1968 Klipsch H700 Heresy

StatutoryApe

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2011
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I stumbled into a pair of 1968 Heresy Floorstand speakers today. They were installed in the walls of a friends house. The entire house was wired up with a stereo system which is long gone.

I'm curious to see about using them for my computer. I currently have a Logitech X-530 5.1 setup and I'd be willing to ditch it for these really awesome cabinets. I don't currently have a soundcard so my options as I see them are:
  • Soundcard to Stereo Receiver
  • USB DAC to Stereo Receiver
  • Decide I don't wanna go head first into audio and just try out analog to a Receiver to see if I even like having em.

I'd like some input on options. Please refrain from suggesting other speakers. That is counter-productive. I'm curious about options, starting in the lower range. I'm not in a position to dive straight into full on audiophile options. You have to start somewhere. Please keep that in mind.

More info about my speakers:
Make: Klipsh
Model: H700 Heresy
Type: H-DR-12 (which means they are Raw-Finish Decorator Cabinets)
Impedance: 8Ohm

Pictures:
VvCCVIw.jpg


K7gJkTQ.jpg


The beautiful interior components:
vWMNNtE.jpg
 
Never seen a 'raw' finish. Sure is raw :)

Those things have got to be rare.
 
I just realized after looking at the factory specs that someone took them apart and narrowed them up a little bit. That really makes them look raw.
 
Also upon looking at other speakers of that model type you can tell someone had just taken some plywood and jerry rigged to look similar to the originals. The Speaker and Horns look awesome though.
 
Nice find!
Decide I don't wanna go head first into audio and just try out analog to a Receiver to see if I even like having em.
Do this. Those speakers are really easy to drive, at least by modern standards. Even a little chip amp will make them LOUD.

You'll definitely want to aim them at your ears.

Also, I have no idea if Klipsch would have used baffle-step compensation back then, and - if so - modified this set for in-wall mounting. But don't be afraid to try some EQ; they may need it to sound correct.
 
Actually, all of the wood on those is original, someone just chopped them down to fit in the wall space. They are the Decorator version which didn't have the finished case around them.

I'll definitely be messing around with my options! From what I've seen so far, the treble is really high on these, so I'll probably need to tune that down as my right ear crackles at high treble volumes. Thanks for the input!
 
Do they have removable sealed backs?

Make sure whatever amplifier you choose had adequate power, but as they're 96db1wm you're pretty much guaranteed to like them with as little as 10 clean watts per channel. Ideally, 50wrms channels would be best, at 8 ohms, if you keep the gain down to around half, as they're rated for 25w.

I seriously doubt you'll notice much of a difference between sound card 3.5mm out or your onboard 3.5mm out with equipment such as this. Personally, I'd wire up a nice 200w 14v industrial PSU, and a A/B car amplifier, and run that directly from RCA.
 
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I decided to test em by replacing my rear speakers on my 5.1. The caps are dried out so there was a bunch of clipping but they sounded pretty good at first. I'll probably hook em up to an automotive amp from the source. It's fun to play around with setups to see what exactly works best. They sit nicely under my desk at either side of me. With the high treble(possibly due to the semi-functional crossover), I don't need them in front of me, as far as I can tell. I'm gonna end up in boutique audio pretty quickly, I feel.

Currently looking into replacement caps for the Type C crossovers, which turn out to be fairly rare. Need 1uF and 2.1uF caps. the ones in it currently are rated for 400VDC.
 
Just so you know, those speakers are worth a lot. To any collector or even somebody interested in the drivers. Any film capacitor at those rated capacitance and near or higher rated voltage is fine. I'd go with some Janzen Crosscaps which you can buy from PartsConnexion for few bucks. I'm not sure you're ready to throw a few hundred dollars into boutique capacitors though which can variably affect the sound. I'd sand down the raw MDF and get some veneer on them as well.
 
I manually checked the caps and it turns out they're still good. The Crossovers were wired wrong though...apparently, the guy thought it was a good idea to wire the tweeters and squawkers directly to the input...
For now, I'll leave the original caps in there with the plan to replace them. According to some sources, the square caps are much longer lasting than the standard film caps in other crossovers. We'll see how they fare.
The cabinet isn't MDF. It's Unfinished Birch Plywood. If I'm gonna refinish em, I'd need to straighten the cuts that the guy bodged when he narrowed them.

These exact ones are exceptionally rare, but not worth as much as the more popular ones. These are H-DR-12 and have a rare version of the Type E crossover known as the Type C. The difference is that the Caps are 2uF(or 2.1uF) and 1uF and the tweeter/squawker are wired reverse of the Type E. Crites doesn't even have information on the Type C. A decent set of these is only worth about $400. Mine have been narrowed by some yahoo with a butter knife and one eye. A decent set of the standard Heresys would be worth somewhere between $700 and $1000.

Thank you for the input!
 
I'd replace those caps either way, they are long overdue there specifications (just because it measures it's original capacitance doesn't mean they are fine) with some better modern film capacitors. If you want to replace with a near NOS replacement, there are some on ebay for less then $100 that would be enough to replace all 4 in your Heresy.

As with the value of Heresy's, depending on where and which country its sold in value can anywhere be between $200 (somebody unknowingly selling one CL) - $2000 (restored and rebuilt), but it's lot less expensive to buy them in States. There is a market set for them, since they do have a status following (but nowhere near the likes of vintage JBL, Altec Lansing or Western Electric) they are always in demand.

Good luck.
 
I decided to test em by replacing my rear speakers on my 5.1. The caps are dried out so there was a bunch of clipping but they sounded pretty good at first. I'll probably hook em up to an automotive amp from the source. It's fun to play around with setups to see what exactly works best. They sit nicely under my desk at either side of me. With the high treble(possibly due to the semi-functional crossover), I don't need them in front of me, as far as I can tell. I'm gonna end up in boutique audio pretty quickly, I feel.

Currently looking into replacement caps for the Type C crossovers, which turn out to be fairly rare. Need 1uF and 2.1uF caps. the ones in it currently are rated for 400VDC.

When I was looking up info on these that was a common theme, the need to re-cap. If there's such a need, there is a source :) You might want to hop into a few of those threads and ask where replacements were sourced.

If it's the same for speakers as it is for computers, I'd try to stick with Japanese caps.
 
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