The largest Klipsch Heritage speaker in a small room?

The subject says it all. I'm looking for advice from owners of the current Heritage line models. If need, I'm open to augmenting the bass with stereo subs. These would be paired with a McIntosh solid state preamp and amp. The only possible future change would be an MC275 - MKV or MKVI.

I have a dedicated room that is 12x14. Because this is a dedicated room, I have the freedom the place the speakers anywhere. Also, this room has acoustic treatments all the way around, with the exception of the ceiling.

 

I know this is a broad generalization, but big speakers generally need a bigger room to truly "open up" or "breathe". Your room is not "big". All of the Heritage series are fairly large to very large speakers (IMO too large) for that size of room. The only ones that I would even attempt in there are the Forte III, and then you could probably scratch the idea of need sub(s).

 

Heresy and Fortes are better in smaller rooms. And still do best when placed in corners.

 

Well I had Chorus II's in a studio apartment so I might not be the best person to give advice, but that being said, I agree the larger Heritage speakers need bigger rooms to be at their best. I have Forte speakers in a 1 bedroom apartment 8 feet apart and 9 feet from the couch and they are more than adequate for my needs. More of a near field style listening experience but they sound great, too bad I never get to blow the dust out of them.

 

I agree, although I omitted the Heresy from my comment as I find them horribly lacking in bass despite their rather larger woofer and overall footprint--they will still need subs.

 

How do the Heresy III and Forte III compare to each other, excluding the obvious difference in bass performance? Given the choice, which would be better....Heresy III plus two good subs (Rythmic or REL) or a pair of Forte III speaker without subs?

 

FWIW, I run Cornwalls in a room your size - sound great and work well.

 

I find the Forte to be an overall better-designed speaker than the Heresy--in all versions of both models over the decades.

 

12 x 14 huh? How far back will you be sitting from them? Is couch/chair right up against the wall? Will speakers be on the longer wall or shorter wall? I agree with above in that Heresy with a small sub would be nice.

Forte's aren't Heritage but are considered "extended Heritage" by some. But they aren't Heritage to me. You're talking Heresy, Cornwall, La Scala, Belle, Klipschorn. Cornwall's would be pushing it. Larger speakers need room to open up and breathe both in the low end and upper end. Too large and you might have issues with nulls, etc. But I've had big speakers in rooms that size....they just don't work properly. That room is barely bigger than our master bedroom closet.

 

The couch is against the wall with acoustic treatments behind the listener(s) head. The speaker are on the opposite wall (short) to provide the greatest distance from the listening position.

 

Forte, Heresy and Quartet would be the models I'd consider for that size room. I found my room was neither large enough, nor suitably configured for the Klipschorn, and sold them. Personally never warmed up to La Scala, which are also large. Belles are too large for that room, also, imo.

I like Heresy, but I like the Forte even more, and it is about as big as you need to go in that room, imo.

 

I think I'm going to toss a curve to you...

After talking to Roy (Delgado at Klipsch), his general comment (belief) is that a larger horn works better in a smaller room.

Seems a bit counter-intuitive (at least to me it does) but his comment was with the larger horns, they will control the sound better than a smaller horn so you will get less sound splashing on the walls/ceiling where you don't want it.

Also, with regard to larger speakers needing a larger room to sound better..... more curves for you to think about.

I used to have some Khorns in my (open floor plan) living room. I noticed they sounded distinctly better when I was standing 30' away (yes, I measured). Later in life, I replaced the Khorns with the Jubilee's. I pretty soon went to that 30' spot to hear how much better the Jubilee would sound there.....only to be disappointed. That "magic" didn't happen.

HUH???

To cut to the chase, in the Khorns, I had some of ALK extreme slope crossovers. With the steep slopes, it took some time (therefore distance) for the three drivers to meld into a single "bubble" of sound....in my case, it was at 30' where you could REALLY tell the big improvement. While in the room with the Khorns, you could sense the different drivers. Standing at 30' it was "one voice" coming from them. It was pretty cool.

