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A Quick Rundown of the "New Guy's" System...


Charles T

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3 hours ago, willland said:

Yes we should more often. @Youthman

That would be fun. Definitely open to it. This issue like you say is finding the time. I stay quite busy these days. I'm flying out to MN on Monday and in April I'm flying out to AXPONA. Lots of exciting things happening with Youthman Reviews. In January, I resigned from my full-time job at One More Child (non-profit organization doing graphic design, website development, videography, video editing etc) to focus on Youthman Reviews and my website development business full-time.

 

3 hours ago, willland said:

(Michael) is a great friend and a righteous man.  Very generous with his time(if he has it to spare) and his ears.

Thanks Bill. Likewise, I am grateful for your friendship over the years, even though we don't get to hang out much due to the distance.

1 hour ago, glens said:

I didn't care for the tonal balance of the RFs in that video, in comparison, I made the correct choice, and feel he didn't...

Notice you said, "I didn't care" "and feel he didn't." Those my friend are opinions based on your preference. I have owned over 50 pair of Klipsch speakers over the years and have A/B many of them in my 2ch setup and the RF7 III provide the best sound for my setup and for what my ears prefer. IMO, the only area the Forte III excelled over the RF7 II was in the midrange. No doubt there. The RF7 III improved the top end so even more of a difference between the Forte III and the RF7III.

I'm just grateful that we have so many choices in models and brands to fit everyone's listening preferences.

 

4 hours ago, Charles T said:

I thought that name sounded familiar. I've stumbled across some of his videos on YouTube in the past. That's one heck of a theater system. I knew he was in Florida, but not literally right next door. 

Yes, probably 20min away. It's certainly a small world. :)

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Very nice system. Mine isn't quite as high-end in components, but I love my 1982 Heresys running off an Onkyo TX-8270 and paired with a Dayton Audio SUB-1200. I have considered getting a 2nd sub or selling this one and getting two SUB-1500 (that I wouldn't have to turn up much at all), but I'm going to wait until I finish rebuilding my Speakerlab K-horns and see how they perform.

 

Here I'm enjoying Rush R40 live and a Neil Peart drum solo (RIP Neil).

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46 minutes ago, danalog02 said:

Very nice system. Mine isn't quite as high-end in components, but I love my 1982 Heresys running off an Onkyo TX-8270

I am with you.  I previously owned  an Integra DTM-40.4, which is an older Integra version of your Onkyo 8270, and the combination was fantastic.  No need to spend high $$$ to get great sound.

 

Bill

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5 hours ago, Youthman said:

Yes, probably 20min away. It's certainly a small world. :)

 

BTW, I just watched your review again about the Heresy III's vs the RF 7 II's. 

 

Did you ever happen to try the Heresy's up on stands to get the tweeters up around ear level? If not, you should have. You mentioned that the RF 7 II's beat the Heresy III's in presence, height and spaciousness. I bet you'd change your mind if you heard the Heresy's up at ear level. It makes a HUGE difference and I get that "surround" or "holographic" effect quite easily in my room, and my tweeters are actually about 4" above ear level. 

 

One simply can't make proper judgement when the tweeter of one speaker is 3' above the ground where the other one is barely 18" off the ground. Even with the rake back of the risers, it doesn't help. The sound is still being emitted from knee level. 

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5 minutes ago, ILI said:

You are a fan of Shiit gear. The Shiit Ragnarok 2 is on my shortlist of great amps. Any thoughts? 

 

I guess you could call me a fan. I like the technology involved and the big bang for the buck factor that Schiit offers. I had a full PS Audio Stellar stack that I bought new a little over a year ago with the Stellar Gain Cell DAC and dual M700 monoblock amps. The Schiit preamp and amps cost over $2200 less and sound more than twice as much better. With the recent addition of the DAC, I'm still saving over $1700, and that alone bumped up the performance to price ratio even more. This Schiit gear just stomps the "schiit" out of the PS Audio gear on every front at a fraction of the cost.

 

I haven't done any research on the Ragnarok I or II, but I imagine it's still a great piece of gear well worth more than what Schiit charges for it. I honestly don't think you can go wrong.

 

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17 minutes ago, Charles T said:

 

BTW, I just watched your review again about the Heresy III's vs the RF 7 II's. 

 

Did you ever happen to try the Heresy's up on stands to get the tweeters up around ear level? If not, you should have. You mentioned that the RF 7 II's beat the Heresy III's in presence, height and spaciousness. I bet you'd change your mind if you heard the Heresy's up at ear level. It makes a HUGE difference and I get that "surround" or "holographic" effect quite easily in my room, and my tweeters are actually about 4" above ear level. 

