Muddy sounding Heresys

[cc1091]

I'm curious if anyone else who owns early 1980s vintage Heresy speaekrs (Heresy I not II), hears a lot of 'muddiness' in the 150hz to 250hz range of the speaker. I noticed this when I was younger, but felt it was probably because of the realatively inexpensive equipment they were connected to. I have now tried them with my relatively clean Denon receiver used as a preamp, output to a very clean Rotel amp, same problem. To remove all doubt, this weekend my heresys were driven using a Cary tube amp, connected direct to a new NAD Silver series CD player that sounds very fine though the owner's Quad 57s. Same muddy sound unless I connect in my EQ and set those frequencies down 3 to 6 db. Cleans it up a little, but doesn't remove it.

Any thoughts?

[TBrennan]

CC---Damn, I've heard Hereseys called lots of things but never muddy. Do you mean that they lack clarity in the lower midrange? If the speakers are working correctly maybe there's just something inherant with Hereseys you don't like. Lots of things sound muddy compared to Quads. :-)

[cc1091]

Yes muddy. In the upper portion of the lower range of the speaker (that is firmly in the bass driver area). Yes the terminals seem to be correct + to +, - to -. Tweeter and Squawker are crystal clear. Imaging from tweeter and squawker seem to be fine. Just the lower end of the speaker (not the absolute lowest sounds it produces) seem to be muddy and illdefined.

Muddy as compared to B&W 602s, and Klipsch RP-3s as well as the Quads.

I've owned these particular speakers for about 20 years. I don't recall them being like this until about 10 years had elapsed. Could there be a problem with the woofers or could there be a problem with the oil filled caps?

[Malcolm]

I have to agree that muddy is not a term normally associated with Heresys. Most who complain cite lack of bass, brightness, or harshness.

Because you say they changed after about 10 year, I can think of three possibilities:

1. Your hearing changed

2. Your taste changed

3. Something in the speaker changed

I've heard people complain of muddiness when the squawker or tweeter failed. Are you sure the squawker is working properly?

As far as capacitors go, I think it is unlikely that a paper in oil (PIO) capacitor would change much unless seriously abused. Its easy to test though, just swap out with another one. If you do, you might consider good audio grade metallized polypropelene caps as a tweak. Technology has improved since Klipsch built your Heresys. OTOH some people swear by PIO caps.

[cc1091]

I know my hearing has changed. When I got these I could hear up to 22.5 Khz. I know that I'd be lucky to hear much above 17khz now (perhaps I'm being optimistic here). Usually hearing doesn't roll off in the middle of your usable frequencies unless something is drastically wrong (and especially when most other speakers don't have the same problem).

Yeah, I'd bet my tastes have changed. But it still doesn't explain the muddiness at these frequencies.

Your right in that I should recheck the squawker, though since the crossover is at 700hz, I'm not sure if this would do anything but cover-up the muddy bass. While I'm inside the speaker, i guess I will double check to see that the woofer is still wired to the crossover correctly since I did partake in the reversable network mod from a while back (and did reverse it back to the original). Hmmm..also recheck my soldering.

Has anyone found a decent non paper woofer replacement? Not looking for more bass here (although lord knows the Heresy needs that too), just cleaner bass.