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Did big Heritage ever get reviews in the hi end mags?


pauln

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I think there is one that Gil posted a while back. Haven't tried to locate it with search.

Also, Vacuum Tube Valley had a nice Khorn review just a few years ago. Don't think that would be available online, though.

There is a thread or two in the forum archives that discuss the dynamics of the audio press and the relative scarcity of Klipsch Heritage presence in reviews.

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Richard Heyser reviewed the Klipschorn in Audio about 1980. He said (and I paraphrase) "...a bit jagged in the midrange..still a respectable performer...if you like it loud and you like it clean, this is your speaker". He also said that bass horns have percussive bass all to themselves compared to direct radiators. This article was posted here but deleted due to copyright considerations.

High Fidelity reviewed the Klipschorn and Cornwall I about 1963 and were favorably impressed.

The Belgian Audiophile School review of the Cornwall II is by far the best of any review of a Klipsch Heritage product.

www.belgaudio.com/kcmeasurements1.htm

AFAIK, none of the current "high end" mags have reviewed a Heritage product and wouldn't be caught dead doing so.

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"I believe J. Gordon Holt likes the Klipschorn -- but won't admit it publically.:) "

I believe what he said was that he liked the midrange of the Heresy, which at that time used the K55V. There was no full review.

When they reviewed the Klipschorn they did not like it with a 75W Audio Research tube amp (6550s), but they prefered the Crown D150 (which sounded like broken glass). Their published measurements brought a letter from Klipsch saying " the only way we could duplicate those measurements were to pull it out of the corner and turn it around backwards" (paraphrased).

I sold a pair of this same vintage Klipschorns to a customer with the same Audio Research amp, and they did sound a bit soft up top with the old alnico K77s. Pehaps they thought the glassy-bright Crown was a better match. They also liked the lean bass character of the Crown vs the Audio Research, the Klipschorns did sound 'pleasingly plump' on the tubes. This same customer also bought a Belle and used the resistor 3-ch box with a Marantz 8 strapped for mono. Despite the less than perfect response of the system, I would have to rate it among the most musical Klipsch systems I have heard.

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AFAIK, none of the current "high end" mags have reviewed a Heritage product and wouldn't be caught dead doing so.

Why is that?

Oh boy, here we go...There are several reasons, which I can only outline here.

Paul and a handful of other industry pioneers, Avery Fisher, Rudy Bozak, Saul Marantz, and others, were mainsteam audio until the introduction of so-called acoustic suspension by Edgar Villchur in 1957 (he was not the originator of that concept, BTW, but that is another story). Villchur, Henry Kloss (who we all respect here) and others started the notion of "flat" response being the ultimate criteria for loudspeakers. Paul, as we know, thought distortion was the controlling factor, not "mere smoothness of amplitude response" as he put it. The flat response obsession was cover-up for the low efficiency, high distortioon and slow transient response of most acoustic suspension designs.

Paul, being Paul, was loudly and acidly critical of this so-called New England school of speaker design. Paul did not suffer fools gladly, and antagonized a number of other manufacturers and their syncophants in the 'mainstream' and 'underground' audio press.

These folks started a disinformation campaign against Klipsch and horn speakers in general. "Honky, congested, unmusical' were adjectives thrown around by reviewers XYZ and ABC ad nauseum. Also, consumer taste was being steered towards smaller speakers as Americans started to move more often.

In Popular Electronics about 1969, J. Gordon Holt was discussing what audio components were best. He said (I paraphrase from memory): "The speakers manufactured by Paul Klipsch have an enviable reputation among those striving for the very finest. His new Klipschorns may be excellent, but I was not impressed with the earlier Klipschorns and apparently Paul Klipsch does not think my ears are adeqaute to review his speakers"

Mee-ow!

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@all

There is to recognize a certain turnaround about testing klipsch in hi-end-mags.

The german issue of stereoplay 04/06 did a good test of la scala 2.

The speaker ended up in the absolute top class with 58 points.

Top notch speaker(s) of other manufacturers have 64 points.

But the prices of them exceed the price of la scala by at least 5 times.

La scala 2 has a price of 8000.

Slowly the truth is coming to light......

Also RF-7 had a good review in the german mag named AUDIO in january or february 2006.

RF-7 got 90 points in top class.

Klipsch has a new chief of distribution for europe who makes some good promotion.

Jack

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