Klipsch!. The worst speaker company, EVER?

New Heresy IIIs, with a well sorted ancillaries, can sound tremendous...mine certainly do, and, of course, need subs (I use 2 RELs) for full range results...coherent, immediate, clear, and they seem to have an oft mentioned "live" sound (whatever that means...but owners likely agree) that appeals to me anyway. Very well made internals with nice wiring and everything sorted perfectly by folks in Hope, AK. A somewhat unique speaker that sits on the floor and looks up at you, doesn't block the view of my amp (tube glow makes me happy), and brings out the best in whatever I'm listening to...highly recommended. Ken Micallef's "followup" review: https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-119-ken-micallef-june-2018

The Heresy IIIs aren't any sort of "white elephant" except to those who don't know what that term actually means. The exact mid horn and tweeter as Cornwalls at half the weight and price, and the price difference alone would allow the purchase of a swarm of woofers (pun intended). I'll take that efficient and smaller sized fat little box, and a couple of RELs to make things outstandingly good. I modded my Heresy IIIs by damping the mid horn after succumbing to intense and relentless pressure from outside influences, but mods? No need...I do dust them from time to time, and the latest sort of "mod" that worked around here was the new 7581A tubes in my little single ended power amp. I understand the design choice Klipsch made with the 12" woofer...utter control of the range it's utilized for, with a tight and coherent tonal presentation matching the other drivers perfectly. Klipsch has options for those with needs that require larger things, but Heresy IIIs with subs are heard to beat.

Porcine metaphors aside, I don’t buy speakers as a platform to build on as it’s more that I simply add things that fit my existing "platform" and enjoy them or toss ’em out as needed. Also, please add the term "red herring" to "white elephant" in your list of terms you might not actually understand, as knowledge can often have a calming effect. Note also that Heresy IIIs with a Swarm (an actual AudioKinesis product) would likely sound astonishingly more coherent than any Cornwall could hope for, but my RELs (with phase adjustment for days) sound pretty great so I don’t care...and I do manage to get by with 99db efficiency somehow, especially if I sit REAL CLOSE. I’ve owned this pair of RELs for years and they’re unobtrusive in my listening room to the point of being nearly invisible, so although I appreciate your concern about space, it’s a non issue in my place. The Cornwalls price, large size, and design simply don’t cut it for me in my current situation where the Heresy IIIs have worked out perfectly...right from the same factory! I’m a professional sound engineer and musician and when phase issues raise their ugly heads in my listening room I address it...Out of Here Damn Phase Issues! Like that...now I’m hungry for some herring...I prefer kippered.

The following comment is mostly rhetorical and possibly mildly comedic in nature, and not worthy of reply, thus saving the reader from having to think about it much if at all:

What is the number of people happily modding Heresy IIIs? I need to know...If there are "cheap caps" and "bad horns" (put there by corrupt Klipsch technicians caving to the Cheap Cap and Bad Horn lobby) in my almost stock (mid horns damped with dampy stuff, which may have improved something...can't remember) Heresy IIIs it's possibly a miracle they manage to sound as excellent as they do. Modded Heresy IIIs ("updated" pre 2006 versions excepted for the purpose of this post), although discussed on forums like this one, are certainly a tiny fraction of the numbers sold to people "happily" enjoying them (but are they really happy?). It's also worth noting that reviewers who report positively about Heresy IIIs haven't modded their review samples. I haven't heard new Klipschorns as I don't care about them...too big, and I got that sort of thing out of my system with the A7s I owned years ago...but I have heard new Heresy, Forte, and Cornballs that sound great in stock form.

I never thought much about Klipsch stuff although I was aware it was around seemingly forever, and I did like some little KG2s I heard in a shop years ago...but that's pretty much it...I only got curious when I bought a little tube amp that begged for speaker efficiency, and having relatively high standards demanding coherence and clarity (from audio gear anyway) I was really surprised by how good the Heresys sound. Amazingly good, even relative to ultra high end stuff I've heard here and there. 

I have a medium-large room and my ears are maybe 8 feet of so from my slightly toed-in Heresy IIIs...perfect...and the sound level thing always seems funny to me as I don't know anyone serious about hifi that puts speakers in a really large room and sits 50 feet away...except myself when mixing live stuff. Before soundcheck I'll sit in a middle seat in a venue, put something on the system in stereo, and listen for my own amusement (the show's live sound is really dual mono so everybody in the room hears pretty much the same thing). Nothing quite like a multi thousand watt powered 18" subwoofered stereo in a 500 seat concert venue!

MJCMT...my ears have been subjected to being attached to a head that's been in the music biz for over 5 decades, and they work fine. I don't mix these small venue live shows to ear blasting loudness so that's not hard on my ears at all, and the styles of music have ranged from Jim Campilongo and Julian Lage to The Baltimore Consort and Bill Charlap (not on the same bill, but you get the drift). Decades of electric guitar likely did the most damage, but other than tinnitus that really doesn't bug me much and some very high frequency loss I can still hear better than most geezers.