Get them. I have the Forte iii's. The Klipsch Heritage line are excellent. You will enjoy them.
Klipsch Heresy iv...Your experience.
Hi all. New here this is my first post. I am mulling over very seriously the Heresy iv's. I have heard some very good things about them. I would like to get the advice on any of you here who own them as to what the listener experience is with these speakers. I really want to pull the trigger on these speakers but here in Canada with taxes in they are close to 5K. I want them to be my last set ever. Right now I have a set of Proac Studio 118s. They are real nice But the Klipsch are calling me bad. Lol. I have a Rega Apollo cd player and a Nad M3 amp along with Van Den Hul inter connects and speaker cables. I have heard that the Heresy's real make the music come to life with a terrific impact. Any input from Heresy iv owners would be greatly appreciated.
66 responses Add your response
I spent about 40 minutes at a local dealer auditioning the Heresy IV and enjoyed them a lot. They were running off an Anthem integrated amp. Very lively dynamic sound. Very engaging, not fatiguing. Listened to a wide variety of music. Imaging and soundstage was also very good. What’s not to like? They do go deeper in the bass than prior versions and Probably work best with somewhat beefier amps accordingly than older Heresys. |
A buddy of mine has the III and giddy about getting the IV. I've not heard it myself. Wondering if the difference is more than subtle. I've heard the new Tractrix® horn midrange and noting the Hersey IV has a titanium diaphragm high-frequency driver. Former versions always sounded piercing to me. If you can share - Is it quite different from the former version of itself, across low, med, high freq? |
Last week I traveled to my 86 year old friends home to listen to his pair of Heresy loudspeakers. They happen to be an original pair in mint condition. When he first got them, he was unhappy with them. He did some checking online, ordered some parts, and modified the crossovers. What I heard was one of the very best sounding pairs of speakers I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. He had me bring my new 3C24 amp over, and that turned out to be a magical pairing. I almost felt bad taking my amp home with me. He spent way less than the $5000 a new pair would cost. Just to put things in perspective. It was great to see him again, and I was very happy he wound up with such a great-looking and sounding pair of speakers. Regards, Dan |
The Heresy IIIs also have titanium tweeters (and mid horns) and I’ve never thought they were overly bright....simply revealing, and possibly not transistor amp friendly if that amp (or anything else in the rig) has harsh treble. I too am interested in hearing the IVs as the IIIs have been great in my system for the last few years, but not in a hurry as my current setup (with 2 subs that integrate perfectly) sounds amazingly good...the IVs would have to be a big improvement to justify dumping my IIIs. The good news about either speaker is the fact you can explore single ended tube amps with lower power not suited to less efficient speakers...I’ve had success with that, and likely won’t go back to a transistor amp. |
Haven't heard the III's but I can tell you the IV's were way, way, way more refined and "audiophile-like" than I anticipated. I was also expecting the highs to be a touch "unruly" and I can tell they are not. In fact I will say that I was almost disappointed in how refined they were. I was expecting something with rough edges and some "f*ck you" to the sound. This is not the case. They are forward and engaging and warm. After that shock wore off I can say that I do love them. They do all music with vigor: RTJ, Napalm Death, Gene Ammons, Zep, Trepaneringsritualen, Merzbow, you name it. |
Hi all. New here this is my first post. I am mulling over very seriously the Heresy iv’s. I have heard some very good things about them. I would like to get the advice on any of you here who own them as to what the listener experience is with these speakers. I really want to pull the trigger on these speakers but here in Canada with taxes in they are close to 5K. I want them to be my last set ever. Right now I have a set of Proac Studio 118s. They are real nice But the Klipsch are calling me bad. Lol. I have a Rega Apollo cd player and a Nad M3 amp along with Van Den Hul inter connects and speaker cables. I have heard that the Heresy’s real make the music come to life with a terrific impact. Any input from Heresy iv owners would be greatly appreciated. I have H3’s and just bought H4’s. The H4’s are much better in every way. I bought B stock H4’s in Walnut on Fleabay for $2,200 USD shipped. I’m driving them with a 2 watt 45 amplifier. I would take your amp to a Heritage dealer and listen to the H4’s. |
My new IVs are arriving Saturday, and if they're not better than my IIIs I'm gonna be ANGRY...break-in will be allowed, but still...I'll personally contact every reviewer I can find if they're not a fabulous improvement...and I don't use an (a?) SET, it's a (an?) SEP...still, it's got the SE thing going on and drives my IIIs with gusto to spare, and who doesn't like a little spare gusto? Note that I will take them apart to look inside and see what the mid horn design looks like...anybody that's looked at a Heresy III mid horn's innards has to be amazed at how weird it is...the titanium driver blows into a plastic pointy thing that pokes into the horn chamber with maybe four little holes in it...very strange...frightening, but it works. |
The IVs arrived and clearly need some break-in time...however, they're beautiful and have some interesting differences as well they should since it's an entire re-design of the III. I used a Stereophile test disc to see how low they could go and the reviews are accurate, but since it's ported you actually can get sound all the way down to 20hz (when raising the gain of course)....the IIIs just make no sound below 40 or so, although I can't remember exactly where they just stop. I have a couple of subs though so no biggy for me. The mid horn looks like a total redesign with a shallower exit and those "tractrix" lumps (the tweeter seems to have those also). I'l certainly be making more comments about them, but note my first impression was how damn good my IIIs are...hoping the IVs warm up soon. |
