My "New" Heresy II's

[mdl]

Well I picked up the '89 vintage Heresy II's. I would not call them "mint", but good shape and the cabinets will refinish nicely (all corners/edges good, with minor imperfections). I picked them up with an Academy center channel for a little over 800 cdn (about 720 US these days?). The center is mint.

I want to replace the binding posts on the speakers though. One of them is broken off, and, well, why not! Does anyone know of a good replacement? Is soldering required (not a big deal... but I would need to clear some space for them)? Any idea if these are suitable: http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/shopexd.asp?id=533

Beyond that, I am really enjoying these speakers. I had an Axiom home theater setup. It was small, out of the way, and did the job. However, I wanted more dynamics and got a bit nostalgic (first speakers I bought at 16 were Cornwalls.. then went to Klipschorns... then, yes, I strayed :-). Some things that surprised me:

o I always found the Heresys a bit harsh. These are anything but (I am driving them with a modest Anthem MCA5). I wonder if the metal domes so prevalent today have now rendered the Heresy to being a relatively warm speaker! I will also try them with a Yamaha CR2020 and HK930 I have.

o They are not as good at low volumes as I expected. They need to be pushed to come alive. They remind me of maggies here.

o My main speakers are 'stats (Martin Logan CLS IIz's). They provide a good contrast (and I like that!). To me the stats are far more transparent. They image better, and instruments seem to float (I have some dpl12 based subs and custom crossover/eq to make the stats full range). On the other hand, the stats compress around 95 db and it is noticeable. The Heresies just open up more. Hearing a cranked Hammond B3 on these things is well, just plain fun!

o The Academy center is great. It timbre matches well (better than my Axioms, which had identical tweeters.. which I find weird). I also found moving to a center with good bass response has been a huge improvement. Concert DVDs have a lot more realism.

Thanks (sorry for rambling... primary reason for posting was the binding post question).

[DizRotus]

The posts from Take5 will work, as will basic posts from Radio Shack, Parts Express, etc., at a much lower cost. The electrons won't know the difference.

As to soldering, it depends. If you have a tool to properly crimp solderless terminals, then no. If not, then yes.

[oldbuckster]

Interesting you state Heresy's are Harsh........as opposed to other Klipsch speakers, Harsh is a word I would never use to describe them.......I think Forte II's are harsh in their mid range presentation.......the H2's much smoother, maybe better blended would be more accurate .............. I think placement and room have alot to do with their sound, as with any speaker...........

[mdl]

Interesting you state Heresy's are Harsh........as opposed to other Klipsch speakers, Harsh is a word I would never use to describe them.......I think Forte II's are harsh in their mid range presentation.......the H2's much smoother, maybe better blended would be more accurate .............. I think placement and room have alot to do with their sound, as with any speaker...........

My recollection (circa 1979) was they were harsh, particularly compared to the Cornwalls and Klipschorns. I do not find my Heresy II's harsh at all (and that was part of my point). I am not sure if the design change helped, whether I have heard too many metal dome tweeters and that has put things in perspective, or the fact that I have a lot of subwooferage behind them now is rounding out the bottom end.

[colterphoto1]

Parts Express, the model number is the image number

[colterphoto1]

Installed on Heresies, they look like this:

[oldbuckster]

Interesting you state Heresy's are Harsh........as opposed to other Klipsch speakers, Harsh is a word I would never use to describe them.......I think Forte II's are harsh in their mid range presentation.......the H2's much smoother, maybe better blended would be more accurate .............. I think placement and room have alot to do with their sound, as with any speaker...........

My recollection (circa 1979) was they were harsh, particularly compared to the Cornwalls and Klipschorns. I do not find my Heresy II's harsh at all (and that was part of my point). I am not sure if the design change helped, whether I have heard too many metal dome tweeters and that has put things in perspective, or the fact that I have a lot of subwooferage behind them now is rounding out the bottom end.

I didn't read it that way.........ooops.......I don't know about Heresy's never owned any.....Do you use alot of Sub woofer? I found it hard to get my sub right with the H2's.......took awhile........where is your crossover set on sub?

[Marvel]

The HIIs have a mounting cup to which the posts are mounted, unlike the originals, which can just go through the back. The crossover parts are also on the mounting cup which will make changing them out a bit more difficult.

The HIIs don't use the K55 driver, and sound a bit more balanced to me, compared to the originals, i.e., the midrange is not quite as hot. I find mine sound pretty good at lower levels. For a while I used a small sub on my HIIs, crossed at 80 hz. Worked okay, but some CDs didn't play well with that setting. I am now running them without a sub. At louder volumes, the bass sounds great.

Bruce

[mdl]

I built a custom pair of subs based on the Adire DPL12. They are sealed, and crossed over at 80hz. I also have eq on the subs for pretty good room response.