Everything,

None!

Iam still in shock over the way these speakers sound this is my second night. First heard Klipsch in a hotel Club 20 years ago. I wanted them then but Iam a working stiff and got talked into a $350 pair of Radio Shack 3 way Tower Speakers,This time almost bought a $400 pair at Cicuit City Iam so glad that I didn't . I hooked up my speakers to my new Technics Class H 100 watt Receiver I just bought for $100 and it was like I was hearing my old CD's for the first time, old 60's and 70's rock sounded like you are right there in the studio. Recorded Live CD's sound like you are in the second row or on stage. WOW! Thank you Mr. Klipsch Thank You Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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My Last Speakers were 18 year old Radio Shack Tower Speakers

Very high sound definition, very "live" sense of music

low freq rolls off below 50 Hz

I would recommend ALL of you Heresy owners to spell out this review, and I just hope that you will be able to get the same results as I did. Possibly Paul Klipsch himself was aware that he issued a jewel by launching the Heresy, but I wonder if he is aware that it is a true pearl, hiding in it's shell. The trick is to open the shell... I found something like a real diamonds, after having opened my shells (which are in real life my Heresy boxes, of coarse...)

I will start with a quote of Paul Klipsch himself: "What this country needs is a good 5 Watt amplifier". Long before I read the interview with this quote, I have been doing experiments with a home-made amp, which was only able to develop the power I need, and no more. I guessed that the higher the maximum power you want, the more problems you will have, since high-power transistors and tubes have more distortion than their low-power equivalents. After many experiments I believe this assumption is right, and so I have now settled for a 1 Watt tube amp. One single Watt in a Heresy gives 96 dB of SPL, and I don't need more than that. So I have the amp Paul Klipsch recommended. The Heresy's have so little distortion, and such big sound resolution, that they will identify any rotten components without mercy. By the way, that's the reason why many people don't want them, because usually Heresy's are the bringer of the bad message that the amp/CD player are rubbish...

PLEASE NOTE! I do NOT use that cheap tubes, that are now commonly available. Some manufacturers pretend to be equivalent, or even better than the real ones. Especially the 6922 is now widely available. I tried many, and most are nice tubes, because they are not expensive. But they are not worth your precious Heresy's!! I was lucky that I could purchase a few 6922 by Amperex. They carry a label "PQ", which means Premium Quality. It's equal to those famous "SQ" tubes that were made by Philips many years ago (named E88CC, some NOS is still around). If you have played a PQ tube for an hour, and then press a cheap tube in the socket, it feels like party's over. The same applies for the output transformer. Only premium quality will yield results good enough for a Heresy.

I have played my Heresy's as they left the factory for about half a year. All that time I was aware that somewhere I was having harshness, mostly in the high frequency's. I suspected my amp for that, until I had the chance to try my amp on a set of speakers which did give this harsh sound, and yet didn't miss any of the details and sound stage. So, I had to examine the Heresy's.

I opened the Heresy and the first thing I replaced was that silly piece of wire between the filter and the drivers, the kind of wire I usually find in the inside of a vacuum cleaner or so. I fitted something decent. However, that didn't make so much difference as I wanted. But I then I noticed that there is no damping inside the box, other than a silly sheet of foam, which is just laying loose in the box, like an upside-down "U" wrapped around the woofer. That makes the acoustic room for the woofer small. I threw it out. The sheet is not glued at all, so you don't have to damage anything if you want to try yourself.

Of coarse the foam is there for some reason. I think it is to separate the horns from the woofer, because as the horns are making sound, they will also make vibrations inside the box, and those vibrations must not reach the woofer. The reverse is also true, reflections from the woofer must not hit the horns. And then I realized that the mechanical vibrations of the horns will produce sound on the outer surface of the horns, which reflects on the inside of the box, and will come back to the horns. Out of phase, of coarse. Those vibrations will be transferred into sound, and will mix with the music. You may think that this effect is purely theoretically, and if present at all you will probably not hear it. And that's where you are wrong, because the high efficiency of the horn does not only apply for the sound that leaves the driver, but also for any reflections. So I took a sheet of thin and fine foam (you find this stuff usually wrapped around new equipment when you unpack the box), and some two-side sticking tape (not that kind you never get off anymore), and I applied foam to each and every flat panel on the outer surface of both the mid range and tweeter horns. It takes two hours of precisely cutting the foam, because there are a lot of small panels between the ridges on the outside of the horns. I also wrapped the magnets, so when ready you see only foam on the outside. If you want to try yourself, you can easily do it. No need to worry about any damage, you can always remove the foam if you don't like it after all.