The mid horn in the IV is such a different design from the III...the IV is a far shorter driver throat attached directly to the Tractrix horn flare (with a little dust cap in there), where the III seem like a complicated long chamber throat with a weird looking long pointed phase thing entering the throat. Take one apart like I did and you’ll see...very interesting. All new speakers I’ve owned (and headphones, and pro stuff) vary in break-in time but I’ll be patient...if they don’t sound somewhat better than my IIIs I’ll move ’em on, but they are beautiful speakers. Note the drivers on the IVs all use hex head bolts into "T" nuts instead of the wood screws for the mid horn and tweeter on the III, and the woofer on the IV uses all the attachment points unlike the 4 bolts used on the III's woofer. A little more upscale all around...they moved the crossover to the side of the cab to make room for the tractrix port. |
I prefer Heresy speakers on the floor as designed, with Vibrapods and a matching fuzzy bottomed pad thing under the pods so I can move 'em easily. Imaging is astonishing with these things, and according to what I've read it's gonna take up to 500 hours to break them in. They do work well with my subs, which, of course, had to be adjusted for the extra 10 or so hz the IVs descend to. |
Wolf, the Heresy IV's woofer goes all the way up to 850 Hz. Middle C is 256 Hz to put that into perspective. So the woofer is carrying a very substantial part of the midrange. The woofer is also not a long excursion driver and even ported it only makes it down to 48 Hz. You probably like it on the floor better because it does improve the bass. They tilt it back to aim the speakers at about where your ears are supposed to be in a way mimicking putting them on stands. My point is getting the crossover up to 80-100 Hz will substantially clean up the midrange and add a lot of head room to the speaker as the woofer is it's weakest link. But you have to use a 2 way crossover to do this. Then you can also block the port which will tighten up everything further. You already have the subs and crossovers can be had inexpensively. Digital are the best if your preamp has digital outputs. |
mijostyn...I’ve also owned a pair of great sounding Heresy IIIs for a few years so I know something about how these things work (I’m also a successful and vastly experienced professional live sound mixer and musician), and actually did try them on stands and decided they simply sound better to my ears on the floor...they (both the IIIs and IVs) project a great soundstage up into the middle of the room and are amazingly coherent at my ears around 9 feet from ’em. The midrange does not need "cleaning up" as its range as utilized is easily handled (the same woofer is in my IIIs and has always woofed accurately with superb resolution within its designed limits), and I am fully aware of its range and have a good set of ears. There is absolutely zero need for a crossover (I have no desire to run my subs at 80 to 100hz as they’re SUBS not lower mid speakers) as these speakers perform brilliantly within their designed parameters, and although the IVs can play 10hz or so lower than the IIIs they’re not "boomy" or "lumpy" as the bass presents itself smoothly. Blending my 2 subs where the IVs bass response trails off actually works perfectly (as it does with the IIIs). It seems you have no actual experience with Heresy IVs (or IIIs) and are making assumptions about what you think I need to hear while disregarding what I’ve said. Not unusual around here. |
Not to disagree with wolf, because many people prefer the Heresy's on the floor, tilted up, and not to mention, they were designed to be used this way. However, for my type of presentation, I prefer them on good, rigid, non resonant stands, away from the rear walls, with the mid horns at my ear level. To each his / her own, as there is no right or wrong. But wolf, I am right.....lol......Enjoy, be well and stay safe. Always, MrD. |
One of my favorite things about the Heresy design is its unobtrusive nature relative to output, and I trust Roy Delgado on the floor placement because, hey, he designed them around that sort of placement. My new IVs are cherry so they're somewhat less obtrusive than the black IIIs they're trying to replace (still in break-in mode). Otherwise you can stack 'em on stands, fly 'em from cables, or sit on 'em, although with the slant provided by the bases (unless removed) you could easily slide off. |
The speakers were double boxed and maybe 50 lbs each...no pallet, simply deposited on my porch (2 large boxes). The IVs have are designed for lower bass (10hz or so) than the IIIs, but thats still to only around 47 or 50hz where it falls off, and similar to the IIIs it's more evenly presented than otherwise...not obviously "bass forward." (tested with both my SEP tube amp and a 100 watt solid state amp)...I also tested these with my trusty Stereophile test cd and you can actually hear some bass (if you compensate by raising the level) to around 20hz so the woofer is being allowed to woof. In any case I still need the 2 REL subs to get proper low bass and otherwise keep my room sounding properly coherent (unlike myself). I won't bother damping the horn this time as it's already damped enough by being bolted to the cabinet (and is a much shorter horn design than the IIIs), a fact an engineer at Klipsch pointed out to me. Sorry Mr. D. The much simpler horn relative to the IIIs is interesting in that the IV's driver is right on the horn flare where the III's driver has a long pointy phase plug assembly protruding into a long channel on the horn. I haven't dragged the IIIs back into the system as I'm waiting for the IVs to break-in, so in a few weeks I'll compare 'em and keep what sounds best to my earballs. |
| Post removed |
Before you go with Heresy III or IV play Aaron Neville's Rainy night in Georgia. How voice doesn't sound correct. Both speakers lack resolution compared to top tier speakers. IV is better than III in the midband. More nuance and refinement. Overall Hersey is decent musical speaker but getting expensive for what it is. If you get used is better. |
| Post removed |
Steve Huff named the Heresy IV his speaker of the year
https://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2020/12/11/hifi-my-speaker-of-the-year-2020-klipsch-heresy-iv/ |
