Longtime Kloss speaker fan, Klipsch Chorus IIs coming my way. What am I in for?

[stereoguy70]

As the subject says.....the speakers of my choice have been usually KLH or Advent over the years. I will be having a pair of Klipsch Chorus II speakers coming my way to test and prep for resale with option to buy if I like them. Am I in for a treat or will I be disappointed? I've only had one experience with horn loaded speakers before and they were Realistic Mach Ones, so not very high quality to say the least. I found those overbearing with bass and extremely shouty & overbearing with both the mids and tweets. KLH 17,6, and 24s have been my main choice over the years along with a recent stint with a pair of Original Large Advents and also short stint with a pair of Smaller Advents. I love the transparency of these speakers, without coloration of the music and with decent defined deep bass.

Are the Chorus IIs going to be more like the Mach Ones (shouty and overbearing)? My current receivers of choice have been a Sansui 4000, an Advent receiver and a KLH 27 receiver, so testing with tubes will not be an option.

Opinions?

 

[darkblue94]

As the subject says.....the speakers of my choice have been usually KLH or Advent over the years. I will be having a pair of Klipsch Chorus II speakers coming my way to test and prep for resale with option to buy if I like them. Am I in for a treat or will I be disappointed? I've only had one experience with horn loaded speakers before and they were Realistic Mach Ones, so not very high quality to say the least. I found those overbearing with bass and extremely shouty & overbearing with both the mids and tweets. KLH 17,6, and 24s have been my main choice over the years along with a recent stint with a pair of Original Large Advents and also short stint with a pair of Smaller Advents. I love the transparency of these speakers, without coloration of the music and with decent defined deep bass.

Are the Chorus IIs going to be more like the Mach Ones (shouty and overbearing)? My current receivers of choice have been a Sansui 4000, an Advent receiver and a KLH 27 receiver, so testing with tubes will not be an option.

Opinions?

Wait until you have them in your possession rather than jump to conclusions based on assumptions and or rumor/innuendo. They are certainly not at all like Mach Ones.

 

[absolve2525]

They're a very highly regarded Klipsch model. I think you'll enjoy them . I put Crites Ti diaphragms in the tweeters of mine, and enjoy the improvement. They can use a healthy sized amp, rather than flea watt tube amps. I owned a few pairs of Mach Ones in the past. I sold them, kept the Chorus 2s.

 

[fredgarvin]

I would never describe Advents or KLH as transparent. I find them colored, recessed. The Chorus will sound like live music in your room. They will probably sound nothing like your previous speakers.

 

[musichal]

The big Klipsches tend to foster either a love or hate relationship, as I'm sure you are aware. The Chorus II was one of its better models, imo - in general, with Klipsch, the bigger the better. It will be interesting to hear your take once you get them.

 

[motorstereo]

I'd be interested in your thoughts on them once you have them for a while. In my case my Chorus II's didn't last long here and my klh 12's, 5's and 23's stuck around much longer. But my friend that I sold those Chorus II's to many years ago still has them and loves them in his rig. My guess is you're going to decide the big Klipsch's aren't for you since you seem to prefer east coast speakers which is something the Choruses aren't.

 

[twiiii]

Your are in for quite a revelation. KLH and Advents are point source speakers. They spread the sound every where. Unless you listen within 6 to 8 ft the sound you hear is mostly reflections from the walls floor and ceilings. Sure more people can enjoy the sound as their is really no sweet spot. The staging is vague and the imaging is not focused. The Chorus II have much more dynamic range capability and the sound is more focused being less influenced by the room. You will hear more and experience more of the real sound of the recording. Which can be a bad thing sometimes. I have that issue with Deutche Gramophone most of the time. The idea the piccolo sitting in my lap assaulting my ears is offensive. They also do that with the percussion sections some times. A chorus is going to be a very revealing experience. You'll either accept it, GREAT, or you won't in which case you will be doomed to live out your years of listening not experiencing what is really on the recording. Now all speakers have issues. I prefer line arrays to horns, but as an introduction to a sound that is more like what was actually captured on the disc a Chorus II is a big step up. Its an intermediate step, not a final step. And don't make rush judgements, start slowly and at moderate levels so you get use to the dynamic qualities of the speaker. Positioning the speaker to get the right balance essential, and you may find listening 10 to 20degrees off axis a nice choice.

 

[stereoguy70]

So far, all are valued opinions.

I must emphasize though that my listening room is rather small, as it's the main room in my moderately small apartment. So, I'm not sure if the Chorus IIs may be the best choice for the size of the room they'll be in. I need to be able to please my ears and not disturb the neighbors much all at the same time.

 

[stereoguy70]

I would never describe Advents or KLH as transparent. I find them colored, recessed. The Chorus will sound like live music in your room. They will probably sound nothing like your previous speakers.

I've never found any coloration in either KLH or Advent speakers, and neither did the major magazine tests back in the day, so not sure what you are basing this opinion on.....

