edwinr Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Hi, I'm new to this forum. I enjoy reading your posts. I currently own mahogany KLF10's, Jolida 202a tube integrated, Toshiba 900ee DVD player configured to 2 channel plus NEC vt540 projector and a Project T/table. The local Klipsch importer has brand new walnut belles available. However local hi-fi dealers are saying I will make a big mistake as the heritge sound is harsh and p.a. orientated. They have suggested instead upgrading to Theil 2.4's or Martin Logan Aeon's etc with matching amp's. I guess I like the dynamics of the KLF10 but they are a little harsh at times. Will the move to the belle's be a significant upgrade? Will the Jolida be okay with the belle's until I can upgrade to something like the Audio Research VSi55? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkrop Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Why not haul the Jolida in to the importer and have a listen for yourself! Just remember the Belle will have a different bass sound (horn loaded) and try not to fall over when you see how BIG they are! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 They would be awesome together: Horns love Tubes. The big mid-range squawker is smooth. Be sure to post your movie and music tastes, room dimensions and front-end equipment in your system profile, this will help forum members give you thoughtful, insightful answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Welcome, edwinr. Wow, new Belles must cost a fortune in Australia. What are they, double US prices? Definitely take your Jolida over there and give them a listen. You'll either like them or you won't. Don't let the dealers persuade you into buying speakers *they* prefer (and may get a bigger commission on). Buy what *you* like best. If you *don't* like the Belles immediately, give them a little time, as you may need to adjust your brain to the different sound as compared to run of the mill speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie dave Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Edwin, when you go in for a listen, it is as important to listen to what the salesmen are saying as well as listening to the speakers. If the salesmen are "selling" a new system, then they are not listening to you, and you can ignore 95% of whatever they say. The ones that listen to you, and then give you tips and a few recommendations based on what you want to hear, are the good ones you can trust. The Belles DO have a different sound, and for lack of words, let's run with the "PA" sound. The Belles can get loud effortlessly, without distortion, and will crank the volume to the point beyond what you want to stand. They will play any material you can throw at them, showing that garbage still sounds like garbage, and excellant material sounds ungodly good. It will only take a mid priced amp to do this, and you can DJ at a party with a thirty watt amp. These are not shy speakers. They will also be some serious eye candy for the Sheilas, and they do well on resale as far as $$$. In the last year, I have sold three sets of Klipsch speakers to friends, and none are willing to part with them now. All in all, a great buy for you, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 "However local hi-fi dealers are saying I will make a big mistake as the heritage sound is harsh and p.a. orientated." I would say they have never truly listened to them. Belle Klipschs, La Scala's and, the grand daddy of them all, the Klipschorn have a "VERY BIG" sound but IMO are unmatched in their dynamic range (their ability to whisper and scream at virtual simultaneous instants), they are extremely musical and yes they love tubes. I have had my La Scalas for 20 years and have auditioned countless other loudspeakers in that time and nothing has matched the Klipsch sound as I hear it. They will sound different than your KLF-10s. Every audition Ive entertained has always started out with Your Klipsch cannot sound like this or these will make you want to forget you ever owned your Klipsch or one of my favorites La Scala are way to heavy in the bass dept, not a complaint often heard when referring to La Scalas or Belles or something similar. Ive yet to hear anything other than Klipschorns that would make me even consider a change. Both of these speakers produce substantial very accurate bass but its not the deep booming bass of a Cornwall or similar direct radiator bass speaker. Calling their sound P.A like is really not giving them a listen. They are extremely efficient and produce exceptional volume on a trinket of power, and many are not prepared to hear this response at first. Human vocals are effortless as are virtually every other sound played in their respective ranges. Take you amp in listen to them on a variety of music you prefer. I think you will be wowed and impressed by the effortless musical reproduction being presented before you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggy Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 I had my Belles for 26 years. Bought new. They are great speakers and I'm sure you'll be happy with them as i was. It took Khorns for me to change and at that if I would have added a sub I probably never would have gotten Khorns. Khorns do go lower noticeably. The older Belles did go lower than the newer ones do though and I have not heard the newer ones. hoggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted June 6, 2004 Author Share Posted June 6, 2004 ---------------- On 6/6/2004 7:19:34 AM edwinr wrote: Hi, I'm new to this forum. I enjoy reading your posts. I currently own mahogany KLF10's, Jolida 202a tube integrated, Toshiba 900ee DVD player configured to 2 channel plus NEC vt540 projector and a Project T/table. The local Klipsch importer has brand new walnut belles available. However local hi-fi dealers are saying I will make a big mistake as the heritge sound is harsh and p.a. orientated. They have suggested instead upgrading to Theil 2.4's or Martin Logan Aeon's etc with matching amp's. I guess I like the dynamics of the KLF10 but they are a little harsh at times. Will the move to the belle's be a significant upgrade? Will the Jolida be okay with the belle's until I can upgrade to something like the Audio Research VSi55? ---------------- ---------------- On 6/6/2004 7:19:34 AM edwinr wrote: Hi, I'm new to this forum. I enjoy reading your posts. I currently own mahogany