To all Klipsch Heritage fans

I can’t comprehend why any informed audiophiles continue to buy Klipsch Heritage speakers when these days, there are so many far superior options from a multitude of factory-direct brands. Arendal, Philharmonic, Ascend, Clayton Shaw, MonAcoustics, heck, even Tekton, make significantly better products for similar or less money. Once upon a time the Klipsch Heresy was a decent buy at <$2000/pair, but that was mostly because of its uncommon efficiency and WAF. You could squat them relatively close to a wall, power them with a modest tube amp, and get “musical” sound at low SPLs that you didn’t have to judge critically because they were relatively cheap after all. Now they are absurdly overpriced considering you can get Tekton Lore Reference Bes for half the price, and Philharmonic BMR Towers for just a little more. I get that most don’t pay full MSRP for Klipsch Heritage (for good reason), but still…

Their Cornwall and LaScala have almost no (older models—zero) internal bracing or panel damping, they’re simply lined with loose foam, which only works to damp internal reflections. Their cabinets are so noisy I just don’t understand how anyone takes them seriously beyond their ability to play loud background music. Yes they are dynamic, but so are the $1200/pair PA speakers down at the local pub, and those probably sound better too be honest.

Sorry if this offends anyone, but I really don’t understand the continuing affinity for these antiquated designs, especially in 2026. 

@helomech My modified Lascalas bring me so much listening pleasure. You do not need to like them, but I certainly do. Have you ever heard a good set of them? They do "what I want" from a speaker, work extremely well in my room, and work with any amplifier I have driven them with. My best, MrD.    

Thick carpet, unless it’s like 1-ft thick, will have very little effect on SPL in the bass frequencies. Absorption materials tend to be frequency dependent. The higher in the frequency range you go, the more typical absorber materials will have an effect.

Anything below 200 Hz is really going to cut through your carpet like it was acoustically transparent, hit whatever hard subflooring like plywood or concrete (the worst, an acoustic mirror!) and bounce up at an angle incident to it.

So I wouldn’t take that into account. Part of why monitors are put on angled stands is to direct the plane of the woofer’s output up, away from the plane of the floor, while aiming the beaming frequencies in the mids and highs toward the listener’s head.

@mrdecibel 

A few months ago I auditioned a pair of the AL6 LaScalas. They were way too forward in the midrange and had terribly audible cabinet resonances. I think I actually prefer the much older (probably original) design I once heard setup at the Woody Guthrie museum in Tulsa.

I get the appeal of their effortless dynamics at lower SPLs, but otherwise I don’t really understand the appeal. I imagine modded ones can sound quite good. 

@helomech

I’m not a Klipsch apologist in terms of their unorthodox presentation and design; you either love it or hate it. Having said that, I’m wondering if the pairing Klipsch with modern solid state amps designed for different speaker loads might emphasize the worst characteristics of both the speaker and the amp.

About 5 years ago I ran across a pair of 1977 La Scala, all original, in a craigslist ad. It was a “couple approaching retirement age and wife pressuring to get rid of them” situation so I got them for a song. Set up a secondary bedroom system with them for fun.

All I had amp-wise were a pair of massively overpowered Emotiva Differential Reference monoblocks (650W@8 Ohms, 1000W@4) and another pair of Nelson Pass designed Amp Camp Amps (15W@8).

• With the Emotivas, the old La Scalas sounded awful, like the camp PA horns on the show M*A*S*H.
• With the lower power but ‘sweeter’ sounding ACA amps, still solid state, they sounded much better.

Then I picked up a pair of 1950s Quad II amps lovingly refurbished by an actual Zen-practitioner electrical engineer in Colorado. Also 15W@8, but all tube, gorgeous KT66 push-pull Class-A sound. What a difference! Like, I just plopped down on my bed and listened. Couldn’t stop for hours. It was just the most transparent, effortless, zero-fatigue, realistic sound.

Like Nelson Pass is so famously quoted, “It’s the first Watt that matters. All the other Watts that come later don’t mean a thing if the first one isn’t perfect.” I think that’s especially true with high sensitivity horn speakers. They reveal very small differences in amp topology like gain staging and feedback issues that less sensitive speakers mask.

Anyway, I wonder if your negative experience with modern Klipsch could be chalked up to that. They’ll pry these old Quad II amps from my cold, dead hands!