 

[stereoguy70]

Your are in for quite a revelation. KLH and Advents are point source speakers. They spread the sound every where. Unless you listen within 6 to 8 ft the sound you hear is mostly reflections from the walls floor and ceilings. Sure more people can enjoy the sound as their is really no sweet spot. The staging is vague and the imaging is not focused. The Chorus II have much more dynamic range capability and the sound is more focused being less influenced by the room. You will hear more and experience more of the real sound of the recording. Which can be a bad thing sometimes. I have that issue with Deutche Gramophone most of the time. The idea the piccolo sitting in my lap assaulting my ears is offensive. They also do that with the percussion sections some times. A chorus is going to be a very revealing experience. You'll either accept it, GREAT, or you won't in which case you will be doomed to live out your years of listening not experiencing what is really on the recording. Now all speakers have issues. I prefer line arrays to horns, but as an introduction to a sound that is more like what was actually captured on the disc a Chorus II is a big step up. Its an intermediate step, not a final step. And don't make rush judgements, start slowly and at moderate levels so you get use to the dynamic qualities of the speaker. Positioning the speaker to get the right balance essential, and you may find listening 10 to 20degrees off axis a nice choice.

I'd be lucky if the total room size is 15'x8'.....the speakers are near the wall facing the 8' direction........never had an imaging problem with either KLH or Advent over the years, or an issue with the staging as you suggest. But I'm trying to be open minded about trying out the Klipsch........time will tell I guess.....as they haven't even arrived into my possession yet.

 

[fredgarvin]

I've never found any coloration in either KLH or Advent speakers, and neither did the major magazine tests back in the day, so not sure what you are basing this opinion on.....

Listening. But don't consider that an insult to either brand and of course as with any general statement there would be exceptions and degrees with varying models. The Chorus is very forward sounding with controlled directivity, as they say. also, as mentioned above, they sound very good off axis as well.

 

[Jayrosc]

I'd be lucky if the total room size is 15'x8'.....the speakers are near the wall facing the 8' direction........never had an imaging problem with either KLH or Advent over the years, or an issue with the staging as you suggest. But I'm trying to be open minded about trying out the Klipsch........time will tell I guess.....as they haven't even arrived into my possession yet.

I've got the same size room. Gotta say, It's the East Coasters like Advent, Allison and Boston that work well in that space. I have not had any Klipsch, but have had a couple horn speakers and they have sounded much better in my larger room, which is about 16 x 18.
Get them and try them! This is the fun of all this!

 

[Schmidlapper]

Speaker placement will be important, but it usually is for getting the best out of a speaker. These are rather big speakers, but can be used semi near field, mine are in about a six foot equilateral triangle set up, about two feet out from front wall, pointed straight at center position. Nothing shouty about them, they best my JBL L19s with a fuller sound and huge well defined sound stage. Mine have rebuilt cross overs and Ti tweeter diaphragms, as a refresh, owned them since new. I’ll be watching, hope you find they fit in your space.

 

[eiraved]

A small room will not accentuate the benefits of the passive woofer in the Chorus II, since you'll need to distance the rear from a wall to gain the low frequency benefits.

 

[jazzmans]

I haven't heard a pair of chorus's in twenty years, I must say I did like them waay back when, while now, every klipsch I've heard since hurts my ears, and that does include the original Klipschorn.

Good luck, and keep us updated!

 

[stereoguy70]

Well.....after test driving these for a bit, I can say that the bass response is good and the imaging is better than the Advents I own, but they are just shrill in the mids & highs to me. Shrill to the point of painful to my ears. These are hooked up to a Sansui 4000 receiver and I was test driving them with some VInce Garauldi and some Miles Davis on the turntable. These albums are usually very warm sounding to me on any of my past systems, with the exception of the Mach One speakers I had briefly. These Klipsch seem to be the same way to me as the Mach Ones were....very shrill almost painful to the ears.....btw, my EQ controls on the Sansui were set flat. And all this test driving was done with a normal listening volume (read that as not very loud, but not so low that the loudness button had to be used).

Before I decide to sell these off, are there any mods out there that tame these shrill highs & lows that would const an arm & a leg??

 

[jazzmans]

That, to my ears, is the 'klipsch sound' unfortunately.

 

[absolve2525]

Sell em. It's not your cup of tea. You should be able to sell them pretty easily. Try posting in the Klipsch forums. They have a For Sale/Garage Sale section.

 

[motorstereo]

That was my impression of them as well when I had a pair here. I found the only mod to make them sound better was to send them to a new home.

 

[stereoguy70]

Honestly I was rather disappointed.......everyone hyped up the fact that the receiver I have (Sansui 4000) would be a magical combination with these Chorus IIs. The only magic I've discovered is how quickly my hearing will die if I keep using them. The Advents were quickly reinstated.