Klipsch love them or hate them.

Bob, the thing is the sound heard at most concerts is coming from a PA system, which is what Klipsch speakers sound like. Live acoustic music does NOT sound like that. If a listeners reference is the sound of a PA system, Klipsch should be fine.

Horns provide a very forward, immediate sound, with lots of presence. Too much presence, having a severe "cupped-hands around a mouth"/"pinched nose" coloration that quickly becomes irksome. The worst speakers, by far, I've ever heard for vocals. The ones I've heard, anyway. But very dynamic, if that's your priority and you can live with the extreme level of coloration they possess. They do mimic the sound of the PA systems at rock concerts, which may be why rockers don't mind them. When I lived in my Band's house at the age of 21, our PA (Altec Voice Of The Theatre A-7's) did double duty as our stereo speakers.

Horn speakers (or horn hybrids, as they mostly are) span many varieties, and I don't find above descriptions to be a common denominator on their better implementations. With my own horn speakers (based on the Belle Klipsch) as a point of reference: rather than sounding forward per se I agree they provide presence, immediacy and dynamics in spades (undeniable qualities, to me), but it's worth noticing how their sound morphs depending on the recording; some, if not most of the more modern rock/pop recordings can sound flat, uninvolving and compressed (which they are), but put on (particularly older) jazz titles and classical music and the soundscape suddenly blooms into a vivid, colorful and very dynamic presentation. I've never heard the likes of violin, cello, piano, clarinet, saxophone etc. sound that authentic, full of life and presence. Dynamics, both micro and macro, isn't just a priority here; it's an outright necessity if one is to emulate the imprinting of live instrumental sound, as is truth of tone, sheer air displacement area, ease and overall coherency. Perhaps much of the controversy of horn speakers resides in their unsuccessful pairings, be that both with the associated equipment as with the music (i.e.: their recordings). Add to that the inertia of what audiophiles are used to hearing from mostly (smaller) direct radiating speakers, and horn equivalents can be found to sound "wrong" simply by virtue of having a different, more direct presentation.

My first real speaker was an older pair of Cornwalls. THey were matched with 2A3 Wright Sound amps and a Philips SACD1000 that only worked for two years. I enjoyed them for what they were and being on a tight budget they were a value. 
Klipsch horns that I have heard over many years all sound good, not great and have issues. Slightly honky, harsh, bright with lacking soundstage are what I have heard typically.  I also know there are strong feelings both ways. Some in the hobby love to hate them and I don't think that is fair. A SET amp simple record player and Klipsch speakers can be had on a budget and be fun to listen to.

They are wonderful if you are deaf.

Old Klipsch with low powered SET amps only.  Nothing else needs to be said....

As usual, an uninformed,  brief and idiotic response from Ebm. Are you still building those PBN speakers ebn, or was that just more of your BS?

Klipsch makes great speakers. Very dynamic, very accurate, something that audiophile speaker lacks severely.

They ring a lot compared to beryllium drivers though. Which is both a pro and con.

Spot on roxy54, thank you.

"They ring a lot compared to beryllium drivers though. Which is both a pro and con."

Just wondering how "ringing a lot" can be seen or heard as a pro.

Ringing adds a sparkling top, certain high frequency focused songs can sound quite good with that extra sparkle. Eg: ceui. If titanium driver is like champagne then beryllium driver is like wine.

Klipsch makes great speakers. Very dynamic, very accurate, something that audiophile speaker lacks severely.

Never heard the original "heritage" series (K-horns, Belle, La Scala, etc.), but based on my own speakers which are build around the design principles at least of the Belle Klipsch (mids and tweeters horn, drivers + x-overs are completely different; bass horns are very slightly "tweaked," and close to the original), I certainly agree on the above - insofar also we're dealing in both cases with fully horn-loaded speakers as a design basis and point of reference. I'd say the sound of horn here is denser, more present (yet wholly relaxed), and of with a wonderful ability to effortlessly convey complex material.

They ring a lot compared to beryllium drivers though. Which is both a pro and con.

