Klipsch Heresy IIIs - An Old Flame Rekindled

[klipschguy101]

As some of you in this forum know, I recently struggled with whether
to purchase and thereafter stop from returning a new pair of Klipsch
Heresy IIIs. After living with a thirty year old memory of Heresys I heard but couldn't afford, I purchased some on line in an impulsive moment. For the next several weeks I struggled with the prudence of the whim and received helpful input from many members of this forum. Thanks for all the advice, again.

In the meantime, I read with great interest the controversy about the
Heritage line of speakers, particularly the Heresy (witness the
disparate views expressed by "thermalup" and the responses to his
postings - "Heresy - not for me."). After my speakers arrived in the mail several days ago, I feel
like I personally ran the gamut from Klipsch fan, to foe, and back again. Because of that, I feel like I might have a different
perspective than many who are either unfamiliar or far more familiar
these speakers than I. For what its worth, at the risk of preaching to
the choir, here's the aural observations of a new Klipsch owner:

The Heresy IIIs (I have never heard the larger Heritage line)
leave little margin for error. Because they are so loud, and so crisp,
anything "wrong" with the music becomes obvious immediately. They
remind me somehow of a camera with fine lenses, whose images are so
sharp that anything out of focus is truly undeniable. When these
speakers are out of focus, they are not just bad, they are annoying.
Most cheap speakers can create unrealistic sounding music. These
speakers can create noise. Loud noise.

And they are not particularly "accurate" as that term is typically defined. Part of the "magic" of the studio is to try to create the impression of
a sound stage by careful manipulation during production. Many
"high-end" speakers can recreate the subtle nuances of this
production. Some are simply scary. A Magnepan reproduces the breaths taken in the millisecond
before Miles Davis blows out a run of sixteenth notes so well we know
if he had a cold. And we can hear Eric Clapton's fingers slip from
chord to chord so well
on a pair of Martin-Logans that know if he needed a manicure.

We
have
come to call the reproduction of these studio details "accurate." And
we feel justified in this view by pointing to the charts showing "flat"
frequency response. After all, its scientifically objective, right?

And its true. Klipsch Heresys do not produce the
same discernable separation between instruments or quite the sound
stage as some.

But then, you know what? Neither does a band.

Close
your eyes the next time you are listening to live music and see if you
can tell exactly where a guitar is positioned, or the drums, or the
voices. In my experience, the sound you hear at a concert is chiefly
coming directly from one or both of two large stacks of speakers
(which, I might add, typically are replete with horns) and indirectly
from numerous sound reflecting surfaces (the recreation of which is, of
course, the idea behind Bose products). And the same holds true for
most non-amplified concerts. The sound you hear from an orchestra is
largely just as ambient (non-focused), unless you have the pricey seats
close enough to the concert mistress to see up her skirt. A jazz
concert, with brass and woodwind instruments capable of focused sound
projection, has some natural sound "staging." But that's the
exception. (And, as we all well know, the Heresys actually image those
instruments quite well anyway). Any "staging" that we "hear" at a real
concert is usually in our heads, created by the image we see of where a
performer is standing on the stage. A "sound stage" is really an
artificial
creation of the studio intended to give the impression of a live
performance. So a speaker's ability to recreate this doesn't
necessarily make it more "accurate" compared to a live performance. It
might just make it more artificial.

And
why does anyone ever point to a chart when measuring speakers anyway?
Listening to music isn't a science experiment. Music is an art. Its
all about emotion. And passion doesn't come from a really flat line on
the charts. It comes from imagining the expressions on the faces of the performers, the movement of their bodies while playing and the weird sense of community the audience feels while simultaneously moving to the same beat. That emotion comes from the stage, not the studio. I think "accuracy" should be measured by how close a
speaker comes to moving the audience,
as the performers might on stage. Neither the studio nor the laboratory have much to do with that.

That may be news to alot of folks, but Bose knows, and has for a while. We can stick our audio noses in the air all we want, but if a flat line response meant two figs to most audiences, Bose wouldn't be the number one speaker manufacturer and one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

When Klipsch Heresys are mated to the proper amp (and perhaps broken in a little) they do something that no other speaker I have heard can do. They reproduce sound like you would hear if you closed your eyes and listened at a concert. The crash of the cymbals. The pounding of the drums. The power of the guitar
chord. The passion of the voice. Its the feeling of being there, near
the stage, not the studio. Sure, those charts are hard to argue with.
But I'm not trying to think logically when I'm listening to music. I'm
trying to get lost in the emotion. And as even a cursory review of this forum will show, no other speaker evokes emotion more than Klipsch.