Then I re-assembled the Heresy's and started playing. The result is amazing. The harshness is just gone. I expected little improvement, but the result is giant. Bass is better, as could be expected, since the woofer has about the double acoustic volume now. What I didn't expect is that the sound staging has improved VERY MUCH INDEED. You are getting closer to the music! It feels like if you have moved in between of all those instruments of the orchestra. Solo guitar is right in front of you, not just anywhere between your left and right speaker. Drums are transparent, human voices are human indeed!

Yes, I know that common complaint that there is too little bass. That hasn't changed, so if you want that very low bass that makes your tummy shaking, and your eardrums damaged the same time, the Heresy is not going to give it to you. If you insist to have that "below 50 Hz" stuff, I would recommend to apply a sub-woofer, because all the rest of the sound is unbeaten by any loudspeaker system I have heard so far.

Conclusion:

I am not the only one who says that efficient and low distorting horns go well with low power tube amps. I just have driven this statement to extremity by settling for only 1 Watt of ultimate quality, which happens to make the original Heresy II, without modification, the underdogs, for once. Many reviewers have granted five stars for the "as delivered" Heresy, but there are more stars in the box! After eliminating some simple in-box reflections, they turn out to be really shining diamonds, if I may say so, and mate extremely well with a flee-power tube amp. Their ability to put you right in front of any kind of music, be it a full scale orchestra, rock concert or human voices, definitely calls for much more than 5 stars.

Great overall sound. Excellent finish.

None that I have found.

I have owned these speakers for almost 10 years now. I upgraded to these from Klipsch KG-2s. I am very please with the Klipsch Heresy II speakers. I have never had any problems with them. Even when I didn't have a subwoofer, I had enough bass for every situation but since I added the Klipsch KSW-12 subwoofer last year, I don't have any problems. Before I purchased these speakers, the one thing I noticed about Klipsch speakers (especially the Heresy) was the seperation of the highs and lows. I highly recommend Klipsch Heresy IIs....

everything

weaknesses? Ha, that's a good one!

The phrase "They don’t build’em like they used to" definitely applies to these incredible speakers. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination but it seems that in today’s world of slender tower speakers with side-firing powered sub-woofers, marketing rather than physics dominates design. Though, one can definitely tell that the design of the Heresy was based solely upon solid physical principles. And, since the principles of physics haven’t changed since the 1950’s when the Heresy was first made, neither has the basic design of this speaker.

I have heard many complaints that the bass the Heresy produces isn’t low enough. Well, they are right. The Heresy’s only go down to around 48 Hz. So, compared to the sloppy, artificial, unmusical bass in many of today’s speakers the Heresy has no ULTRA LOW bass. However, what the heresy does have is the quickest, most musical bass I’ve ever heard…and wow, can it deliver a punch!!! Additionally, given that the Heresy is a sealed enclosure, there are no boosted bass notes. With the Heresy, a bass drum sounds like a bass drum and a bass guitar sounds like a bass guitar. I actually have a Sunfire Subwoofer (which is INCREDIBLE) but rarely use it because it interferes with the speed and accuracy of the Heresy’s bass.

Regarding the mid and highs of the Heresy, I can’t say enough good things. The horn drivers produce a sound that is accurate and very present. It is rather eerie how life-like Human voices are through these speakers. The one draw-bask is that the Heresy’s are ruthless when it comes to revealing flaws in your system or a recording. Conversely, if this speaker is paired with solid equipment and is given a somewhat descent recording to play, the sound that is produced will keep you coming back for more.

