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

Showing 4 responses by willland

Sorry about your less than happy experience with your HIII's.  I have never owned or even heard HIII's but do own HI's and HII's and have been more than pleased with their performance.  I have tried many different receivers, integrated amps, pre-amp/amps with both pairs and have been totally amazed how amplifier friendly they are in my rooms.  From 200w/ch Acurus amps to an NAD AVR to a Luxman R-117 to a Cambridge Audio 640A V2 integrated.  All combos had their strengths and weaknesses but all were very listenable and all volume levels with spot on imaging and fast punchy midbass/upper bass.

My suggestion is to experiment with placement, toe-in, and amplification.

Bill 
Great to here that your results are now very pleasing.  I have always had great results with HI's and HII's with Luxman gear.

Bill
The RB-81II's are pretty big sounding for "bookshelf" speakers and can be driven pretty well with 60w/ch.  Before you pull the trigger on those, look on the used market for a pair of RB-75's.  They will command a higher price but you will get real wood veneer, a 1.75" titanium true compression driver, and a solid cabinet at 32lbs each.  Though my pair sounded awesome with great low frequency extension(nearing 40Hz) in my room, I did add a nice sub to fill in the bottom.

Bill
"The RP and RF series speakers don’t hold a candle to the Heritage line with music playback"

@helomech,

Can't say much about the RP line since I have never heard them but some, specifically the RF-63's and RB-75's do a jam up job with music.  I have owned my 63's for almost 10 years and just can't seem to pull the trigger to "upgrade" to another model or brand.  They are very musical and do a lot of things right.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some Klipsch Heritage but these 63's are dynamic, fast and punchy, detailed, and just smooth from top to bottom.  I just can't find much wrong with them with any genre of music.

Bill