Klipsch speakers "ringing" I'd wager has more to do with the horn construction and materials used than that used for the diaphragms, though the overall potential of the sound here originated is of course also influenced by the compression drivers as a whole. The original Klipsch horns sport relatively thin-metalled walls, and I imagine they can ring like bells at certain frequencies. I remember though reading of Art Dudleys ventures into modifying a pair of Altec Valencia's he had purchased, where he found damping the mids horns on the backside to have its flipside, so to speak, and robbing the horns of some of their sonic virtues - so much indeed that he found the tweak initiative here to be less productive overall. Same, in a sense, would apply to the man who build my speakers, and how he finds particle board (MDF) to sound "dead," and instead uses a particular kind of plywood to accommodate his preference. Though not beryllium vs. titanium, if this comparison even applies, the inclination towards killing most of the reverberating nature in materials, sometimes to counterproductive effect, is still the prevailing one. That being said, the "ringing a lot" of horns, just going by the reading of it, doesn't appeal to me. Some of JBL's "über"-models, like the K2's, now seem to me slightly on the pale and lack-and-substance side of sonics after being used to listening to horns made of stacked plywood (and a different compression driver). The JBL's here may sound "livelier" (some would say "splashier") in a sense, but to my ears quickly turns into a character less natural and too much "in the way." Oh well, there's livelier, and then there's "livelier"..

Nah, it’s the titanium ringing, my Klipsch speaker got the new silicon horn which does help a lot with the harshness compared to older Klipsch designs.

Compared to normal speakers the ringing is actually not that obvious. It’s only when compared to high end beryllium active speakers (and only on certain songs with the right high frequency materials) did I go, wow, never knew it ringed so much.

With that said, I like both sound signatures.

Amazing that you can't tell at all when there was a 4 year jump, then a 5 year jump, suddenly you have gone from 2004 to 2016 and people are still complementing speakers that were first made more than 60 years ago. 

Cut them all you want, but point to another speaker than has been continuously in production 1/3 that long.

Have any of you heard the Palladium series. Seems to be the best they have made since the Heritage and Forte / Chorus lines. 

I've liked Klipsch stuff for years, although never personally owned anything from them…"Heresy" (spent a LOT of time listening to a friend's pair of those things) might be one of the best audio product names ever. I did have a set of Altec A7s for many years (pro sound needs) and there is just something about the "wooden" tone of big old school plywood speakers that is unique and appealing. 

I've got a set of Cornwall I's from 73  and a Marantz 2270 from 74 perfect set up. They blow my B&W'S out of the water because the Cornwalls have a 105% sensitivity 

Many, many good unbiased & more importantly experienced views posted.
I own a pair of Klipsch Bell’s and do understand many who point to their "cupped voice" sound, or "beaming" highs. Their not imagining it. I’ve found much of that has to do with the music. Compressed music sounds like crap and I have on several occasions stopped a song, taken the tablet upstairs and listened to it on the Wharfedales Denton’s which are known to be rich, laid back and warm sounding speakers. Well, those songs turned the Denton’s in knife throwing franken speakers. What I’ve learned is the Klipsch will ruthlessly reveal the music especially if it’s compressed and most music is making it sound like the Chipmunks. I listen to mostly jazz with horns, piano, double bass, violins and vocals sound their best when kept at 60-75db. On more modern music with these boy bands that artificially trip their high vocals with a synthesizer it just kills the ears. Chipmunks. No guy voice should sound that high and shrill.
Also a lot depends as has been stated the pairing of ss with them. Sony STR 7055 & 7045 excellent. Marantz 2500 fantastic. Bob Carver Sunfire theater grand and cinema grand pre is a very good pairing.
Again if they are all kept at reasonable levels and the right music is chosen. For near field late night listening they excell like no other and play delicately soft with crystal clarity which is most of my listening sessions. As for the bass that’s a non issue for me. I have a 20’ x 15’ room with 30’ ceilings and open loft design. Throwing on some "house" music my kid’s like, one can literally feel the bass reverberate throughout the home. They’ll push close to 80-90db. Lol.
Keep the music clean and you’ll have a wonderful experience with them. Listen to Hayley Westenra , Enya, Rebecca Pidgeon right now. All of the women's voices are RIGHT THERE, airy, high, like an angel. Amazing.
Thanks for the read & have an awesome audio journey. 
Cheers.

