Randy:

Can't tell you how much I appreciate this.

I have a pair of Klipsch Heresy II speakers. Frankly, I can't remember when I got them, but it was a long time. Still love them and they are incredibly efficient, but this sounds like it would make them sound even better.

Thanks.

Looks like a very well designed replacement crossover, on a nice slab of cedar! It reminds me of the crossovers used by the old big Klipsch speakers I'm so fond of. And it looks like the green capacitor in the old one is the one that would be expected to provide the shortest life, but maybe the new unit sounds better also because it's better in other respects such as parts quality.

I was going to link to another small outfit that does some amazing Klipsch restorations, but that guy apparently is not doing them anymore, and there's some right-wing bullshit on his site that makes me not want to refer him business anyway. LOL, as they say.

I have a pair of HIIs that recently developed a problem. I bought them, mid '80s models in '89 or '90. Apparently, even back then the caps were starting to grow old. Never could find happiness with them but, never quite ready to sell them.

Not long ago a tweeter cap gave out and the tweeter quit. I decided it was time to decide what to do with them. After researching I found the crossovers are not complex and though I had not used a soldering iron or gun in decades, I still had all the stuff so decided to recap them myself. One speaker has the round cup and the other the rectangle cup. If yours has the round cup either let Bob rebuild it or buy his replacements unless you are experienced. It's a real dog. The rectangle cup unit has a pcb making it easier but still a bit of a challenge. Some experience in electrical work should be under the belt.

I had not checked the tweeters before I ordered from Bob. I assumed the tweeter was bad. I talked with him about his titanium diaphragms and from his description they sounded like they may yield some positive results as they are supposed to tame the harshness. I found out the tweeters were not bad after starting to do the work but, decided to change the diaphragms anyway. Probably should have waited to see what the cap changes would do first. When I assembled everything I changed out the original gaskets to closed cell foam to make sure the cabinets were sealed. The original gaskets were not foam but a thin rubber or butyl, so things that there could be little compression to make a seal and a couple were not installed correctly causing air leaks.

Buttoned them up and the high end lost any sense of shrillness, harsh or horn hock. The blend to the midrange is amazing, almost thought the tweeter was not working at first, the transition and integration is that good. Also, the frequency balance shifted with the brightness in the higher end shooting out, the bass seems better, though nothing done to the crossover affects the woofers low end extension.

I am talking about not a small change. Think about the difference of a West Coast sound compared to a New England sound. It reminds me of my long ago dearly departed original Cornwalls. And, that is good. They do present a problem, though. Before, they were on my to sell list and now they are up against my resurrected KLH Fives and Wharfedale W70s. The caps on the W70s and Fives have more hours on them. As it stands the order of preference is the W70s followed very closely by the Fives and further down the lime the HIIs. Not sure if they can move up enough to overtake the Fives. It has made me start wondering about pushing them further such as dampening the woofers, bracing the cabinets, stuffing the cabinets and even the ALK crossover's. The biggest shortcomings are a lack of refinement in the high end compared to the others, especially when listening to a close mic'd solo violin. The W70s really reveal the makings bringing out the wood body resonances and the strings really hit the market with virtually no coloration. The Fives lose a bit of the quality of the violinist body, it thins out a bit and is more in the background. Strings are just a bit more steely and lose the detail of the bow sliding across the windings that comprised the strings the W70s bring out without becoming distracting. The HIIs seem to put the violin's body so far in the background it all but disappears. It also does not have the defined detail of either of the others. The strings are forward and steely answer the bow's thread sliding across the strings yield only the sound of the steel strings.

On the other end of the scale, the HII's woofer is fast and is well articulated and nicely detailed. No hump is evident. Here the Five woofer shows it is an acoustic suspension drivers with its issues related to excursion, doppler effect and inertia. It goes down but that excursion with the problems messes with the details and coloration. The HIIS is also an acoustic suspension woofer but has very limited excursion. The W70 is a ported design and the woofer has quite limited extension, closer to the old infinite baffle design than the modern ported designs. It has all the advantages of the infinite baffle woofer. I May not sure the HII can successfully combat the small box limitation through stuffing to come closer to get more competitive to the W7.

Need to know what size spade connectors to get for 1980s Klipsch Heresy II speaker posts?
Thanks

It's amazing how many people throw out vintage speakers because "they don't sound so good." That happened to a pair of JBL 250ti that made it to a friend's living room (see below). All they needed was a refoaming of the 14" woofer surrounds and a repair of a connection that had come loose. Can't imagine how good they sound. There's no bang-for-the-buck like good vintage hifi equipment.