I have not heard the KLH but the reviews mostly say it's a nice try at nostalgia but misses the mark as a great loudspeaker. How about some Harbeths?
Has anyone compared the Heresy to new KLH model 5?
Not interested in anything else at this time other than your opinion of how these two differ. Room is 12x15 and mainly listening to jazz for the most part, some classical and some occasional rock. I hear reports that the KLH has bigger soundstage, bigger bass, better imaging. Can others comment if they think this is correct. I currently have the Heresy II and was thinking about taking a chance on the KLH model 5 because of all the good reviews on YouTube but haven’t really discussed in a forum yet. Thanks for any thoughts or opinions.
30 responses Add your response
I bought the KLH Model 5’s. I’m sending them back as they didn’t meet my expectations. I recognized the positives of the speaker (reviewers have talked about the positives); however, the negatives were far worse than I can handle. The negative, for me, was all about the lower midrange. There were hollowed out and very thin sounding. Perhaps I like a warm romantic sound. They did have a lot of detail retrieval which is nice; but, not at the expense of a neutral to warm sound. That said, some may find them extremely enjoyable… |
I am a Klipsch Heritage guy. Have you damped the horns ( mids and tweets ) and the woofer baskets ? Crossover, too. Cleans them up considerably. Heresy IIs can use subwoofer help with the lowest octave. Without reading review after review, are you not getting good sound staging, bass and imaging ? Are you able to connect with the musicians; their playing, their artistry, their message to you ? What equipment are you using with the Klipsch ? What is the room like ? Have you played around with the speaker location / listening seat situation. Tweaked it ? I am answering your question in the only way I know how. My best. |
Oh no there’s no issues there. I’ve posted plenty of videos and reviews on them already. I prefer the sound of the Heresy the way they are already. Not looking to change them, just curious how the KLH sound. For example if they sound like a more complete speaker without the use of my subs. I have everything I need for the Heresy already so nothing to worry about there. I’m not selling them. I would merely consider adding the KLH. |
No vested interest here. Over Christmas I spent an hour at Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle just listening to the KLH Model 5s. Hard to find in Arizona. Background- I built Cornerhorns from a Speakerlab kit in the 70's. Subsequently I owned Chorus 1s for a few months and have listened to Heresy speakers over the years many times. Originally the Heresy was designed as a center channel speaker for the cornerhorns. They were always way shouty for my ears. I am told the newer ones have been calmed down some. Hope so. To me Heresy is not the Klipsch modeI would choose but then I would go JBL or old Altec first. Looking for the bigger compression horns. As for the KLHs, they were powered by a Naim Super Atom and the 5s loved it. The sound had the widest sound stage I have ever heard short of a $20k+ system of Linkwitzs latest iteration powered by five different amps. Yes I do like a wide sound stage. Besides the sound stage the overall fun factor was as good as it gets. Now the vocals were not the best I've ever heard, the bass boomed a little but not too bad, the top end was acceptable. At $2k I would buy these over the new L100s at double the price every day of the week. Be warned though that on Feb 1st the price will be $2,500. Crotchfield though out of stock does show the old price as of yesterday. Speaking with the KLH Nat. sales Mgr last evening on another matter he tells me they will have a 2 way Model 3 out in March for $1,750 I believe. They are all pretty excited about the positive feedback they are getting. Rated at 90 Sensitivity they are not as efficient as any of the Klipsch speakers. Happy shopping. Get an in home trial period.
