What's the height of the Heresy III?

[seasterl]

I'm not sure if the specification represents the total height with the elevator on the bottom of it or not? I need to know because I ordered a pair and I also want to order custom Sound Anchor 4-post stands and want to get the stand height right.

Thanks!

[Daddy Dee]

The Heresy III cabs are the same dimensions as Heresy II. You are correct in thinking that the spec height on HIII included the riser.

[seasterl]

Then what is the height of just the cabinet (without the riser on the bottom-front)? Could you make a measurement on the back side of the box as I will be removing the riser from mine when they arrive? (Thanks!) (Also, I guess I need to call Sound Anchors tomorrow and change my stand height.)

[kev313]

Hope you get an "intelligent answer" from us institutionalized non-audiophiles!

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/25/251777.html

[skeg1967]

The height of the Heresy III without the riser is 21 7/16" or 542mm.

[Daddy Dee]

Hope you get an "intelligent answer" from us institutionalized non-audiophiles!

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/25/251777.html

ouch. Klipsch a wonderful institution. As long as you don't mind spending the rest of your life in an institution. []

[seasterl]

Hope you get an "intelligent answer" from us institutionalized non-audiophiles!

I surprised you don't agree. Any time you have a single forum dedicated to just one thing, as a rule, it does not encompass much more than just that brand (at least after hours and hours of reading). If you spend any time on the AA, then you'll see that comparisons are constantly being done between countless other brands, not just one. "Institutionalized" wasn't meant as an offense, but as an acclimation and bias toward a particular house sound. Many users of one particular brand (let's use Klipsch as the example here) have a bias toward the Klipsch house sound. It's admitted here. So if I need an unbiased opinion on all speakers, you gotta go elsewhere where there is no single preferred sound. Regarding not getting any response to fleshing out of mids, well, what's your answer? You can't say that you haven't experienced this with at least one pair of speakers, right? If you say "no" then you just discredit yourself. It's reality, and I was just looking for an unbiased opinion. I just spent nearly $1500 to order a pair of Heresy III based on the opinions of this forum, so I'm putting my money where my mouth, or rather ears, are regardless of some of the untoward comments from the AA members.

Skeg1967: Thanks for that measurement and the beautiful photo. That's good info because I need to call Sound Anchors to raise the height just a tad.

[Daddy Dee]

seasterl.

congrats on ordering the HIII's. Think they are fabulous sounding speakers.

as to fleshing out thte mids, this is not an issue that I recall being a problem with horn loaded speakers. Most concerns are about being too forward.

Perhaps I'm not understanding your question. What I'm understanding is that any answer you get on this forum is suspect. How do you know what to take as reasonable. Obviously you have heard something you think you can trust since you have made a commitment to purchase HIII"s. Again, congrats.

When you have a chance to listen to your HIII's, I hope you will post your take on the sound.

[jacksonbart]

• Posted by

seasterl (A) on June 26, 2007 at 12:16:39

I have spent hours already on the Klipsch forum and there are many supporters there. However, they've already been "institutionilzed" unlike many forum member here on the AA.

Many Klipsch users have more of a mid-fi, rock-n-roll, louder-is-better kind of mindset

, so it's hard to get a gauge on what to expect.

Every time I mention lack of midrange articulation and mids not fleshed out for complicated passages, I never get an intelligent answer.

What I need is for a fellow audiophile to give an unbiased opinion. Granted, a lot of rock bands are not well-recorded, but some are, and so I want to capture that essense of a live, hard rock sound but not do too much wrong when accurately reproducing other sounds (lack of coloration).

[seasterl]

seasterl.

congrats on ordering the HIII's. Think they are fabulous sounding speakers.

as to fleshing out thte mids, this is not an issue that I recall being a problem with horn loaded speakers. Most concerns are about being too forward.

Perhaps I'm not understanding your question. What I'm understanding is that any answer you get on this forum is suspect. How do you know what to take as reasonable. Obviously you have heard something you think you can trust since you have made a commitment to purchase HIII"s. Again, congrats.

When you have a chance to listen to your HIII's, I hope you will post your take on the sound.

