Proper center channel for Klipsch Heresy IIs ? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Boomzilla
03-26-2006, 09:22 AM
So I plan to use Klipsch Heresy II loudspeakers as front L & R with a M&K 350 subwoofer. I want a center channel that will voice similarly to the Heresys. I'm not so naive as to think that "only a horn center will sound the same as the Heresys." I'm also aware that both dispersion and tonality must at least be close, yes? So - the $10,000 question - have any of you used Heresy II speakers with a center channel - what did you use as the center - and did it work? If not, why not, and what did you do instead? Thanks!

Jim Clark
03-26-2006, 10:05 AM
So I plan to use Klipsch Heresy II loudspeakers as front L & R with a M&K 350 subwoofer. I want a center channel that will voice similarly to the Heresys. I'm not so naive as to think that "only a horn center will sound the same as the Heresys." I'm also aware that both dispersion and tonality must at least be close, yes? So - the $10,000 question - have any of you used Heresy II speakers with a center channel - what did you use as the center - and did it work? If not, why not, and what did you do instead? Thanks!

I've not owned Heresy II's but I've been a Klipsch brand owner for a long time and heard most of the older models up till the RF3's including the Heresy's. I still own a pair of KG 4.2's.

IMO, a Klipsch KV3 center channel will present the best tonal match. Problem is finding one. Ebay and Audiogon are probably going to be the best sources. Heck, one just went for a measly 50 bucks on Ebay. That's unreal low. I thought 200 was the going rate. Short of that I'd think that an RC3 would be a perfectly acceptable match as well. Sensativity ratings are going to be wildly different so it's going to be important to level match carefully with an SPL meter.

I've tried other brands with Klipsch speakers with terrible results. Live and learn.

jc

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-26-2006, 10:53 AM
I gotta agree with Jim on this one. If you can find a KV-3, get it. The RC-3 may also work. I can tell you right now, only another horn loaded speaker will come close to matching another horn loaded speaker. It may not be perfect, but you can get them close enough.

Cal Blacksmith
03-27-2006, 12:37 PM
Sorry guys but I must disagree with both of you. The only good match in a dedicated center speaker for the H2 is the Academy. It is the only CENTER speaker that is voiced to match with the Heritage line of speakers. You can also use another Heresy II as a center, I have a Heresy 1 between two Fort'e 1s and they blend very well. A speaker from the reference line (RC***) will not match and will sound like Ka Ka.

Sir Terrence the Terrible
03-27-2006, 04:39 PM
Sorry guys but I must disagree with both of you. The only good match in a dedicated center speaker for the H2 is the Academy. It is the only CENTER speaker that is voiced to match with the Heritage line of speakers. You can also use another Heresy II as a center, I have a Heresy 1 between two Fort'e 1s and they blend very well. A speaker from the reference line (RC***) will not match and will sound like Ka Ka.

I forgot the academy center. However rather than crapping on some elses response, you could have just offered your own. I agree with you that the academy center would ALSO match the heresy. How well one would sound over the other sounds depends highly on so many parimeters, that one cannot offer a single suggestion to fit all setups. Cost, size ( and I know that can be a problem because my custom center is based on the academy design), location, location in relationship to hard sufaces, and I could go on. This one isn't a slam dunk. I heard a system with three Heresey II across the front, and four RC-3's across the back, and a single 18" JBL. With a little tweaking they were almost a perfect timbre match.

When you look on paper, the academy looks the best. However, in the poster's specific acoustic, it just might not be. The poster would have to determine that himself.

Cal Blacksmith
03-28-2006, 05:46 AM
I forgot the academy center. However rather than crapping on some elses response, you could have just offered your own.

I fail to see how I did that.:confused5:
A perfect match would be another H2, though it is not a dedicated center speaker. I have a H1 in such use and find it acceptable. The question asked for a specific CENTER speaker and the only one made to match the timber of Klipsch Heritage line of speakers is the Academy. The RC series was designed to match the timber of the Reference line of speakers and they have a distinctly different sound.

The system you heard with 3 H2s in front would of course have a great match across the front while the rears, which have a much smaller roll in HT and thus are more forgiving in a timber mismatch are a little more flexible when it comes to the different lines of speakers. If you placed a DIFFERENT series of speaker for a center between the mains, you will hear the difference in a pan of sound and thus a Reference center speaker would produce a noticeable difference compared to a Heritage set of mains.

