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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,333 posts
 
This is an interesting topic for me.

I have been on the fence about trying Klipsch Heresy III in my second system. I run Triangle Titus and Klipsch sw-308 subwoofer there currently. Amp is Bel Canto C5i integrated. The sound is lovely. I have also used my OHM Walshes and Dynaudio monitors in this system but with only 60 w/ch and certain placement limitations I lean towards the higher efficiency Triangles, especially with the powered sub in play. I tend to listen at modest to lower volumes with this system.

I like Heresy’s I have heard of other SS amplification (modest A/V receiver at dealer) but have not listened at low volume. Need to do that I suppose. For now the sound I have  is most satisfying when I listen so no great rush to drop 2 grand on another pair of speakers quite yet.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
A few thoughts which might help. If you speakers are 10 feet apart and only 8 ft distant from your prime listening area that alone could account for some serious imaging and high frequency harshness issues. I would suggest that you move your chair (if possible) back to at least 10 feet from the front plane of your speakers, play with toe in if possible (including moving the axis of the speakers so that it crosses well in front of the listening position) and perhaps moving the speakers a little forward until their fronts are flush with the front of the sofa - a little closer together might not be much of an issue then. 
wolf_garcia
6,711 posts
 
The Heresy IIIs I bought are still available on Ebay for about 1500 bucks by the way (well, not MINE as I refuse to give them up…but the Nevada dude still sells the "damaged box" free shipping ones and seems to offer the best deal out there)…and mine have simply settled in nicely… around 7 feet apart and 9 feet from my earballs. I put Vibrapods under their corners and removed the butcher blocks that raised them a few inches to return them to the original "sit on the floor" design, and put thick felt "stick on" pads under the vibrapods to allow them to be micro tweaked regarding placement (sliding them around on the wood floor). Decoupled! They respond to every tube change and 2 inch movement, and have turned out to be outstanding speakers that continue to astound me. Maybe I’m easily astounded, but with some minor movement and tweaking to my 2 REL subs, my rig has never sounded better. Note that for "low volume" listening (a relative term) these things pair nicely with a Schiit Loki EQ gizmo, but otherwise respond to the dreaded Fletcher Munson curve better than some…still…ya gotta hit that curve! Also, most of this post is specifically designed to get Mapman off the dime.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,945 posts
 
stack o dimes for mapman......
glad you are having fun wolf, that is after all the point.....

wolf_garcia
6,711 posts
 
Who said this is fun? It's serious business man...
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