Sure, there are definitely speakers out there with more detail than the Heresy’s (usually the billion dollar speakers that the so-called audiophiles drool over) but they all lack the Heresy’s impact and physical presence that makes listening to music FUN!!!
I have no idea why these speakers aren't still in audio stores as they would definatley sell, despite their vintage (but classic) looks.

Truest, clearest, most effecient, most reliable speaker ever made (for the money or otherwise)

Are you kidding?

Just read several reviews of Klipsch Heritage series speakers. Was not surprised to find almost all 5/5 ratings. There were a few 1/5 from guys that obvioulsy have some other agenda (they must sell competing speakers and get their ass kicked by Klipsch). No way to give these speakers a negative review. THEY ARE SIMPLY THE PUREST SOUND IN STEREO HISTORY . . . PERIOD.

I've listened to hundreds of speakers ranging in price from a couple of hundred to thousands. When evaluating what real music is all about . . . clear and accurate highs, smooth, accurate, clear and realistic MIDRANGE and reasonable lows (not the wall-shaking bass of the younger genration that wipes out the real music) . . . Klipsch is in a class by itself. A pair of Heresy II's, connected to any amp or receiver you choose, produces real music more clearly and realistically than any speaker I have ever heard at any price. It is truly an amazing phenomenon.

And to top it all off, my speakers are so old I cannot remember when I bought them AND THEY LOOK AND SOULD EXACTLY LIKE THEY DID THE DAY I BOUGHT THEM.

Tell you what . . . borrow a pair of Heresey's (do whatever you have to do) and put them next to your speakers in your home. Play your favorite real music (not that boom-boom noise they call music) and compare. I guarantee you that five minutes later your old speakers will be in your trash can.

Maybe that's the one real negative thing about Klipsch Heritage speakers . . . after you listen to them you will never be able to listen to another speaker again. Yes folks . . . they are that good.

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None

Live performance of the music.
Reproduces the music as it is recorded.

poor finishing of the loudspeaker front.

Klipsch, Heresy II Sprundel , 26-8-00.

On the 29th of june I have bought a pair of Klipsch Heresy II loudspeakers. I would like to share with you how and why I bought the speakers and… impression after two month of intensive listening.

My previous loudspeakers were Magnat ribbon 8 speakers. For 20 years I listened to these. I must admit that I was quite happy with them although I knew that they were not perfect. Initially I used a small Pioneer amplifier and switched to Denon mono-amplifiers. This was certainly a big improvement but the Magnat’s gave a lot of low and sub-low. Too much I believe but I was used to it.
The rubber support of the woofer deteriorated so that I had to look for new speakers. I looked for loudspeakers for two years and have heart several types in demonstration rooms but also at home in my living room. The cheapest speakers were about NLG 1500 each. The most expensive ones about NLG 9000. I was very disappointed about the results. I tried various types of the following brands like ESS, Cabasse, KEF, Dynaudio, Magnepan and OLS.
I noticed that a lot of speakers were better than my Magnats but … disappointing if you took the price differences in mind. I also noticed that my livingroom had a very significant influence on the performance of the various loudspeaker systems.
The most expensive speakers were certainly not the best. The best speaker with respect to resolution and musicality was for sure the OLS emotion 3. A two way system which was very good at low soundlevels but showed lack of “punch” at higher sound levels (they are very good!) But I kept looking….

Than I read an article (I read them all I think in Dutch, German and Englisch) about Klipsch loudspeakers. I decided to make an appointment with the Dutch distributor (Audio Import in Loosdrecht, the Netherlands).
I prepared a test CD with all kinds of music which I knew very well. The Klipsch Heresy loudspeakers at Audio Import were connected with quite old, but good equipment. Than the first tunes came out of these relatively small speakers. The music from my CD sounded impressive. Just like I thought the music should sound. Especially the resolution and easiness at which they reproduced the music showed that these speakers were good. At least in the big listening room of Audio Import. I listened to some other CD’s varying from Mozart’s Zauberflute, to the Glenn Miller Orchestra. From Michael Jackse to Janis Ian to Herman van Veen with the Rosenberg Trio.
This is how this Music should sound. The artists were virtually present in the room!. You could spot with their instruments. And….they shared the dynamics of the fantastic music. The dynamics of the Heresy loudspeakers is miraculous. I never heard a speaker do this. The ESS with the Air Motion Transformer came very close in dynamics but lacked the balance in the sound (in my living room!).