|
@chorus +1! I had Heresy 1's and soon sold them! Shouty and lack of bass - they roll off around 65hz. Regarding KLH: Henry Kloss (the designer) of the originals always said his favorite was the Model Six. He preferred a good two-way over a three-way speaker. I concur and have a pair of Model Six's. It is an eminently well-balanced speaker! Too bad these new versions are so expensive! I would think that an original refurbished pair of Model Fives will sound even better than the new ones! |
@chorus : I also collect and use vintage Altec's and JBL's. Not to mention the pair of KLH Nine electrostats in the front room! |
caryking18 posts
I bought the KLH Model 5’s. I’m sending them back as they didn’t meet my expectations. I recognized the positives of the speaker (reviewers have talked about the positives); however, the negatives were far worse than I can handle. The negative, for me, was all about the lower midrange. There were hollowed out and very thin sounding. Perhaps I like a warm romantic sound. They did have a lot of detail retrieval which is nice; but, not at the expense of a neutral to warm sound. That said, some may find them extremely enjoyable… I appreciate the feedback, but without knowing the source I couldn't go based on this. I know for an absolute fact components can easily cause the effects you describe. For example, many popular receivers have cheap internal components where money and R&D is more allocated to features than reproduction of good, faithful sound. Many sound like tin cans which I hate with an absolute passion. Just recently I compared a Parasound Halo A23 that some rave about. Hands down down, my modified Dynakit Stereo 120 solid state trounced it in every regard with my Heresy's. Yes, that cheap 120 solid state everybody says is so bad. Proves how much nonsense there is on the web.
So, I can only take so much. One has to know more about ones situation to better assess the bigger picture.
|
Andrew Robinson really liked them....but he liked the Heresy better. These are KLH in name only......Henry is long gone, They used to be right down the street from me in Westwood MA. That was in the 80's. One of the last speakers they made worth mentioning is the KLH Computer Controlled Loudspeaker. Three models. I have a pair of Model 2. They were pretty good ,
Its probably a good speaker but they are counting on name recognition to be successful in my opinion. Think Altec Lansing ...... |
mrdecibel2,549 posts
I am a Klipsch Heritage guy. Have you damped the horns ( mids and tweets ) and the woofer baskets ? Crossover, too. Cleans them up considerably. Heresy IIs can use subwoofer help with the lowest octave. Without reading review after review, are you not getting good sound staging, bass and imaging ? Are you able to connect with the musicians; their playing, their artistry, their message to you ? What equipment are you using with the Klipsch ? What is the room like ? Have you played around with the speaker location / listening seat situation. Tweaked it ? I am answering your question in the only way I know how. My best.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm very satisfied and quite astonished at the sound of my Heresy setup and it definitely connects me to the musicians like you mean. In some instances I will use the REL T5i sub or subs paired for certain genres of music. My living room is a bit cluttered though and there's wires everywhere with all this stuff connected. I was merely looking at the KLH as a more complete balanced speaker to place in the living room instead with less clutter and a smaller footprint and not use the subs since my understanding based on the reviews is that the KLH bass is very good. Everything is relative, so perhaps the soundstage is bigger with the KLH compared to my Heresy II's?I really don't know. I've never compared the two side by side. The KLH are small but everyone seems to think they sound big for some reason. For example the soundstage on the Magnepan .7's was HUGE. A large wall of sound but didn't image so well IMO compared to the Heresy. I'm mainly looking at the KLH asa single solution, complete speaker without the need to ever want to implement subs to minimize clutter. I'm not a bass head, for example my REL's are hardly audible in the sense that I don't let them drowned out the stage in fact most would probably never know they were hearing subs with my setup because I make a point to make sure they are barely audible or stand out with attention. I have no intentions of ever separating from my Heresy's. I've had them for several years for a reason and all my amps drive them beautifully. Can't say the same for the KLH at their supposed 90db which most claim is a bit optimistic. I don't know why there always seems to be controversy about the true sensitivity of speakers these days. It could be all the marketing BS which I absolutely hate with a passion. Marketing to me is the reason there's so much bad information out there.
|
Andrew Robinson really liked them....but he liked the Heresy better. These are KLH in name only......Henry is long gone, They used to be right down the street from me in Westwood MA. That was in the 80's. One of the last speakers they made worth mentioning is the KLH Computer Controlled Loudspeaker. Three models. I have a pair of Model 2. They were pretty good ,
Its probably a good speaker but they are counting on name recognition to be successful in my opinion. Think Altec Lansing ......
