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PART ll: To All Klipsch Heritage Fans

Hello everyone who rang in to my "To All Klipsch Heritage Fans" post. Thank you all for your insights and suggestions and comments, I think I learned a thing or two. I'm not sure if I will be able to answer all the responses individually, but I'll try to get to a few, and if I don't, please take this as a warm Thank you.

Here's the Question for PART ll of the Klipsch Heritage discussion:

I don't want to get involved with tube amplification, it's too much of a commitment for the wallet at this time, but I will think about tube preamp section, but this is beside the point, THE QUESTION HERE IS ABOUT CLASS A OR A/B AMPLIFICATION FOR KLIPSCH.

I heard a speaker reviewer mention that Klipsch Heritage, from the Hersey IV and up respond the best on class A topology. What say you? How many of you tested this idea: Klipsch on class A or A/B?

FINAL QUESTION, HIGH DAMPENING FACTOR. I was thinking of marrying either the Hersey IV or Forte IV with a Hagel (entry level) amp. I believe all Hagel amps have a very high dampening factor, up to 4000, and are super silent, in that the music comes out from a black quite background. I'm thinking with such a huge dampening factor of 4000 how would Klipsch's woofers would respond. 

Cheers, and Thanks

octobertime
normb's avatar
normb
214 posts
 

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.

mrdecibel
3,304 posts
 

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

normb's avatar
normb
214 posts
 

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

argonsteele's avatar
argonsteele
27 posts
 

always used SET amps on my Klipsch, after many years and many amps I would stick to 300b.  I've got some triode labs 45 monos I'll probably sell soon because despite the glorious mids at the end of the day you are going to miss that base.  I've tried push-pull and mcintosh solid state and always go back to the larger triodes. Currently driving Chorus with a KR audio Antares.  

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