silverfacestereo

I just set up a simple but beautiful vintage setup in our new reading room: Pioneer SX-1080 and a pair of Klipsch Heresys Series I. I saved the Pioneer from a neighbor and fully cleaned and lubricated all of the switches, panels, and lights. Looks and sounds great. The Heresys just arrived from their first owner, who purchased them in 1984 and is now downsizing pending retirement.

Together the Klipsches with Pioneer is a great pairing. The super-cool power meters on the pioneer bounce along to the music, albeit only a tiny amount given the efficiency of the Klipsches.

I’m impressed with the bass performance of the Heresys given their reputation as a bass-light speaker. The lowest octave isn’t strong but is present, and the mid bass is balanced. Perhaps my wall placement is helping here.

This system is getting a lot of playing time at low levels, pushing background jazz and classical through the house. Some would say the magic of the Heresys are lost in such an application, however I’m finding the opposite – in critical listening these immaculate but middle-aged speakers are missing some of the dynamics and detail of other Klipsches I’ve had, and their polite bass makes them only mediocre party speakers. The horns seem to project well and I’m getting really nice sound projecting through different rooms. The Pioneer’s excellent FM reception is helping here too.

These Heresys are beautiful and deserving of some more attention. I plan on putting in new capacitors and inductors to liven up the sound, and perhaps adding some damping material to decrease resonance and improve bass response.

~ by silverfacestereo on December 4, 2017.

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