Heresy III Sibilance

[Deang]

I think I'm pretty much with Leo on this issue, and I like what Al said -- that's a cool way of checking whether it's the speakers or the source.

It's something that rarely shows up in my system, even at high SPLs -- maybe just on a handful of recordings. I think if your system is spitting all over you everytime you play something you have a problem.

I asked how loud you play your music -- running close to clipping and overdriving the tweeter brings it on in a big way.

Just a suggestion, it's your system -- but dump the biwiring setup and try just going back to one set of speaker wires.

[GregB]

Update on the splashy trebble situation (its not just sibilance)...

I did as suggested and switched back from biwiring to standard wiring with the wires running to the lower posts (bass) and using the supplied jumper thingies.  The wires are still Home Depot 12 or 14 guage solid core.

The Good is the speakers are now listenable without the tissue paper :-)

But...the highs are just not clean and *may* even have some sort of phase problem.  Tinkley bells for instance (much of that being played now as its XMas season) just lack the naturalness they have with other speakers.  They sound 'off' somehow.  I am wondering if there is somthing amiss either in the crossover design or in my crossovers in particular that is messing up the highs.

Reading other posts on the forum, Rotel amps seem an OK match so I'm not running to replace my amp (1062) at this point.

I was reading about a speaker manufactured by another company.  The owner/lead designer came on their forum and admitted a mistake was made when attempting a last-minute upgrade to one of the crossover parts (a cap, I believe).  He thought he could just drop in the higher spec cap and all would be well but the change created unanticipated phase problems that resulted in odd peaks and valleys that would rip your ears off!!!  They offered to anyone who had speakers in such-and-such a serial no. range to send them back for a free fix.

Thoughts?

- GregB

[Duke Spinner]

send 'em back ...???

[Deang]

Klipsch doesn't make 'mistakes'. From a design perspective, I'm sure they're just fine. The only thing I'm critical of is their use of Mylar capacitors. I would try the next least expensive thing. Get rid of the Home Depot wire and order some Supra Classic 2.5 from Madisound. Stay away from their high dollar stuff and just keep it simple. After you get the wire, make new jumpers with it.

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=4340784.10359&pid=1514

If push comes to shove, and before considering getting rid of them you might consider letting Bob Crites pull the caps in the HF section and replacing them with Sonicaps. This will void the warranty, but they'll sound cleaner and more open.

[GregB]

I dug through by Bag of Wire looking for some alternative wire and no luck.  Only Kimber, which I tried before and was the brightest/edgiest of the cables I had at the time.  Too capacitive, I think.  Naim's NACA5 worked best - its a higher inductance wire.  Its gone though, included as part of the deal when I sold the Heresy's predecessors.

Would the solid core Home Depot wire possibly cause poor treble quality?  Also, can someone explain what is meant by an "impedence mismatch" and how it affects the sound?

And finally - I would LOVE to hear from any Klipsch owners in my area.  I live in Northern Virginia in the Oakton/Vienna area.  I would love to hear someone else's Kilpsch installation and/or have someone experienced with Klipsch come hear mine.

- GregB