Klipsch are what got me "serious" about this hobby. I've always had stereos, turntables, etc. since I was a teenager, but nothing of "audiophile" quality and as my finances allowed I focused more on home theater than 2 channel audio.
I was at a local hifi dealer right after the Klipsch RF-7 II came out and remember being completely blown away by the sound of those speakers. I had never heard Black Cow by Steely Dan sound so good. They were very detailed and "live" sounding and the bass was incredible, at least compared to what I had heard at that time. The first thing I did was look for a subwoofer, but there wasn't one.
My budget at the time didn't allow me to purchase the RF-7 II's, but I did find a cherry pair of CF-3 speakers. They were unfortunately version 3, not I, but still sounded amazing.
That started me on a journey of buying mostly Klipsch speakers for quite a while. I eventually broadened my horizons, and have owned many other brands since then and the Klipsch are no longer my main speakers, but I still have a few pairs of Klipsch speakers including a pair of KLF-30s with Crites upgrades (mids, tweeters, and crossovers) and a pair of Heresy I speakers with Crites upgrades (woofers, mids, tweeters, and crossovers). I still enjoy them on a daily basis.
I do agree that they can sound harsh or too bright in some circumstances. I belong to a local music club and we get together every month and listen to music on some high end gear. We have listened to La Scalas with an Anthem STR integrated and with a Primaluna integrated (I don't recall which one) and with the Anthem, at high volumes they hurt my ears.
To a person, everyone else in the club loves the sound of the La Scalas, so I'm the odd man out. To me, they sound amazing up to a point, but beyond that they hurt my ears, and I like loud music. To me, my KLF-30s can play much louder without that harshness on the top end, but they don't create the sense of space and dynamics the La Scalas do.
Like the La Scalas, the Heresy can be a little bright at high volumes, but I have them in an office system being driven by an ARC Vsi-55 tube integrated and rarely play them loud. Until the volume gets really loud, they are very listenable. It's a near field system, they are only about 6 feet from my listening spot, and they do not irritate or fatigue me.
I understand why some people don't like them and that's totally OK. Sometimes I don't like them, but overall I think they represent a great value and are fun to listen to and bring you close to a "live" experience.
