Despitte my being ten years of age when Woodstock happened. I missed it, and the only person who just missed the show. If you there and heard the headliner - Jimmy Hendrix- playing in the cool light dawn on Monday the light revealed a mud puddle with people strewn about and so on. Then you know vintage does not mean 1986. Klipsch helps you in that regard by selling a line of 3 models called the Heritage speakers. These are derivative except model number one that defines Klipsch when it was truly high end. For $250 -400 you should buy the original Heresys any of them before 1980 have an Alnico Squaker and 12 inch woofer and is the least sensitive of the lot at 98Db/W/M. If unsure the codes for the date of manufacture are on line and permanently pressed into the top piece of birch plywood. I bought mine in 1977 and still have them they cost an embarrisingly high price of $600/pr if you wanted grill covers or $550 without. I never had grills. The speaker that was the heart of Klipsch was the Khornerhorn invented by Paul Wilbur Klipsch to reproduce sound bass in particular at concert level volumes using the low power amps of the pre HiFi era released in 1948. Any pair you can find is good but I have not seen a pair ever offered for about $1000 so forget it. I was always jealous of the bigger brothers to my Heresys and gave into a nearby pick up only pair of 1978 La Scalas same drivers as the K Horn which I think were made by electrovoice at the time. Also easily dated by the imprint in the top piece of ply oir if the label is still there not painted over or watering canned it has the numbers as well. Once again you want the first version with a new crossover with the bob crites desgn i understand being highly regardedbut I was able to buy them on a whim then Now forget it. Anyway get and use a small Mac amp from the 70s SS of course. The syergy between them is very obvious and I bought the 2505 the smallest SS they made I think at 50 watt Mc. Trust me as counterintutive as is the bigger the Mc the bette it is. The reason is the low excursion fabric surrounded doped 15 inch woofer, will not do a whole hell of a lot with much less power than that. The incredible 104 sesitivity is at 4 feet as reported and only last year with the third generation was it quoted as meters still 104?? I know the price varys greatly with the cosmetics. Some have benn very well stained withnew cloth etc some have the veneered with great looking woods. The bottom line is a non dysfigured pair will be about $800 and up to about $1500 really good condition. The personally changed one of a kind prices I have forgotten and would end up as a function of the condition of the electronics and drivers with enclosure as the start the obviously the value of the modification of the exterior which as I said can be quite expensive. Be prepared for local pickup they are 3 feet squares four feet tall and weigh a moderate but awkward 125 pound or so Finally La Belle which I can only comment on in terms of it being the smallest the bigger heritage speaker all used the same 3 drivers. The Bookshelf or Monitors meant for angling up from the floor Heresys used different drivers but may have used the same tweeter. I would say the Forte and the other true Klipsch big but plain box designed one with passive bass raiators facing rearward are good choices but the KG is not vintage. Since you like it good but I think when Paul W. started to release the business to the next generation the entire soul of Klipsch went with him.
If those Klipsch have the original xovers in them, upgrade them and then you will be able to hear the true potential of those speakers. Klipsch speakers go well beyond the next level of performance with some upgraded caps and resistors.
It's a simple upgrade that doesn't require the shipment of your speakers, just the small xovers that are easy to remove and reinstall.
I have owned two pairs of KG4s. I think the earlier ones sounded better for some reason.I suspect the tweeter or crossover was changed on later ones.The earlier pair was prone to burning out tweeter voice coils-but that was a simple replacement job.
They can sound really nice with very tubey sounding amps like a 300b SET.
Also you need to stand mount them so the tweeters are at ear height when sitting down-which goes for any spoeaker.The little skirt on the bottom is best removed.
Klipsch forums are the best source for anything Klipsch. It's fairly easy to upgrade the xovers. If you don't want to do it or can't there are a few of us who do it.
JohnnyJ, Do a search on Bob Crites crossovers. Great crossovers. Really improved my Hearsy II. The Hearsy II is a great classic speaker from the Heritge line. Dont count them out. My uncle has the Hearsy I and both of us like the sound of the Hearsy II better. I am going to be letting mine go soon. I am having a hard time doing it though. I bought them new at Hahn AB, Germany at the BX.
I always enjoyed Klipsch speakers and years ago I owned K-Horns, LaScalla's and Heresy II (liked them all). When a pair of nice KG-4 became available locally I figured I would give them a try. Unfortunately I was disappointed with their lack of detail and resolution. When I compared them to another pair of vintage speakers I had (original Large Advents) the old Advents sounded much more clear to me. The KG-4's sounded like a blurr in comparison. Unfortunately I later sold them.
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