Klipsch!. The worst speaker company, EVER?

Klipsch are what got me "serious" about this hobby.  I've always had stereos, turntables, etc. since I was a teenager, but nothing of "audiophile" quality and as my finances allowed I focused more on home theater than 2 channel audio.

I was at a local hifi dealer right after the Klipsch RF-7 II came out and remember being completely blown away by the sound of those speakers.  I had never heard Black Cow by Steely Dan sound so good.  They were very detailed and "live" sounding and the bass was incredible, at least compared to what I had heard at that time.  The first thing I did was look for a subwoofer, but there wasn't one.

My budget at the time didn't allow me to purchase the RF-7 II's, but I did find a cherry pair of CF-3 speakers.  They were unfortunately version 3, not I, but still sounded amazing. 

That started me on a journey of buying mostly Klipsch speakers for quite a while.  I eventually broadened my horizons, and have owned many other brands since then and the Klipsch are no longer my main speakers, but I still have a few pairs of Klipsch speakers including a pair of KLF-30s with Crites upgrades (mids, tweeters, and crossovers) and a pair of Heresy I speakers with Crites upgrades (woofers, mids, tweeters, and crossovers).  I still enjoy them on a daily basis.

I do agree that they can sound harsh or too bright in some circumstances.  I belong to a local music club and we get together every month and listen to music on some high end gear.  We have listened to La Scalas with an Anthem STR integrated and with a Primaluna integrated (I don't recall which one) and with the Anthem, at high volumes they hurt my ears. 

To a person, everyone else in the club loves the sound of the La Scalas, so I'm the odd man out.  To me, they sound amazing up to a point, but beyond that they hurt my ears, and I like loud music.  To me, my KLF-30s can play much louder without that harshness on the top end, but they don't create the sense of space and dynamics the La Scalas do. 

Like the La Scalas, the Heresy can be a little bright at high volumes, but I have them in an office system being driven by an ARC Vsi-55 tube integrated and rarely play them loud.  Until the volume gets really loud, they are very listenable.  It's a near field system, they are only about 6 feet from my listening spot, and they do not irritate or fatigue me.

I understand why some people don't like them and that's totally OK.  Sometimes I don't like them, but overall I think they represent a great value and are fun to listen to and bring you close to a "live" experience.

Although I would never trust a reviewer to pick out my own personal speakers for me, I remember a few years back a reviewer at Stereophile (Sam Tellig) reviewed the new Heritage version La Scala, and he gave that speaker a class A , limited low frequency  recommendation. He really liked the speaker! I almost bought a pair a few years ago for a second system, but didn't have the room for the La Scala's and a sub. The speakers to my ears didn't sound bright or hard at all.

^The current Heritage line is not bright by today's standards. They're certainly no brighter than the average B&W, Focal, Paradigm, Monitor Audio or Revel speaker. 

Mrdecible , I set  up a few if  they bought Mac , our push brand .I felt sorry for one very rich Northwestern grad student who was having
screechitis with hers .I brought my own Sony V-Fet  intergated  out and all was great for both of us .Esp. me .

Great conversation... I was selling most of the above gear back in the 70's and 80's... Brings back memories... Many diverse opinions as always in this hobby.

Sold enough Klipsch to be able to drink too much whiskey with Paul Klipsch himself and remember him saying through the fog "What the world really needed was a good 10 watt amplifier!"
Yep, K-Horns 104db at 1 watt!

I think my pride and joy around then at home was a Marantz 2230 while some of my clients just had to have that Phase Linear 700 or an AmpZilla!

Sold enough B&W to drink wine with John Bowers and hear his wisdom on B&W's efforts to make their products sound wonderful as well as be reliable... In John's words "We make every effort to make our speakers idiot proof... the problem we find is that idiots are so F...ing ingenious!"  

These guys always made me laugh... Some AG forums do too!

I often had to leave the sound room when doing demos on K-horns, Belle's, La Scala's, Cornwall's etc because after long hours on the sales floor I was craving peace and quiet... Too much Dark Side of the Moon or E. Power Biggs maybe...  And OMG delivering them to a home was often insane... especially when an unsuspecting wife said "and exactly where are THOSE going to go???"

Regardless, I often used a double stack of La Scala speakers as live sound reinforcement... Great for big bands like Tommy Dorsey or Jim Miller... They were the "LIVE" sound of the day for those crowds of listeners.  La Scala's were great for portable sound back then, not only because of their remarkable efficiency but because the horns provided "SQ throw" that other designs did not have... Electro Voice LR7's like the Beatles were set up to perform with were not even close... JBL was also great after their Bi Radial horns appeared but they were not as efficient and I remember them being harder to move due to their weight... Probably denser particle board compared to the Klipsch birch marine grade plywood which could also stand up to incredible abuse, even rain.

I did own several versions of Heresy speakers and it's interesting to know that the very reason Paul Kilpsch called them "Heresy" was because in his mind that is exactly what they were!
Remember to enjoy the music!