Speaker reco - personal preference - JBL L82 / KH IV / Other?

[WPK]

New here… looking for some advice / counsel / guidance / recommendations. Full disclosure - I don’t “speak” audiophile.

Looking to commit to a new pair of speakers (upgrade). Price range - $2.5-$3.5K USD ($3.5-$5k CAD).

I have been looking at a couple options: JBL L82 and Klipsch Heresy IV.

Setup:
* Technica SL1200MK7 turntable
* Yamaha RN 2000 A network receiver (will be a recent upgrade from my current Yamaha amp - I’m a Yamaha loyalist).

In reading many reviews of speakers the following has struck me: “the reviews say as much of the reviewer as it does the speakers” and “it depends”. In other words - despite tremendous credentials - there is a lot of subjectivity (fair enough) and - like many things in life - it depends on what / how you intend to use it (personal preferences).

With that said - here are my personal preferences when listening to music:
* lots of use / long sessions of listening / enjoying
* the space where the systems is has exceptional good natural acoustics - medium sized space (~800 sf)
* the majority of the time I listen at lower to moderate volume levels - on occasion “it's going to get loud”.
* really enjoy listening to live recorded performances - most of my vinyl collection is dedicated to this.

A few examples of music / preference includes the following:

NY - Live at Massey Hall
DB - Bowie at the Beeb (BBC Sessions)
PF - Pulse
BM - Babylon by Bus
TH - Stop Making Sense
RS - El Mocambo
TP - Live Anthology
MK - All the Roadrunning

* love the feeling / emotion of being immersed in the performances - of “being there” - feeling the energy of the performance
* for speakers - quality and timelessness matters - strong preference for a nod to retro and simple aesthetic
* also watch a lot of recorded live performances via TV through the system

With that said… any speaker recommendations in the price range above? Would either JBL L82 and Klipsch Heresy IV serve my preferences well?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Al ears]

Welcome to the forum.
Cannot help specifically as I have never heard either of these speakers but, when spending any sort of money, it's always best if you audition yourself.

 

[twinkletoes]

New here… looking for some advice / counsel / guidance / recommendations. Full disclosure - I don’t “speak” audiophile.

Looking to commit to a new pair of speakers (upgrade). Price range - $2.5-$3.5K USD ($3.5-$5k CAD).

I have been looking at a couple options: JBL L82 and Klipsch Heresy IV.

Setup:
* Technica SL1200MK7 turntable
* Yamaha RN 2000 A network receiver (will be a recent upgrade from my current Yamaha amp - I’m a Yamaha loyalist).

In reading many reviews of speakers the following has struck me: “the reviews say as much of the reviewer as it does the speakers” and “it depends”. In other words - despite tremendous credentials - there is a lot of subjectivity (fair enough) and - like many things in life - it depends on what / how you intend to use it (personal preferences).

With that said - here are my personal preferences when listening to music:
* lots of use / long sessions of listening / enjoying
* the space where the systems is has exceptional good natural acoustics - medium sized space (~800 sf)
* the majority of the time I listen at lower to moderate volume levels - on occasion “it's going to get loud”.
* really enjoy listening to live recorded performances - most of my vinyl collection is dedicated to this.

A few examples of music / preference includes the following:

NY - Live at Massey Hall
DB - Bowie at the Beeb (BBC Sessions)
PF - Pulse
BM - Babylon by Bus
TH - Stop Making Sense
RS - El Mocambo
TP - Live Anthology
MK - All the Roadrunning

* love the feeling / emotion of being immersed in the performances - of “being there” - feeling the energy of the performance
* for speakers - quality and timelessness matters - strong preference for a nod to retro and simple aesthetic
* also watch a lot of recorded live performances via TV through the system

With that said… any speaker recommendations in the price range above? Would either JBL L82 and Klipsch Heresy IV serve my preferences well?

Thanks in advance!

Hello there

I own the previous gen KH3's..... I haven't compared directly with jbll82, but I would say the 2 speakers you're looking at will offer you 2 very different experiences from one another and the spec sheet tells us as much. The more comparable JBL id say is the L100 which i have heard compared to the KH3's.

The KH4s are much much bigger speakers for starters. So they will simply fill the room better. I suspect the JBL will play lower (deeper bass) but will sound a little more congested when played loud (probably), the Klipsch you can seemingly play as loud as you like and they don't compress (that's my experience with the version 3's). I'm listening at 95db with barely a quarter rotation on the Sugden's volume knob. The spec sheets also tell us the Klipsch will be the more dynamic of the 2 designs and it is certainly the case with my version 3's. To counter that JBL's will probably offer you a more holographic sound, the Klipcsh is more of a wall of sound (i like that) but the centre image is rock solid. Driver integration on the HS3 is fantastic and just sounds like one big speaker they sort of melt away into the room and you can't locate the sound (best way I can describe it).

The downside with the Heresy is if you're sitting too close the sound will not be at your ears, it will be at your legs and the same is true if you sit too far away it will be over your head. And don't be fooled to put them on stands they need the floor to produce the bass they have they are designed from the ground up for it.

In my experiance, the Klipsch will give one of the most "live" performances for a speaker of its size and with very very little power, I run my Klipsch with a 20w Sugden. They are very transparent of the quality of the amp feeding it, pair with an amp with a middling mid-range and that's what you'll get. They will like an amp that is nice and plump sounding. Cheap NAD's (like my c320bee) need not apply, they are too thin sounding.

I can't comment on the JBLs sound quality.

Hope that helps a little

 

[matthewpianist]

All I can say is that I have a pair of the smaller JBL L52s, and they're fantastic small speakers with a real strength for recreating a live atmosphere. I have a recording of Miles Davis playing in Berlin and through the JBLs it sounds like he and his group are in the room. They don't have the bottom end depth of my Qs, but that's hardly surprising, and the L82s will obviously be different in this respect.