Klipsch Heresy & Quad ESL, two totally iconic speakers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Steve considers two totally iconic, but very opposite speakers from 1957.
My CNET Heresy III review, www.cnet.com/n...
Heresy III comparison with a B&W 705, • I compare the B&W 705 ...
Read my short Quad ESL article here, www.soundandvi...
That is your corniest shirt yet Steve! Enjoy the channel, thanks for entertaining and informing us.
I have a pair of 1976 Heresy II and love them. Was running with a pair of Eico HF-32 monoblocks and really like that pairing, but the Eico's are in dire need of rebuilds so I've decided to replace them with a modern solid state amp of some sort. My 1984 Forte II also need amps and I'm looking at the Outlaw 2160 for that. Hoping to spend a little less on the Heresy amp, at least less than it would cost to rebuild the Eico's
Klipschorns at home for 38 years Heresy ones at the cottage .
Q: What do the politely rolled off, slam-free etherial quads and the heresy III need?
A: A sub, except the rolled -off quads need a real tweeter too.
Could it be called Heresy because it's a center channel speaker built in the times of two channel stereo???
The guy at their museum tells the same story I think . Heresy
I bought a pair of Heresy 1's at the Ramstein Air base PX in Germany in 1983... Rocked the barracks there. Shipped them home and rocked the dorms in college, Graduated and have been rocking the house for decades! Rock Solid speakers with non stopping rock-ability. Rock Rock Rock! BOOM!
One of the wisest purchases, in my life, have to be my klipsch heresys. The third pair of speakers I owned, I got them back in the very early seventies, I believe. I used a Bang and Olufsen receiver(later a Nakamichi) and B&O turntable to drive them. They're type HBR and inspected by Janet Latham and tested by NW Bradford. They have been with me all of these years and have been giving me consistent sonic pleasure, though the decades and widely varying genres of music. Lively and detailed, non fatiguing sound. And you're right Steve, you can play 'em loud if you want. I'd like to pair them up with that new tube kit HR is positive on. The idea of it intrigues me. I took off the grills today and looked underneath it and they still look like new.
Really loves QUAD ESL. Mine are from 1958 and therefore two mono speakers 😂😂😂Still playing great after 65 years (only refurbishing needed has been new high voltage power supplys). Not any amp can drive them well - in fact most can’t. But if you find a great sounding and 100% stable amp, they sing heavenly. They image well, and play extremely clean and dynamic. I paired mine to 15” dipole oven baffle subwoofers for clean and deep bass too
I'm the proud owner of a pristine set of Klipsch Heresys HWO. Drive them with ease with a pair of 8 watts Antique Sound Labs tube mono blocks. I enjoy the combination just as much as my 1.7's. Sometimes I'll run a Rel Q150 with it. Sweet sweet sound.
67spankadelik awesome
Push mine with 8 too, never get much past 1/3
@Steve Tllsdaleys go fire up your Bose 901's and 'enjoy' then
Sounds as good as your Maggie? 1.7i?
Im 68 & the only 2 items I’d never sell are my walnut Klipsch Forte 1’s And my 1995 purple NSX...
I miss my quads , lost them in a house fire in the 90´s , may you rest in pieces my lovelies
Koala Meat MLWB do u wanna buy a set from me ? I have like 4 quads and selling a set of 2 if ur interested
e james I assume you're joking, but any implication that they are electrically unsafe is to be deprecated.
I have quads esl...I can understand how some people can't stay with them....for me, I feel you just have to 'get' the sound of them. Not for everybody, but matchless for human voice.
For me the ESL excels at intimate emotional vocals.
Always good to have more than a single system.
I've dreamed of owning Klipsch Heresy speakers since I've been in high school back in the mid-1970's. The Tower Records store in Sacramento where I still live used to have Heresy's hooked up to their stereo and the played the best music. It is now 2020 and I'm pushing 60 and I finally got a pair of Heresy's a few years ago. They're the Model One's, circa 1975. They have a lacquered black finish, which is not my favorite, but I got them used from an audiophile. They're in perfect condition and sound great. Sometime you just gotta wait to get what you really want. I'm really happy with them.
As a former owner of a pair of Heresy 1s (manufactured 1983 - possibly from the last batch before the Heresy 2s!), I can say I liked them enough to move on up to a pair of Klipschorns. Like every addict, I just wanted more. ,-) But today, in my little apartment, I actually prefer the new Klipsch RP-160s (which I bought based on Steve's recommendation of the nearly identical RP-600s). The RPs don't fill a room the way the Heresys do, but they are just as sensitive (96dB), just as transparent, and to my ear sweeter and richer sounding - with a kind of sand-mixed-with-honey midrange - kind of like the Harbeths I auditioned the other day! In fact, I think I prefer my little $300 Klipsch RPs to those $6,500 Harbeths! How's that for heresy!
Got a pair of Heresy III's at black friday last year. I do own better sounding speakers, but the Heresys are just fun. Within the first hour of setting them up, I was playing airguitar and tapping my feet. They just beg you to put on some old rock albums on the turntable and crank the volume up. :)
Anders just take those old records off the shelf. I’ll sit and listen to them by myself. Today’s music ain’t got the same soul.
Did you get the black Friday deal through the klipsch site or? Sounds like a good day to buy them!
No It was through a store here in Norway. I don`t think the heretage line of speakers was on any official deall on black friday.
My 1976 Heresy 1's were the first real speaker i owned. It was babied by the original owner, a distributing of Klipsch in the early 80s when they were barely getting out of the US market. These changes my life completely. I had been limited to (good) computer speakers and soundbars my whole life and these just blew my head off. It started a life changing journey into audio that led me to Klipsch Fore 1 and then Chorus 2. There will always been Klipsch haters out there but when setup properly they are absolutely stunning mid-fi speakers that will last a lifetime.
