Klipsch Heresy IV
Young audiophile metal head looking to level up speaker choice
Hello Audiogon,
I'm a pretty new to the world of audio and looking to make a signifiant upgrade from my first self purchased speaker, the Q Acoustics 3030i. I was encouraged by an audiophile friend to join Audiogon and post a question regarding what speaker would be best.
I decided to pick up a much nicer amplifier last year, upgrading from a Cambridge AXR85 to a Rogue Sphinx V3. This 2024 I am wanting to make a similar upgrade to my speakers. I wanted a more dynamic amplifier and found the Cambridge to smooth when combined with my Q Acoustics.
I have my own listening room but it's rather small 11ft x13ft. I listen to mostly heavy metal/rock music at 70-85 decibels. I have looked at been cross shopping the Buchart S400 mkII, Dynaudio Evoke 20, Zu DWX, Arendale 1723 - but have also heard good things about vintage Usher speakers..
Thanks for your consideration and advice here.
cheers
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Golden Ear speakers would be just about the worst choice one could make. They will make a meal of Spam out of any metal music. Their tweeters are low-rent distortion machines, both in measurements and sound. The whole product line is a big money grab and the audio mags praising them are on the take—the only plausible explanation for why anyone would give them a positive review. |
@csmgolf I would like to stay under 3k. I have been researching the Polk SDA speakers, and it looks like I can find some at around 1-1.5k . It's a really underrating vintage speaker... While they are designed to be placed against my front wall, I wonder about the distance between each speaker and the side walls.. Each speaker would start about 20 inches from the sides walls and start roughly 50 inches from each other - I fear that would not only be less than ideal, but problematic. Interesting to see such division over the golden ears.... @helomech @mijostyn - do I need class A/or pure tubes for Klipsch speakers? I would worry that my Rogue Sphinx would make them harsh and fatiguing... |
For your budget and room size, consider the Tekton Electron. It is not the last word in refinement or imaging, but does a good job tonally and dynamically and should meet what you are looking for. If you stretch your budget a bit, there is a pair of Legacy Classic HD for sale currently on US Audiomart for $3500. I am a big fan of Legacy, though I am not as enthusiastic about the Studio HD as some others here. The monitor of theirs to get is Calibre, but it is not likely to be found in your budget. As others have mentioned, with your amp I would get something with a sensitivity above 90 to 92 db. |
@killingforcompany The Polk L800 SDA typically goes for 6k per pair. Here’s a pair for 3500 (42%off) with a 2 yr warranty from Polk. Even if you sold it one day, you'd cut even. Don’t miss out man..this is easily the best speaker Polk ever made. The older SDA polks were kinda crappy in comparison to the new L800 (took them a minute to perfect the tech). You also need to place the L800 a lot closer together than typical speakers (not too far apart from each other), which would work quite good for your smaller room. |
I think a class A amp is preferable. They are very efficient, 60 watts/channel will blow your doors off. The Pass XA 60.8 would be perfect. I prefer SS amps in general and really do not know a lot about modern tube amps with the exception of Atma-Spheres which I own. The MA 1s or 2s would be fabulous driving Cornwalls but they are hand wired and very expensive. |
I owned Heresy’s for decades and liked them for 70’s metal, though light on bass, but I also owned a Sphinx briefly, and while never connected to the Klipsch, I think you might be right it could be fatiguing. Polk and JBL are classic rockers and will do a nice job, I would lean towards JBL as we thrashed my friend’s dad’s pair back in the day, and they held their composure at high levels. I have owned Polks as well and like their sound for rock music. If I were looking today, I think the Tektons would be of interest for heavy music as well. Good luck, and save some of your ears for later. |
I’m a product of the 80’s and a metal head to the core.
Having bounced around both home and car audio on the higher end for nearly 40yrs I have found speed to be key. Speaking mainly on the bottom end of the frequency spectrum however there is quite a bit on the top end too but it is the lower end that causes the issues.
Among the cone and surround materials I have found the lighter cone materials such as paper with a foam surround to be the best. In an all around speaker I prefer aluminum, carbon fiber or a composite however metal is difficult to keep up with.
My litmus test by far is to use Metallica’s Justice for All CD. The kick drum is digitalized at 50Hz and it is super fast so get ready to hear muddy and sloppy if the speakers are not up to it. There will be a distinct "tick" to the kick drum when at full speed if the speakers are quick and something very different if it is not.
My preference is Cerwin Vega’s AT-15’s and a paper cone 15" sub. Vega’s do need quite a bit of good quality power. For the AT-15’s it’s 300W to get the cones moving well :) |
I mentioned their measured performance. One only need look up the measurements conducted by Stereophile and the like, notably with regard to their spectral decay. The performance of those AMTs is not remotely close to that of a high quality tweeter, regardless of type. Likely it’s a cheap Chinese built AMT of a quality similar to a Dayton Audio/Parts Express model. This character was very evident in auditioning as well, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to bring it up. They were some of the harshest speakers I’ve auditioned over the last 15 years. And that was consistent across multiple auditions and systems. The speakers attempt to sound “detailed” with their laser focused, boosted highs. The sort of false detail one gets by cranking an amp’s treble knob. In most of these auditions they were powered by Mac SS amps which have an inherently warmish character, which made the whole experience that much more confounding. The only way I can imagine these GE Tritons passing muster with Sandy Gross (and some reviewers) is presuming these guys suffer many dB of high frequency hearing loss, as does every man his age (not to pick on older guys as this happens to us all given enough time). But aside from that, they didn’t sound very remarkable by any other metric either. They really left me baffled (pardon the pun), because Sandy has designed some good sounding speakers in previous decades. I recall in one of Zero Fidelity’s live YouTube broadcasts, a viewer asked Sean his opinion of GE speakers. He essentially likened them to a “modern Bose.”
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