Thanks, Daddy Dee. I'm not so concerned that the sound will be too forward because, for this particular case, that's exactly what I'm intending to do for two reasons:

(1) to create a liveliness to the "rock" sound that I'm trying to reproduce. Ever since I heard Klipsch about 8 years ago, I always thought "man, I gotta have some of those. They gotta be the best rock speaker ever." Well, I have a nice pair of speakers that does everything great, but not rock. They don't sound alive. Klipsch represents the USA-made loudpspeaker (even tough some of the drivers are made in China) and it just seems to appeal to the red-blooded American in me like other speaker can't do.

(2) to also use them as home theater mains with at TV. My current bookshelf speaker are too laid back and the psychoacoustic image / source appears to come from 3 feet behind my wall and does not match my TV. I want to bring that sound-image plane more forward to be inline with my TV more. The horns are fast and articulate thing like a gun / revolver clicking, etc. and fleshes that out better than cone speakers.

Thinking about (2) above, when I listened to a set of two-way speakers (only one horn per box), I felt the midrange resolution go down on complicated passages. I thought that if it was just a three-way (with at least two horns per box), then it would be perfect. Ideally, I'd rather get the La Scalla II, but it's too expensive for me right now. With all the support of you guys saying H3 are great (and not saying anything bad about Klipsch), that's why I decided on the H3. If I don't like them, then at least I didn't spend too much, but I think I will like them, and look forward to them getting broken in with a tube-like SS amp.

[kev313]

Hope you get an "intelligent answer" from us institutionalized non-audiophiles!

I surprised you don't agree. Any time you have a single forum dedicated to just one thing, as a rule, it does not encompass much more than just that brand (at least after hours and hours of reading). If you spend any time on the AA, then you'll see that comparisons are constantly being done between countless other brands, not just one. "Institutionalized" wasn't meant as an offense, but as an acclimation and bias toward a particular house sound. Many users of one particular brand (let's use Klipsch as the example here) have a bias toward the Klipsch house sound. It's admitted here. So if I need an unbiased opinion on all speakers, you gotta go elsewhere where there is no single preferred sound. Regarding not getting any response to fleshing out of mids, well, what's your answer? You can't say that you haven't experienced this with at least one pair of speakers, right? If you say "no" then you just discredit yourself. It's reality, and I was just looking for an unbiased opinion. I just spent nearly $1500 to order a pair of Heresy III based on the opinions of this forum, so I'm putting my money where my mouth, or rather ears, are regardless of some of the untoward comments from the AA members.

Skeg1967: Thanks for that measurement and the beautiful photo. That's good info because I need to call Sound Anchors to raise the height just a tad.

No, I don't really agree. If you spend a bit more time parsing older threads and getting to know the members (past and present) you will find any number of discussions of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the various Klipsch lines and models within those lines. You will also find just as much criticism as praise. Much to your surprise, I imagine, you will also find members who no longer use Klipsch but simply enjoy the forum. I am included in that group.

Claiming that an affinity for a house sound colors the opinions of the members is painting with a very broad brush. Many, if not most, have experience with a wide range of speakers and some have almost an institutional knowledge of older Altec and JBL. Let me assure you that these members are perfectly capable of providing an "intelligent" comparison and answer to just about any inquiry that you may have.

I'm certainly not claiming that your AA post doesn't raise valid points. By referring to receiving unintelligent non-audiophile answers from a mid-fi crowd your post was, however, a tad offensive and overly sweeping in its conclusions.

As for lack of midrange articulation, I do not believe that you will find it to be a problem if you intend to use your Klipsch primarily for rock. I should clarify, however, that I have never heard the Heresy III. Based on my prior experience with the Heresy line, however, my concern for your application will be the lack of low end ooomph. That can be remedied to a degree, of course, with height and placement. I have also owned the Forte, Forte II and Cornwalls. Of those, I would probably agree that the Forte series is less than refined, but they are wonderful speakers for rock. The midrange of the Cornwall was very good and my concerns with that speaker did not arise from that area. I will say that I have other speakers that are better able to communicate through complex passages and my Devore Gibbon Super 8's would be on the top of that list as would my Oris horns with AER drivers.