 

One simply can't make proper judgement when the tweeter of one speaker is 3' above the ground where the other one is barely 18" off the ground. Even with the rake back of the risers, it doesn't help. The sound is still being emitted from knee level. 

No, I did not raise the Heresy III nor the Forte III up a few feet. I have shared my opinion on this numerous times but I personally feel it is dumb to have to raise a "floor standing speaker" in order for it to sound optimal.

 

I'm of the opinion that if they need to be raised to sound good, Klipsch should have built them taller. No offense to your setup, but I personally would not like having floor standing speakers on speaker stands in my living room setup.

 

I feel I made a perfect judgement of the speaker based off of the speaker's performance. If I have to enhance the speaker to make it sound good, IMO, that's not a good design. Not to mention the Heresy III already do not have much bottom end and raising them off the floor would reduce it even more. In my 2ch setup, I need something with a solid bottom end as well since I do not run a sub.

I realize my opinion of this is in the minority and I'm perfectly ok with that. LOL

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34 minutes ago, Youthman said:

No, I did not raise the Heresy III nor the Forte III up a few feet. I have shared my opinion on this numerous times but I personally feel it is dumb to have to raise a "floor standing speaker" in order for it to sound optimal.

 

I'm of the opinion that if they need to be raised to sound good, Klipsch should have built them taller. No offense to your setup, but I personally would not like having floor standing speakers on speaker stands in my living room setup.

 

I feel I made a perfect judgement of the speaker based off of the speaker's performance. If I have to enhance the speaker to make it sound good, IMO, that's not a good design. Not to mention the Heresy III already do not have much bottom end and raising them off the floor would reduce it even more. In my 2ch setup, I need something with a solid bottom end as well since I do not run a sub.

I realize my opinion of this is in the minority and I'm perfectly ok with that. LOL

 

Technically, based off of overall size alone, the Heresy is NOT a floor standing speaker. The Forte (which I don't know why that one was even mentioned), is in fact a floor standing speaker, hence why it is much taller than the Heresy. You don't see people laying Harbeth's, JBL Classic's, Spendor's, Wharefedale Linton's, etc, etc directly on the floor, do you? They're all roughly the same size, and are all considered "bookshelf" loudspeakers and sit on stands.

 

The Heresy was put on the floor so it wouldn't be so imposing in a room already full of two very large, very imposing loudspeakers. Plus the fact that the knowledge and practices of a center channel speaker back in 1957 was nothing like the knowledge and practices of center channels today. 

 

And to nit-pick, who's the one with three LaScala's a couple feet off the ground behind a screen? Those definitely ARE floor standing speakers, yet you have them raised a couple feet. Yes, I know why you do, but still. More unfortunate people who can't build a full custom theater room would have the screen a touch higher and the LaScala's on the floor, in front of and just below the screen. So... There seems to be a bit of contradiction there. 

 

And lastly, as far as bass extension loss is concerned, the Heresy's didn't lose too much in the way of extension from being raised off the floor. What they DID lose ALL of was the annoying and nasty chesty hump in the upper mid-bass region. Being raised, they are nearly completely neutral from top to bottom. Also, obviously, I run dual subs, so bass loss from the Heresy's is a mute point for me anyway.

 

Given the fact that you never experimented with placement of the Heresy's, including putting them on some sort of stands (which all professional reviewers would do), your review is incomplete and gives a false view of the Heresy's performance. Comparing oranges to apples.  

 

That would be like faulting a well designed tower loudspeaker because it doesn't create a full wall of sound like a line array does. 

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I am just going to say WOW!

 

I don't think anyone in this thread intended it to go in this direction.  Remember, opinions are just opinions.

 

As far as Heresys(1, 2, 3, 4) go, I have enjoyed mine(H2's) on their tilted stands as well as on separate stands.  Ear height plays a role in that.

 

Bill

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3 minutes ago, willland said:

I am just going to say WOW!

 

I don't think anyone in this thread intended it to go in this direction.  Remember, opinions are just opinions.

 

As far as Heresys(1, 2, 3, 4) go, I have enjoyed mine(H2's) on their tilted stands as well as on separate stands.  Ear height plays a role in that.

 

Bill

 

I don't mean anything negative about anything I wrote. It's just that you can't do a review between two radically different loudspeakers without trying all possibilities to get the best out of both, then give one speaker a negative point because of the drastically different style/design of it compared to the other. 

