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Unbranded Klipsch Heresy, or not?

Steve Smiley

Steve Smiley

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Please take a moment to give me your thoughts on these speakers I just picked up.

Back story: a year ago I purchased a pair of KP-2500-C from a very nice gentleman who was selling them because he recently acquired a pair of Klipsch Heresy from the music department of a respected university here in Michigan. I don’t blame him. They looked good and didn’t have the rat fur of the 2500. They were definitely a commercial version given the black finish…

I was excited to get the KP-2500-C at a great price and didn’t give the Heresy he was keeping a second thought. Good for him, I thought. I even offered to veneer them for him if he wanted.

Fast forward to a few days ago. I’m at home struggling to sleep, wrestling with COVID, and perusing FB marketplace when I see these black Klipsch Heresy just listed for $300. Just my luck! 4:30 AM, no one else saw them yet. Turns out, it’s my guy from my other Heresy purchase. Well, that makes sense. He’s a fireman. Must be working the night shift.

I send him a quick note. He’s excited to connect again and is happy to get these speakers to me as well.

I finally had some time, and some health, to take these apart. And something is up with these. The parts look brand new, but from the photos of the speaker terminals and missing label I would have sworn these were original Heresy.

I’ll leave it at that for now and share the photos:IMG_2121.jpegIMG_2124.jpegIMG_2126.jpegIMG_2127.jpegIMG_2128.jpegIMG_2130.jpegIMG_2133.jpeg
 

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Maybe this is some kind of “Institutional “ version, intentionally unbranded. Digging a little more…

The crossover is a Type E-like crossover with poly caps of 2uF. I haven’t measured the inductors, but I have a pretty good guess how they are going to turn out.

The mid horn is stamped C-700 (cast 700?) with Atlas drivers attached, as we’d expect. IMG_2143.jpegIMG_2147.jpegIMG_2146.jpegIMG_2144.jpeg

The cabinet is 3/4” mdf with 45 degree bevels on all the driver openings. It is an inch narrower and an inch taller, about, than an H1.

What do you think. Anyone seen anything like this!

Smiley
 
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They are clones, obviously. For $300, they are worth curving. The crossover is, likely, a clone of the D or E from Klipsch. As the guy who did the Super Heresy from all Genuine Klipsch Components (with sMAHL tweeters). They are worth converting into Super Heresys using Celestion Woofers, then you would have a speaker that's in the same league as new Heresy IV's for less than 1/3 the price.
 
ClaudeJ1 said:
They are clones, obviously. For $300, they are worth curving. The crossover is, likely, a clone of the D or E from Klipsch. As the guy who did the Super Heresy from all Genuine Klipsch Components (with sMAHL tweeters). They are worth converting into Super Heresys using Celestion Woofers, then you would have a speaker that's in the same league as new Heresy IV's for less than 1/3 the price.
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Thank you, the Super Heresy is certainly a thought I’ve had. The bevels don’t make it ideal for the sMAHL but that could be addressed. I love my LMAHL.

I hear you as well on the clone conclusion. As I was taking it apart, I’m thinking, maybe something somebody like ZXPC would do, if they did complete systems.

I say that because I’m 99% certain these are commercially made. Who gets away with that? There is residue on the grill covers from a badge of some kind. Only if…

And they certainly didn’t skimp on any parts!
 
geoff.27 said:
C-700 is a Crites horn, no ?

They look very well crafted.
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They really are well-crafted. Missing some of the details, like gaskets for the back baffle and such. But they aren’t lacking much.

I am more curious than is probably healthy for me and my sleep. I’ll keep exploring.

Is the Crites horn a cast metal version? I’ll take a look.
 
Steve Smiley said:
I say that because I’m 99% certain these are commercially made. Who gets away with that? There is residue on the grill covers from a badge of some kind. Only if…

And they certainly didn’t skimp on any parts!
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Patents run out in 20 years. Trademarks are for life!
This is why Klipsch Chief insists that I can't call a "Super Heresy" a "Heresy" in any form. Even though my SH, made from pre 1982 components is more "pure" Paul W. Klipsch's than the new ones are.
It's Paradoxical at best, since mine are way closer to the "original" than the new ones are from the Twice Removed Corporation that now owns those Trademarks. Paul used real plywood, and even used the same top of the line, fine poplar core/Veneer lumber to make them, not the modern MDF stuff, which is, let's face it, a cost reduction.

So any Company can "get away" with designing a Proven, sealed box of the same air volume, 3-way passive speaker, with a horns and compression drivers above 700 Hz., as long as they don't call it a HERESY.
 
Steve Smiley said:
The Crites horn is a G-700, and I’ll edit my declaration. These are G-700, just like the Crites, except the Crites are painted black.
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Crites purchased the old cast Aluminum molds from Klipsch to make K600 and K700 horns with a different name. If you have those, they are as good as the originals. Crites (the dad, RIP) told me that his company was selling many of the C600 horns to the Japanese market. I guess they like horns too! I'm sure they would not have salvaged the tools if they didn't think they could keep selling the horns under their own name.
 
ClaudeJ1 said:
Crites purchased the old cast Aluminum molds from Klipsch to make K600 and K700 horns with a different name. If you have those, they are as good as the originals. Crites (the dad, RIP) told me that his company was selling many of the C600 horns to the Japanese market. I guess they like horns too! I'm sure they would not have salvaged the tools if they didn't think they could keep selling the horns under their own name.
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Thank you, Claude. There are some cast artifacts around the mouth of the horn to clean up. The throat entry are pretty good. Perfectly round to my eye.
 
Steve Smiley said:
You might just be spot on there! Very interesting! Thank you!
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My first decent CL buy.

About a month ago I saw these listed on CL and the poster said he refurbs buildings and while dismantling an old AMC theater he took these speakers home. The brand name is High performance stereo model SR-70 and the pics he posted were really bad so I called him and went to check them out. Well...
audiokarma.org
 
winglet said:

My first decent CL buy.

About a month ago I saw these listed on CL and the poster said he refurbs buildings and while dismantling an old AMC theater he took these speakers home. The brand name is High performance stereo model SR-70 and the pics he posted were really bad so I called him and went to check them out. Well...
audiokarma.org
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Thank you for posting that, cool story!

I’m grateful to learn the origin and history. Now I can rest more peacefully! Honestly!
 
Well, we hustled and bustled to get ready for trick or treaters this year and my son said,

"We need music, don't we?"

You don't have to ask me twice. The John Allen "Heresey" were the easiest to get out to the driveway. I just carefully set them on the ground and we started playing them. Ran them with a Fosi V3 with a big power supply. They sounded great! I enjoyed them much more than when I set them up on the back deck. I took my time tearing everything down after the 8:00 PM shutdown time just so I could listen some more.

Kudos to my oldest son and his playlist! A great mix! We had a really great evening, as did our costumed guests and their chaperones :) :beerchug:IMG_2398.jpegIMG_2400.jpegIMG_2396.jpeg
 
Steve Smiley said:
Thank you, Claude. There are some cast artifacts around the mouth of the horn to clean up. The throat entry are pretty good. Perfectly round to my eye.
Click to expand...
I think Crites got the mold tool for the K-400 cast aluminum horn (the one Jim Hunter showed me). Pretty sure Michael is now selling them with the Crites logo on them. (C400?)
 
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