Klipsch Heresy 1 Compatibility question with Class D Amp

If the amps are well designed as I assume these are, they should work fine as long as your preamp isn’t sending a signal that’s too hot...you can buy little pads to alleviate that, but if you can get a comfortable volume range from the preamp level I bet they’ll work fine. Heresy 1s are 96DB efficient so you’re going to likely only be using a few watts of your amps...let’s hope those watts sound great!

Should be a good match.

The thing I would wonder about is if teh high power (though efficient) amps are overkill for the high efficiency Heresy?

That combo should be capable of very high SPL and dynamics. If it were me I’d avoid over driving the Heresys just in case but that’s about it. If the Heresys go as loud as needed with out any sign of stress or breakup, you should be fine.

There was no such thing as home amps delivering 100s of watts of power back when teh Heresy was conceived. In fact it was concieved mainly for use with much lower power tube amps of the day.

I might try a similar combo sometime in the near future with 500 w/ch Bel Canto CLass Ds but probably with brand spanking new Heresy IIIs that I expect are designed to hold up for sure with a plethora of modern tube or SS amps.

Mostly though I would target the HEresy for use with my much more modest power Bel Canto c5i digital Class D integrated amp (60 w/ch) in my family room system. But I would have to try them in my bigger badder main rig also where the Bel Canto ref1000m amps reside.

A contrasting opinion here.  IME with the Heresy I, solid state amps were just not that much fun.  They are hyper-efficient and move a lot of air.  I tried several solid state set-ups from Sansui, Akai, Tandberg, B&O, Carver, Crown and others.  Was never satisfied; the sound was just harsh and fatiguing to my ears.  Too efficient for them, I believe.  Maybe just too much IMD?  Could be - that was a concern back then.

Heard them several times at dealers and friends places with Dynaco, McIntosh, Conrad Johnson, Fisher and other tube gear.  They just seemed to come alive.  Class D wasn't around at the time, so can't speak to it.  I did audition a Class D (not sure of the brand) with some Martin Logan Montis a while ago.  Same sort of harsh sound.  Brash is the buzzword that floats up from the past that seems to fit.

Compatibility is a different issue.  The amps will drive the speakers, no problem:  Fairly stable impedance across the frequency range.  You do want to be careful how hard you push them though.  Heresy was only designed for 100 watts or so and the T35 style tweeters have voice coils that are easily toasted with too much juice or distortion.  As a general rule of thumb, your ears will cry "uncle" before you hit that point, but be aware.

Give the rig an audition and tell us your impressions.  What we think isn't what you'll hear, and that's all that matters.  Good luck & happy listening!

 

Dampen the mid horns of the Heresys. I speak about it a lot on other threads. It will remove some of the edge and smooth things out. But, smaller and simpler amps sound best ( less output transistors, class A, or tubes ).Enjoy ! MrD.