Rock and Roll System

I think the ATC suggestion is an excellent one. Another possiblity: speakers from Meyer Sound. This is pro gear and it seems to be what goes into every high-end sound reinforcement setting I see these days. A friend of mine has a pair of small ones he uses nearfield for producing a radio show. I think they would suit your application, though my impression is that they are very clean sounding, not grundgy. Not sure where you'd buy them, but I imagine you have the connections in pro audio.

I've got the same dilemna - what in the high end is best for steamrolling all the great rock and roll I grew up on? Anyone have an opinion regarding aerials powered by strong solid state stuff for this application?

I owned Heresy's for many years. As Sean says, they'll play loud...that's the good news. The bad news is that they are mid-range forward and light on the bass. Your room is pretty big so you may not get below 60Hz. A sub is needed especially for rock. In a 20x25 room Dunlavy's should work well. I've heard the Cantata and Aletha and both are worth a listen and wouldn't need a sub (these speakers have great bass, actually the best I've heard).

Oh, by the way, listen to Kelly's advice on the Avant Garde's. My ears, too, are bleeding. Dave

The Klipsch KLF 30 Towers can do it all. Not that pricey either!

Milo, did you have the original Heresy's or the Heresy II's ? You can tell the difference as the II's had plastic horn bodies rather than metal.

Something else that you need to check into on these is how the mids are wired. Some of the earlier versions had the midrange aka "squawker" wired out of phase. For best results, it should be wired in phase i.e. following normal polarity. This made a VERY noticeable difference right off the bat if you had this problem. Mids INSTANTLY become more cohesive and liquid.

I will agree that the bottom end is somewhat light on the Heresy's. They will do an honest 50 - 60 Hz in stock form and that is it. That is why i recommended "stacking" a pair, as it not only increases the output capacity, you also double the surface area of the bass drivers and increase baffle size. For those that don't know this, baffle size IS directly proportional to bass capacity. In stock form, the bass that they do produce is very "quick" and clean with good snap. As you know from the above post, i still recommend subs to help fill in the extreme bottom end.

As to being "forward" in the mids, the complete spectral balance of the speaker changes once you damp the horn bodies and perform some basic mods. One of the regulars at AA performed the very basic stuff that i recommend on the older Klipsch "Classic" series to his Heresy's. He thought that the lower bass was almost TOO strong and that the speaker was now "too warm" sounding. Before this, he too had complained about the typical "horn sound" of these i.e. being too forward, somewhat hard and bright, etc...

Obviously, going from (and being used to) something that was lean and bright / forward to something that was much smoother with increased bottom end might seem like TOO much of a big change. This is an easy thing to correct though, as all of the basic mods that i recommend are done in a manner that are easily reversible, step by step. As such, you can do them in stages to find out what you like / don't like and progress accordingly. Due to the differences in room acoustics, tonal balance of the system, personal preference, it is not that hard to achieve a good blend of"smoothness" and "bite" with the horns and "warmth" and "speed" from the bottom end driver. One HAS to be willing to experiment to achieve this though, so that lets a lot of "non participating" type audiophiles out of the picture. Sean
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