Klipsch Heresy IV (Objective) Speaker Review

Enjoy ! The new midrange is great , made an already great speaker better. Ports do not call attention to themselves. That was the one thing liked about the III is that is was sealed. They got a little more extension out of the IV with porting while keeping the bass tight. I toss the numbers in the back of my head when making decisions on audio gear. How does it sound in the store and / or VS at home is all I care about.

Numbers don’t mean a component will sound good , they suggest that it will be quiet or not , have a certain bandwidth, and meet other criteria that obviously means something. Doesn’t really ensure great sound. Buy what you think sounds good is what I do.

 

I have had mine since November. That makes almost 9 months of listening. These speakers make a nice live club experience for me. I also have dual subs so these turn into a magical sound in my small listening room. Listening to Painted Shield 2 album which sounds nothing short of amazing tonight. The best part is 9 months later I am still loving these speakers. These are a fun speaker and this is what this hobby is all about: FUN. If you are having fun then you are doing this hobby right.

 

I was buying a pair of speakers back in the 90's when the CF series first came out. I was living in a modest apartment at the time and bought the CF1. It was too thin sounding and I returned it and brought home the KG-5.5's.

In retrospect, I wish that I had bought the CF3 or the CF4. Tvey were a bit more money than I was looking to spend at the time and definitely overkill for the apartment.

But the CF3 and CF4 were some of the best sounding and best quality constructed home speakers that Klipsch has ever built.

As a bonus, they were way less expensive than their Heritage speakers and had a large sound with solid bass.

 

My recent experience with a pair of Heresy II driven by a low powered set amp (Cary 300SEI):

• Although they were set on the floor the soundstage was high and expanded beyond the speakers, they sounded much taller than their placement will have you think. The Heresy's reproduced the scale of the recordings, especially large orchestral classical, impressively.
• They sounded much better in low volumes than in higher volumes. The drivers blended better and certain frequencies did not jump on you when played in moderate volume. In high volumes they were more in your face.
• They are very fast and dynamic and they seem to grab you by the throat and bring you closer to the recording. Like being in a rock concert.
• In my room, and with my placement, they absolutely needed a subwoofer, no way around it. It was very easy to integrate my REL with them and with a subwoofer the sound became fuller and more pleasant.

Ultimately, they are probably not for me, but now I understand why people love them.
They are great speakers and they do certain things, like the power of the performance, scale, dynamics and impact, extremely well.
I had a lot of fun with them and I enjoyed their lively presentation very much.

 

I agree that most online reviewers are beholden to the audio equipment companies to send new gear to review. I don't think that makes them a shill, though. Most of the better reviewers on YT give the shortlist of specs for the gear along with a subjective description of what they hear and how the gear performs to their observations. I'll stick to speakers since that is what the OP reviewed.

While most never come out and say that they hated a particular piece of gear, they have a subtle way to do it. Instead of outright complaining about a piece of gear, they lay the criticism between the lines. Vague descriptive phrases and clever backhanded compliments are a sure sign that the review isn't good. Odd comparisons of the item with exceptionally bad or exceptionally good reputation gear are frequently used as a way of warning the viewer without complaining too much.

In the case of Andrew Robinson, he is very upfront about his preference for the classic "Klipsch sound". The last review that I saw from A. R. was of a pair of Cornwall IV speakers. They were a pair that he purchased because he had the finish custom ordered to fit his decor. If I liked that sound also, I would be interested in gear that he clearly likes. If I wasn't a fan of the classic Klipsch sound, I would checkout gear that he gives a more lukewarm review about.

Cheapaudioman is favorite to watch. He clearly has a preference for 2 way bookshelf sized speakers. I seriously doubt that he would be singing the praises of Klipsch Heritage speakers anytime soon due to the sound and the price.

 

I heard two Klipsch speakers being the original Forte and original Cornwall. The Cornwall was low distortion, the Forte not. I bought titanium midrange and updated the Forte crossover to no avail on the distortion. My ears must be sensitive to distortion and it sounds poor.

 

Heresy’ were designed for a specific purpose but the vast majority don’t use them that way although we tend normally use things for what they’re deigned for.

Quoting Klipsch:

“First introduced in 1957, the Heresy, a three-way design, started out as a compact center channel speaker to accompany the Klipschorn® in three-speaker stereo arrays. The Heresy IV offers unparalleled sound quality from a relatively small speaker.”

Gotta give that some consideration when evaluating and judging.

 

Wow... I forgot about this thread. Kinda ashamed of how I reacted and let some of these comments annoy me. But it was a learning process.

Two years later and I still think these speakers are quite bad but hey... different strokes, I suppose. The data shows what I heard so if you like them then use the data to learn why you like them. If you hate them then use the data to learn why you hate them. I'd personally take the Wharfedale Linton any day of the week over these and I know exactly why thanks to the data.

 

People have a propensity of being critical to a speaker for its shortcomings. The problem being, is that these were not shortcomings but their intended design.

Being that they were conceived to operate in conjuction between and with two K-Horns, they did not have to be full-range bass heavy speakers.

In this arrangement, the large K-Horns did all the lifting. The Heresy's were present to provide fill in the center between them.

In other words, they did what they were designed to do. Nothing more and nothing less.