Klipsch Heresy IV

My IIIs new were from an Ebay store that's allegedly an "official" Klipsch dealer and cost about $1500 including shipping..."B" stock IVs I see here and there can be owned for as low as $2200 or so which is tempting to say the least (or maybe I can say less), but since I like my IIIs so much I can wait...

Low frequencies might rattle your door but highs are tossed out from horn speakers to the extent that reflection is less of an issue.

Having read a long article about what Alon Wolf thinks about sealed vs. non sealed speakers I feel better about my completely sealed system of Heresy IIIs with 2 RELs. I get that the IVs have many other improvements beyond porting, but Alon makes sense as he feels the bass boost at low levels can be out of scale at higher levels...I suppose the port can be plugged, but, again, my IIIs sound so good I'd have to do some serious side by side comparison to decide to switch to IVs, and I currently get a great sounding adjustable low bass from my 2 REL subs.

I don't get the comments that Heresy IIIs (or IVs) might not have the "uber detailed" sound of more precious designs...balderdash! I've owned a lot of those more typical (read expensive) designs, and the Heresy keeps up with and even surpasses all of those to my tastes anyway. I've noticed the closeness of the drivers in Heresy IIIs as something that might contribute to the coherency of the things...from the center of the tweeter to a few inches into the woofer cone is around 8 inches...less if measured from the lower opening of the tweeter horn, and far tighter dimensions than most any other wide range 3 ways...same with the IVs.

They redesigned other things with this speaker including the drivers and crossovers, and that interests me...the rear port doesn't interest me so much because I prefer having the sealed box "accurate bass to its limits" with my Heresy IIIs, and easily blend in the REL subs I use...I like the control I get with the subs. I'll listen to the IVs at some time but for now the IIIs are simply great sounding things that were a relative bargain at 1500 bucks new (and they're the "Capitol Records" version which is possibly meaningless but they make them at least "seem" special).

I would like to hear the IIIs and IVs side by side in an audition as that could be fun...I like my IIIs enough (including their lack of ports) to hang with 'em for a long time until IVs become less pricey, and since I just read a review of some also non-ported Magicos I feel even better about portlessness (I can turn off the rumble filter on my phono preamp, although I leave it on anyway to put less stress on my small single ended amp)...I like the AQ wire idea in the IVs and with redesigned crossovers and the like I bet they do sound great. "Upgrades" certainly but the degree of detail and coherence in my IIIs doesn't really beg for improvement...they beg to be listened to, and that I do...frequently.

The cabinet size is obviously important when a speaker is ported, as you're just not going to simply stick a port in there without considering everything...including what the "new" 12" bass driver's design might be. Roy Delgado did a great job with the other new "Heritage" re-designs and it's reasonable to assume a lot of time was spent considering how to get another 10db of bass from the Heresy IV as the lack of low bass is a common criticism of them. Duke's or anyone else's opinion isn't as valid as what the individual listener thinks of the sound of the IV with the complete redesign, and thus ends my statement of the obvious.

Yeah...10hz is right...oops.

You really do have to have the front end sorted out to make the Heresy IIIs really sing as they're very revealing of anything put into 'em...they're great tube tone and wire quality (or characteristic) indicators...I imagine the IVs have the same basic needs.

If any substantial improvement has occurred with the IV redesign (and I do expect there has) I'll likely have to get a couple of them suckers as the IIIs have been such a pleasure to have around the last couple of years. They surprise me every day really...