Yeah, for now at least, I sound like a bad Klipsch commercial. I know, I know. But on the outside chance someone reading this
feels just confident enough to make the purchase, it was worth sharing
my passion for an old flame with whom I have just been reunited.

[dtel's wife]

You are most welcome. It was a genuine pleasure helping you rekindle your "old flame".

And thank you for taking the time to write a most sincere post for those of us here on the Forum. I, as many others here knew you would be happy with your purchase once you ironed some of the wrinkles out.

Good luck and we sure hope you stick around. Die hard Klipsch fans are hard to come by on this Forum.[]

[Arky]

Welcome KG101. Do you practice or are you a professor?

[edwinr]

Good post.

BTW, I don't think my Martin Logans are particularly accurate. But like horn speakers, they are very fast, so you get that immediacy that many other speakers lack. I've listened to many so-called super flat monitors, and frankly they sound just that. Flat.

[maxg]

Thanks for posting that - certainly made interesting reading. Just a few comments really:

You have not had these speakers very long. IME Heresy's take a long while to settle in. I am not talking about burn in - I am talking about finding the ideal setup for them including source, amps, room treatments, positioning etc. etc. You will know when you get it right and it will affect both the soundstaging you think you are not getting now and the accuracy. Remember accuracy is a function of speaker and room together.

From the picture in your avatar it looks like you have the Heresy's on risers and therefore, I would guess, on the floor. I have always been of the opinion that this is not the best location for Heresy's. If you can place them on something to gain a little height you will notice a dramatic change. In a room with 9 foot ceilings I found the ideal height to be about 18 inches - YMMV. I can say that at that height the whole soundstage improved dramatically and there was very little, if any, cost to the bass. In fact the bass appeared to clean up dramatically - probably through reduced reflections (or changed reflections from the floor).

Other than that - enjoy them - they are a great speaker for the money.

[oldbuckster]

Damn, I guess you don't want to swap your H3's for my H2's .......shucks!!!!!! The longer you own them, the more you will like them, and take another look at them, how small they are, and the sound they put out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A Great Speaker....................ENJOY..............

[lwhaples]

Thanks for sharing,nice write up.

Larry

[colterphoto1]

Very nicely said. You a gift with words sir. Thank you for the very asute and heartfelt writeup.

Michael

[PhilMays]

After reading and following the post you referenced, it was refreshing to read your very honest personal take on the Hersey III. It also joy's me to see you did not try to resolve in comparing them in a dollar-for-dollar war against other products on the market. They are what they are, and you sir have found that balance!

In this thread I will not make reference to a scotch in an attempt to spin humor on a ludicrus thought process!

Well done!

Phil

[flannj]

When Klipsch Heresys are mated to the proper amp (and perhaps broken in a little) they do something that no other speaker I have heard can do. They reproduce sound like you would hear if you closed your eyes and listened at a concert. The crash of the cymbals. The pounding of the drums. The power of the guitar chord. The passion of the voice. Its the feeling of being there, near the stage, not the studio. Sure, those charts are hard to argue with. But I'm not trying to think logically when I'm listening to music. I'm trying to get lost in the emotion. And as even a cursory review of this forum will show, no other speaker evokes emotion more than Klipsch.

Very good post. I particularly like the paragraph quoted above. It captures for me what is the essence of the Heritage and Extended Heritage speakers. You feel like you are there at a live musical performance. More than all the other qualities of these speakers, efficiency, dynamic range, low distortion (or maybe it is because of the sum of these qualities) the impression of music being played is what makes them what they are.

As noted by others here placement and more importantly to me room treatment are absolutely key to getting the most out of these speakers. That is most likely why some listeners come away with an incorrect impression when auditioning in a store that doesn't take the effort to set them up correctly. They are unforgiving in the wrong environment.

Enjoy

- Jim

[klipschguy101]

Arky, I practice and practice but I'm still far from perfect. How about U?

[Arky]

Arky, I practice and practice but I'm still far from perfect. How about U?

LOL, most of my friends are, just curious. I'm a small R/E developer.