I have Klipsch Heresy speakers from 1984, and I love. I am powering my Heresy speakers with a Cambridge Audio AXA25 amp. This amp and speaker combo is such a killer setup. My main source of music I listen through this setup is vinyl. These speakers have maid me listen to my records in a different way. Just because how dynamic the Heresy speakers are.
Nice commentary Steve. We have a beautiful pair of walnut Heresy 1.5s running off a nice mid-1970's Yamaha amp. Unbelievable sound. When we needed another pair for our living room it was a no brainer for us to consider the Heresy III. We recently imported a lovely pair of new H3s with a raw ash finish. We were not disappointed. While the IIIs sound a little different to the 1.5s, they are both so very engaging and we will never part with them. The Heresy is one of those speakers that immediately draws you in to its charms, and is so good, that if you have been continually swapping and upgrading speakers chasing that certain elusive sound quality, you will likely find that it ends your search and you will die in front of them!
I listened to Quad 57s about 15 times in two friends' homes. The Holy of Holies!!! Hats off! Reverent attitude!!!
Ov gurze, ze Heresy will pound you into minced mush...with 15 watt-amps!!!
To each: respect. May you conserve your hearing for many many auditions!
I wanted more visceral and engaging speakers after years of enjoyable, but analytical speakers. I’ve had my Heresy IIIs two months now and I’m loving them. I do have a Velodyne subwoofer paired with them and the combo sounds great to me. If you’re interested in them definitely try to hear them in person.
I found a pair of beat up Klipsch Heresy decorators (without grills) and refurbished them. The horn drivers and crossover were still fully operational with just replacing the damaged woofers. I absolutely love them and listen to them daily and they look great with new walnut veneer!
I still have my Klipsch Heresys from 1985 when I bought them at the army stereo store in Darmstadt, Germany when serving. I was 18 almost 19 when I bought them. I’ve loved them ever since. I bought new Forte 3’s last year, but the Heresys still work great. They work great in unison in my home theater, really shakes the place up.
Stacked 57 user......very amplifier dependant but a realism unmatched by any box speaker I've ever heard.
Only in the midrange. They have a purity with vocals that can be magical with some tube electronics.
Love my Heresy’s, incredibly open, dynamic lively sound and super sweet with tube amps.
People need to think of speakers as a fine instrument. Like a Stradivarius. That's what it really is. Then they would be be more forgiving of the the differences that make them special...
I bought my Heresey IIIs (and P3ESRs) strongly based on your reviews. You were spot-on with both. Thank you! I absolutely love them. Great corn shirt BTW! :)
matrixsynth Great, happy to help!
Love my Heresy III speakers. Had them shipped to Australia. They are unbelievably engaging and dynamic and fun. Hard to resist playing music on such speakers - they call you to them and demand to be played. Can't say that about a lot of speakers, but the Heresys put you in the music. That may overwhelm some, but if you want to feel and be surrounded by the music, they rock.
Thanks, Steve. I believe they are called "Heresys" because they lack the horn-loaded bass found in Paul's major designs. Great review.
Steve I have had my wonderful pair of 57s speakers for more than 25 years now and they are still going strong. I think you will find it was 1982 when the last ones were built - mine are serial numbers in the 54,000 so some of the last ones built. I cannot imagine a day without listening to some music through them. I ran the Quads with a 1961 Leak Stereo 20 for many years but now power them with the truly fantastic output transformer less (OTL) amp produced by the remarkable UK designer Glenn Croft. The impact and the presence of the music using this amp really has to be heard so if you are ever over in the UK make a trip up to the amazing city of York and hear my system - Garrard 401 SME V Van Den Hul Colibri cartridge - Lector Phono - home made pre with Akido 12DC kit gain stage - the Croft poweramp, Quad 57s and a REL subwoofer. It might even pesuade you that the Quads are the best hi-fi product of the last century as they were voted some time ago!
Should be a John Broskie 12VAC kit gain stage and the digital is a Rapsberry Pi - IQAudio DAC running Rune and Tidal
I actually owned both speakers in the early eighties and I miss them similarly. I drove the Heresies with a crown amp and the quads with a quad 404 amp. I'm sure they both would have sounded better with tube amps but they both were great. I miss listening to them. The difference between the 2 is the Quads related more towards critical listening and unbelievable detail and the Heresies were just an all out party speaker that could really jam out. I had subwoofers working the lower floor on both and it yielded more with the quads as they had less extended base over all. The other thing to note is that I did not have a single pair, but a double pair of quads which I stacked on top of each other. Now that is something you should hear. If you have not heard stacked Quads you have missed out on an experience and it might just edge you over to the Quad side. It doubles the amplitude and the sound stage rises up a bit. If I had the space to do it (I live in a 1 bed NYC apt) I'd go back to that 4 x Quad arrangement in a time machine and bring it back to NYC2020. This was back in the day when turntables with Moving Coil cartridges could be had at a reasonable dollar figure. Now, the hifi end has gone into orbit for the most part. Anyway, that's my bit of reminiscing the from audio days gone by. Wherever you are, be well.
I owned both and love them,, and i owned fortes. You should make shure you have wallspace and try a pair of Cornwalls Steve :) Absolutely not the best in any area but i will never get rid of them.
Quad still manufacture ESLs. They're now the ESL2812 and 2912 models.
www.quad-hifi.co.uk/product-detail.php?pid=10
Since I'm a guy in my mid twenties the only klipsch I've ever seen is the low grade stuff sold at a best buy or something. When I learned about Klipsch and their heritage speakers going all the way back to the klipsch horn I thought, "I know what my first true system will be built with." When I can afford it, I'd like to get a pair of La Scala's and maybe a McIntosh tube amp. The only catch is, it will strictly be for analog playback. Only vinyl records and tapes. For all other things recorded past 1979 I'll probably get my hands on a pair of JBL studio 590's or some Tektonics double impacts paired with a sub from SVS.
