After a lot of trial and error mating speakers to my Zen amp, I am considering entering the world of Klipsch. Looking for something with serious dynamics and liveliness. I do not need to shake the walls, but just want more overall slam.
There are so many Klipsch models and so many iterations of those models thoughout the years (I have no qualms about going used). I do not know where to begin. I have a modestly sized room, so, for instance, Klipschhorns are out of the question. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?
I mostly listen to classic rock and jazz. I have a REL sub to potentially add to the mix.

I have klipsch RP280 paired with a SE84UFO, makes a nice combo.

I’m running Klipsch Forte II’s driven by a SE84UFO25 and I think they sound terrific. A CL deal and they look an sound super to me. They just reissued the speaker as Forte III. If you can locate a used pair of II’s they’ll be a 3rd the price of new.

Not an expert but room size/speaker size for one thing. Check the Klipsch forum for expert opinions. I don’t know where you live but $1,400 would be high for Forte II’s most places. Maybe they have upgrades like Crites crossovers or something.

Be aware of the location as shipping can be a dealbreaker on these mammoth beasts. I have Herseys, forte ll, and use a zen with my Cornwalls.

In a large room, the Cornwalls definitely reign superior but the fortes are nothing the sneeze at.

It always bothers me that the local Chipolte (1760 N University Dr., Plantation, Fl.) has Heresys mounted up top inside a plywood cabinet but they are upside down! What idiot did that?

Klipsch Heritage line was conceived of during the tube era. So they mate well with tube gear.  I had a pair of RB5II bookshelves. They were great overall but due to my room it did not work out. When I raised the volume enough to generate some bass the horns fatigued my ears. That woukd not have happened if I had Fortés.

What are the dimensions of Randy’s ‘15’s?

I owned a pair of Forte’s for over 30 years. They were fine speakers. My entry into the internet/audio world helped me discover that I could replace the crossovers and drivers, which I did thru Bob Crites. This made the Fortes like new again with amazing results.

About this time, I discovered Decware, and got my first tube amp to pair with the Klipsch. A great combo.

But soon after, I was curious about the Caintuck open baffles offered on the Decware website. They were so affordable that I decided to try them out. That was the best audio decision I’ve ever made. Eventually, thru Steve’s experimentation, Lii Audio came into the picture.

All of this to say that I loved my Klipsch, but when I moved on to Decware/Caintuck/Lii Audio, it brought me to another level of audio quality and enjoyment.

For the money, go for the Decware/Caintuck combo, and you’ll never have to look back.

Just move open baffles away from the front wall and toe them in by ear. Open baffles are much more forgiving with room placement than a box speaker.

The fact that the Lii’s are crossoverless and 97dB efficient will allow them to play at the level you desire. And much more lively than a box. I think “natural” is the best description of the sound.  

What I am really after is slam, dynamics, liveliness and frankly, volume. I could sacrifice a bit of soundstaging or detail for those things.

These speakers excel in slam, dynamics, and liveliness, especially with the Zen amp. They are close to 100 db efficient in an open baffle configuration and can play really loud with a 2 watt Zen amp. This is a very quick and articulate bass and you may not miss the bottom 1/3 rd octave that it doesn't produce. These speakers can be played at lower volumes without losing resolution and can also cleanly play loud. The loudest I've ever played my speakers was at 94 db and it was much too loud for me. It is not a bloated or boomy loud but a very clean loud.

They are also really easy to set up. To get the absolute best sound and sound stage:

1. The speakers should be a minimum of 3 feet from the back wall.
2. Toe in my ear. It doesn't take long to get a large sound stage.
3. In conjunction with toe-in, raise the front of the speakers approximately 1 and 1/2 inches. This really expands the depth of the sound stage and provides a greater density of musical information.

I forgot one thing in my last post. You can physically feel the bass coming from these speakers. It can be a quite addictive experience. Add subwoofers only if you feel the need. It is the quickness of the bass that makes the slam from these speakers sound so alive.

Randy is a super guy. His prices are so low that it seems more of a hobby for him.

Sorry to get a little off topic, but do y'all mind sharing what you mean by "slam"?  It's one of those terms I see get thrown around a lot, but I feel means different things to different people.  I know for me, it's a "I know it when I hear it" kind of thing, which is not exactly helpful to anyone else!

Otherwise, I'm following this thread with great interest, as I'm also on the hunt for speakers with a lot of dynamics and liveliness, and think Klipsch heritage speakers might work for me.

Teaching opportunity:  

Quote:


Actually, the less excursion the driver has, the more the effect.  Just the opposite.

The only thing excursion does is create low bass in small boxes.  The best bass is always from large cabinets / baffles / horns using drivers with cones so stiff they feel like they don't move at all.

It is the essence of linearity while excursion is the the opposite of linearity.

For those who  identify with the statement "the more air you move the more bass you make" it is really about how you move the air, not how much air you move.

Steve

 Well, I just have to chime in here. The first time that I experienced outstanding and nearly unbelievable bass was with a set of corner horns that I built in high school. Using 15" drivers, the cones barely moved, yet there is to this day no comparison of the depth and accuracy of the bass that I heard. In fact, it has crossed my mind recently to build one corner horn sub. Now if only I can fool the wife into believing that it will be a corner china cabinet.