Heresy vs. Heresy II

[Cybernalt]

... Anyone feel like telling me the aural difference, or directing me to a place where I can read about it?

Thanks in advance

[hwatkins]

Others will probably jump in with good spec info that tells you what the difference should be - I have both and can only tell you that it takes a very critical ear to hear the difference in the speakers. And yes there is a difference - mainly in mids, just hardly worth it for me to worry long on which version to get.

As always this is IMHO...

[heresy2guy]

Hello! To me, there are differences you can actually hear between the two models. It should be noted that I compared late 70s Heresys to my current Heresy IIs. This is important to mention because the original Heresy changed around 1984, 1985, or somewhere in that area and was a sort of hybrid unit that was part Heresy and Heresy II. If you have a pair of Heresys that were made just before the Heresy IIs were released then it may very well be hard to tell the differece. All I know is that I heard a pair of late 70s Heresys alongside my Heresy IIs and there was a noticeable difference in sound and the drivers certainly looked different. The Heresys had a "brighter," "crisper" sound. My Heresy IIs had a more (dare I say it) neutral sound (at least in direct comparison to the Heresys) with more bass. My ear noticed the difference imemdiately, especially when all you had to do was throw the speaker selector knob from set A to set B which made for easy comparison. I'll never sell my Heresy IIs because I bought them new and I worked very hard for the money to buy them and after, gosh....12 years or something they still sound new and they're very sentimental to me. BUT....since I do REALLY enjoy the crisp, bright sound of the Heritage lineup, I must say in all honesty that I like the sound of the Heresy better. True, the bass wasn't as prominent as with the Heresy II, but if truth be known, neither Heresy model has ever been known for much bass but the bass you do get is VERY tight and not boomy at all. In my humble opinion, an AWESOME setup would be a late 70s Harman Kardon 430 Receiver with a late 70s pair of Heresys. You'd get a bright crisp sound in addition to VERY tight bass (thanks to the H/K 430 being a little bass monster)! Furthermore, you could get this distinctively "klipsch" sound for very little money. An old H/K 430 should set you back $80 and a pair of late 70s Heresys maybe $400. To me, that's an absolute STEAL! In addition, both your speakers and receiver would have already shown what they're made of having withstood the test of time (in this case around 23 to 25 years) and since there's very little maintenance (other then keeping everything clean) you won't have to worry about how it's going to sound and/or whether or not it'll crap out 5 years down the road as you would if you bought new stuff. If you want a quality, bright Heritage sound that, coincidentally, won't cost a lot of money, a late 70s H/K 430 and late 70s Heresys are nearly impossible to beat.