Klipsch Heresy IV

I picked up a set of H3's last Dec (2019) and am really enjoying them. now the 4's are out at double the price yikes.... they better be better. may have to sell my 3's and get the 4's I wanted a wood finish aposed to the black anyway.... haha yeah that's the excuse I'm using.

glen 


I'd may look at the H3's mods though first. 

If any substantial improvement has occurred with the IV redesign (and I do expect there has) I'll likely have to get a couple of them suckers as the IIIs have been such a pleasure to have around the last couple of years. They surprise me every day really...

I own the Heresy IV, reviewed them on my website and on YouTube. These speakers are a huge improvement over the III (I owned the III and enjoyed them). The IV are way more transparent, more wide open, have a huge soundstage, image amazingly well, and the bass sounds about 10hz deeper. Still sounds like a sealed design and bass is tighter and more plentiful than ever. Makes the Heresy a much more balanced sounding speaker but the start of the show is the Midrange. Like velvet with actual texture to the human voice. 

They are crazy good. Can play soft or loud as thunder and do both equally well. They are much more refined and sound like a true Hugh end speaker. I sold my Dynaudios after getting the HIV as they were just so much better doing the "live sound" thing. These are not forward nor do they sound like old for speakers. Build wise they are gorgeous and have the updated metal speaker binding posts. The high end is more extended and has more snap than the III's as well. 

I adore these and have been listening more than ever. I attribute that to these speakers. They really do breath life into the music. I suspect these will end up being very popular once people start to hear them. 

jacques19602 posts01-24-2020 7:19am"I had the opportunity to listen to both the Heresy IV and Forte III yesterday, putting both through their respective paces with a playlist of Al DiMeola, Rob Wasserman, Alison Krauss, aria from La Wally, Japanese Drums, Don Shirley, Ron Carter, Brad Mehldau and Sade; short of teeing up Zeppelin, it was a diverse playlist. Frankly, I was disappointed by the Fortes in comparison - the Forte midrange was not as supportive of vocals as that of the Heresy".


This does not surprise me. The Heresy was more of a specialized midrange speaker anyway, so why vocals would be expected to sound more coherent in a Forte wouldn't make much sense IMO. 

I certainly agree with the draw backs of rear porting, the bass extension over the III will mainly come from the port. But there are creative ways of reducing rear port interference.
However, as I recall with the III’s they needed at least 2-3 feet away from the walls to sound their best.
Usually that’s sufficient for rear ports. If not, some creative damping can help as mentioned.
I once made a small l shaped holder for a 2" thick piece of fiberglass wrapped in a tick, it held it about 3" from the port, and nulled the rear wall interference.  Much also depends on your wall and floor construction/type.

Yes-given the same woofer-one that had a EDP that lends it’s self to sealed and ported boxes-the ported box will always be LARGER.
Amazing how many assume just the opposite.
I would certainly recommend any audiophile to get and read a copy of Dickason’s Speaker Cookbook.
Also Weems-designing and building speakers.
It keeps you away from the huge misinformation on speaker design, and implementation.
I prefer sealed myself-overhauled my ESS AMT3’s with woofers, and sealed the boxes (trial and error-even with woofers that had the correct Theil Parameters to work in the box-some integrated poorly with the supporting drivers).
But frankly, making a correctly ported box, without expensive testing equipment to get the tuning spot on, is darn near impossible. Damping a sealed box, by ear, with aid of a simple damping tester is much easier.
I assume Klipsch certainly tuned these with the proper equipment-no doubt in my mind. The Heresy is their best selling Heritage model, has been for years, and help keep them afloat during the rough years.
Good competition for the reissued JBL’s.
IMHO the biggest news is the new midrange, updated tweeter horn, better, and more even dispersion and updated crossover. As Klipsch mentions-smoother, less peaky response, and better driver integration.
All issues that reduce it’s marketability.
I haven’t hear one yet-but remember the III’s very well-should be interesting.
Just guessing from my memory-but these changes clearly address the issues I had with the Heresy III’s. The bass frankly wasn’t one of them-but I never played bass heavy material @ high volumes either. I would rather have tight bass-over extended boomy bass. But there is still away to get tight bass with a port-not sealed but close.
Each design decision had tradeoffs, particularly with bass.

I really like my Heresy III. , one thing that I like about them is they are not ported and can be placed close to the rear wall.....  I would love to hear from a current H3 owner who demo'd the III and IV side by side.   

Quote: "  ports require a smaller cabinet than sealed "
This is incorrect.  You can get away sometimes with a smaller box using ports because of tuning capability, but.... and a big but.  For ANY woofer in its perfect sealed box,  its perfect ported box will be larger.  

Absolutely. In response to Mofojo’s post, I have to say, “Yes”. The port seems to offer faster response vs. a passive radiator. The “mumps” added to the Forte midrange horn seem to be an attempted solution to a problem which the Heresy does not have. Set about 2’ from the rear wall, toed in slightly, and seated about 12’ back - “Holy crap, Batman !”. The Heresy IV created a three-dimensional, immersive experience. I originally wanted a pair of Harbeths, but opted for Klipsch Heritage due to their legendary efficiency and much better price point. I was not expecting finesse, but it is absolutely there. Pricing was $2,650 for the pair and an excellent fit within a $10,000 “starter- plus” system including: 
- Deep Core / Furman power,
- Rega P6 with Ania MC cart and Aria stage,
- Primaluna Prologue Classic Integrated,
- Bluesound Node 2i,
If I upgrade in the future, I would likely give the Klipsch speakers to an adult child - true heritage quality and sound. From a middle-aged former rocker, these are decidedly not my old Cerwin Vegas 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

You really do have to have the front end sorted out to make the Heresy IIIs really sing as they're very revealing of anything put into 'em...they're great tube tone and wire quality (or characteristic) indicators...I imagine the IVs have the same basic needs.