Cool, but remember there's lots of used Heritage speakers on the market, at very affordable prices.
@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac Based on your videos, I will no doubt search on the used market, especially if I get a place one day that can accommodate vintage klipsch horns, going for the ultimate. Thanks for the reply, Steve! Cheers!
I bought a McIntosh tube amp used in college with the specific purpose of later buying the Quad 57s. Then I got married and that went out the window. No longer married, so I got Harbeth's as the "compromise" Quads. Now I want the Forte III's for the MC240.
JioFreedOfOphan - Dude, 80% of the music I listen to (Punk, Progressive Metal, Bluegrass) was recorded after ‘79 and the BEST speaker for my tastes is in the Klipsch Heritage Line.
Quad 57s had three great things going for them: mid-range, mid-range, mid-range. I owned them for a couple years, then sold them and bought ADS 810s. ADS speakers do everything well. Klipsch? I've heard the Heritage series, plus the RF-7 and the Chorus. Just never did it for me.
I have Heresys and Quads. My two favorite speakers by far.
Jeff and Steve,I just stumbled on Steve's video on Quad 57's and Klipsch Heresey's.i have two pairs of hereseys.one are stock 80's,and the other I bought just cabinets and put the original H 700 alnico drivers in them(EV,Atlas).I also have a very rare pair of Klipsch Belle's. I also borrowed a pair of ESL 57's from my good friend Terry in Cleveland who was one of the few people that refurbished them.i needed them for my speaker building endeavor in the 90's.The ESL 57's were the benchmark for mid-range for decades.however,they were problematic with the stator/diaphragm arcing that was due to overdriving them.(tight gap tolerance that caused them to end up in the shop more than any other speaker)also,why they sounded so stellar!! Goal:::::to design a pair 6 1/2 " two way dynamics that rivalled the transparency of the Quads and had the liveliness of the Hereseys.i was laughed at by my friend Terry until I completed them.he came to my house to hear them and his jaw dropped!! (Took me two years and a shitload of money spent on high end drivers),but the drivers I settled on were not very expensive.i still have them! ESL 57's and Heresey's are two of my favorite speakers still.
Purchased my first set of Hersey’s in the late 70’s as HBR. They came in the raw birch and finish them to your taste. Powered by a Crown D150 series 2 amp they filled the room with great sound not noise. The thump of the base hit you like your at a concert. Paul always like to piss off the neighbors😂. I did trade them in on a pair of LaScala’s in the 80’s and still have them👍🏼
Steve, look at my picture. You know me, yeah ! Anyway, the Heresy was designed to fill " the hole in the middle " when Khorns were in the corners. The Belle was later introduced to be the sonic match to the Khorn ( although a shorter mid horn ). I have been into Klipsch Heritage since I can remember, when we were both at Sound by Singer, and I was at Innovative Audio before that. Glad you see the " fun " in them. This is what music should do for us, provide fun. Take care. Dan
1979 Heresy. Second owner all OEM. Sound great. IMO needs some more range so I located a Klipsch KG passive sub that I should have after the first of the year. Still fine tuning set up but they are sounding wonderful.
Four pairs of ESL 57s consisting of one pair on the floor and three pairs suspended by chains that are attached to joists in the ceiling, and a quarter wave T-line stereo subwoofer that uses Kef B139 drivers. A Hegel H20 drives the Quads that have clamp boards installed, the subwoofer sits in a bay window located behind the Quads and rolls off at 20 Hz and 80 Hz. A Kyma system takes care of crossover and time alignment, it also provides me with hours of fun via a pair of KRK three way studio monitors.
The room is 33' x 14' with the ceiling at about 10 feet, just about high enough to take four ESL 57s. The H20 drives the ESL 57s like no other amplifier can in terms of dynamics and LF output and because the drivers in the 57s create a vertical line the image doesn't change when sitting or standing.
I was extremely privileged to have worked for Quad for 16 years under that lovely man owner founder Mr Walker, until Quad were bought out and eventually moved production to China.
I was indeed very proud to own the later ESL 63's etc
I then took that next step to Mission loudspeakers and under the same roof was NXT and Cyrus for 12 years until the same outcome for Mission was all production to China.
Those were very sad times for British audio industry along with other iconic audio manufacturers struggling to survive.
I would love to see a review here on the Cornwall 3's.
Right! Years ago a friend had a pair powered by a GAS Son of Ampzilla, a high current brute. Horrible set up in a big finished basement, but man those dynamics were something else. The kick of the bass was visceral. Wow.
Heresy 1.5s from 3 watt class a tube amp in my 9.5 x 14 x 8 foot room is audio bliss, unfatiguing and, as you so eloquently put it, fun. Never heard the ESLs. Would like to.
The Heresy was a center channel that I People started to buy in stereo pairs and someone said you can’t build speaker that small that’s heresy
I’ve owned Cornwall ll since 86 replaced with K-Horns amazing speakers
I came across a used pair of Heresy l for upstairs stereo with old Pioneer ax-980 and sounds incredible and bought Klipsch sub which adds lower bass which is only downside to Heresy and sounds even better Klipsch to me are best speakers ever made they are dynamic lifelike
in the 70s, i had these quad s, with the 33/303 and trans-scriptor,
very fine sound,
later changed to mac and la scala.
different worlds.
both very inspiring
thanx for this video, was veeery special to me....