The proof of the pudding was in the listening at home in my own living room! An appointment with Hifi-shop Iman Dane in Roosendaal was made very quickly and they brought the speakers at home.
All kind of music was played wih my equipment (Philips CD 303 (16 years old) and Denon amplifiers). Again the music sounded like I expected it to sound. So I decided to buy them.

The second week of my holidays it rained the whole week so I had a good excuse to listen to my CD’s for the whole week. So CD’s sounded good. Even better than with my old speakers. So CD’s sounded very bad even worse than with my old speakers. I got worried. Do you know that feeling that you have bought something which seems to be a big disappoinment? Well, I exactly got this feeling. So I started changing the position of the speakers. From the wall, back to the wall. On stands since my mono amplifiers were always standing under the speakers. I used big concrete blocks to bring the speakers at such a height that the tweeter were at “ear height” but this sounded even worse. The bad feeling got stronger and stronger. I didn’t hear bass. All the bass sound which I knew from the Magnat speakers was gone. Than I listened to the last Starwars CD. Here I heard bass sounds. So this ment that the speakers could reproduce these low frequencies. Than I removed all the concrete blocks and was chocked by the fact that the amount of bass came back. At the end I found the right position and listened and listened to all my CD’s and records. Again some are very, very good with respect to Sound quality. And again some were very, very bad. I learned that these speakers reproduce the music as it is recorded on the CD or record. Some of the record companies do a very bad job and seem to use amatures for the important jobs of sound engineer. Luckily there are also real professionals. The CD’s are the proof of that.

Mathilde Santink’s CD “Texas Girl and pretty boy” or the CD from Herman van Veen and the Rosenberg Trio called “Je zoenen zijn zoeter” are two examples of very high class recorded CD’s from Dutch sound engineers. But also Loreena McKennitt, The Starwars CD’s, Paolo Conte, Lady Smith Black Mamboza are fantastic to listen to. Or Al Di Meola, or Harry Connink. Big band Music can be reproduced as if the band is sitting in from of you! The benefit of sitting at home is that you can modify the sound level but the resolution and the atmosphere are there!!! Horowitz in Moscou sound fabulous. The speed of the dynamic changes is incredible.
I never listened to March music but borrowed some CD’s from my father. The Marine band of the Royal Dutch Navy called “Best Marches of the world” can be played with such a feeling of reality as I have never experienced before. And than again I do not mean the soundlevel but again I mean the resolution, the dynamics the individual musician can be heard. And it can go loud!!! As if the whole navy band is playing live in my living room!!!! Really Impressive.

These Klipsch Heresy loudspeakers can give you the feeling if the artists are virtually present in your own listening room. You simply need good records/CD’s!!!!! I am expecting a lot of DVD-audio or SACD which will be released by the end of the year. BUT I am convinced that some record companies still will be able to ruin the music by means of very bad recordings despite the “perfect” reproduction systems.
Come on let’s be optimistic and hope that there will be affordable DVD-audio/SACD players (yes equipment which can handle both systems) so that I will be able to enjoy music as the artist wants me to hear it.

Summarizing I must say that the Klipsch Heresy II loudspeakers are very good loudspeakers which reproduce as it is recorded (both good or bad). The balance between bass, mid and treble is very good IF the position of the speakers is good. (Put the speakers directly on the floor if there is an imbalance).

If you have suggestions for good music which is recorder in the proper way than you are invited to reply. (also if you want to share your opinion).
Kind regards,

Jack van Oosterbosch
Sprundel, The Netherlands
(e-mail: oosterbj@novachem.com)