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.

 

rankaudio
mrdecibel

2,549 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!

@rankaudio

music direct has these model 5’s with free shipping and 60 day satisfaction guarantee... time to stop being a keyboard jockey and youtube viewer - just buy and try... no one is going to tell you if you are going to like them

https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/KLH-Model-Five-Tower-Speakers?variant=AKLHMDL5M&gclid=CjwKCAiAlrSPBhBaEiwAuLSDUM9nrFuSV8ITiZ-u3ZcTzNXy6E5uEtNS1M7nDp1uR5UuI37zBhlyIBoCy3oQAvD_BwE

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.