💕💕💕
I had an early Birch Heresy with the sacred AlNico magnets. Very good with 6B4G tubeamp. But then i bought some Tannoy Berkeley and now playing with Snell E 3 due to a smaller room. But i still miss the Heresy...
The klipsh is a week made speaker great efficiency but the midrange driver is a phenolic diaphragm very rugged was made by Altas as a PD1 used for police sirens and pa work in factors and Twain stations hot hifi but it was the only driver that had a low enough cross over point as a diaphanous material its heavy and flexible which is why it sounds so bad ! The Twitter is worse the Quad is great sousing bye inefficient and can’t play loudly to compare the two is silly
I’m 68 so both of these women were new they were never compared in my mind the currency was never a hi-fi speaker Hwad killed it no contest didn’t play nearly as loud that was its problem the Clipped all used a atlas PD5 driver for knowledge base design for please siren scars non-bar design for train station announcements not hi-fi very rugged horrible sound
Had a pair of Quads and they were amazing, but not so much for rocking the party. Today I have some '84 La Scalas with new networks, tweeters, and squawker drivers. The ESLs seemed to dictate the music selection (the best recordings, best pressings, best condition, etc.), whereas I enjoy my full collection with my Klipsch horns.
Steve, The Heresy's are amazing on their own, have that undeniable musicality and amazing Klipsch, horn speaker clarity. But I use mine as they were originally designed for by Paul, as a center channel speaker for Klipschorn. In my hybrid HT/3CH Stereo system, which consists of all 70th Anniversary Klipsch's and a REL sub. The closed back 70th KHorns for Left and Right slightly toed in and a matching 70th Heresy as the center. To do this I used Paul's 3CH Stereo "Mini Box" he published the schematics for it, among other cool things like 4.0, 5.0 etc., all done in the analog domain, with no DSP with great results. It's in his Hope From Dope Publication in the Early 70s, he concluded that having 3 front speakers were ideal in his opinion for the optimal experience with his speakers. I use a 2CH integrated plus a Mono amp for the center. In my case since my system doubles as my TV speakers, having a matching horn center makes a big difference in the clarity of dialogue in movies or in poorly mixed older stereo recordings with exaggerated L/R with a lack luster center image. My speakers already had a great center image and stage, but adding the center made it even better. The center is set roughly -6dB less (~ -50%) and all of the imaging and soundstage is retained and actually improved. The Heresy coupled beautifully with the KHorns bass and overall sound. Bass sounds even more full and drums have more impact, really nice and songs with a center image kick drum you can really feel it and hear imaged exactly where it was placed in the recording! I watched the Sound City documentary the other night and it sounded like there was a real drummer right in front of me! Also in movies it's nice when objects move L to R or R to L, its a perfect transition as it goes by the TV screen part of the sound stage where as before there was a bit of a brief gap. Dialogue sounds like its coming from the screen and in certain modern genres were there is an over emphasis on the center that gets split down the L/R equally the center Heresy really filled this out. It doesn't draw any attention at all but whenever I turn it off I notice the difference right away, it's obvious... so I always put it back on. If turned all the way up than the imaging and soundstage can go by the wayside. But dialed in, -6dB, to me it's more enjoyable than standard 2CH. There's been other cool devices over the years to enjoy 3CH. Meridians Trifield, Pre-Pros with Dolby Matrix Modes, the famous analog Hafler Matrix circuit, Carver Sonic Holography devices, old school receivers with Dolby "3 Stereo" mode, new AVRs with PLII, NEO:6 etc. etc. So lot's of analog matrix and DSP modes to go about doing this. It may not be for everyone, but I'm so happy I discovered it in the manual of my KHorns which described the 3CH setup, best thing I've done! Horn/Efficient Speakers, Klipsch Heritage and 3CH have been the best discoveries of my lengthy Audiophile journey hands down after having owned many various types of speakers and systems. Steve you are a legend and thanks for continuing to put out the vidoes and work you do!!!
Nice note! Curious what your thoughts on having the Cornwall as a center? The klipsch site says it was meant to be a center speaker as well, 'brother' to the heresy. I was thinking of doing a 3ch set up as well but with la scalas and a center Cornwall. Also, why go with a mono center amp instead of a 3 channel amp for the set up? Cheers
@@Kayr311 Hey Kevin thanks! You should definitely give 3 Channel a try, I think you'd really enjoy it, the sound is just awesome. Just make sure there is at least 4-5 ft between the mains and the center. the Cornwall is another great Center Channel option, but only between 2 Klipschorns, since only the KHorn and Cornwalls are full range speakers. Originally the Heresy was used as a center since it doesn't go as low in the bass and was intended to supplement and improve stage and vocals between 2 KHorns. A Cornwall between 2 La Scalas would probably be a bit too overpowering and wouldn't be an ideal match IMHO since the Cornwall has a larger bandwidth than the La Scala. However 2 Cornwalls and a La Scala center would work really well. But in your case the 2 best speakers options for a matching center of flanking La Scalas would be another La Scala for the center or a Heresy. 3CH all La Scala rig would be so bad ass and matching of course. True movie theater style full 3 way horn, 3CH setup would be a real treat. Some guy on TH-cam Youthman did that for his home movie theater, but it's for HT and not 3CH Stereo. Regarding the 3CH amp. 3CH amps are so hard to come by, integrated 3CH amps basically don't exist. If McIntosh made a 3CH integrated I'd own that. Only 3CH Power Amps of varying companies and I run an Integrated to not need a separate preamp. PWK's 3CH setup back in the day had 3 Monoblocks as per his diagrams! So that's why I run a mono amp for the center! Good luck with your setup man!
