Original poster. Listen to me carefully or private message me. Save for the Forte IVs. They are on sale in Canada. They are worlds apart from the Heresy IVs even with subs. Good luck!
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.
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I just came across this thread today and read it in its entirety. Very interesting and useful information. Wolf_garcia I especially appreciate your posting of listening impressions of the Klipsch Hersey III and IV as well as the Zu Audio Omen 2 speakers,. No doubt you have good ears and much listening experience and you simply know what sounds right to you. I found your contributions very insightful and believe that the Dennis Had SEP tube amplifier gets to the truth of the matter. These types of amplifiers are high resolution and exceedingly natural in character. I’m certain that this pairing sounds wonderful in your home. Charles |
My Heresy IIIs have always provided astonishingly resolved imaging and meet or exceed my personal standards for clarity and coherence. They need good gear in front of them of course, but they reveal a tremendous amount of detail in good recordings and are simply great high end honest speakers. Used with my 2 REL subs anyway...the IVs didn't meet these standards for me in spite of others claiming some improvement over the IIIs, but I don't listen with any ears but my own and clearly take other's (especially an audio gear dealers) opinions of speakers with a large grain of salt. |
Perfecting this over time is largely what makes the newer Heresy’s pretty unique sounding especially at their price point, and especially at lower volumes. Compression driver - Wikipedia |
The ZU Omen 2 "Dirty Weekend" speakers, at least compared to the Heresy IIIs I've owned for years, had a sort of midrange "veil" or lack of what I seem to need in ultimate clarity. I even swapped in a good MOSFET amp (to compare to my trusty tubed single ended pentode Dennis Had "Firebottle") I have for a second pair of deck specific speakers and had the same issues, so back went the ZUs...note ZU was great to work with...nice guys. My issues with the IVs could have been specific to that pair although unlikely, so my theory regarding the perhaps "better for me" last generation titanium mid horns still stands. I might be the only one who feels that way, but I do get some satisfaction from the fact that I now am even more happy with the IIIs. |
I'm going to post my negative opinion about the iv's. I do see that everyone posting here seems to have really positive things to say. Pro is the high sensitivity so you don't really need a beefy amp (although it couldn't hurt). I did like the natural sound they provided. They are highy dynamic. Cons however made me return them. They take up a lot of room in terms of width. I didn't like the floor and tilt up sound. I prefer the tweeter ear level. The midrange was a bit leaner than what I prefer (I may just prefer more warmth in general). The bass was good but I wouldn't call it tight. Ultimately I wound up returning them. Most people that love them seem to comment that they are like listening to live music and so some of the "flaws" are acceptable. Ie if you criticize it on all the details you are missing the point. They are just meant to play. Hope this helps... |
I already had the IIIs, and was simply so curious about the IVs after the positive reviews that I just had to grab a pair. I noted someplace else that the IVs are far more sophisticated in their assembly, and compared to my IIIs, the finish is much better. My IIIs are the "Capitol Records 75th Anniversary" edition with an "ebony" sort of deep purple very thin (scrapes off easily) finish over some veneer. So...The IVs initially did what they’re supposed to do, deeper bass, new midrange tone. But there’s the rub...the mid horn on the 2006 designed IIIs is a far more complex (weird design with a the titanium driver blowing into a long pointy tube with 4 holes in the base where the diaphragm connects, but hey...it works) design with a titanium driver, and the poly driver horn on the IVs is a far simpler and shallower "bolted to the flare" design with a small phase plug...the mids on the IVs weren’t making me smile...even after a couple of months of break-in, certain tones (especially acoustic piano) on recordings I’m very familiar with sort of barked...upper mids. An acceptable sound if used with somebody else’s gear maybe, but I demand that speakers I live with make me instantly satisfied at all times or they’re outta here...the IVs are beautiful, well made speakers that just didn’t work for my ears, and they looked so good I figured a quick sale would ensue...it did (I priced them fairly though, and figured my small loss was an "extended audition fee.") The new owner seems to like ’em. My IIIs are likely to stick around, but I’m now curious about ZU stuff and a pair of Omen 2 "dirty weekends" will be in my room by Friday...it’s a risk of 100 bucks for a 2 month audition...what could go wrong? |
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/ |
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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. |
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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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |