My primary reference comes from decades of mixing hundreds of live concerts by a very wide range of musicians. I own "current and up to date" gear from my hifi rig to piles of professional gear, home recording things, musical instruments all over my house, and various monitors the like...I can say with certainty that Heresy IIIs do not have "somewhat of an old school sound"...maybe old versions do, but not these. Crisp, accurate, coherent sound from a classic single ended tube amp sounding utterly like a current state of the art system, and I can listen to other stuff at nearby "salons' like Goodwin's...those rarely impress to a degree that would make me doubt what I have in my listening room. |
I’ve heard all of the speakers helomech mentions...a couple of ’em extensively, and I still maintain that Heresy IIIs have mids that utterly give up nothing to those brands, and in fact I’ll argue that in terms of lifelike tonal qualities and realism LMAO! Uh, no apparently you haven’t, or your auditory memory failed you miserably in those assessments. Compare a Stirling Broadcast LS3/6, Maggie 0.7, KEF LS50, Vandy 1Ci, or Spatial M4 Turbo S (list goes on) back-to-back with H-IIIs and you’ll realize how colored the Heresy midrange really is. While I agree with Mr. Decibel that there are resonance problems with the horns and cabinets, adding constrained-layer bituminous pads (Dynamat) does little to remedy it IME. I thought I detected some improvement at first (the all too common placebo effect), but careful A/B comparisons with my other speakers revealed that any improvement was minute. The midrange is still polluted with resonances. I’ll agree with you that Heresy IIIs manage to create that "live" sensation quite well, but I think that’s only because most live performances are amplified through horn-loaded PA speakers. The ironic thing here is I have no horse in this race. Like you, I enjoy H-IIIs, but unlike you, I don’t consider them end-game speakers, nor do I consider them a great value at MSRP, especially after their recent price hike. If anything, I should be extolling the virtues of H-IIIs in hopes of getting a good price when I eventually sell my pair. But alas, in the interest of the greater good of the hobby, I prefer honesty in sharing my assessments. Again, I never said the H-III is a bad speaker. I consider them great speakers in the context of what they do well, and the price they can be bought for secondhand. Helo, I appreciate your response. Unlike you, I do accept, and appreciate, that not everyone listens the same, uses the same " references " when listening to recorded music, and that each individual, determines what it is that " they are after ", in a sound system. I am happy for you, that you have found a loudspeaker you are happy with....It is about time, after the merry go round you have been on. You are not alone, on this merry go round. I have heard some EP speakers in my past, and " I " do not like the design, for " what I want ". I am also in a home, without connecting walls, to neighbors, and have a room that is acoustically pretty nice. This is important to me, to have a nice room, as much as the equipment, otherwise, headphone listening is the way to go. I appreciate that my system, and the environment, can easily reach musical peaks above 100 db, as this is critical, to me, for realistic music interpretations, of what is on my recordings, so I may connect with the emotional content of the composers, and the players, on every genre of recording I am playing. I do not listen seriously at 75 db peaks, although I could. And the room does not get in the way of this. I have been around live, unamplified music, much of my life, and horn speakers, all of my life. Live, unamplified music, is what I use to judge systems by. Nothing like it, and I have come to a realization, that nothing will. Recordings are the limiting factor. However, my buddies and I can plug in a mixer, with mics and guitars, and use my Lascalas for this purpose. I have owned many models of design, by many manufacturers, and have set up more systems, than you will ever know. This has lead me, to simply know what I like. Am I wrong ?.....If you think so, you are the one that is wrong. And yes, it you go back to your recent Advent experience, you were pretty adamant about this pair of speakers being the holy grail. And saying they were " superior " to a new set of Vandy 2s ". Actually, they are not, but " you " thought so. You also claimed they were better than some Monitor Audios you had, and others I do not recollect. So when you wake up, realizing that people differ from you, in the " sounds " and musical experiences they are looking for, I will listen to your words. But, as long as you make comments such that you do, I will simply see you as a " nose up in the air ", pompous, and pretend know it all, because what you think you know, you really don’t. Have a nice day. There is no further need to communicate with me. MrD. Mr. D, I’m sorry that both your reading comprehension and hearing ability have begun to fail you, but I understand that’s a common issue in old age. |
I just wanted to add my thoughts on this being a Klipsch Hertiage owner for 30 yrs starting with my Khorns and Hersey II's.
As someone mentioned the Klipsch forums is a wealth of information and good deals in the Garage Sale section. I have been a Heritage member there for 20+ yrs, there are alot of great people there to help in any way they can. They throw one hell of a party in Hope every couple of years for the Pilgrimage.
I have even sold Klipsch when I dabbled in the audio business part time way back. One thing about Klipsch, people either love them or hate, no down the middle. I dislike their subs, to boomie for my taste, great for movies, lousy for music.
I sold a pair of original RF7 on a Saturday and the guy was back by Tuesday complaining they actually hurt his ears, and he was not alone with that sentiment. He actually settled on Monitor Audio Golds more of a musical speaker line. Klipsch are slam in your face loud but I also love the musical soundstage they throw at you when you listen to a live recording, oh yes, strings here, horns there, and percussion in the back. To me there is no better speaker at doing the live soundstage. PWK was more than just an Engineer who believed lamp cord was just fine for speaker wire and $10K cables made him laugh.
I was aware the day Klipsch announced the end of the Heritage line in 2000, I'm not kidding, there was such a revolt on their website forum board, it was a wild time.
That day I went to my local Dealer and ordered a pair of LaScala's thinking no way in hell would I get a pair, especially up to Canada. In 6 months time he calls me. I got 1pr out of the last 20 that were built of the LaScala in Hope with serial #'s 0001/0002 which I was told was yr 2000, the last year of production and they sit new in their original boxes open to air now and then, less than 1 hrs playtime, my girls...ha...
And that's my brush with greatness...I did meet Johnny Cash in an airport once...
I would look at the Klipsch site for a used pr of Cornwalls or even cheap LaScalas if your state side. New in that range the Forte III's are nice, I have original Forte's and use them in a seperate room close to your size, abit smaller for 2 channel.
Cheers and good hunting. |
