tin_ear Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I'm new to the forum, but a looooooooong time Klipsch owner. By way of introduction, here's my story: Back in 1974 I started shopping for new speakers. I'd narrowed the search down to some ESS (remember those? Squeezed air tweeters!) and a specific model of JBL. I could find the speakers individually, but never together at the same store for a side-by-side. Finally one day I stopped into a HiFi store in Dallas and they had both speakers. I spent quite a long time doing an a-b comparison and noting likes/dislikes about both. The salesman kept trying to point me to a third speaker, but I kept shooting him down. Finally when I'd finished my audition, he said "Now can I put the others on?" I rather grudgingly agreed. Well I immediately tore up my ESS/JBL list and knew I'd be buying a pair of Klipsch Heresies. I went off and did some research on the brand and learned the Heresy had been in production for about 20 years with essentially no design changes. They must do something right! Anyway, a few months later I was working in Hammond, Louisiana and saw an ad that an individual in Baton Rouge was selling a pair in walnut for about $350 if I remember correctly - about half price! They were soon mine. I used them for a few years and then they went into storage during an overseas stint that ended up lasting... 11 years! In the meantime I acquired some Mordaunt-Short Signifiers and some KEF 104aB's. When I ended up back in the States in '88 those Klipsch still sounded as sweet as the day I'd packed them (except the bass end couldn't compare with the much larger Mordaunt-Shorts). The M-S foam speaker surrounds disintegrated, however, so the Heresy became my main speakers again. Move ahead to about 1994 or so and I was at a friend's party. He'd just gotten a new pair of speakers and was bragging them up. They were Chorus II's and he'd gotten them that very day at Houston's Home Entertainment on a buy one get one free deal!!! I could hardly sleep that night and was outside the doors of Home Entertainment when they opened Sunday morning. SOLD OUT!!! But on checking the computers, there was still a pair available at the store across town... MINE!!! A new in box black pair for $900. Those are the ones I'm listening to today. The Heresies? I've got 'em tucked away in a corner now, but after 33 years I'll bet when I hook 'em back up they'll sound as sweet as ever!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HudsonValleyNoah Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Welcome home tinear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Welcome to the Forum! I had a pair of Chorus II's as well as a pair of Chorus I's, and loved them both. I sold the Chorus I's to my brother-in-law, and still get to hear them as he's just down the road from me. I also have a pair of 76 Heresey's in my garage. My main speakers are modified 86 La Scala's, and I am now using some Cornwall II's as my rears. Nothing like the Klipsch sound. I heard it for the first time in 78 while stationed in Germany, and have been pining after them ever since. By the way, I had a friend that got me into hifi when he started with a pair of ESS AMT 1B's and then graduated to the KEF 105.4's. After hearing his rigs I knew I would one day have something just as nice. I loved the KEF 105's by the way! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Welcome! Just imagine how sweet they'd all sound if you instead, had lead ears!! [8] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvan Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Ahh, you youngsters! I got into hifi with a pair of sand-filled Wharfedales. Anybody remember those fellas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel's wife Posted September 7, 2007 Moderators Share Posted September 7, 2007 Welcome to the forum tin ear! Hammond, Louisiana....that's pretty close to my hometown....Slidell, Louisiana! Are you still living down this way? Looks like we are getting quite a contingent of forum members down this way![] BTW, it's hard to beat the Klipsch sound, isn't it![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkp Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Welcome to the forum tin ear! Hammond, Louisiana....that's pretty close to my hometown....Slidell, Louisiana! Are you still living down this way? Looks like we are getting quite a contingent of forum members down this way![:D] BTW, it's hard to beat the Klipsch sound, isn't it![] When you get to a certain level, you're going to have to make a name for your group. "The Cajun Contingent," perhaps? [] Great story, tinear! Welcome to the forum! My foray into HiFi started with a pair of Marantz speakers. I still have them (at a friend's house) but don't recall the particular model number. They are three-ways, with a 15" woofer, 3 1/2" mid and a dome tweeter (liquid cooled-interesting). Anyway, I found them at one of the big chains when I was in hs and picked them up for about 1/2 price on a closeout. (that paper route money came in handy!) -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Yeh, I had a roommate who had ESS tweeters. Welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Hey there TINEAR, welcome! Nice story by the way. You remind me of ME!, with my long and complete stories. Well, I am very new to the Klipsch sound as many around here have recently found, and you'll find the photos of my '68 K'Horn project elsewhere in this forum if you care to take a bit of time to paw through them [] I have dynamic speakers (Pinnacle) ready to go into my new theatre, but I have just setup section in my music room for the K'Horns. They suffer from old age in a few areas, but I am doing something about that very soon. New tweeters to replace the weakening original K-77's and since I just noticed a buzz from one of the mid horns, I decided to replace BOTH diaphragms with new OEM's.... I'll start a new topic on that deal with photos as soon as the parts arrive. Again, welcome on board! .Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody_Mack Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 I'm new to the forum, but a looooooooong time Klipsch owner. By way of introduction, here's my story: Back in 1974 I started shopping for new speakers. I'd narrowed the search down to some ESS (remember those? Squeezed air tweeters!) and a specific model of JBL. I could find the speakers individually, but never together at the same store for a side-by-side. Finally one day I stopped into a HiFi store in Dallas and they had both speakers. I spent quite a long time doing an a-b comparison and noting likes/dislikes about both. The salesman kept trying to point me to a third speaker, but I kept shooting him down. Finally when I'd finished my audition, he said "Now can I put the others on?" I rather grudgingly agreed. Well I immediately tore up my ESS/JBL list and knew I'd be buying a pair of Klipsch Heresies. I went off and did some research on the brand and learned the Heresy had been in production for about 20 years with essentially no design changes. They must do something right! Anyway, a few months later I was working in Hammond, Louisiana and saw an ad that an individual in Baton Rouge was selling a pair in walnut for about $350 if I remember correctly - about half price! They were soon mine. I used them for a few years and then they went into storage during an overseas stint that ended up lasting... 11 years! In the meantime I acquired some Mordaunt-Short Signifiers and some KEF 104aB's. When I ended up back in the States in '88 those Klipsch still sounded as sweet as the day I'd packed them (except the bass end couldn't compare with the much larger Mordaunt-Shorts). The M-S foam speaker surrounds disintegrated, however, so the Heresy became my main speakers again. Move ahead to about 1994 or so and I was at a friend's party. He'd just gotten a new pair of speakers and was bragging them up. They were Chorus II's and he'd gotten them that very day at Houston's Home Entertainment on a buy one get one free deal!!! I could hardly sleep that night and was outside the doors of Home Entertainment when they opened Sunday morning. SOLD OUT!!! But on checking the computers, there was still a pair available at the store across town... MINE!!! A new in box black pair for $900. Those are the ones I'm listening to today. The Heresies? I've got 'em tucked away in a corner now, but after 33 years I'll bet when I hook 'em back up they'll sound as sweet as ever!!! Where are you now. Are you still in Houston? I bought my 1983 Heresys at Home Entertainment, years before they went 'corporate' on us; they are now Tweeter. I was in the Tweeter store a while back, and I asked "where are the Klipsch speakers?" They replied, "we don't sell those anymore, 'cause stores like Best Buy sell them now and we wouldn't want to jeapordize our high-end image". Well, looky here at Tweeter's latest offerings: http://www.tweeter.com/category/brands.asp How ironic is that! But they will sell Bose! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tin_ear Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! For those who asked, my Klipsches and I are still in Houston. This looks like a great forum and I'm glad I found it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tin_ear Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 By the way, I had a friend that got me into hifi when he started with a pair of ESS AMT 1B's ... Those were the ones! Does anybody remember what they called the tweeter element? It was something unique like a folded plastic envelope that squeezed and contracted to produce an omnidirectional sound field. I remember when I auditioned them they produced a lot of sibilance. EDIT: Armed with the name of the speaker, I searched it out on the internet. The tweeter was a folded ribbon design called the Heil Air Motion Transformer named after its inventor, Dr. Oskar Heil. Looks like I was wrong about it being omnidirectional. It's a dipole radiator. Here's a Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Motion_Transformer And a pic from ebay: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel's wife Posted September 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted September 10, 2007 Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! For those who asked, my Klipsches and I are still in Houston. This looks like a great forum and I'm glad I found it. We're glad you found us too! This is a great place with a lot of knowledgeable folks about "All Things Klipsch"! If you have not already done so check out the Pilgrimage Section on this forum. The Pilgrimage is an annual event hosted by the fine folks at Klipsch. Again, welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me Loves Khorns Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Welcome to the forum! Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lindsey Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 By the way, I had a friend that got me into hifi when he started with a pair of ESS AMT 1B's ... Those were the ones! Does anybody remember what they called the tweeter element? It was something unique like a folded plastic envelope that squeezed and contracted to produce an omnidirectional sound field. I remember when I auditioned them they produced a lot of sibilance. EDIT: Armed with the name of the speaker, I searched it out on the internet. The tweeter was a folded ribbon design called the Heil Air Motion Transformer named after its inventor, Dr. Oskar Heil. Looks like I was wrong about it being omnidirectional. It's a dipole radiator. Here's a Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Motion_Transformer And a pic from ebay: Yeah, it was just a 2-way... good lows with great highs, but unfortunately lacking the mids that we have come to love with Klipsch speakers. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Welcome from a fellow Texan. I'm right down the road from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsched with Yamahas Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Welcome to the madness.......and don't feel bad, it only took me 23 years to locate the Klipsch forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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