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Help: I've been Klipsched

I finally took the plunge into high-efficiency speakers and bought a set of Klipsch Chorus for a good price here on Audiogon.

When I first hooked them up they sounded okay, but a bit overbright in the upper midrange/lower treble region. After warming them up for a while and putting AQ Sorbothane half-sphere-type footers under the solid-state amplifier, the sound has smoothed out and much of the upper-mid agressiveness has been tamed.

Now they are very dynamic, fast, detailed, and they actually image quite well, which surprised me. The highs are much purer and more extended than expected, and the bass is articulate, though a little plump around 70 Hz and not that extended in the low bass. In truth, the Klipsch are faster and more dynamic than most speakers I have experienced. I can't believe I can get this level of performance so inexpensively!

My much more expensive system using AP Virgo IIs is still better, overall, though it is certainly no faster or more dynamic. But I have to say I think I'm having too much fun listening to the Klipsch with only a CAL Icon II, Perpetual Technologies P-3A and an old Onkyo TX-2500 receiver. No one would believe how great it sounds. It's really terrific on retro-swing like the Squirrel Nut Zippers stuff, and it just killed me on Cassandra Wilson's "Strange Fruit". Yikes!

I'm contemplating going to a nice little tube amp, but I honestly can't complain about the sound from the Onkyo and wonder how much improvement is possible.

Has anyone else had this type of experience?
plato
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
Thanks guys for your comments and words of encouragement. Having owned and auditioned so many different kinds of speakers I have an appreciation for the merits of all types and would never limit myself to only one type of design. I'm just happy that I happened to take a chance on the Klipsch because I'm really surprised by their potential. Even the imaging, which everyone seems to think is their shortfall, is in reality quite good (at least in my room with the Chorus).

Dweller, I don't think the Chorus has the protection circuit that you spoke of but I could be wrong. I don't see why they'd need to put a protection circuit in speaker that is 101 dB/W efficient and can handle 100 watts rms and 1000 watt peaks. What? What? :)
rives
953 posts
 
I've owned Heresys and La Scalas. Both were great, and I agree with the comments above--get some tubes. They are so efficient you can really enjoy the magic of tubes with these speakers. Enjoy.
flemke
595 posts
 
Get a turntable.
Tim
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
Flemke, I had 4 turntables but I sold one of my two Michells recently, so now I'm down to 3. I even have a vintage Dual that is set up to play 78s, exclusively. How many should I have?

BTW, if you don't have a reel-to-reel tape machine you really should get one and see what you're missing. I have 4 of those too, would you like to buy one? :)
wellfed's avatar
wellfed
690 posts
 
Plato, I am curious, what are the differences between the Klipsch system and the Audio Physic system with regards to soundstage scale?

What were your impressions of the bass quality, assuming the Chorus has horn loaded bass?

Also, I noticed I ended my previous post somewhat awkwardly. My point regarding the Machina Dynamica platforms related to my comment in the previous paragraph regarding tweaks and upgrades. With the horns, I find that system changes are much more dramatic than when I was using dynamic driver loudspeakers. It helps to finish one's thought. :)
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