speakers with balls

I think my Zu Omen Defs rip the paint off the walls. I'm pushing them with Bryston amps and pre. Possible that the power is the issue?

Lots of good advice so far. I’ve had JBL, Klipsch, Paradigm, Infinity, you name it.

Klipsch Heresy, Forte, Chorus, Reference, Cornwall -- all incredible rock speakers. I listen to alt rock, classic punk, rock from the 70s to modern, acid rock, metal (nothing too severe).

Alt Rock is my favorite. I have Klipsch RF-7 IIs in walnut connected to a Parasound HCA-3500 -- it’s like having an amp dedicated to each speaker. Someone here said "hearing protection". This is an understatement. I’ve knocked pictures off the walls upstairs in my home!

The horns are mega bright. To temper this a little I put something like dynamat on the backside of the horn which helped smooth the high resonant freq of the horn material (I think it’s ABS or similar).

All in all, you can’t go wrong with Klipsch. In your situation (medium size modern unit?), you’ll love the Heresy. They’re beautiful inside and out.

 I would suggest you audition the speakers from VanL speaker works in Chicago (Actually Norridge IL)   When modified to your tastes, let John VanL know your want to rock, these have significant balls, but transition to Blues Jazz or classical in an exceptional fashion.  The the stand mounted Quartette or the floor standing Silhouette become some of the best choices, i have heard.   I really liked my Maggies / ML's /AR's/ Acoustic Energy etc and have listened to most of the really high end speakers, but I fell in love with my VanLs especially with the mods John made for me.

The Who  Hendrix, Zepplin  the Kinks, Cream, Bowie or Stills Kooper and Bloomfield on Super Session, Muddy or Buddy never sounded better 

I'm running a pair of ATMs (SCM12 Pro) on my desktop--and I'm immensely impressed by these big 2-ways. 

They eat power for breakfast (powering them w/Wyred4Sound ST500 amp @255WPC). They can get so much louder than I would be able to tolerate in this home office (13' X 13"). 

Bass is rather astounding for a 2-way. Articulation is off the charts. Lots of detail, but not bright/peaky. I see why the studio types go batshit over these.

Strongly recommended. And BTW, if you spend even more money, you can get the same drivers/crossover in a "prettier" wood enclosure that's somewhat smaller in volume (11 liters vs 12 liters): 
https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/atc-scm11-v2-bookshelf-speakers

ukaszwk16 posts03-23-2018 9:36amOk, so oddly no one has mentioned it but if you want a speaker that truly rocks and does everything else extremely well Klipsch Palladium is what you have to consider, either the p37f, 38 or 39. They pop up here and there on different sites used occasionally and do exactly what you're looking for. No, they are not bright if they're driven with quality gear. Frankly my search would start and stop there


Owned them.

Everyone ears are different.  I used pretty warm electronics.

Above 90dbs - too damn bright.  I was bummed.  Cymbals came way too forward in the mix for me.  Also, they don't hit low.  Not nearly enough bass.  The RF7II's do better in the bass.

I'm not a klipsch hater, in fact I like them in many cases.  The palladiums look great, they have very little horn coloration, they are fast, and at lower levels sound great (a little bass shy).

But, I wished they were a bit less bright at volume, and simply had more bass.