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Newbie Questions


tdonovanj

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I just purchased from a garage sale today a pristine set of Heresey speakers for $40. Serial numbers are144X553 and 144X554. Could someone please determine what year they were made and wether they are I or II Hereseys? Also, my only experience with nice speakers were a set of LaScalas I had back in college, I drove them with a Carver amp. I have no such amp today. I want to play them, for now, thru an older surround sound reciever until I get my old Carver amp rebuilt. Will this be ok for the speakers? Please forgive my ignorance in advance. I know nothing about the difference between 4 ohm and 8 ohm speakers and just don't want to harm my garage sale find. Are the Heresey a 4 ohm or 8 ohm speaker?

Thanks for you patience and indulgence.

Tim

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Nice deal on the Heresys! I bought a pair in 1975 that served me well for 30 years until I got La Scalas. During a good portion of that time I drove the Heresys with a Carver M500t power amp (250W/ch) and they sounded great, 99% of the time the meters stayed below 3 watts but you could tell there were plenty of additional watts ready behind that.

As far as impedance matching goes, it is really not too critical until you are transfering a great deal of power. The efficiency of the Heresys with a strong amp means you won't ever really be putting much power to them so you may just try a few different settings to find how they sound best.

The Heresy I's are nominally rated at 8 ohms, but their lowest impedance is really about 10 ohms around the 150Hz range. This means they are an easy load for the amp to drive, and you may find that driving them off the 4 ohm taps gives them a bit more "body" in the low end, and a slightly "darker" voice overall compared to the 8 ohm tap - really depends on the particular amp, so try both, you will hurt your ears long before you hurt the speakers or the amp.

As they are 25 years old, you might consider refreshing the crossover networks - it can make a big difference to the clarity of the sound. Look around the forum for information about that and the folks here that rebuild old ones and build new ones.

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Hello Tim,

I had a pair of 1980 HBR HERESY 1 not very far from yours. These speakers work well with single ended no FB 300B tube amp on the 8 ohms tap, and also with OTL tube amp too. With a MARANTZ 2250B I have to increase a bit the bass level on the tone-corrector. Unlike any audiophile speaker, I suggest you to place them against a wall or an angle to have a correct bass extension, as it is recommended by Klipsch. Moreover, you have purchased for cheap one of the most sounding and indestructible speaker ever made in this size...

Very truly yours,

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