One final point. Let me address the absurdity of this statement: "Regarding not getting any response to fleshing out of mids, well, what's your answer? You can't say that you haven't experienced this with at least one pair of speakers, right? If you say "no" then you just discredit yourself. It's reality, and I was just looking for an unbiased opinion."

No - you are not looking for an unbiased opinion. Your statement allows no room for the validity of a different opinion. You are looking for someone to agree with you.

[kev313]

Congrats on the purchase, by the way, I think that you will enjoy those HIII's. I would encourage you to stay on the forum as well. Trust me - we do alot more that ride the Klipsch bandwagon over here!

[seasterl]

Congrats on the purchase, by the way, I think that you will enjoy those HIII's. I would encourage you to stay on the forum as well. Trust me - we do alot more that ride the Klipsch bandwagon over here!

This is a better post to quote and respond to. I admit that I don't agree with your comments in your prior post but many folk don't always agree. The AA comment was not meant to be offensive to anyone or group of folk. BTW, I already have the lows taken care of using a Bag End sub.

[seasterl]

As for lack of midrange articulation, I do not believe that you will find it to be a problem if you intend to use your Klipsch primarily for rock. I should clarify, however, that I have never heard the Heresy III. Based on my prior experience with the Heresy line, however, my concern for your application will be the lack of low end ooomph. That can be remedied to a degree, of course, with height and placement. I have also owned the Forte, Forte II and Cornwalls. Of those, I would probably agree that the Forte series is less than refined, but they are wonderful speakers for rock. The midrange of the Cornwall was very good and my concerns with that speaker did not arise from that area. I will say that I have other speakers that are better able to communicate through complex passages and my Devore Gibbon Super 8's would be on the top of that list as would my Oris horns with AER drivers.

The H3 and CW3 share the same horns for mids & highs, so if articulation is good with the CW3, then the H3 should be good, too. (The bottom end has been addressed already.)

So tell me about the Oris horns and Super 8s. Any links to these?

[seasterl]

As for lack of midrange articulation, I do not believe that you will find it to be a problem if you intend to use your Klipsch primarily for rock. I should clarify, however, that I have never heard the Heresy III. Based on my prior experience with the Heresy line, however, my concern for your application will be the lack of low end ooomph. That can be remedied to a degree, of course, with height and placement. I have also owned the Forte, Forte II and Cornwalls. Of those, I would probably agree that the Forte series is less than refined, but they are wonderful speakers for rock. The midrange of the Cornwall was very good and my concerns with that speaker did not arise from that area. I will say that I have other speakers that are better able to communicate through complex passages and my Devore Gibbon Super 8's would be on the top of that list as would my Oris horns with AER drivers.

The H3 and CW3 share the same horns for mids & highs, so if articulation is good with the CW3, then the H3 should be good, too. (The bottom end has been addressed already.)

So tell me about the Oris horns and Super 8s. Any links to these?

[kev313]

As for lack of midrange articulation, I do not believe that you will find it to be a problem if you intend to use your Klipsch primarily for rock. I should clarify, however, that I have never heard the Heresy III. Based on my prior experience with the Heresy line, however, my concern for your application will be the lack of low end ooomph. That can be remedied to a degree, of course, with height and placement. I have also owned the Forte, Forte II and Cornwalls. Of those, I would probably agree that the Forte series is less than refined, but they are wonderful speakers for rock. The midrange of the Cornwall was very good and my concerns with that speaker did not arise from that area. I will say that I have other speakers that are better able to communicate through complex passages and my Devore Gibbon Super 8's would be on the top of that list as would my Oris horns with AER drivers.

The H3 and CW3 share the same horns for mids & highs, so if articulation is good with the CW3, then the H3 should be good, too. (The bottom end has been addressed already.)

So tell me about the Oris horns and Super 8s. Any links to these?

