Vintage Polk vs Klipsch Heritage Series for music and movies...

Mystery

Has anyone played with this kind of comparison?
Klipsch are definitely much more efficient but their bass does not dig as low as Polks.
However, Heresy, Forte, Chorus and Cornwall have amazing mid range.
I have a pair of Heresy I HBR and the mid range that I miss from almost all of my speakers is right there but they crap on bass so I'm using them with a small subwoofer and now it sounds almost what I like.
Vocals are very open and string instruments come alive.
After listening to Heresy's for a while and switching to a different speaker, "where did the music go?" question comes in mind.
So I was thinking of going full out Klipsch Heritage for music and movies both.
Probably Cornwall or Forte for the fronts and Heresy's as surrounds with a Klipsch center channel.
I'm not going tube any time soon but heard they sound good with SS as well.
Comments from anyone here with actual experience is appreciated.
Thanks

I'll still have few pairs of Polks but in a 2ndary system if I decide to go Klipsch.

zingo

I completely rebuilt a pair of Fortes and they were great. Bass was strong and playback was very clear and dynamic; I was running SS on the woofers and tubes on the horns. However, the sound stage on my SRS 2s is better, and I enjoy listening to the Polks more; they are more engaging. I used to want the most clear/detailed/dynamic/etc components and speakers, but I realized I simply want the most enjoyable, and an upgrade pair of big SDAs is hard to beat for that.

nguyendot

I miss my Forte II's. Putting in Crites diaphragms and crossovers will make them very hard to beat. Sound is clear and less harsh with the new Ti diaphragms. Currently I'll be refurbishing Quartets and KG4s with those. It's very difficult to compare the two - they each have their strong points. Klipsch will definitely sell for much higher than Polks for some reason (they have groupies). For example the Heresy's sell for FAR what the equivalent Polk set would. Not sure why, I'd rather have the Polks in that range.

Tubes and Klipsch were made for each other. That's because "warm sound" generally equates to a large cutoff of higher frequencies. The horns are pretty forward/harsh - so they mix. This isn't terribly true with the new diaphragms though - so with that you can use good SS. You need very little power. The ForteII's I had were like 98 or 99db efficient.

Personally I like them both, and fortunately I've the ability to own a complete set of both once I acquire them. The Forte II's I had before with KG4 center was a great match. KG 1.5 rears as well.

PolkieMan

Sorry I don't I have any experience about Klipsch Heritage. I was thinking about some Heresy's but then I decided to do the updates on the 2.3tls.
Kinda sad that Klipsch Heritage speakers are a "true heritage" when I heard Polk was coming out with a Heritage product I thought alright!!!! But we know what that is. :-P

cnh

Never been impressed with Heresy speakers. Don't sound like much without "tubes" and even with tubes the LARGER models mentioned above put them to shame.

On an SS amp, vintage Polks will flame Heresys, IMO. Now some Fortes or Cornwalls on tubes, something worth considering.

cnh

PolkieMan

Thanks I'm glad I went the way I did and after all without SDA a speaker is well just a speaker.

cnh wrote: »

Never been impressed with Heresy speakers. Don't sound like much without "tubes" and even with tubes the LARGER models mentioned above put them to shame.

On an SS amp, vintage Polks will flame Heresys, IMO. Now some Fortes or Cornwalls on tubes, something worth considering.

cnh

mhardy6647

Altecs have even amazing-er midrange ;-)

The heritage Klipsch and even the vaunted - and in most cases crazy-expensive - JBL monitors are too harsh and rough around the edges for me.
The Altec Duplexes reproduce (e.g.,) the human voice and piano better than almost anything I've heard at any price - and I've heard a lot of different things over the past five decades.

It's all about personal taste, though, and our preferences are difficult if not impossible to justify.

If you want to go Klipsch, you should probably go with K-horns for your main speakers and a Cornwall center channel :-)

Mystery

Well I passed on this deal at this time due to space concern.
A pair of Cornwall, pair of black Klipsch floor standers (KG4 type), pair of oak floor standers (KG4 most likely), KSW sub and KV center for $600.
Great deal but they'll take all of the leftover space in my living room.

But I'll keep watching those Klipsch Heritage for home theater/music once I get a bigger place.
Till then I can use all JBL as a test with L166 as fronts, L80t3 as surrounds and L20t as center and rear.

mhardy6647

uff-da; yes, that was a great deal.

EndersShadow

Mystery, both IndyHawg and Trav0810 have had both SDA's and Klipsh stuff in their setup. I would PM them to get their thoughts. Between those two I believe Trav0810 has SDA 2.3TL's and has run Cornwall and maybe KG's (he's had 2 types of Klipsh vintage speakers), and IndyHawg has run a set of SDA 2B's and still owns totally rebuilt Klipsh Forte's

chandler9a

those older Klipsch are fine and can even sound pretty good with the right gear, but every time I do a comparison, the Polks win. I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference but to me, the polks (especially SDA's) just flat out sound better in every department. Smoother highs, tighter and deeper bass, more enjoyable mids...etc.

not to say the Klipsch are bad in any way, just not my flavor in the end. I will say they sound pretty good with tubes.

audiomagnate

I've never heard Klipschorns or Cornwals, but I had a pair of KLF 20s. Nice bass but the mids and tweets hurt my ears.

zingo

Klipsch horns are great in the right room with the right electronics.

mhardy6647

... and the right source and the right "software" (program material). The heritage Klipsch are pretty unforgiving.

bored184

I listened to a pair of Klipsch once, dont remember the brand, but the highs were almost too painful to listen to.

bigaltx24

I had a pair of LaScalas back in the late 80s. Really sweet mid range, fair bass, but the tweets are very hard to tame. To me they were always fatiguing to listen to. I ran them with a Marantz 3200 pre/140 amp combo for a while, then a modified Advent 300,
they sounded best on the Advent. I wound up trading them for a pair of KEF 104/2s. To me my SDAs are just a better overall speaker. The highs are smoother, the mids are close the the Klipsch, but when it comes to bass and soundstage the Klipsch don't even come close. I can listen to my Polks all day long with no fatigue, the LaScalas would drive me out of the room after an hour or so.

