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Disappointed w/ Klipsch Heresy III. Now what?

I'd be very grateful for some help with a quandary.

I recently replaced my Ohm Walsh 1000 speakers with Heresy III speakers, running two-channel from a Rega Brio. I was pretty excited about the Heresy IIIs based on reviews — they were efficient, so my 35-watt amp would get the job done; they were supposed to have real punch in the low mid-range, so I could hear the upright bass clearly; they reportedly had excellent imaging; and best of all, they were supposed to sound great at low volumes. They are also indisputably beautiful, which was an important factor for my wife. (The Ohms are elegant, but you have to be an audio lover to see their beauty.)

I set them up, and . . . not so bad, pretty good. Especially loud. In fact the louder the better. Crank them up and they sing. But loud is not really an option with a new baby. So how do they sound quiet? They sound like the band is trapped in shoe box. Really in two shoe boxes because the L and R don't merge that well. The sound stage is tiny. All the detail is gone, the joy is gone. They are no fun at all. Music just seems like a bunch of noise.

But I want to believe! I want to make these speakers work. So I am faced with a quandary. I could:

1. Buy stands, a subwoofer and a tube amp, all of which people in various forums have recommended to improve the various failings I hear now.

2. Replace the Rega with something much more powerful and pull the Ohms out of the closet. (Suboptimal because it will make my wife sad because of the aforementioned perceived ugliness.)

3. Just start all over again. Different amp, different speakers.

I'd kind of prefer number 1. But I don't want to end up with a bunch of stuff designed to solve a problem and then not have that problem solved! (And I'd also just as soon avoid getting a subwoofer.)

Final note. Positioning is an intractable nightmare. It is the one thing that I can't really change, because of how our living room is layed out. It is obviously a big problem though. The living room is a big rectangle, 18 x 40 feet, and the speakers are near the corners of the 18-foot ends, on either side of a couch. I can move them around — closer or further from the couch, closer or further from the wall. But I can't raise them above the height of the couch or move them out in front or over to another wall. That discussion went nowhere!

What should I do?

 



brooklynluke
grinccaffe's avatar
grinccaffe
13 posts
 
Hi, Heresy 3 arrived today!
I still did not connect them yet, because I'm waiting for them to adapt to room temperature. I just put them in the starting (desired) position.
Tomorrow morning, I will put them in the drive :)
The picture shows that my couch goes a little into the sound field (that's something I can not avoid, which is why I have considered the stand option).

http://prntscr.com/ifp2u6

http://prntscr.com/ifp39c

http://prntscr.com/ifp3i5

Tomorrow starts burning. We'll see where this leads.
I'll come up with the first results.
Regards
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,983 posts
 
Enjoy ,I love my H3
wolf_garcia
6,726 posts
 
I might have said this before but I don't think the Heresy IIIs "sound" like horns really, but maybe that's just me (I use horn loaded speakers in my studio, pro mixing gigs, and have owned a lot of speakers including Altec A7s years ago…now that's horny!). I've been experimenting with placement a little, and ongoing sub integration tweaking. I read something Paul McGowan said about speaker placement where he suggested putting the speakers further apart from each other to tame possible upper bass issues, and that inspired me to do exactly that. Moved 'em about 8 inches further out and they sound simply better. Thanks Paul.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,429 posts
 
I always have an itch to try different speakers in my second system and I might scratch it again soon. Heresy III is a leader for next speaker up. IT would work well in my family room especially with the Klipsch sub there, 60 w/ch amp, also WAF, and something different and fun. I’ve heard them and was very pleasantly surprised. They made me a fan in a short audition. OR maybe Thiel? Harbeth? ELAC? Who knows.
oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,983 posts
 
I placed mine a little further apart than my last speakers and the Heresys have a huge soundstage and surprisingly good imaging. 

I feel part of the reason they work well in this room is because they don't produce much bass below 60hz which helps avoid room modes which are centered around 40Hz.    But the bass they do produce is excellent with great pitch definition ,   no speaker I've owned reproduces an upright bass like they do.   A sub is a must , but overdo it and it ruins their sound.  It took a while to find a crossover point and slope that didnt muddy their low end.   
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