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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
oblgny's avatar
oblgny
848 posts
 
I once owned for quite a long time a pair of Klipsch Epic CF-3’s that, over the years, began to grate on me in terms of the treble from the compression horn tweeter.  They were, I think, 103db sensitive so it didn’t take much to drive them and, at the time,  I was employing modest amplification anyway.  

The “brightness” bothered me so much that I actually stuffed a pair of socks into the mouth of the horns to remove the edges.  Obviously that was equally stupid and ineffective.  

Anyway, I stumbled upon a thread somewhere, possibly here, that addressed a resolution to the problem I experienced.  Seems the person with the identical issue simply removed the horns from the cabinet then packed them with Dynamat before putting them back in.  (This would be on the outside of the horn itself, not the inside.)

Now I cannot relate if that remedy worked to the ends hoped for, but it made me wish I had come across it when I still had the CF-3’s just to hear for myself. Sheesh.  

The most surprising thing to me when I removed the horns from the cabinets - for reasons unrelated to the aforementioned - was the internal wiring.  It was run of the mill 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire throughout!




helomech
1,672 posts
 
@brooklynyluke,

Credit for the mod goes to Mrdecibel. 
It involves covering the outer surfaces of the horn with constrained layer damping material, like Dynamat. I haven't performed the mod yet, but having worked with similar material in other audio applications, I'm confident that it will make a significant improvement. 

helomech
1,672 posts
 
The most surprising thing to me when I removed the horns from the cabinets - for reasons unrelated to the aforementioned - was the internal wiring.  It was run of the mill 10 or 12 gauge speaker wire throughout!

I checked out the wiring situation in the H-IIIs. It's a name brand (can't remember it off my head) of stranded OFC. It appears to be high quality cable - as good as one's likely to find in any $2K speakers.
800jackson's avatar
800jackson
3 posts
 
I usually don’t comment....we are all looking for music nirvana....within our budget....
listing to Klipsch fortes from the 80’s upgraded with alk crossovers and crites titanium diaphragms....I have $1,200 into them, acquired locally so no shipping....the upgrades to the fortes offered substantial improvements....fortes replaced Ohm model Is....which wanted to be loud to sound great.  The ohms were driven by a nad 150 watts...the Klipsch did not like the nad (too bright) I moved on to a restored fisher x202b....but was always a bit disappointed in the base....on a craigslist whim, I moved on to a golden tube se  100....100 tube watts gets you close to heaven...I am using  the linear tube micro z as the pre.  I am fairly confident that I have the only mixture of these components....The randomness of the audio universe and more spent than I want to admit has gotten me to an amazing listening place....I will never get back what I have in the nad and the fisher....so I would part with them for the right price


mont1ana
9 posts
 

i've owned many speakers (PSB Synchrony Ones, Martin Logan Spires, 
PBN Montana EPS 2s, Revel F208, Sonus Faber Liutos and some high
quality amplification, Simaudio i7).  My friend has a pair of Heresy IIs
in his apartment driven by a low priced Denon integrated. I've always
been pleased and amazed with the sound of his Heresy setup,
even at low volumes. They have a fantastic soundstage. Many times
sounds emanate far outside the speaker. Never felt they were harsh, just very lifelike. Admittedly, have not heard them at high volume in deference
to his condo neighbors. Overall, was very impressed by such a modest priced speaker.
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