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Are these Klipsch Heresy worth picking up?


paulgyro

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2 hours ago, willland said:

I would pay $450.00 to $475.00, cabinet in pretty good shape.  Easy to repaint or sand back to raw birch.

 

Bill

This is my opinion too. Since they're birch plywood you don't  have to worry about veneer damage that's more involved to repair. These can easily be sanded and refinished with even the most basic of skills, and you'll get great advice on this forum on how to do it. I also agree with willland's pricing.

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I agree with Seadog.  Based on Dave's May 2020 spreadsheet, the average prices of "CDF" condition Heresies is $327. (There are 21 instances mentioned of Heresies in this condition and type in his spreadsheet.)  Those in condition "AB" have an average price of $391.  I've found that Heresies of this vintage typically have a very narrow band of actual selling prices.  I have a similar black pair (apparently rescued from a Showbiz pizza palace that reportedly used lots of Heresies during that time period).

 

I paid $400 for my 1979-pair in 2008, when the prices were high, just before the Great Recession started to take hold on the used loudspeaker marketplace.  Most of the variation in prices is the condition of the box itself instead of the drivers and crossovers, which is something that I find very odd since a new box can easily be fabricated to replace the original for less raw material cost than the prices of drivers in poor condition.  

 

Chris

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They look to be in good enough condition to refinish, which is what I was looking for when I bought a set of 1982 Heresy's last year.  I paid $375 and the drivers were in great condition and the capacitors had already been replaced.  Mine had never been finished with anything on the wood, so when I went to refinish them, I didn't have to deal with trying to get any of that off.

 

48409882252_8957142c55_k.jpg

 

 

49898386502_b156bf2cef_k.jpg

 

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Thanks for all the amazing feedback! So in the end the asking price is about $150 too high.

 

I would certainly like to remove the black paint if I picked them up.

 

On a related note I keep asking myself why I want these.  The vintage Klipsch look for sure and owning history.   How do they sound compared to the modern Reference Premier line?

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With a bit of patience and effort, I'm sure you can find a very nice pair for between 400-500 that you won't have to put so much time and energy into refinishing the cabinets.  Pricing on heritage models is highly dependent on cosmetics, functionality and location.  Prices on most models has increased quite a bit in the last 6 months.

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1 hour ago, yamahaSHO said:

They look to be in good enough condition to refinish, which is what I was looking for when I bought a set of 1982 Heresy's last year.  I paid $375 and the drivers were in great condition and the capacitors had already been replaced.  Mine had never been finished with anything on the wood, so when I went to refinish them, I didn't have to deal with trying to get any of that off.

 

48409882252_8957142c55_k.jpg

 

 

49898386502_b156bf2cef_k.jpg

 

 

 

Wow these look amazing!

Edited by paulgyro
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18 hours ago, paulgyro said:

On a related note I keep asking myself why I want these.  The vintage Klipsch look for sure and owning history.   How do they sound compared to the modern Reference Premier line?

Yes; there is the allure of owning a "piece of history". That's what attracted me to Heresy's. They are truly a classic.

 

But I don't think they match the Reference Premier line only in that they don't play as low. Even the lowest price RP-5000F plays louder and lower than vintage Heresy's, and they cost marginally more per pair than those used Heresy's.  But the RF series are larger than the Heresy's so you'll have to weigh the aesthetic impact on your room.

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4 hours ago, Peter P. said:

Yes; there is the allure of owning a "piece of history". That's what attracted me to Heresy's. They are truly a classic.

 

But I don't think they match the Reference Premier line only in that they don't play as low. Even the lowest price RP-5000F plays louder and lower than vintage Heresy's, and they cost marginally more per pair than those used Heresy's.  But the RF series are larger than the Heresy's so you'll have to weigh the aesthetic impact on your room.

 

Well lower and louder doesn't matter to me.  I'm more wondering about the aspect of their sound quality.

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