realistically including depth than Quad 63US models and JBL 250 ti as well back in the day so while it isn’t common in my experience to hear this capability from  Klipschorns (or most any loudspeaker due to inadequate setup and lack of attention to the Listening rooms acoustics) it is possible.

 

I currently own the Klipschorn Jubilee and with a reasonably good setup and room acoustics has imaging including depth that can equal or exceed the KEF LS50 (which is often reported in reviews to exhibit excellent imaging).

 

miketn

 

51B05A4B-6733-4963-BCF0-6576EF5CDA3D.thumb.jpeg.9a64aab9e053e1c4533c34c073d3678c.jpeg

 

 

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14 hours ago, Cinema_head said:

But I could make a pretty strong argument that the room CAN have more control of the sound than even the speaker or the choice on what speaker has. 

 

Except for the initial direct sound heard from the loudspeaker all the rest of the acoustical energy heard is via room reflections and room modes and these can easily swamp/degrade any loudspeaker and is why PWK long ago suggested as much attention be paid to the room as was given to the loudspeaker chosen if accurate sound reproduction is your goal.

 

miketn

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17 minutes ago, mikebse2a3 said:

 

Except for the initial direct sound heard from the loudspeaker all the rest of the acoustical energy heard is via room reflections and room modes and these can easily swamp/degrade any loudspeaker and is why PWK long ago suggested as much attention be paid to the room as was given to the loudspeaker chosen if accurate sound reproduction is your goal.

 

miketn

Well put. The speakers are of course the hero talent..And the room that old never goes away enemy #1 

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I think you'll find that people including so called 'audiophiles' are re-experiencing horns, including the cheaper Klipsch models (600M an example). Many want that 'live experience' and are tired of the 'politeness' offered by most other manufacturers. You can still get that politeness with Klipsch, just don't turn it up so load...and you can spend more money on a better quality lower wattage amp...win/win

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Room acoustics to my experience proved to be at the top of issues with any speaker I had or have. None of them are expensive stuff. Playing only stereo.

Of course one can not disregard how the speaker is designed.

I am well aware of small Klipsch (RF42 II). It was pretty good performer in audio shop in a small listening area, almost near field. However, when I brought them home in my room, the real problems started. First, they are no-no for bigger rooms (anything bigger than 250 square feet is out).

They proved to be really picky about room placement. Eventually they ended up in my bedroom (around 200 sq feet). I managed to get the placement so when my ears are at tweeter level or slightly bellow that, the sound gets good and could be said the "holographic imaging" appears. But when I stand up, the sound gets worse. Tweeters can get a bit too bright sometimes, but mid-range is spot on.

 

Not much time has past and I got interested in bigger horns 🙂

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On 3/23/2019 at 3:37 PM, kink56 said:

The Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers.  It is the truth....period. 

 

On the other hand, addressing the "bright" complaint. Most pop/rock records are TOO BRIGHT.  And Klipsch speakers reveal that better than most other speakers do. They also reveal crappy electronics, and that make a bright/fatiguing combination.   However, they do not sound too bright on well recorded source material played on appropriate well designed amps.      I suspect the reason Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have that 3-D deep soundstage quality has to do with time alignment between drivers.   Different designers and different listeners have differing priorities. 

 

Your truth is what you hear.  Not everyone here would agree.

 

As for time-alignment, this can easily be done electronically, with the active crossovers used with post-Heritage speakers like the Jubilee and JubScala.  It doesn't make as much difference as you might expect, and it's barely audible with many kinds of music.

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9 minutes ago, Islander said:

The Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers

Honestly, I know exactly what you are talking about AND it doesn't bother me.   The other speakers you mentioned have MAJOR tradeoffs.  I don't consider Soundstage depth a major tradeoff when the speakers also can do the vast majority of what else I want.   Tradeoffs, I'll take the downfall ypu mentioned for the several positives any day.  Been there, done that.   If I go back in the direction you stated?  Dynaudio and Dali all day long for me.  

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On 3/23/2019 at 5:37 PM, kink56 said:

, prior to your next listenThe Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers.  It is the truth....period. 

 

On the other hand, addressing the "bright" complaint. Most pop/rock records are TOO BRIGHT.  And Klipsch speakers reveal that better than most other speakers do. They also reveal crappy electronics, and that make a bright/fatiguing combination.   However, they do not sound too bright on well recorded source material played on appropriate well designed amps.      I suspect the reason Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have that 3-D deep soundstage quality has to do with time alignment between drivers.   Different designers and different listeners have differing priorities. 

With truly ACCURATE sound re-producers,  provided by fully-horn-loaded speakers, as PWK often said...the quality of the recording, itself and the upstream components will be much more pronounced...."garbage in, garbage out"...as for your other opinions, about the Heritage speakers...they are just YOUR opinions....PERIOD!  May I suggest getting rid of some of your ear wax prior to hearing the heritage speakers again "for the first time"??  BTW....sound-stage issues tend to totally disappear when listening to a three-speaker stereo array.  All the other things you mention, can be fixed easily with room treatments, flank speaker positioning, the listening POSITION relating to the speakers, and active crossover networks.  Crappy upstream component issues can also be fixed...but if you like a poorly recorded music source, that CANNOT be fixed!

 

 

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On 3/23/2019 at 6:37 PM, kink56 said:

The Heritage Klipsch speakers do not have much depth in the soundstage, if you compare them to British monitors or electrostatics and many other high end/audiophile speakers.  It is the truth....period. 

 

I'll chime in on this, too.  The primary reason for this is that those designs spill sound all around the room, and none of them will do that well unless they're positioned well away from boundaries, stealing precious (usually) room space.  It's why they create a more 3d image, though it's more often than not a coloration in and of itself.

 

I'll take more-controlled directivity any day.  It's easier to use in most every locale.  And the immediacy of the horns is much more desirable in the case (not always) it's the result of a tradeoff.

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You can guys can say that all you want, I've experienced it. My jaw literally hit the floor.  Wall to Wall, ceiling to floor Soundstage from MY OWN RECORDINGS THAT I BROUGHT blew my mind!   I have not experienced it since. This was on a pair of Dali megaline speakers. Pardon my French but HOLY SHIT did that burn a memory in my mind for the rest of my life.  Haven't even gotten close since.  Sorry klipsch guys.   You have it?  Let me hear it.   Proowbly 8 feet from back wall and t feet from each side wall (huge room) and you could feel the bass as the volume increased.   AMAZING.  Danish amps and Preamps, would have to think of the name... 

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