Out go the Khorns, in come the Jubilee's.... These are 2-way, not 3-way like the Khorns.

What I found out is that by losing a crossover point, their sound gelled into that "bubble" somewhere around 7-10 feet so they had that "stupendous" sound while I was IN the room rather than 30' away.

If you want my opinion, you could go as large as the Jubilee since it hits several points.... 2-way, aligned signal and large horn to help control the sound.

It would probably sound better in that room than the Khorn, LaScala (unless you went 2-way "JubeScala")

They're monster boxes so I'm not fooled into thinking a pair will find a way into your room.... I just wanted to toss some different thoughts and some of the logic behind them.

 

Also keep an eye out for a pair of Epic CF-3's or 4's. I sold my 3's awhile back and that's one pair of speakers I almost regret selling...kind of like my Klipschorns I sold 10 years ago. The CF-3's have a decently small foot print and sound about the best of any Klipsch speakers that have been made. I had kept the CF-3's over a set of updated KLF-30's AND a pair of updated '78 Cornwalls. In my living room, those CF-3's were amazing. Just food for thought.

While they aren't Heritage, they are a Roy Delgado design and were way ahead of their time and about the best sounding speakers that ever left that plant. In my opinion, of course. There are things they do waaayyyy better than the Belle clones I built recently; bass for darn sure.

 

I agree. When I first got them, I had Cornwalls in a room slightly smaller than yours. I was much happier with them than the Heresys that they replaced (and I liked those a lot, too).

 

I think of a Forte as a Hersey with a subwoofer. Its sounds better for sure. I haven't heard the MK III, but the II was an enjoyable speaker. It doesn't take big power, which is great. Try to pull your listening position away from the rear wall preventing over emphasis of 100 to 160 hz region which makes the bass sound to boomy and mushy. If that doesn't work pull the speakers away from the wall, too.

 

Chorus 1 would be near the top of my list (Quasi-Heritage) reason being: same ballpark footprint as the others being discussed but don't need to be away from the rear wall like the rest. (ported up front)

 

My living room isnt that much different than the OP's, I have LaScalas and Chorus II's on the long wall and in the corners. It can be done IMHO. The Chorus II's are pulled out a foot or so.. If I could ask a question what sub would I need for the LaScalas and do I need one or 2?

Good luck with your choice Techguy!

 

I happily had La Scalas in a 12x12 room for about 9 years. They were about 8' apart (center to center), and about 6' from the listening spot. I'm sure the room and placement weren't optimum, but they sounded great to me. Imaging and soundstage were very satisfying when sitting in an admittedly small sweet spot. Speakers sounded great loud or whisper quiet. Bass was better in the next room, so an indication that the location was not optimum. I recently moved and have them in a much larger room, perhaps 16 x 22. They may sound better, but I don't find the difference to be dramatic.

 

https://emotiva.com/collections/subwoofers/products/basx-s10

I did ALOT of research, & ended up choosing this 10" Emotiva, & it sounds fantastic with either my LaScalas and/or Heresy's. 1 is all you need unless your room is HUGE.

 

Along with many other brands I do have 3 pair of Klipsch speakers. I've run Heresys with stereo subs and without, using twin 12" subs as stands. This setup preserves the original Klipsch sound only much better imaging and soundstage along with deeper bass making the whole presentation much BIGGER.

That said, I'm currently running another pair sans subs, with brass spikes anchoring them to the floor in my master bedroom. Plenty of grunt, I feel absolutely no need for the subs. The speakers are 8" from the front wall and on the floor as was the norm when these were designed, good thumping bass with the tone controls set to flat and no loudness contour added.

I'm driving them with a sweet little 34watt Kenwood KA4006 sourced by a Sony DVP-NS900V SACD player. The Sony really sounds nice, much more musical than the cheaper players I've used over the yrs, even thrashing their own DVP-NS500V, the difference was not subtle.

The bass was plentiful before, but spiking the speakers really tightened things up right up through the midrange.