 

It doesn't matter what loudspeaker you have, everyone has to experiment with room positioning, toe in-out, height, tilt angle, etc, etc in order to get the best out of said speaker. You can't just plop a speaker down in a room and expect it to perform its best. If that means putting a speaker on a stand and/or trying different height stands, then so be it.  

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My son did the same thing with his Heresys after adding a sub.  Having the mids and highs not aimed at your knees is a good thing.  They sound good to me.

 

My own “Heresys” (DIY Supers or “Supered” HIPs) are always angled and elevated by foam wedges.  In my near-field scenario, that aims the mids and highs above my crotch.  Loss of bass extension is not an issue thanks to four Exodus Anarchy tapped horn subs.

 

I like your space a lot.  My only suggestion would be to replace those mini-blinds with wood blinds, Roman shades or shutters.  You would gain acoustic and aesthetic benefits, especially with fabric Roman shades, and those busted mini-blinds don’t owe you anything. The only caveat would be if you are renting.  If so,  when it’s time to leave, tell your landlord to credit you for the cost of the blinds, or you re-install the broken mini-blinds.

 

The first photo shows Heresy IIs on the foam wedges.

 

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The second photo shows my HIPs on the wedges.  The DIY Supers are not in service.  Nonetheless, it’s easy to see how the wedges raise and better aim the speakers.  The four subs are in the corners against the walls.

 

I know you’re asking yourself, who is this asshat with the cluttered basement man-cave to give me decorating advice?  That’s a motorized blackout cellular/honeycomb shade covering a glass block window. The shade is there for function, not fashion.  Your living room is very well done and deserves better.  Only the broken mini-blinds are letting down the side.   My Spartan—pun intended—space will never look as nice as your living room, nor is that its purpose.   Feel free to dismiss the free, but unsolicited, decorating advice.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

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20 minutes ago, Charles T said:

I don't mean anything negative about anything I wrote. It's just that you can't do a review between two radically different loudspeakers without trying all possibilities to get the best out of both, then give one speaker a negative point because of the drastically different style/design of it compared to the other. 

All good points.  No harm no foul.

 

Now let's plan that Middle Florida get together.:emotion-29::D

 

Bill

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2 hours ago, DizRotus said:

My son did the same thing with his Heresys after adding a sub.  Having the mids and highs not aimed at your knees is a good thing.  They sound good to me.

 

My own “Heresys” (DIY Supers or “Supered” HIPs) are always angled and elevated by foam wedges.  In my near-field scenario, that aims the mids and highs above my crotch.  Loss of bass extension is not an issue thanks to four Exodus Anarchy tapped horn subs.

 

I like your space a lot.  My only suggestion would be to replace those mini-blinds with wood blinds, Roman shades or shutters.  You would gain acoustic and aesthetic benefits, especially with fabric Roman shades, and those busted mini-blinds don’t owe you anything. The only caveat would be if you are renting.  If so,  when it’s time to leave, tell your landlord to credit you for the cost of the blinds, or you re-install the broken mini-blinds.

 

The first photo shows Heresy IIs on the foam wedges.

 

The second photo shows my HIPs on the wedges.  The DIY Supers are not in service.  Nonetheless, it’s easy to see how the wedges raise and better aim the speakers.  The four subs are in the corners against the walls.

 

I know you’re asking yourself, who is this asshat with the cluttered basement man-cave to give me decorating advice?  That’s a motorized blackout cellular/honeycomb shade covering a glass block window. The shade is there for function, not fashion.  Your living room is very well done and deserves better.  Only the broken mini-blinds are letting down the side.   My Spartan—pun intended—space will never look as nice as your living room, nor is that its purpose.   Feel free dismiss the free, but unsolicited, decorating advice.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all of the kind words on the system and room. The blinds wouldn't have been our first choice, but they were put in right before we moved in, but after we had the floors refinished and all of the painting we did. Yes, we're renting, but from a good friend of mine that I met through my last job and have known now for 13 years. It's a nice little old house, built in 1951. It's been in his wife's family since she was a young girl. They are like family to us. It's a very good situation to say the least.

 

Anyway, from the beginning, they said we pretty much have free rein of the place, within reason of course. We've been looking at various types of blinds, so will change them out in the near future. 

 

And no, I wasn't thinking you're an asshat at all. I am curious as to how those Super Heresy's sound compared to stock, and what those subs are.

 

Also, thanks for the warm welcome!

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