Disappointed w/ Klipsch Heresy III. Now what?


I'd be very grateful for some help with a quandary.

I recently replaced my Ohm Walsh 1000 speakers with Heresy III speakers, running two-channel from a Rega Brio. I was pretty excited about the Heresy IIIs based on reviews — they were efficient, so my 35-watt amp would get the job done; they were supposed to have real punch in the low mid-range, so I could hear the upright bass clearly; they reportedly had excellent imaging; and best of all, they were supposed to sound great at low volumes. They are also indisputably beautiful, which was an important factor for my wife. (The Ohms are elegant, but you have to be an audio lover to see their beauty.)

I set them up, and . . . not so bad, pretty good. Especially loud. In fact the louder the better. Crank them up and they sing. But loud is not really an option with a new baby. So how do they sound quiet? They sound like the band is trapped in shoe box. Really in two shoe boxes because the L and R don't merge that well. The sound stage is tiny. All the detail is gone, the joy is gone. They are no fun at all. Music just seems like a bunch of noise.

But I want to believe! I want to make these speakers work. So I am faced with a quandary. I could:

1. Buy stands, a subwoofer and a tube amp, all of which people in various forums have recommended to improve the various failings I hear now.

2. Replace the Rega with something much more powerful and pull the Ohms out of the closet. (Suboptimal because it will make my wife sad because of the aforementioned perceived ugliness.)

3. Just start all over again. Different amp, different speakers.

I'd kind of prefer number 1. But I don't want to end up with a bunch of stuff designed to solve a problem and then not have that problem solved! (And I'd also just as soon avoid getting a subwoofer.)

Final note. Positioning is an intractable nightmare. It is the one thing that I can't really change, because of how our living room is layed out. It is obviously a big problem though. The living room is a big rectangle, 18 x 40 feet, and the speakers are near the corners of the 18-foot ends, on either side of a couch. I can move them around — closer or further from the couch, closer or further from the wall. But I can't raise them above the height of the couch or move them out in front or over to another wall. That discussion went nowhere!

What should I do?

 



brooklynluke
Here is an idea that has worked for me in the past. You said that moving the speakers out is not an option due to the WAF. Now, when nobody is looking move them about an inch, see if she notices it. About a week later, move them another inch, see what happens. Continue to move them  incrementally and see if that helps your problem.
I agree with those above who recommended you get rid of them rather than changing your whole system around in hopes of getting them to work. Big mistake. If you insist on keeping them, I think your best hope is an equalizer or an integrated amp with tone controls so you can contour the sound more to your liking. But this is how we learn. I had an expensive CD player and wasn’t crazy about the sound, but I spent a lot of money on an expensive platform for it. Tried to convince myself it was better, but it really wasn’t. 
Atmasphere, please correct me if I am wrong. There is a couch in between the speakers. If he pushes the speakers closer to the wall, that means more of the couch is in front of the speaker. Will that not mess with the imaging?
You'd have to try it but there's a good chance it won't hurt at all and may even help.

That is assuming that the couch is soft. If so, it can reduce diffraction issues between the speakers, and since the high frequency drivers are horns, this should work out quite well.

IOW its worth a shot to simply push the speakers back.
I would try an inexpensive EQ. If you like the results get a better one. I had Chorus IIs for a while and they were really dynamic and a whole lotta fun. They definitely needed EQ! I used the Parametric EQ in Amarra. Maybe try a MiniDSP. 

I speak from experience when I say if you do not like the sound of your speakers, no amount of break in, changing cables or components are going to help.  8 years ago, I bought a very highly regarded pair of expensive speakers.  They sounded God awful from the get go.  I replaced everything in the system from amp to front end components, cables, power conditioning, etc.  At the end of the day, I had a much more expensive system that still sucked!

I was too adamant to believe that the highly reviewed speakers that everyone raved about could be the culprit.  Finally I saw the light and dumped the speakers for a big loss and went back to my older speakers.  Never, ever again.