That being said, I have a pair of FrankenScalas out in my garage system. They're Pro Series high heads, which are the tweets, mids and crossovers in their own cab and a pair of MCS pulling bass duty. I don't know what it is about these Klipsch but the highs aren't half bad on them. I'm running them with a Nikko 8085 which is on the warm sounding side. The combo sounds pretty darn good, detailed highs, great mid range and decent bass.

Mystery

Well I got a pair of KSP 400 last night as the price was right.
No power cords (so could not test them), no spikes, no stabilizing stands, bottom is badly scratched/peeled and laminate trimmings are peeling off here and there but overall in very good condition.
I may build stabilizing bars on the front later if they test out okay.

Not sure how these compare with Heritage series like Forte but these should have enough bass with 15" powered side subs (goes down to 27Hz) unlike Heritage series.

These are tallest and deepest speakers I ever had at 49.75" (126.4cm) H and 22.125" (56.2cm) D.
I got a good workout getting these inside as they each weigh 102 lbs. Oh my back! :yikes:

Pictures:

You can see how tiny the Heresy looks in the 2nd picture. :eek:

bigaltx24

Those should definitely have enough bass.

Mystery

Hooked them up and all mids/tweeters work fine.
One speaker's subwoofer also works great.

But one speakers' amp power plug was pushed in and broken so fixed it with two part epoxy.

My take:
They sound amazing when subwoofer is on.
Without the sub, they still sound pretty decent due to the crossover point set at 80 Hz so not much bass to listen them alone but works fine for night time listening. Well I think Heresy has even less bass.

Another thing is they are not as efficient as other Klipsch, especially when subwoofer is not on.
They need more or less same volume as Boston A400 and Deftech BP10 for the same listening level.
When subwoofer is on, everything sounds big and louder.

No harsh highs at all and very smooth/clean/clear when sub is on.
With subs off, they kinda sound little bright sometimes but that's kinda expected as bass is not there to blend with high/mids.
Heresy is way too forward sounding compared to KSP 400's and even with 12" woofer, bass is similar to KSP's mid woofers.

On KSP 400's, I'm hearing instruments that were really not that pronounced in other speakers. Some clapping/flickering type instruments are more pronounced in KSP.

Now on to something that I need to work on.
On the base, there are holes for spikes and another set for stabilizing bars.
I will not use spikes as these are 102 lbs each so may not work well.
However, I'll look into building a wood or metal bar for stabilization.
You don't want to tip them over as they'll crush you.
Any idea on what may work?

I was thinking of getting a 15-18" long flat metal piece and drilling two holes for the screws.
Thanks

Here is a picture from online with the stabilizing bars:

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bigaltx24 wrote: »

Those should definitely have enough bass.

Yes they do.
I turn the amp off in the evenings and still is listenable. :eek:

dpowell

I'm really enjoying my 2.3TL's as dual HT and music speakers. Can't provide you any input on the Klipsch's.

MAD

Mystery... those KSP 400s look very interesting. I'm glad to hear the highs are not harsh at all.
The only horn speakers I've owned were speakerlab 7s. I found I just couldn't adjust to the horns until I ran them with a hitachi hma 7500 amplifier. The harshness lessened but I still ended up selling them.

I probably should have recapped them before selling to give them a fair chance.

trav0810

I owned a pair of original Heresy's and a pair of Chorus II's as well as a couple pair of KG's. I no longer own any of them. I still have my 2.3TLs though! I also have a pair of RTA12C's and a pair of Monitor 7A's. I would take any of the 3 over the Klipsch. The Heresys do have a beautiful midrange and all the Klipsch I had were easy to drive which does make them desirable for tubes. But I don't like running a sub with my 2 channel system so the lack of deep bass meant they had to go.

cnh

What's wrong with the current hardware holding them up? Is it just that you want to "further" decouple them from the floor that you want to add spikes?

cnh

Mystery

Thanks all.

MAD wrote: »

Mystery... those KSP 400s look very interesting. I'm glad to hear the highs are not harsh at all.
The only horn speakers I've owned were speakerlab 7s. I found I just couldn't adjust to the horns until I ran them with a hitachi hma 7500 amplifier. The harshness lessened but I still ended up selling them.

I probably should have recapped them before selling to give them a fair chance.

They are very good, not as balanced as B&W's but that could be because I haven't played around with the bass setup.

cnh wrote: »

What's wrong with the current hardware holding them up? Is it just that you want to "further" decouple them from the floor that you want to add spikes?

cnh

Right now there is nothing holding them up except their own weight.
They are only 9" wide so can tip easily if there is no spike or feet.