KLIPSCH 70TH ANNIVERSARY HERESY III

Klipsch has released a limited edition version of its Heresy III loudspeakers to celebrate its 70th Anniversary. Originally designed in 1957 by the company’s founder, Paul Klipsch, and now only in its third iteration, the Heresy is a compact, three-driver three-way loudspeaker using a 304mm fibre-composite cone bass driver, a horn-loaded midrange driver and a horn-loaded tweeter. ‘ While the design of the speaker has remained remarkably similar to the original, the Heresy III was given a substantial upgrade in recent years to include a higher-efficiency bass driver and a bi-wire network, as well as a new 45mm midrange compression driver and new 25mm tweeter compression driver, both featuring titanium diaphragms for smooth and accurate definition,’ said Alex Leopold, of Klipsch. The crossover frequencies are at 850Hz and 5kHz.

One big difference with the 70th Anniversary Edition is that whereas the standard Heresy III is available in cherry, walnut and black ash, the 70th Anniversary Heresy III is available only in an Australian Walnut wood veneer, and this will be used only on the 70th anniversary models from Klipsch. Further, every pair uses book-matched wood veneers, where the veneer leaves are kept in order as they are sliced from the timber then precisely arranged to provide a mirror image at the splice joint to ensure the veneer on each pair of speakers is identical.

Only 70 pairs of the Anniversary Edition Heresy III speakers will ever be made, all of which will be hand-crafted in Klipsch’s manufacturing facility in Hope, Arkansas, with every model signed and numbered by the person who built it. All the Anniversary Edition Heresy III models will also have a newly-designed nameplate mounted on a silver lustre grille cloth. ‘ You won’t have seen this cloth anywhere else,’ Leopold told Australian Hi-Fi Magazine. ‘ It looks sort of like a metal mesh, which gives the speaker a rather distinct personality. Again, this special edition cloth is a feature reserved for the 70th Anniversary Klipsch Heritage speakers.’

Klipsch says the efficiency of the Heresy III is 99dBSPL/w/m, which is extraordinarily high, and that it can deliver a maximum SPL of 116dB, despite being an infinite baffle design with a nominal impedance of 8 and measuring just 605×394×337mm (WDH). The frequency response is specified at 58Hz to 20kHz ±3dB. In Australia, Klipsch hi-fi loudspeakers are distributed by Powermove Distribution. For further information, please contact Powermove Distribution on (03) 9358 5999 or visit the website at www.powermove.com.au