Klipsch Heritage Series

Klipsch has been around since the 1940's and specializes in making horn driven speakers that are highly efficient - can get very loud with very little power. I've been through a number of designs over the years, from LS35a's to Theil, Magnepan, Totem, Paradigm, Linn, B+W, and so on. To my ears, Klipsch speakers are capable of a musical realism that I don't get elsewhere. It's hard to explain, but instead of focusing on what the sound is like I focus on the music itself.

You can take a visit to the Klipsch forum at http://community.klipsch.com/forums/ and get a lot more information there. It's a very friendly forum. Good luck in your pursuit.

I've owned Heresy's and LaScalla's and I always thought they had the potential for great sound. Like with your setup, I ended up running them with "not so great" electronics and dumped them in search of a smoother sound. Horns have inherent strengths and weaknesses. One thing I have noticed about the big Heritage line speakers (LaScalla, Belle, Khorn) is they need the right sized room and the electronics. I have read quite a few SET reviewers that use the big Klipsch speakers and say they are in heaven. From my experience, a small, high quality tube amp and a good sized listening room would be a great match for Klipsch Heritage speakers. I ran the LaScallas with a Nakamichi PA7 for a while and I thought I got pretty good results but the midrange was not to my liking. I believe at least part of the problem was the room size. I spent some time on the Klipsch forums and there are many, many tweaks to alter the sound to fit an individual’s taste. As my musical tastes transitioned from mostly hard rock/metal to alternative, and now blues, up tempo jazz and vocalists, my taste in speakers has changed as well. Not that Chicago on a pair of LaScalla’s isn’t a great match but Nora Jones was another story. Again, this is in a smaller room with SS amplifiers. I can say in my hard rocking heyday; nothing and I mean nothing could compete with the LaScalla and a good 18” JBL pro sub.

A few months back, I got to spend a week with an old buddy who had a set of Cornwalls and a pair of rebuilt Dynaco tube amps. I was amazed at how much smoother his speakers sounded than my LaScallas did. It was dramatic but he had a large room and the amps had been maticulosly gone through. I finally sold my LaScalla's and bought a pair og Heresy's. I did better with the Heresy but again … my taste seemed to favor a monitor speaker with a soft dome tweeter. The Dynaudio C1 is my current favorite match to my Levinson23.5/Modwright SWL 9.0 combo. Since I can’t quite afford the C1, I am running Proac D twos and I am very, very pleased. Getting back to the Klipsch; Bob Crites has done a lot to change the crossovers and upper end of the heritage line. From all that I have read – it makes a big improvement and that seems logical – the crossovers I was using in my LaScalla’s were almost 20 years old. Who knows what condition the caps were in? Ultimately, I am planning an addition to the house for music and movies – the plan is to finally buy the Klipschhorns I have always wanted. That should tell you something. I still want back into the Heritage line. I would love to pick up a rebuilt HK Citation II or a Marantz 8b and let those babies sing. My advice it to look at your room size and dimensions then post of the Klipsch forum and see what people think. I would at least consider trying a small ARC, Cary or better yet a rebuilt Dynaco or HK tube amp and compare it to what you are currently using. You might just me amazed.

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Klipsch is a love/hate proposition. The Heritage series was head an shoulders above most dynamic speakers 30-40 years ago. Transducers got so much better, now clean sound can be had without horns to keep diaphragm excursion low.
This doesn't mean I dont like Klipsch horn loaded speakers. I have some Forte IIs and they are very fun to listen to. High efficiency opens the door to a variety of amps that would fall flat with average efficiency speakers. The newer horn design "tractrix" addresses the baffler interface and reduces some of the negative horn effect. The Heritage series does not feature the tratrix horn design. I have read of an upgrade recommended by a Klipsch tech, changing mid the horn, but not the original driver on the Cornwall.
The perfect speaker would have no signature of it's own, just sound like music. I guess that could be said about any part of the chain, right down to the microphone recording the original event. It boils down to subjective preferences.

Donjr, first - this is probably not the best place to research Klipsch Heritage speakers. Go to the High Efficiency Speaker forum on AA, or for a more biased point of view look to the Klipsch Community website.

I like vintage speaker designs such as the Klipsch Heritage, Altec Lansing and many others. I have owned (and still own) several Klipsch models. It is true that these vintage horns sound very different than bass reflex enclosures. I love the hyper detail of a good EL panel or ribbon speaker, but IMHO a good horn speaker is warmer, more musical and has better instrument texture than ELs or all cone speakers.

As you will see, Klipsch Heritage speakers come in a variety of sizes and prices. They all share a similar (if not quite the same) house sound. And despite what some might say, vintage horns can be quite versatile when it comes to room size. I am using a pair of Belles in an 11 x 13 room and they sound great.

If you want to see if Klipsch speakers will work for you, here's my suggestion for doing so on the cheap: look for a clean set of KG-4s. These can be usually be found for less then $200, and often for $100. While these are not Heritage speakers per se, they are very good for the price and will introduce you to the Klipsch sound for a minimal investment. Stick them right up against the back wall, adjust the width apart until the image snaps into focus. Use lamp cord if you like - more expensive cable won't make a noticeable difference (again, IMHO). If you like what you hear, you can sell them for what you paid for them and move up the line, or you can rebuild the crossovers for under $100 which will improve the midrange and high end clarity.

Have fun.