Amp recommendation for Klipsch Heresy


A friend of mine just purchased some circa 1980 heresy's. I am trying to help him build out the rest of his system. What do you guys recommend for an amplifier? He would prefer something of 70's to 80's manufacture and we have a budget of around $400 dollars. I have never listened to any vintage klipsch. Do they do better with tubes or solid state? With his budget, I would assume tubes are out. Do any of you own heresy's? What are you using to drive them? Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Andy
andyprice44
They are so efficient you can drive them with almost anything. Tubes would be nice. He could get a hafler 220 for that price. I still have one and its a great little amp.
If you or buddy can get a a hold of a Luxman R-117 receiver, you would be hard pressed to find a better sounding solid state receiver to mate with a pair of Heresys. I drove my Heresys with vintage Marantz, NAD, B&K preamp/amp combo, and other misc. integrateds and receivers, and nothing could touch what the Luxman could do to the Hersesys. Fast, punchy, accurate bass, sweet midrange but not over warm, and very detailed. The R-117 can be found on the used market from $300.00 to $500.00.

Bill
Thanks for the suggestion. I will add luxman to the list. It looks like a nice unit. Does anyone else have any suggestions?
tubes may be noisy with sensitive speakers. vintage mcintosh tube amps are great when properly serviced and restored so is hh scott ones. if you can do restoration job yourself you'll save $$$ otherwise you need to be in $800 range.
Post removed 
If you can find a nice Nakamichi Stasis amp or Receiver that would be my choice. Plenty of info online. Audiokarma mbrs are pretty high on the Sansui AU series also with Klipsch...
Something different for you to consider- not a 70's or 80's amp, but I would recommend a rebuilt Baldwin amp by Will Vincent. He goes by member name "Autospec" here on the Gon. I haven't seen any for sale lately by Will himself, but they come up from time to time in the classifieds. There's one for sale right now over on AA, but it's a "Super Baldwin" and he's asking $800.00. I know you can get a standard one for around your price range. Had one driving my Klipschorns for a while and they were a match made in heaven. That Baldwin amp held its own up against some very expensive amps I had.
I have a pair of the original Heresys in my workshop.
Drive them with a Knight KN-928 (Tube integrated) and play music on a Denon DCD-1560

Every time I hook up my iPhone to that set up I just wonder whether the designers of those components ever imagined something like that.
Having used the older Heresy quite a lot, I can also vouch for the use of tubes. The speaker will become oppressive with transistors and the tubes seemed to play the bass better. I used a modified Dyna St-70 on them and was never able to run it out of gas. I never had troubles with noise.
I have used 2 tube amps with my 97.5 db Klipsch Quartets. A 10 wpc Vista Audio i84 El 84 PP amp very nice sound not problem driving htem and now a Grommes PHI26 1.75/6 WPC TRIODE/PENTODE amp. 1.75 watts drives it well.

The vista Audio amp was about 400.00. I think you could find a nice EL84 amp that would make them sing
I saw HH Scott Stereomaster in great condition(per owner's description) for bellow $400 on ebay serviced. It uses EL84/22wpc and sounds super.
Though they are indeed efficient enough that you could drive them with almost anything, I would definitely choose tubes for sure. You have tons of great suggestions here. If he does want something newer, the PrimaLuna line works very well with the Klipsch. Another classic combo was Klipsch driven by McIntosh.
Thanks a lot guys. I am trying to talk him into tubes. It is just hard to find decent tube gear on his budget. Tube gear is bringing a big premium over SS everywhere we look. I would need a preamp and a tube power amp or a tube integrated. It is hard to make money stretch that far. Might have to save for awhile. The search continues....
Jolida Fx10 tube integrated is in your range. I've heard it. A slam dunk in your case if input support is sufficient.

Glow audio also has inexpensive tube amps that have impressed me for <$1000.

There are inexpensive Dared tube amps sold on amazon that get good reviews as well.

Or even [url=http://www.amazon.com/Qinpu-3-A3-Integrated-Amplifier/dp/B0057ODYX4/ref=sr_1_7?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1379606218&sr=1-7&keywords=dared]This $200 tube integrated.[/url]. What have you got to lose trying that?
Maybe a Musical Paradise MP301 if you want tubes. Self-biasing, enough power, good reviews, $400....