Klipsch love them or hate them.

From my own experience what the Klipschorn Loudspeaker needs is a bigger mid range cone and larger flare say a 3" cone?. That would alleviate the mid range shrill/harshness (for want of better words) and allow the mid octaves to sound unstrained and uncongested on certain types of music. The tweeter could be Improved upon also.

I’d say the midrange horn of the stock Klipschhorn is the bigger problem than the driver itself, but nevertheless I find your proposal makes sense. My own speakers are build or "modeled" around the Belle Klipsch by one Simon Mears in Brighton, UK; meaning the bass horn is largely similar although the mids and tweeter horn + drivers and crossovers are completely different. Moreover the build and parts quality is substantially better. The 2" exit B&C DCM50 midrange compression driver used here sports a 5" (presumably paper-based) composite diaphragm with a 2" voice coil, which in regards to midrange compression drivers is almost unheard of (actually this driver is more or less a modern, permanent magnet clone of the old late 20’s RCA MI-1428B field coil midrange compression driver); usually the largest diameter diaphragms used in mids comp. drivers today is 4." The tractrix midrange horn of the "Belle a la Mears" is build from CNC-machined stacked plywood, and together with the B&C midrange driver delivers a full-yet-precise, utterly unrestrained and uncongested sound with no harshness of any kind. Indeed I find it to be some of the absolute best midrange I’ve ever heard. Which brings me to:

... do I spend money and modify/Improve them or just leave them for what they are and enjoy them for what they do well?

My recommendation would be to try and have your cake and eat it too, and have the Klipschhorn midrange and tweeter units + horns and crossovers completetely modified from ALK Engineering or Volti Audio. It won’t be cheap, but you would attain a one-package solution with 105dB sensitivity, almost full-range, and stellar overall presentation (relatively affordable still) - quite rare these days.

I've had similar experiences as @rx7onmymind, but with the Heresy III. I cannot say that I notice the cupped voice issue with many songs. 

When paired with tubes, I haven't heard a better speaker for late night listening. 

They do compete with many modern designs, because they have strengths that others lack. All speakers are a compromise in some form or another. Of the many pairs of $2k speakers I've auditioned, the Heresys are up there with the best. They do forfeit bass of the lowest octaves, but they're superior in a couple ways to the ubiquitous 3-way towers from brands like B&W, MA, Focal, and Paradigm. 

I'd wager that many naysayers here have never heard any Heritage Klipsch models, or at least, haven't heard the newest gen. 

No, I'm not just a Klipsch fanboy. I used to make the same negative assumptions about this brand, based on my experience with Klipsch RF towers.

@helomech,


Jimmy Hughes a well respected UK hi-fi reviewer music guru whom I have purchased some his equipment recommendations over the past many moons with no regrets gave the Heresy lll's a great review in 2010 and stated that he could live with a pair. No higher praise than that.
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/klipsch-heresy-iii-loudspeakers-hifi-plus-71/

@phusis ,

I would love to hear the Uccello, It looks lovely and I am sure it sounds wonderful. I hope Mr Mears comes to the RMAF this year with the Uccello or an equivalent, then again a trip to sunny  Blighty could be on the cards for me soon, see the family, friends and have a decent Indian curry, and a trip to the seaside!!
Thanks for your Info regarding ALK Engineering/ Volti Audio I might just look into both of them and research their offerings into making a good speaker excellent. Mr Klipsch only had to put on some music with massed violins with the violinists giving their bows some serious welly to see how constrained and downright unpleasant a sound that would be a pain on the shell likes and would even get  pets running to exit the room. Its a flaw that can be overcome with simply (layman's terms) going large or larger. Of course my views are to my ears upon my own listening experience, and naturally I could very well be wrong.
Then again Taters could be correct in that they are "the worst"..........