@@ELcinegatto87 Ah yes, I almost forgot the Cornwall has the same bass response as the Khorns. Was thinking a heresy as a center too, but thought it would sound too "small" as a center. I'll rethink about that combo. Saw the Youthman video, crazy home theater! I was thinking about this set up more for music and in a bar setting. As for the 3CH amp, MC303 is the solid state amp from mcintosh, looks great! Thanks for the tips again man.
"Believe It or Not !" - During the late '70's a rumor spread in LA's Audio Community. It seems an Audiophile recognized a pair of the original 'Quad 57s' in a Salvation Army Thrift Store. Since the Pair had AC Cords; the Management of that store thought they were "space heaters" !
So, they were priced at $35 each !!! Needless to say, the Audiophile scooped them up.
I have the Heresys built in 81, not sure which number they are, I’m guessing 2
Interesting to hear you repeat the stories that I had heard back in the day as well. To a point. The story I heard was Paul called it the Heresy not because he had to make a smaller speaker as a stand alone. But that because he had the corner horns, which tended to be far apart, needed a center channel for imaging. So he had to design a speaker as the 3rd in a stereo pair. That was the heresy. A 3rd speaker in a stereo system.
And stacked Quads? With I forget who's electrostic tweeters in the middle? RTRs perhaps?
My Heresy II are so forgiving. After a tube crisis, I hooked them ( paired w/B&W cm5's) up to a solid state 1400 wtt p.a. just to get music. Surprisingly incredible and highly acceptable sound.
I have never owned Heresys, but I have owned Cornwalls and Klipschorns, so I am fairly familiar with Klipsch speakers. I am on the other side of the speaker spectrum than Steve. I have Quad ESLs and ESL-63s, both restored by Kent McCollum of Electrostatic Solutions in Kansas City, and I think they are the best speakers I have ever heard of the dozens of different, highly-regarded speakers I have owned.. Steve talks a lot about "rocking out" and a component being "a rock speaker", so I assume that is the kind of music he listens to and enjoys. I listen to classical music and opera primarily though I like acoustic folk, blues, some rock and a fairly eclectic array of types of music. I am probably what I have heard referred to as "a midrange listener". I am 73 years old, so I don't hear much in the way of high frequencies, and I am happy to sacrifice the ultimate in bass response for midrange clarity and, most importantly, low coloration in speakers. I have to say I chuckled when Steve referred to Heresys as "sweet". Hard, honky and highly colored would be my description of the Klipsch speakers I have owned. I will give one example of many I could give. I listened to a passage of classical music wherein a couple of woodwinds were playing. On my Klipsch speakers these instruments were generalized into some sort of woodwind sound, not very cleanly reproduced. A little later, I listened to those passages on a pair of KEF speakers, and I was amazed that I could tell exactly which woodwinds were playing, a flute and clarinet, a clarinet and an oboe and so on. There was no generalized woodwind sound, but, rather, the sound of individual instruments cleanly revealed. This is the kind of definition I treasure, and I have found that truth-to-instrumental-timbre in my electrostatic speakers. The other big issue for me is reproduction of the human voice, particularly operatic voices. These I found unbearably hard and highly colored on Klipsch speakers. Natural sounding vocal reproduction is a great strength of Quads, and I will never part with them for that reason.
Exactly. The Quads reproduce acoustic music with a high degree of fidelity. The others are great for electronic music, where you don't really need to know what the original sound sounded like.
Good Clip. Thanks for the history. You asked for comments from owners. Here you go:
I've been in high end and lived through a lot of different equipment for about 40 years now. With my electronics background, I have an advantage over many audiophiles in that I really understand the basics, the foundation technology, that this wonderful industry is built on.
I have owned Quad 57s for about 10 years now but have only really discovered the magic that rightly gives it the moniker of the MOST significant speaker in all of HiFi.
The event that brought me to this discovery was about 6 years ago when I moved. I moved from a smaller to much larger house but my listening room actually needed to be smaller. For 2 years I had all my serious gear pilled up on the floor of the new dedicated listening room, trying to figure out how I'm going to knock and rebuild walls to expand it. Finally the girlfriend said set up your turntable or give it away to the thrift shop (Oracle Delphi functionally modified to 6 level, Zeta tonearm properly set up, Talisman S cartridge that is still hanging in there and reasonable stand). Now wouldn't that be a thrift store find. Someone could do a TH-cam and get a million hits :-)
So, to keep the peace, I agreed to spend a day setting things up and see what happens. I've wasted more time on way less important stuff so why not.
All the lower high end stuff got pulled out of the room, all measurements were made and then the "build" started.
First off, what is now the equipment, home made 60amp power filter, Chinese power cables, feeding a pair of Mark Levenson ML2s, home made speaker cables (combo of solid core plus braided) feeding Quad 57s mounted on 24 inch stands. Going to the source, we have home made 12ft interconnects (based on Discovery cable that you used to be able to buy, by the roll at Radio Shack for super cheap), feeding an inexpensive passive gain control. From there, it's inexpensive Zu cable to a Precision Fidelity C7, on to an RWR step up transformer and customer short cable to the Zeta. The other source is to either a Nuforce DAC-80 or Meridian Explorer (depending on MQA or not) all fed by Zu. The only other item is an old OPPO CD player used as a transport)
So for those that need to go and don't have time to read to the bottom, here's the spoiler alert. The quads can give you EVERYTHING. All the good stuff Steve talks about here PLUS all the stuff that Steve never heard and misses. But, it does all have to come together.