Of course you can play with equalizers and modify the sound of any speaker, but wouldn’t it be better to start with something that was designed to go together from the start and adjust from there?

EDIT: And yes size and cost are considerations. Used Academy speakers sell from $400 and up, they are not particularly small speakers but neither are Heresys. The center speaker as I am sure you know, produces about 70% of the audio in a HT setup while the mains fill in most of the rest and the surrounds and backs are there to help the audio illusion. I know many people who have tried to use other series of Klipsch centers with Heritage speakers and though they kept them for a while, it was never right and eventually they either went to an Academy or with another Heritage speaker that matched their mains. Such as a Bell between two Khorns or three La Scallas or three Cornwalls across the front.

If I somehow offended you or anyone else, I apologize but I was only trying to save the poster time and money based on my experience and that of many others that have been down the Heritage HT road.

bfalls
03-28-2006, 06:05 AM
You'll have to let your ears be the final critic. One of my systems is all Klipsch (Kg4 mains, KV3 center, RS-3 front/rear surrounds) and I find the KV3 to be the best match for me. I purchased a KLF-C7 thinking the dual 8" woofers would match better with the Kg4's, but I didn't like the sound at all. I felt the KV3 was warmer and blended better. The C7 always sounded as though it projected the sound above your head no matter how much you tilted it downward. It also sounded a bit more "sterile" with diminished low-end punch.

The Academy must be a good center speaker judging from prices I've seen for them on ebay. I've always found the Heresys to be a little bass shy, so a C7 may be a good match, but you may want to stick to the older Klipsch lines, the new one do sound much different.

Jim Clark
03-28-2006, 07:56 AM
I've never actually even laid eyes on an Academy center channel, much less heard one so it may indeed be a better match with the Heresy II's. I find it interesting however that the Klipsch website doesn't include the Heresy's as a matching product for the Academy so it would appear that it wasn't designed as such any more so than the other suggestions. At this point it looks like everything is based on preference rather than any predetermined or designed match.

Obviously a single Heresy II is going to be the best match available. That's not going to be practical for most people. The RC 3 certainly isn't going to be a perfect tonal match. It is however by it's own right an outstanding CC speaker with it's own positive traits not the least of which is that it's still readily available despite the fact that it's been discontinued.

jc

Cal Blacksmith
03-28-2006, 12:24 PM
The Heresy was designed by Paul Klipsch as a center channel between two Klipschhorns for stereo listening.

Quote from Klipsch http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=970


“First introduced in 1957, the Heresy, a three-way design, started out as a compact center channel speaker to accompany the Klipschorn® in three-speaker stereo arrays. In 1985, we made some changes and improvements to this model and re-released it as the Heresy II. Today, the new Heresy III has a more powerful woofer, a bi-wire network, and a titanium diaphragm tweeter with a larger magnet assembly. The midrange compression driver also features a new titanium diaphragm.”

The Heresy III is currently listed as a matching speaker to the current Khorn, http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=2 as the other Heresy speakers were listed to the Khorn of their day. As it was designed as a center, the use of it as a stand alone speaker came as a little surprise to PK but if people wanted to use it as a stand alone, he wasn’t going to stand in their way (the same is true for the LaScalla, which was designed as a P.A. speaker) so too the use of it as a HT speaker was not in the design process (none of the heritage line was).

When the HT fad started, Klipsch designed a center speaker for the then current “heritage” line of speakers, thus the Academy was voiced to be a “perfect” match to the

Cornwall II
Chorus II
Fort’e II
Quartet.

However it is also the closest you will get as a “center” speaker for the Heresy (unless you would like to use the LaScalla or the Belle Klipsch as a center but that is kind of backwards).

I know my Klipsch Heritage speakers; I am a collector of them and a user of them. I am a regular on the Klipsch board and can be found in the “general”, “2ch” and “HT” forums. I have been there for the last few years.

I couldn’t tell you the difference between a B&W and a Boston speaker nor will I offer any advice on them or any other speaker I have not been living with and know well. I don’t pretend to be a “know everything” audiophool but what I do know about, I have strong views of.