Klipsch Heritage Series Heresy IV Speaker Review
Growing up in the 80’s we had a fairly large house but not all rooms were equal. There was the main lounge, reserved for entertaining guests, Holidays, Birthdays, and dads. The Lounge was a place the children dare not enter, with white couches, furniture pristine, and of course the Hifi system. The guarded Hifi system consists of a turntable, receiver, multiple amps, and a set of Heresy floor standing speakers. Today was different because I just got to play with that system, albeit on the other side of the world, in a different house. Today I just installed a brand new set of Klipsch Heritage Series Heresy IV for a client that I am reviewing for you today. I spent 8 hours testing and setting these up and while I have heard numerous demos this is the first time I was given free rain to play with them till my heart was content. Let’s get into the review.
What is the Heresy?
The Heresy IV speakers are the latest offering from Klipsch in a line that goes all the way back to 1954 when Paul Klipsch (the founder of Klipsch was told he couldn’t use a small speaker between two horns. The story goes that he was accused of acoustic heresy and thus the name for this speaker line was born. Turns out this Heresy actually birthed one of the most legendary speakers in audiophile history. An icon of the industry that for many will be end-game territory.
Specifications
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: (+/- 4 dB) 48-20k +/-4dB SENSITIVITY1 99dB @ 2.83V / 1m
POWER (CONT/PEAK): 100W/400W
IMPEDANCE: 8 ohms Compatible
HIGH-FREQUENCY DRIVER: K-107-TI 1” (2.54cm) Titanium diaphragm compression driver
MIDRANGE: K-702 1.75” (4.45cm) polyimide diaphragm compression driver
LOW-FREQUENCY DRIVER K-28-E 12” (30.48cm) Fiber-composite cone woofer
DIMENSIONS: 24.81” (63.01cm) X15.5” (39.37cm) X13.25” (33.66cm)
WEIGHT: 20.4 KG
Build Quality and Design
The Hersey speakers cabinets have always been made in America, Hope, Arkansas to be precise. Despite other Klipsch models being outsourced to other countries keeping Heresy’s American heritage is important to the company. Every unit is hand-made by craftsmen right here in the states. Due to this process, every speaker is handmade to order so expect a wait time of 8-10 weeks depending on your location.
The construction material for the enclosure is mainly MDF which is common in many high-end speakers due to its acoustic consistency. It’s an easy material with little variance in batches as opposed to real wood which can vary in density and thickness even throughout a single sheet. The Heresy IV comes with 4 finishes, all wood so to better suit the environment in which it will be placed. You can have it with Walnut, Satin Black, Natural Cherry, and Distressed oak veneers. The veneers are matched and applied so that the grain is consistent and the final finish appears as natural as possible.
They are big units but surprisingly not as big as a floor-standing tower speaker, it’s more that they are some chunky monkeys. You are going to need a fair amount of space to first store them and secondly work their magic.
The speaker array is front firing but for the first time in the line, the Heresy 4 features a bass port on the rear that allows for better ventilation and increases low-end depth and performance.
The drivers consist of one huge 12-inch fiber composite woofer designed to provide low-end grunt and two horn back drivers. The tweeter is a small 1-inch titanium diaphragm compression driver where the mids are provided via a 1.75” polyimide diaphragm compression driver. The horn technology is something called Tactrix that Klipsch made famous years ago, it allows an ultra-wide dispersion of the audio within a relatively compact design.
Sound
The pairing for our client’s setup was direct to a Pass Labs INT-25. In the past, we have used multiple amplifiers in Heresy IV setups and observed that they really do scale up when using well-powered clean class A amplification. Some amps are capable of driving the Heresy well but there is a difference between well and optimal with such a well-refined speaker. In this Pass Labs setup, the client already had the amplifier as part of his system with the Klipsch Forte 4 and wanted to use the same one in this new apartment he purchased. It was a killer setup and the sound blew us away.
There are so many ways to describe how the Klipsch heritage IV sound. Natural is probably the best descriptor of all because there was a purity to the sound that felt devoid of coloration or interference from components. It sounded wide and spacious, full of life and emotions a speaker that you get completely lost in the music and sit for hours pulling LP after LP with curiosity for how the next track will sound as you are enjoying the current. In a way, I was transformed back to a time when I first fell in love with the music on my dad’s Heresy speakers. This was special.
I learned looks can be deceiving because despite those two huge 12-inch woofers staring me in the face and bracing myself for impact when I turned to some deep house and EDM for the bass test my face did in fact not melt. The control was very tight and measured, extension deep but not at the expense of refinement and texture. The volume of air that moves makes sure the bass throws across the room but not in extreme sub-bass extension. Instead, you are treated to clean, distortion-free bass that is extremely revealing and yet fast-paced.
No bleeding or muddying of the lower mids was detected and overall I was satisfied even if I was surprised that with this huge cone I would still pair them with a high-quality subwoofer if listening to a lot of bass-heavy genres like rap/hip-hop/EDM. In fact, the client was already one step ahead with a Rel 1508 Predator sub ready to be hooked up and that’s when it really hits you in the face. Yes, the Heritage IV is fantastic, on their own, they sound great but to truly get the most from them, in my opinion, you need to be using them with a dedicated subwoofer.
The midrange is undeniable, this is near perfection to my ears. They come across as lively and enthusiastic, revealing micro detail but also the purity of the original recording. Vocals are masterful and wrap around you whether the power of Adele in Hometown or in Gregory Porters Concorde. The sheer scale of vocal clarity and presence.
Classical music sounds, for lack of a better word epic. The imaging, depth, and detail combine to make even the most complicated tracks sound hyper-realistic. Listening to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or even better the full Mysterium by Scriabin & Nemtin was mind-blowing for me and up with any other speakers up to 10k.
Positives
The cool factor of owning legendary speakers
Incredible natural sound with class-leading technical performance
Spacious and full sound
Horn speakers sound uniquely special
Negatives
Source dependent, we find they work best with high-quality class A amplification.
Large housing takes up more space than traditional floor-standing speakers
The bass is impactful but the speaker will shine with a separate subwoofer.
Our Verdict
The Klipsch Heritage series is good but the Heresy IV is just every bit as fantastic as I was expecting. Nothing sounds quite like a horn speaker, it’s an experience that envelops you and stands in stark contrast to traditional diaphragms at this price. I would definitely recommend adding a dedicated subwoofer to further enhance the experience and that you must have an adequate source to power them.
When you do get the setup right these are monumental speakers that if someone told me would be my last set ever, I wouldn’t be too sad about it. They aren’t going to replace my electrostatics but if I was looking to buy they would be very high up my list. Cool, retro and sounds incredible with almost every genre.
Official Website of the Klipsch Heresy IV: www.klipsch.com