I'm mentioned that I carefully measured the room. Why? Because the proper starting point of any speaker based setup is having the speaker's woofer sitting at an odd multiple of the three room dimensions and having the listening position the same. Now I know that this is a big ask for so many people but, because I have a dedicated room, it was a no brainer for me. As an aside, I've been doing this for 10 years now and it works as a great start. Then fine tuning only takes a tenth of the time. (2 years ago, I went to a friend who has a dedicated home theatre/hifi room with serious hifi equipment (BW, Bryston, etc.). I checked and moved 1 speaker 1 inch for a minor improvement. Then we moved the cough 9 inches and listened. He ran upstairs to his wife and told her he just got a completely new system).
The other aspect that, while I did not specifically intend, came into play. I have about 5000 albums covering about 1/2 of the total surface area of two of the six surfaces, the other three are concrete covered in sheet rock so I only have a normal strength ceiling and 1 wall. Basically I have a very rigid listening room.
The result!
I was astounded at the realistic dynamics. I have never heard that, other than live, from HiFi, anywhere (not to say it didn't happen somewhere else, just I've never heard it in 40 years of hifi, shop, systems, CES shows, you name it).
Final proof. I invited a neighbour over who has a med fi system running Altecs. He used to be a semi professional drummer and likes his classic rock. We put on a Pink Floyd for him and within 1 minute he turns to and says "Man is this punchy".
So Steve please add the following to your general comment about the Quads with "unless your lucky enough to have the right sized dedicated room, the right amplifier and everything set up properly - then you can get if ALL with the Quad"
BTW, Steve if you every visit Eastern BC, come for an evening and hear for yourself. And thanks for all your hard work for HIFI.
Eastern BC? I live in Western BC. I too am a Quad devotee and have to agree with all you say. The room is as important as the speaker. Of course, that was Peter Walkers philosophy as well. My Quads will never leave me, and my only regret is that it has taken me some 40 years of serious audio listening to find the sound perfect to my ears.
Have had my Heresy speakers since 1975. As good now as when I bought them. A killer speaker
quad are iconic; klipsch is hardly known this side of the pond
It's a Heresy that you like the Klipsch better than the Quad 57's. 😎
Steve, it was a heretic in Paul klipschs design repertoire because it had a direct radiator driver for the woofer. Len
"...a thing of beauty is a joy forever!"
Loved the Heresys ... and klipshorns... sounds like a live band ... Tons of imaging available..
If you want to party, then the Heresy, and if you want a literary evening with piano poetry and quartet, then Quad... When party, Quad dies. Opposite... well, name Heresy said everything.
Is this guy having a stroke?
If you get a chance. Try to listen to recently rebuilt Quad 57's. With thinner diaphragms and new electronics. They now have better bass extension and plenty of slam, while maintaining the magical transparency and speed.
bachiano I have heard recently rebuilt 57s many times, still far from my taste. That’s cool, different strokes for different folks, or should I say audiophiles.
@@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac I guess it really depends on what you listen too.
For Rock and maybe Jazz. The Heresy’s works well.
But for what I listen too.
Medieval, Renaissance, Early Baroque, Baroque, Classical, (skipped mostly Romantic) Impressionism, Early serial.
I think that that’s about all. All acoustic.
Do a segment on Altec Model 19’s too..
The joy a quality speaker gives👏
Steve,I'm a new subscriber and tonight ran across your comparison between the Quad Esl 57 and the Klipsch Heresey.i'm Chris and I just got done upgrading my Heresey's.(actually,backgrading them!)The original H 700 Heresey's were the best of the bunch! (All EV alnico drivers).that's what I upgraded with.the Eminence k22 woofers were not as sensitive,or as musical as the EV SP12.the mid drivers are now University ID30 alnico drivers with alnico EV T35's.(blow away every heresey I've owned or heard!) Paul Klipsch as well as EV,JBL,ALTEC knew what they were doing with horns and tube amps back in the day.audio really hasen't improved in the the speaker catagory since.i think the reverse is true.i've been building speakers for 30yrs.I think we're may have propriatory issues with All EV drivers or Klipsch subbed out out with Eminance to cut production costs.but upgrade with the drivers the cabinets were designed for!!!!
I have a pair of Heresy's and have owned the Quads. They may both be "legendary," but they are both obsolete and have been bettered many times over. To me, the Heresy is little more than an old school 1950's design that sounds exactly like what it is. It is very colored and produces no deep bass. I use mine once a year for our block party. For that purpose they are perfect. They play really loud with little power, and their directionality works in their favor when used outdoors. As for the Quads, these were designed before stereo became commercially available, and they don't work very well for stereo reproduction because of their narrow dispersion. No question that they were far more neutral and clear than anything else at the time, but it came at the expense of SPL, bass, and reliability. If you're strictly a fan of string quartets and don't mind sitting dead center (preferaby with your head in a vise) then the ESL57 might just be your pick. Otherwise, you'll want something else. Remember that the Quads were never big sellers even when they were current products. JBL L100's, which went for about the same price, probably outsold them 100-1.
The QUAD ESL57 was my introduction to electrostatic speakers and at one stage I bought two more second hand and made a frame that would hold two in each channel, one upside down to the other. As they had a nominal 15 ohm impedance that came down to roughly 8 ohms when connected in parallel, which was fine. Unfortunately, I was never able to get all four to produce the same level of sound so in the end I sold them separately and bought QUAD ESL63s. I never really liked them and after a short time I bought my first Acoustat electrostatics - model 4s. They were second hand and suffered from the occasional rattle when confronted with deep bass and that's when I traded them in for the Acoustat SPECTRA 6600s, which I've owned ever since. I love them and they've never given me any trouble..
I have a pair of Heresey II’s mated with a Sansui G7000. I love the sound and quite a bit of clarity. If I push the VU meters on the Sansui much past 1 watt people walking by on the street can hear also.
This talking head videos are getting boring. It’s really easy to just record on a single take, but it’s lazy. There is n9 excuse to include photos or videos supplied by the manufacturer over the voice. You can even do it on a smartphone. There is no excuse in 2019 for such poor production values.