KLF10's, Jolida 202a tube integrated, Toshiba 900ee DVD player configured to 2 channel plus NEC vt540 projector and a Project T/table. The local Klipsch importer has brand new walnut belles available. However local hi-fi dealers are saying I will make a big mistake as the heritge sound is harsh and p.a. orientated. They have suggested instead upgrading to Theil 2.4's or Martin Logan Aeon's etc with matching amp's. I guess I like the dynamics of the KLF10 but they are a little harsh at times. Will the move to the belle's be a significant upgrade? Will the Jolida be okay with the belle's until I can upgrade to something like the Audio Research VSi55? ---------------- Thanks guys for your initial responses. My music/projector room is downstairs and is 6 metres by 5.5 metres in size. Double brick construction with carpet covered cement floor. Walls are painted brick affixed with numerous movie posters on polystyrene backing. Some curtaining around the windows. The screen and speakers are situated on the long wall with speakers about 4 metres apart and 400mm from the back wall (sorry about the metrics). Music tastes are Frank Sinatra, early Elvis, jazz, light classics and modern contempory pop. Costs? well are you guys sitting down? Try $17,000 for Klipschorns, $13,000 for Belles, $8,500 for La Scala's and surprisingly reasonable, $2,600 for Heresy 2's. Only last year the Klipschorn's were retailing for $20,000! But put that into perspectve the Theil CS 2.4's retail for $9,900 but you can deal and get them for $7,500. So I guess I will get a discount from the Belle retail price of maybe $3,000 or $4,000? The Audio Research VSi 55 retails for $7,000 but I've been quoted around $5,500 for cash. Goulburn is a town of 25,000 people, located midway between Sydney and Canberra. The Klipsch importer is located in Melbourne about 1100 kilometres away so I will need to get the Belle's delivered straight to my door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Edwin - I always put what a dealer says in perspective by asking them if they even have the ability to sell me the product they are disparaging. Are you hearing these comments from the dealers who can sell you Klipsch, or just the dealers who can sell you only Thiel or ML? If they aren't a Klipsch dealer, I wouldn't give their opinions any merit. And even if they were, you need to let your own ears decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheltie dave Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Edwin, another good selling point on the Belles is their quality construction. Rugged as a brick ****house, and my 1976 Belles are down 1.5 dB in the midrange and tweeter after 28 years - they need a couple new caps in the crossovers to be back to their original performance standard. I have a 1963 Khorn and a 1958 Shorthorn that are still running with the dogs, also. I think you would be very happy spending a chunk of money on speakers that will be playing just as well for your kids forty years from the day you horsed them into your house. These speakers are beasts, and the Belles are the best looking of the bunch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 PA speakers? That's real funny. Tell that guy new belles measure flat, +/- 2dB, 200-2000hz! At least my belle center channel speaker does in my room. Not too bad, I'd say, for a speaker that will part your hair with 10W input! What will a M-L or Thiel do with 10W? Precious danged little! Whether or not YOU will like the sound of belles is another question, but I think that if you like the klipsch you have now, you'll LOVE the belles. Harsh? - not to my ears, and I'm driving mine with an A/V receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 "However local hi-fi dealers are saying I will make a big mistake as the heritage sound is harsh and p.a. orientated" He he he he.....PA oriented? Maybe, if you use a PA amp, but with that Jolida.....now that's a horse of a different color I submit to you that these "hi-fi dealers" probably do not have Belles, or do not have the proper gear to drive them. As jdm56 caveats, that's no guarantee that you will like the Belles, but given that you do have the Jolida, I suggest you waltz in to your importer with that Jolida and listen to a pair of these. If you like them, buy them. Yeah, that's damn expensive, but they will last longer than you, so compare against what else you have access to - but let your ears, and your ears alone, be the judge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptnBob Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 "Back in the day," the college I worked at was sponsoring a Spyrogyra concert. I contacted their sound guy to see what we needed to provide and explained our house system, 2 LaScalas, 1 AK-1, (shade-tree giant LaScala with two heavy duty 15s) and a Senssurround Cerwin Vega 18" in a massive folded horn per side. He dismissed Klipsches as being a "home PA." I never got around to asking him just how big a home needs a PA system, but I guess they exist... In any event, he gave us the name of the company he wanted to work with and so we rented from them, and everybody went home happy. I can't really blame him - except for the home PA crack - you do want to "go with what you know." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 Thanks for the advice. I have since listened to a pair of 10 year old la scala's belonging to a friend driven by solid state amplification. I am still in shock from the experience. I had no idea that any speaker could sound like that - I thought I was sitting in the front row of a live concert. Now I know what you guys are talking about when you mention dynamics. I have now started serious negotiations with the Klipsch man. I am also seriously considering how to raise the money to buy the belles brand new - perhaps if I sold the wife and a couple of the children I may be in a position to buy in the next few weeks! I will let you know. Kind regards.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audible Nectar Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Edwin now belongs to us Glad you like the LaScalas. If you like those, the Belles are VERY similar (main diff being the size of the midrange horn). I was impressed my first time, over 20 years ago......and as you can see, I'm still Klipsch-in'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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