Horns vs. single drivers

You had better actually listen to some Lowtbers first, some say they are the best in the world, others don't care for them. Very distinctive sound

The single drivers with back-horn loading are very efficient, without the front horn loading of the Klipsch. I'd expect lower colorations and much more coherent sound from the Lowther. Lowthers are not "coloration free" but they tend to be less colored than most front horn type speakers. The biggest advantage is the lack of passive crossover network, which is a big advantage, in my opinion.

I agree that auditioning is important, since these speakers elicit very different responses from various types of listeners.

For the record, I luv 'em on my analog/SET system.

I also own a pair of vintage Klipsch Heresey's. Unfortunately, I have only been able to play them
through solid state amplification. My first amplifier
(receiver) was a Kenwood 9400. Which boasted 120
watts per channel, but sounded dreadful with the
Heresey's. Twenty years later, I am now using a
Yamaha 60 watt integrated which has much better
synergy with the Klipsch.

I'm just about ready to take the plunge into the world
of tubes and I'm curious what electronics (solid state
or tubes) that you have been using to drive your speakers? I 've read that Quicksilver's are a glorious
match for the Klipsch. I would think that the mini-monos
and a fine tube preamp, should get you pretty close
to audio nirvana. Certainly, some rewiring and bracing
(something I haven't done yet.) could only improve the
sound of the Heresey's. I added a Hsu-VTF-2 into the
equation for better bottom end response which was a
great help.

I guess what I am saying is that you should hold onto the Heresey's before making any hasty and costly decisions. I'm curious to know how you would hook up
the Quicksilver's to the Heresey's? Would this require
modification to the speaker terminals ect.. This question, by the way, is from someone who hasn't had any experience with a soldering gun before.Hence,the reason for not rewiring my Heresey's yet!

I'm holding onto the Heresy's so I can finally mate them
with tube amplification. Any suggestions or comments
would be greatly appreciated.

As a fellow Heresey owner I felt obligated to reply to your question.
Happy Listening,
mmaudio

Hi mmaudio,
I started with all Adcom and a year ago got an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb CD player. This has led to a slow, piece by piece upgrade plan. The sonic changes I made in tube rolling the CD player made me a believer in vacuum tubes and particularly NOS tubes.

My next upgrade came as a surprise. I auditioned a Cary and an Eastern Electric preamp and was stunned by the natural sound of the Eastern Electric. I walked out of the shop that day with a new preamp in hand.

Then I replaced all cables and powercords. My jaw hit the floor after listning to the Van den Hul interconnects - incredible synergy. I have Chris VanHaus powercords and Jon Risch design speaker cables. Cables are clearly as important as any component within the system.

Now I'm ready to get a new amp. I'm impressed by Quicksilver's philosophy - simple, minimalist design will tend to bring the listener closer to the emotion being conveyed. I've also considered George Wright's SET amps and the new Eastern Electric amp.

Staying with the minimalist philosophy, I feel that single driver speakers such as Lowther are worth a listen. I have been very happy with the Heresys and have always felt Paul Klipsch was an absolute genius. I had the pleasure of meeting him back in the late 80's. I've read that many musicians like the vintage Klipsch speakers because they duplicte the sound of a live performance. I have to agree, although I'm not a musician.

The hook up of the Quicksilvers to the Heresy's will be a simple swap of amps. My speaker cables are terminated with spades. The binding posts of the Heresy's are small(3/16") and I believe 1/4" is standard on most speakers. Certainly no soldering is necessary unless you want to hard wire the amps to the speakers. I've never soldererd but have a friend who makes a living at it so I may do an internal rewire on the speakers. The Klipsch website has a forum with lots of good info on this.

I highly recomend you to "take the plunge" into tubed gear. You'll never look back!!

Happy listening. Mike.

Mootsdude, at the risk of feeling really dumb, I'm still
not sure about the Quicksilver mini-mono's hooking up to the Heresy's with relative ease. Since I ownly have the two terminals on the back of the Heresy's(+-), and I
have two amps(one for each channel), the Heresy's
are not bi-wireable friendly, or am I missing something.
I must apologize, I'm a newbie when it comes to mono amplifiers when it comes to hooking up which wire to which, ect... But I want to learn. A friend has the mini
monos and modified Monitor Audio Gold floor standers,
custom built Arthur Loesch tube preamp, and the presentation is lovely.

I know that my Heresy's could really swing with tube mono amplification. I'm just not sure about which one's.

Happy Listening,
mmaudio