Steve,I owned Quad 57's and still have two pairs of Heresy's.one pair upgraded and one pair stock.my good friend,Terry Techushan was one of the few people in the northeast that was was certified to refubish ESL57's.(Cleveland).he was also user contract to build a high powered tube amplifier for innersound(Roger Sanders).he subed out all the speaker repairs to me.the 57s had problems do to overdriving (30wpc).their blessing and curse.the gap between the conductive mylar diaphragm and the stator's was very tight.arcing occurred frequently.i told Terry that I would build a pair of 6 1/2"two ways that would rival the Quads transparency and produce the the impact and livleyness of the Klipsch Hersey.he laughed at me,until he came to my house to listen! He listened for 4hours and had years in his eyes most of the time.i focused on piano and female vocals in the testing stage.i blew him away.my hobby!!!
Kid you all not.. but long ago, I worked as a landscaper summers between college and drove a large dump truck which I'd take to a remote landfill to dump the grass and weeds from a days work. One day, noticed a plain white Ford van next to my truck that had backed up to the landfill, and someone started tossing (literally throwing) out dozens of lp's, followed by a Technics turntable, a Yamaha tuner, a beautiful Kenwood Class A 150wpc amp (with a massive machine aluminum volume knob at the center) and a couple oak veneered wooden boxes. It was my luck all this was landing in freshly cut soft grass and NOTHING was damaged. Well, almost.. I just had to get a new cartridge for the turntable. I would've loved to know the back story to this event but who am I to ask. Well, those oak boxes turned out to be the very speakers Steve talks about here.. and right or wrong, leaving the landfill that day, this became my first high-end audio system. The boxes were Heresy 2's I believe.. and they were fantastic cranking out tunes from bands like REM, Tears for Fears, and Blancmange in my college abode for years. I even became the resident DJ in my dorm using this rig and made many in Corvallis, OR fans of Klipsch. I felt pretty special, until later that year, I'd met another guy at school with the massive Cornwalls (which he used as stands to support the bunk bed in his room).. and these were driven by a 400watt Carver 'cube' amplifier. These were planted in the windows once a year to wage war in our dorm's rectangular courtyard for the annual 'stereo wars.' The follies of youth.
Steve, Len Cylik is CORRECT! You NEED to visit the Klipsch website and review the HISTORY page once again !!! Still in love with my all tube powered 1968 KIipshorns UNMODIFIED. Now, since you are a traveler all the way to Axpona, when will you finally take me up on my offer of a Music Appreciation Day here in Massachusetts? Hop on that train to the Springfield station and I will come get you. (O;
One thing I've learned over the years is not to put all your faith in specs. One I don't care to much for is THD. Total harmonic distortion, in my opinion makes no difference to me even if it's 0.2. I do consider dB s/n for speaker efficiency. Although I gone from magnaplaner s (86db) to Klipsch (98). It really can be a journey, buying and selling your equipment.
The good thing about having worked in a Hi-Fi store for many years is that a salesperson like me get to play with the display goodies. I've never heard the Klipsch Heresy. In the demonstration room, we had Bose 901's next to the Quad ELS's and a line-up of mainly British built speakers with a few others like JBL and Technics and at that time only transistor power. The Quads outperformed the Bose's in terms of sound quality, hands down. A few years later I obtained a pair of the Quad 57's and Quad 22 and 202 valve/tube setup and after a few mods to the Quad amps (Upgrade and cap change and added FM stereo demodulator and RIAA EQ) the ELS's sound far better with tubes than transistor amps!
I brought home a pair of Heresy to audition, almost 🤢 cuz they sucked beyond belief. But several years later I picked up some RP-160m’s and like em a lot! Never had a chance to listen to the 57’s.
Hi Steve google just found me this piece. Awesome great channel, always interesting and stimulating. I fall in the 57 lovers. I use them in stacked pairs so they are pretty tall. Drive them with Quad 22/IIs. My tastes are classical and the 57s have moved my listening to small ensemble period baroque, and less Wagner! Also I use a pair of AmpCampAms swapping out the Quads as they are sublime tubes but a bit temperamental (given their age). Was delighted to see your ACA review. I really like them. The Quad tubes have the edge. But for routine listening they work just great. Good lesson I was deflated after I built them as I read a review by a measurer who was less then flattering. Luckily I listened to them and can report that 4x57s driven by 2 ACAs are awesome. Just building another 2 so I can try 4x57x4xACA. The ACAs are driven differentially.
I'm sorry but you will never talk me into horn speakers again. Years ago I had corner horns and yes they were efficient, but the sound drove me nuts after a while. I have the best sounding speakers I have ever had now and I built them myself.
On the topic of using speakers for decades. I'am still using my Magnat Zero 6 speakers that i bought in 1989 great sounding speakers. No experience with Quad or Klipsch tho. I think they lean more to the Klipsch sound...
The introductory print ad for the Heresy had the line "Klipsch build an enclosure type speaker?!? That would be Heresy!
Hi Steve, I have Heresys as my Studio Speakers and centre channel for my home theatre. I also have Klipsch Horns and P39F speakers as a comparison. They are bright, clean, efficient with a Live Sound and presence few speaker of this size can match. Bass is a bit shallow, reckon a good sub would do the trick. My amps are Cary 211 mono blocks and Cary 5 watt Xciter amp and Dac combo.The Heresy is a good all rounder, works well with solid state or Tube, all the micro dynamics of a live concert in a small floor standing package. Dont sound like "Horns" just dynamic and a sense of presence you usually have to pay a lot more to get from other brands. P.S. love your show
The ESL-57 numbers are for individual units, not pairs. You can tell by the serial numbers. They altered the crossover point slightly for stereo, no big deal. The question of 'belief in stereo' doesn't really arise. Remember that stereo LPs themselves only appeared in 1957, and FM stereo in 1961.