Thanks for your thoughts. I have access to any and all Altec Lansing drivers. My friend has a warehouse packed with all their classic drivers but my understanding from my listening to them is they lack bass. Not sure if that's true with all of them, but that was my experience with their bigger speakers. I don't think that's what Andrew Robinson said about the Heresy vs KLH. If you skip to 7:45 of his video on the KLH, he clearly states the model V is better. I think the reason he was torn is because he prefers the physical styling of the Heresy better. I'm just curious if the KLH model V sounds more like a complete speaker on its own. For example, my Klipsch The Three easily puts out more bass than my Heresy, but it's more boomy and entertaining where is the Heresy is tight, clean and fast. It's just not that deep and the KLH seem to be a bit deeper so far from how others describe it. |
Sorry folks, I forgot to look back at this thread. The KLH’s were powered by a Rega Elicit-R. Typically, some think the bass on the Elicit-R is not strong; however, the issue I had with them is the midrange. I listened to some DeVore Fedility speakers at a shop in NYC and found that both have a hardness in the midrange that I couldn’t live with. Outside of the midrange, I really liked what I was hearing. A friend of mine came over and he said: the vocals don’t sound real! |
caryking, thanks for the update. Yea, can't imagine that wouldn't drive them nicely. I think jjss49 is right. Looks like I'll just have to get them for myself. I'll most likely just head over to Upscale Audio and just pick up a pair. They said they had them in stock and I better do it before the price goes up and be done. |
i bought the speakers because of all the reviewers. Perhaps, mine had something wrong with them… i really wanted to like them. Like I said, they did a lot that I liked, and liked a lot; however, I’m a big fan of speakers with a little lower mid range bloom. These just didn’t do that. BTW, I burned these things in over 100 hours without a change in the issue I didn’t like. I will say this: they have a big sound! |
I've got the new KLH Model 5's and I love them - they are perfect for my system and my music (mostly rock and reggae), much more so than the Harbeth Super HL-5's that I just sold; these speakers do not sound at all similar to me, though they are a bit similar in physical size. Have not heard Heresy so cannot say anything there. |
See that one guy sends them back , the next guys loved them. It’s a very personal decision, choosing a speaker. Same with other gear but more so with speakers. Hopefully they are a success and we see a model 9 ! My Dad had Model 12 when I was 5 and I drew on them with a crayon...... I get reminded of that occasionally |
I bought the Model 5s back in January. I have them driven by a McIntosh MA8900. Reason I chose them at first was due to them being a sealed enclosure. It reckons back to the days of my youth, 1976, when I owned speakers with similar attributes. Most now are ported or bass reflex. That's not a bad thing. I really like them now that they are burned in. I listen to rock, psyche, jazz-fusion. no regrets. |
I compared the Model 5 to a set of Proac Response DT8. The amp I used was a Luxman integrated with a Luxman CD player. Pros: The KLH had really good bass. It was quick and accurate, much better than I expected. They image very well and project an excellent wide sound stage. They sounded a tad on the warm side on my system. Cons: They really seemed to lack dynamics but they are a smaller speaker. They also didn't have the resolution I am used to.
My Proacs don't have as good of an off axis response that the KLH and they are also fussier setting up. The Proacs bass is more robust and go much lower (28hz) but they are not quick but still very good. Sound staging is fairly equal between the two but the Proacs sound a little larger. Vocals on the Proac are much better, more realistic and lively. Dynamics are also much better on the Proacs as is resolution. These speakers are lively and fun in comparison. The Proacs are just superior by a fair margin.
I personally think there are better speakers in this price range. I really like Golden Ear Triton 3 plus's in this price range. This is a somewhat underrated brand by some but those speakers are shockingly good for the money. I don't think they are that attractive of a speaker, but they are one of the best values in speakers I have ever heard. KLH 3600 cdn Proac 5200 cdn Goldenear 3800 cdn just for reference |
At one point before the Model 5 released, the designer and the KLH rep (at the time) brought them to our store. Assuming the production models are the same (they look identical), they were excellent speakers. Not a fan of the look personally, but the sound was extremely musical and non fatiguing. Very balanced sound with great soundstage and bass. Dramatically better than their other speakers (Kendall etc) which were absolutely awful. I don't think they were designed by the same person. We are not KLH dealer, never have been, and wont be. So just giving props where they are due. Great speaker. |