The Devores are a nice little 2-way. WAAAY more to the hi-fi side of life. None of the raw visceral thrill of the Klipsch:

http://www.devorefidelity.com/gibbons.html

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/roadtour11/roadtour11_2.html

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue28/awards2006.htm

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/bo06/michael.html

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0906/devore_gibbon_super_8.htm

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1006/bestof2006.htm

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue26/devore_gibbon.htm

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/bo05/ken.html

http://www.jazztimes.com/reviews/audio_video_files/reviewDetail.cfm?ReviewID=27

http://www.tonepublications.com/images/pdfs/TA_009.pdf

The Oris Horns are a bit more of a project:

http://www.bd-design.nl/index.html?lang=en-uk&target=d82.html

Check my profile for specific gear info, but mine use the AER driver and an active crossover from Welborne.

[seasterl]

Nice gear! Thanks for taking the time to list all those links and post the picture. The Super 8s seem well-loved and probably a real treat to some late-night jazz or blues. Where's your crossover point for the large, white horns. How do they sound on low male vocals like Fairfield Four or Blind Boys of Alabama? Do you run a SS amp for the cone woofers and tubes on the horns? The DIY Reference Compact 200 looked really cool.

[kev313]

The crossover on the Oris is at 160hz, so it covers a nice vocal range. Low vocals sound pretty darn good, but I'm probably going to upgrade the woofers in the future (when I have time to build an enclosure). Fortunately for the time being, my low end amplification is very good.

I switch between a Shindo Montille (el84 push pull) and a 45 based SET amp by Toshi Kurashima on the horns. The JBL woofers are handled by a pair of Shindo Sinhonia f2a based amps (which are far far too good to be permanently used in that application).

[seasterl]

The crossover on the Oris is at 160hz, so it covers a nice vocal range. Low vocals sound pretty darn good, but I'm probably going to upgrade the woofers in the future (when I have time to build an enclosure). Fortunately for the time being, my low end amplification is very good.

I switch between a Shindo Montille (el84 push pull) and a 45 based SET amp by Toshi Kurashima on the horns. The JBL woofers are handled by a pair of Shindo Sinhonia f2a based amps (which are far far too good to be permanently used in that application).

160Hz? That's sounds like what I'm looking for in a horn setup. Ideally, I'd have a cone woofer do the bass, and two or three horns handling the mids, highs, and most highs (like a super tweeter). Of all of my music, the upbeat rock (e.g., G-n-R) complicates things the most and having the extra horns would sound great. Plus, having the horns go down as low as 160Hz means even the deep-voiced male vocals will be nicely blended without the need of a cone woofer to pick up those frequencies. Coupled to your tubed amps, those must sound great. I'm hoping to get pretty good results with the H3's 850Hz and 5000Hz crossover points. I sort of wish the lower crossover points were just a bit lower, though, to bracket the vocal range a little better (even though the harmonics will go higher). I wonder if anyone is doing any mods on the H3 with premium wiring and crossover components and to shift the points to optimize the speaker for a particular voicing.

[John Potis]

What I don't understand is, if all you were looking for was an unbiased opinion, why you had to mention anything about this forum at all over at Audio Asylum. I do think it was offensive.

I'm new around here but I've spent a fair amount of time poking around the place and I find absolutely no difference in the validity of opinions here and at the Asylum. Well, that's not true. At least when you post a question about Klipsch over here you're going to hear from people... multitudes of them!-- who have owned and lived with the speakers. At the Asylum you're more likely to hear from people who are only familiar with Klipsch based on a one-hour demo in a store somewhere. Is one opinion more valid than the other? Inasmuch as you know nothing about the likes and dislikes of the nameless/faceless inmates, I'll take the opinions as expressed in this forum any day and twice on Sunday. People who have found a reason to invest their money with another speaker brand are not necessarily more objective about their decision than a Klipsch owner.

The other difference between this place and the Asylum is the congenial nature of these forums. In that regard, the Asylum is aptly named.

To answer your question, I did hear a pair of Heresys years ago that had the reticent midrange that you seem aware of. That was back in the very early 80s and from what I gather, newer models are improved. Can't say for sure, though, as I haven't heard one in years.

JP