Back in the '80s, I met Paul Klipsch at Marven Electronics in Fort Worth, TX. I still have a little knife that says "Stolen from Paul Klipsch". The Heresy was featured. While Paul did not say it, he did not dispute the story that the speaker was named because it was heresy for Klipsch to build a speaker without a folded horn woofer. Whatever the case, all the speakers they played absolutely ROCKED. I have also heard the Quad, in a most unusual place. It was in a line at Six Flags. There were 8 or so quads placed above. The roof was low, so the lack of off-axis output kept them from killing people waiting under them. When you were under one, you mostly heard the other channel from the two adjacent speakers that we're about 20' away even though your head was about 4' from the nearest speaker. In between you got stereo sound. The effect was so striking that I was not even sure the plain brown panels were speakers without climbing up to take a look. With that low ceiling, they were perfect for the application, but they definitely did not rock, at least as played at the time.
Steve, I know you like mentioning great bargain buys that are out there also. Right now Polk Audio has their lsim series on sale for some stupid pricing. You can get their 30 lb each bookshelf speakers for 600. They're also selling their Flagship four-way tower for 1600. These are an amazing value. In fact I'll go as far as saying it's the best value inn speakers or overall sound as of right now. I own the Polk lsim703 bookshelf speakers and I'm running them with a pinnacle baby boomer subwoofer and holy cats its full range sound for under $1,000. I paired them up with a Peachtree Nova 300. The Nova was refurbished $1,600. Have you heard the l s i m series sound? It is glorifying. You would be doing all audiopiles a great favor by announcing their price drop and sound. Maybe you can get a pair of the bookshelves and compare them to your other speakers. $600 for the pair, I'm willing to bet you that you will be astounded by their sound.
The rumors must be true ! That klipsch pays you 500 a month on your patreon account !!
I have a pair of heresys sitting on my Cornwalls in parallel driven by a pair of Carver cubes. I can definitely fill my room with sound. I went from Magnapans to Klipsch and never looked back. Now if I just had my Macintosh mc225 still. 😢
I remember hearing the original Quads at Jonas Miller’s store in Santa Monica as a much younger man. Great speakers. Old Jonas was quite a character as well. JM welcomed you according to the thickness of your wallet so budding audiophiles were seldom found there. Maybe it was just me? LOL
Never had the Heresy’s but several of my friends did. For years I wanted a pair but by 1985 when I finally had the money, Klipsch had created a new model that brushed the gap between the big boomy Cornwall and bass shy Herersy. When I went to a local dealer that had all of Klipsch‘ line along with top models from ADS, AR, Infinity and JBL, it was The Klipsch Forte’ that I kept going back to.
I drove the sales guys nuts but in the mid 80’s $1000 was like $10k today. So, nearly 4 hours later, I left. There were things about several speakers that were noticeably more interesting. Better sound of the highest highs on one more life like kick drums on another. So I decided to listen around more before I buy.
A week later I’m at a discount dealer called
I read ( of course I can’t recall where) that Mr. Klipsch names it as such because to get such a reasonably full frequency range with high efficiency from such a small speaker was heretical at the time, hence the “Heresy”. My Heresy I’s were hard to take at first listen, but they’ve grown on me, and the bass isn’t bad, even on low stands.
Back in the day, I owned the 57’s driven by an AR D76. The panels would ark if you looked at them cross eyed. No bass to speak , poor dispersion but a mid range purity that is to die for. I added ribbon tweeters and a sub. Those were the days.
Hi Steve,
I owned a pair of Quad ESL 57’s from about 1977 through about 1987. When I first heard them they were a part of the HQD (Hartley, Quad, Decca) loudspeake system put together by Mark Levinson I believe and demo’d at Peter McGraths Sound Components in Coral Gables Florida. I finally sold them because I missed the dynamics of non planar speakers.
Quad 57's, available in gold and much later black. Thousand sold to churches and small cinemas as single speakers and can still be easily found for sale. Buy any old pair and ship them off to Quad for a refurb and they come back pristine. I have owned several pairs and really they are a speaker that everyone should own as once you have heard them they beat most for pure realism. I have Tannoys now and I am still considering getting some more Quads to fill the itch. I still think the 57's are the best that Quad did, a friend had special frames so he could have 2 57's per side, he also had a sub built before subs became commercial but it was so well matched that you did not realise it was there until he switched it off.
I owned Quad ESL57s 15 years ago and drove them with Quad II tube amps. Best speakers I've ever heard. Out of this world transparency and naturalness. I regrettably sold the setup due to a move. Now I own a pair of 1974 Heresys with alnico magnets. Yes, the alnico hype that Steve mentioned is real.
Bought some '84 Heresy's five years ago. Did Crites updates. Then bought Cornwalls and did the same. I've enjoyed horn speakers since the mid-70's.
Actually, contrary to popular belief, development of the Quad ESL 57 started in...1955.
Heresy was call heresy cause when he played it for a friend the friend couldn’t believe that that much sound was coming from that speaker the friend thought the sound was coming from a much larger speaker next to it. That’s why it’s a heresy. It was the center channel for the Klipsch Belle for a stage setup
I always used the la Scala as a center channel with corner horns, I used the Heresy as surrounds. The shop I worked at in the 90's sold Quad ESL 63s 64s. I still love both of these speakers for very different reasons.
They were called Heresy because Paul didn't believe in woofers, he said a horn would beautifully reproduce entire spectrum of sound. So thus, 2 use a diaphragm woofer was Heresy!