Taters....I agree with you.Back in the day when there was less competition they could hold their own.Certainly not the case today,but I will buy their components at swap meets and such because there are still followers and it's an easy sell

From my own experience what the Klipschorn Loudspeaker needs is a bigger mid range cone and larger flare say a 3" cone?. That would alleviate the mid range shrill/harshness (for want of better words) and allow the mid octaves to sound unstrained and uncongested on certain types of music. The tweeter could be Improved upon also.  On the plus side they a very a revealing Loudspeaker and can sound delightful on certain recordings. Massed choral works are a let down to my ears. The pluses outweigh the minuses for me in stock form. As I own two horn speakers that sound better than the stock Klipschorn,  do I spend money and modify/Improve them or just leave them for what they are and enjoy them for what they do well? 

I owned and modded a pair of Heresy's. It took a lot of doing to get them close to right. But played late at night, through tubes, at low volume and the sound was really engaging. And, although folks often discuss how loud they go with a few watts, I found them unbearable past 80 to 85 dbs. 

From my own experience what the Klipschorn Loudspeaker needs is a bigger mid range cone and larger flare say a 3" cone?. That would alleviate the mid range shrill/harshness (for want of better words) and allow the mid octaves to sound unstrained and uncongested on certain types of music. The tweeter could be Improved upon also.

I’d say the midrange horn of the stock Klipschhorn is the bigger problem than the driver itself, but nevertheless I find your proposal makes sense. My own speakers are build or "modeled" around the Belle Klipsch by one Simon Mears in Brighton, UK; meaning the bass horn is largely similar although the mids and tweeter horn + drivers and crossovers are completely different. Moreover the build and parts quality is substantially better. The 2" exit B&C DCM50 midrange compression driver used here sports a 5" (presumably paper-based) composite diaphragm with a 2" voice coil, which in regards to midrange compression drivers is almost unheard of (actually this driver is more or less a modern, permanent magnet clone of the old late 20’s RCA MI-1428B field coil midrange compression driver); usually the largest diameter diaphragms used in mids comp. drivers today is 4." The tractrix midrange horn of the "Belle a la Mears" is build from CNC-machined stacked plywood, and together with the B&C midrange driver delivers a full-yet-precise, utterly unrestrained and uncongested sound with no harshness of any kind. Indeed I find it to be some of the absolute best midrange I’ve ever heard. Which brings me to:

... do I spend money and modify/Improve them or just leave them for what they are and enjoy them for what they do well?

My recommendation would be to try and have your cake and eat it too, and have the Klipschhorn midrange and tweeter units + horns and crossovers completetely modified from ALK Engineering or Volti Audio. It won’t be cheap, but you would attain a one-package solution with 105dB sensitivity, almost full-range, and stellar overall presentation (relatively affordable still) - quite rare these days.

I've had similar experiences as @rx7onmymind, but with the Heresy III. I cannot say that I notice the cupped voice issue with many songs. 

When paired with tubes, I haven't heard a better speaker for late night listening. 

They do compete with many modern designs, because they have strengths that others lack. All speakers are a compromise in some form or another. Of the many pairs of $2k speakers I've auditioned, the Heresys are up there with the best. They do forfeit bass of the lowest octaves, but they're superior in a couple ways to the ubiquitous 3-way towers from brands like B&W, MA, Focal, and Paradigm. 

I'd wager that many naysayers here have never heard any Heritage Klipsch models, or at least, haven't heard the newest gen. 

No, I'm not just a Klipsch fanboy. I used to make the same negative assumptions about this brand, based on my experience with Klipsch RF towers.

@helomech,


Jimmy Hughes a well respected UK hi-fi reviewer music guru whom I have purchased some his equipment recommendations over the past many moons with no regrets gave the Heresy lll's a great review in 2010 and stated that he could live with a pair. No higher praise than that.
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/klipsch-heresy-iii-loudspeakers-hifi-plus-71/

@phusis ,

I would love to hear the Uccello, It looks lovely and I am sure it sounds wonderful. I hope Mr Mears comes to the RMAF this year with the Uccello or an equivalent, then again a trip to sunny  Blighty could be on the cards for me soon, see the family, friends and have a decent Indian curry, and a trip to the seaside!!
Thanks for your Info regarding ALK Engineering/ Volti Audio I might just look into both of them and research their offerings into making a good speaker excellent. Mr Klipsch only had to put on some music with massed violins with the violinists giving their bows some serious welly to see how constrained and downright unpleasant a sound that would be a pain on the shell likes and would even get  pets running to exit the room. Its a flaw that can be overcome with simply (layman's terms) going large or larger. Of course my views are to my ears upon my own listening experience, and naturally I could very well be wrong.
Then again Taters could be correct in that they are "the worst"..........