PART ll: To All Klipsch Heritage Fans

I’ve had a bunch of the heritage line over the years. Too much damping factor will make them a little strident or stiff sounding. But not necessarily bad sound just not the typical smooth sound most people turn to for them. Most like a tube amp because of the inherent brightness of most of the heritage series, the new ones are not nearly as bright as the older ones though. I’ve heard big power Mac amps on them (not ideal), low powered SET’s on them and after many different amps a low powered one always sounds best. I would look for a nice 20-50wpc SS class A amp or Tube amp. The best I’ve heard was Triode labs 2A3 SET’s but they are not cheep, and only 2.5 wpc. But I have also heard a Luxman 20wpc class A amp that was fantastic as well. Class A-A/B won’t make that much difference with them, but IMO lower powered Tube or SS always seem to sound the best. Big power doesn’t seem to respond well with them IMO.

If I had another set of LaScala’s I’d probably use a vintage Sansui 777A (or similar, and after a restoration) on them those capacitor coupled amps sound sweet on the heritage line similar to a tube amps sound without the tubes.

For me, there is something about 300B’s with the Heritage line, and horns in general.  The difference with other amplifier types is strikingly apparent.

I bought a good, used Tektron TK2 2A3/45 amp about five years ago, recapped it (same brand, newer generation) and used it for a couple years with a pair of new (circa 2003) Klipsch Heresy IV speakers.

Sounded great for the space they were in. Good staging, range, yadda yadda.

Then I read about Schmidt Ubiquitous V2.x speakers and was smitten, SMITTEN with them. I was going to visit an old Army buddy up in Rochester anyway, so I took a day trip (3 hours) to visit Glen Schmidt at his home and audition the speakers. Took home a pair plus a subwoofer (which I coined the name “SUBiquitous” for) and with a few changes in tweeter and woofer (cost almost as much as the base speakers but sensitivity is now closer to 97 dBa/watt compared with the 94 of the original… or was that lower?) coming from a change of speaker from Ohm-Walsh 4’s (86 dB, IIRC) this was YUGE.

I also have a 300B amp I built from plans (Skunky designs) as well as an ADCOM 545/II I’d upgraded (paired input, recapped, heat sink compound, new power supply) so I’ve taken the Klipsch and Schmidt speakers through some paces.

The Schmidt speakers have been my go-to for over 2 years now. So I’m an omnidirectional speaker fan, so sue me. The Klipsch speakers remain stacked in a corner of my basement.

I intend to reconnect them sometime real soon when my audio room/man cave is finished (insulation’s up, no drywall yet) to see if all’s the same with my aging ears but, even with a 2A3 SET amp, they work very well. I think you’d be pleased with them.

@normb are you certain of the year, (circa 2003)?

DOH!  2023… Amp is from around 2003. Thanks.