Hey there, I’ve been relying on this thread a bunch for setting up my system, and I figured I’ll ask you for advice this time.

After long research and bit of a challenging process, I finally completed my new Hi-Fi setup. I’m a hardcore record collector who just wanted to step up his audio game a little bit, so I had to learn on the fly. This is where I am right now with my fully analog setup:

  1. Klipsch Heresy IV (new)
  2. Unison Research Simply Italy (new)
  3. EAR 834P Deluxe edition
  4. Meticulously serviced Technics 1210
  5. Audio Technica VM 520ML
  6. Some decent cables, just so I won’t feel too guilty about them not matching with the rest the system

I’m almost totally stoked with how everything sounds, but there’s a little problem. High frequencies can be a bit much, especially when I’m listening to jazz. Any kind of high pitch instrument is just fatiguing and hard to listen to. Now, I get it - Klipsch has reputation for being bright and potentially fatiguing. But I tested this exact system with different sources, and the problem was not there.

Now, I’m trying to figure out if the hiccup is because A) My gear is still new and needs some time to break in B) There’s a mismatch between my cartridge and the phono preamp path. Both the EAR and Audio Technica have high gain. Could swapping out the cartridge be the magic fix? Else?

Anyone advice on how to tweak this so I can just listen to my records without the high-pitched headache?

  • bigbura@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Our Heresy IIIs did not sound anywhere as nice as the demo units at the store upon unboxing. Same complaints about the highs and the bass was very restrained.

    I came to understand why all the photos of Heresy speakers in-rooms showed the tweeters firing right and left of the main seat, minimal toe in if any at all, because those tweeters beam like mad. Mix in brand new, i.e. tight, drivers and this is all so much worse.

    So toe out the speakers for now, so you are listening some 15-20 degrees off axis and then heat them up with some highish volume listening, say low 90s dB in the seat. Nothing out of their capability but get the drivers moving and heat driven into the voice coils/spiders, and do so for about an hour. Turn the rig off and come back the next day and give her a listen, then report back what you found.

    I figure you’ll be pleased at how things changed. ;)

    After the above we ended up having to EQ the highs down to a level more in line with the mids and lows. In the end, our AVR’s EQ couldn’t do enough so we resorted to Audyssey which man-handled the irregularities in the mids/highs enough to get the rig more like what I heard in-store.

    But then I noticed the 160Hz peak/resonance, which I hope the IVs do not have. Audyssey didn’t really address that as the old version we have doesn’t touch the bass.

    After some 7 years with these things I’m looking to move them on. The JBL Studio 580s are so much more clear sounding/invisible, but have their own issues with being overly bright up top. But these respond well to minor EQ adjustments. I hope the updated drivers in the IVs do not present enough problems that you feel the need to sell them after the break-in is complete.