Thats interesting that you preffered the Heresy to the Forte. Can you offer any more insight on dynamics, bass comparison, etc. Since you said the Forte was not as suportive of vocals would you say the whole midrange was more forward on the Heresy? 

Thanks

I had the opportunity to listen to both the Heresy IV and Forte III yesterday, putting both through their respective paces with a playlist of Al DiMeola, Rob Wasserman, Alison Krauss, aria from La Wally, Japanese Drums, Don Shirley, Ron Carter, Brad Mehldau and Sade; short of teeing up Zeppelin, it was a diverse playlist. Frankly, I was disappointed by the Fortes in comparison - the Forte midrange was not as supportive of vocals as that of the Heresy. Bass on the Heresy, located 2 feet from the back wall, was absolutely superb; every pluck of Wasserman and Carter's fingers was perfectly rendered - very fast action ( thanks to the porting ?). I purchased a pair of the Heresy IVs but must forewarn all that these speakers require both the highest quality source material and well-matched components; your average bluetooth streaming service will leave you disappointed on some tracks. Now, where's that Joe Satriani ?!?

Yeah...10hz is right...oops.

I liked the 8 ohm compatible statement on the website when addressing the impedance of the Heresy. 

I agree.  Until someone actually listens to the new Heresy, there's no way to tell.

I think it is patently absurd to assume that any redesign will automatically sound better than its predecessor. 

My point was and is that ports require a smaller cabinet than sealed. Last time I looked simple laws of physics applied to all speaker companies even Klipsch. 

I have heard a few of Duke's speakers. They sound great. They also had rear ports.

10 db of bass ?....= 10 hz of bass. Guys ( and gals ). You need to look at some of the pro versions of the Heresy’s..........again, nothing new with the ported design, except for the port itself. R.D. had much to do with the design of the pro models. Amazingly, what needs to be done to the news ones, as well, is a " heavy layer " of Dynamat on all of these horn drivers. Danny Richie, on the mods of the Forte IIIs, did not do justice to the mid horns. A recent Steve G. video, about a fellow modding a Cambridge CXC transport, stated, that with every mod that he did, the Dynamat made the most significant difference, in SQ. Again, I’ve been using Dynamat ( and some roofing repair tape found at Lowes and THD ), for the longest time, on not only horns, speaker frames and cabinets, but on electronics, of every kind. This fellow, also recommends, to put a book on top of the chassis, something I have been advocating, for the longest time. I know, this mod stuff belongs on another thread, but I am bringing it up here, because it is a cheap, but very relevant upgrade. I know of only one person, who applied Dynamat to his horns, who did not find it superior in sq, and I do not, for the life of me, understand why. Enjoy ! MrD.

The cabinet size is obviously important when a speaker is ported, as you're just not going to simply stick a port in there without considering everything...including what the "new" 12" bass driver's design might be. Roy Delgado did a great job with the other new "Heritage" re-designs and it's reasonable to assume a lot of time was spent considering how to get another 10db of bass from the Heresy IV as the lack of low bass is a common criticism of them. Duke's or anyone else's opinion isn't as valid as what the individual listener thinks of the sound of the IV with the complete redesign, and thus ends my statement of the obvious.

The H4’s have a tractrix mid range horn, the woofer is the same as the H3. I have H3’s but would like to hear the H4’s but will be keeping the 3’s. 

I'm scratching my head about the price increase.

What I cant figure is why Klipsch would increase the  cabinet size and add a port. Perhaps they put in a bigger woofer? No way the bass is as tight or as real and rear ports can be problematic. It would be nice to get Duke's opinion on these issues. I know hey said he liked the new horn geometry on some of the new Klipsch designs.

I would like to hear the IIIs and IVs side by side in an audition as that could be fun...I like my IIIs enough (including their lack of ports) to hang with 'em for a long time until IVs become less pricey, and since I just read a review of some also non-ported Magicos I feel even better about portlessness (I can turn off the rumble filter on my phono preamp, although I leave it on anyway to put less stress on my small single ended amp)...I like the AQ wire idea in the IVs and with redesigned crossovers and the like I bet they do sound great. "Upgrades" certainly but the degree of detail and coherence in my IIIs doesn't really beg for improvement...they beg to be listened to, and that I do...frequently.

I have mentioned before, on other threads, that Klipsch has made the Heresy design, in pro models, for years, and all have been ported. This is nothing new for them. I believe the IV is a big upgrade, over the III. 

They redesigned other things with this speaker including the drivers and crossovers, and that interests me...the rear port doesn't interest me so much because I prefer having the sealed box "accurate bass to its limits" with my Heresy IIIs, and easily blend in the REL subs I use...I like the control I get with the subs. I'll listen to the IVs at some time but for now the IIIs are simply great sounding things that were a relative bargain at 1500 bucks new (and they're the "Capitol Records" version which is possibly meaningless but they make them at least "seem" special).

Usually porting speakers, no matter what type, gives the illusion of more bass, but it never seems as tight or as "real". If you want the real story do some research on both types of speaker design. I think it was some Stereophile writer, probably Dudley, that wrote a short article about this recently and essentially got everything wrong. So read this article and go the opposite direction and you will be on the right track.  

I can't quite adjust the fact the Heresy's are no longer seal boxes. While the bass may be more plentiful, is it as tight and does it add boominess to the bass? I wonder if there is any loss to overall quickness and clarity?

I just got them. Powering them with 8W 300B. Heaven 

Heard the Heresy IV at my local dealer. It was hooked up to a Luxman SQ-N150 a 10wpc tube integrated. Gives you better bass than the III. The speaker is rear ported. This gives you a fuller sound. A nice improvement.