New Klipsch Owner

Nashvilletitans

Congrats on your Fortes! They are amazingly revealing speakers aren't they. I have a set of Oiled Walnut Chorus lls. Keep'em about 10+ inches from the wall and those passives will really put out some low end. I push mine with a modded Dynaco St-70 and they really sing. Nothing gets "lost in the mix" They really lend themselves to female vocals,horns,piano,etc. I have been listening to a lot of Nora Jones and Diana Krall lately. The voacals sound so REAL.
The down side with these Quartets,Fortes and Chorus lls are they are so revealing that they can show the limitations of the source. Be it gear or production/recording.If there is a weak link upstream it will surely hit you between the ears at this end!
I havent experienced any of the negative characteristics that some people claim they have experienced with Klipsch horns,i.e harshness and lack of bass,etc with my Chorus'...Rather I find them to be warm and very musical with a good tube amp. Mate that with a nice preamp and a good recording and you will be in a very nice place to spend some time.
Nash

HB27

Conradicles wrote: »

Nik, you may have already read this short review of the Forte II (the newer model than the ones you have but probably relevant), but I thought it was pretty cool and he did hit on the placement options of the Forte.
http://www.soundstage.com/greg01.htm

I've been running Klipsch horns since the mid '70's. "76 to be precise when I drove to Hope Arkansas to pick up my original Cornwalls from Paul himself.
The Forte and Forte II are totally different when it comes to placement with the rear passive on the II model.
Having owned both models I preferred the Forte over the Forte II. It was more "live" and not as boomy . JMHO and preferrence.
Nice choice Nick, VERY nice speakers and a good match up with that amp. WELL DONE buddy.
Harry

nikolas812

So I got my NAD 2200PE Power amp yesterday. I decided to give it a try and I would keep which ever sounded better.. Well.. My tube amp sounds better. More musical warmer tubey sound yada yada. But man. The shear volume these things are capable of with the NAD amp is scary. Literally. I got scared a few times and had to back it down some. I just couldn't fathom how the Klipsch could hold together at these volumes. The bass is completely here now. Tight, deep and layered. And hits hard. One of the most impressive systems I've ever had. IF I could get this kind of bass with my tube amp. Life would be perfect. It just don't see it happing. Theres just not enough current and power. I run it in triode mode mostly. So I figure the tube amp is only putting out around 5 wpc. Maybe 8wpc in UL.


So I don't know what to do. I'm using an Oppo for a source for the time being. I would imagine. The NAD amp paired with a tubed source and tubed pre. Would put me right where I want to be. But I just don't know. I didn't really want to keep diving into it again. I just wanted to get a relatively cheap and satisfying rig together and call it a day.

I'm about 95% satisfied with the Tube amp NAD Pre combo. Which is more satisfied than I've ever been with any other system I've owned. I'm going to switch back to the tube amp and see if I can live with out the bass. If so I might just call it a day wit the tube amp and sell the NAD amp. And just enjoy it for a while.

Decision decisions..




Nik

DollarDave

I use a Yaqin CD-2 tube buffer, you may want to try that before giving up on the NAD amp. You can buy one for about 125 and sell it easily if you don't like it.

nikolas812

Had one. Didn't care to much for it. It was fun for a while. But in the end a good source was a much better solution.



Any who. Just hooked the Tube amp back up.


I'm keeping the tube amp! The bass isn't actually as bad as I thought it was.
Putting them on a different wall and playing with positioning really helped.



Anybody want a NAD 2200PE amp?:D


Oh and just out of curiosity I took some SPL measurements before switching amps.

At 10 ft (my listening position) with the NAD I was registering around 115db. This was very uncomfortable to listen to. There was zero distortion though. It was just flat out rocking. Cleanest sound I've ever heard though for that kind of volume.

At 10 ft with the Tube amp It hovers around 80-100. Which is where I normally listen any way. And its so much more musical and satisfying to listen to.


Nik


[URL="[IMG]http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj162/nikolas812/Picture056.jpg[/IMG]"][/URL]

Conradicles

Now upgrade the capacitors in those bad boys!
I did not realize the Forte I had no rear passive radiator like the Forte II.
Sweet Nik...that tube amp looks really nice as well.

dudeinaroom

I'll take the 2200PE.

leroyjr1

Nik

Did you try any movie watching with these speakers? I heard they are great for HT.

nikolas812

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Nik

Did you try any movie watching with these speakers? I heard they are great for HT.

No not yet. I would imagine they would be though.





Nik

nikolas812

dudeinaroom wrote: »

I'll take the 2200PE.

$200 plus shipping.



PM if interested.




Nik

cincycat13

Sounds like you're having a blast. I don't think that's a common ground amp so not gonna help me...but if you ditch the NAD pre for some glass please drop me a PM. I'm sure there is a line, but it never hurts to beg...errr ask:)

dudeinaroom

nikolas812 wrote: »

$200 plus shipping.



PM if interested.




Nik

I said"I'll take it.", not I'll pay for it. Got my eyes on bigger things. Just have to see how things go.

indyhawg

Nice speakers....enjoy.

hangon

I just picked up a pair 3-day's ago from a garage sale, they are 1986's era serial #. I found one common problem with them, when you cranked them up, the back panel vibrated (slightly) because the glue separated from the channel. I removed the passive radiator on the back and gently pried the back panel off from the inside. Applied a little gorilla glue, reinstalled the back and presto good as new. Check yours out if you are net getting the tight bass then this is/maybe the problem. Enjoy them I am with my new pair.

hangon

I just picked up a pair 3-day's ago from a garage sale, they are 1986's era serial #. I found one common problem with them, when you cranked them up, the back panel vibrated because the glue separated from the channel. I removed the passive radiator on the back and gently pried the back panel off from the inside. Applied a little gorilla glue, reinstalled the back and presto good as new. Check yours out if you are net getting the tight bass then this is/maybe the problem. Sorry I still like my SDA2's better.

lhester

Nice, I worked at a local hi fi store in the early 90s that sold Klipsch. I liked the Fortes and the K Horns the best. K Horns and McIntosh, oooh sweet.

nguyendot

1986 - would that make them Forte II's?

I picked up a pair of minty Forte II's at goodwill for $70. The ones with the 15" passive. Mine are black however. I use a KG-4 as the center as these are in my theater rig. RB25s rear.

hangon

The more I listen to my Forte's the less I am enjoying my polk's for music. Theater mode the 2.3's sill out perform the Klipsch's.

zingo

I'm heavily considering joining the Klipsch Forte owners club... I think I'll like them as I have some EL34s to drive them with and the amp is very laid back. Should be a great match for Klipsch horns?

zingo

I'll be checking out the Fortes on Friday, and taking them home if they are to my liking. The seller says he is the second owner, but still has the original 1988 receipt and that they are overall in very good condition, including the Walnut finish. I'm now just twiddling my thumbs until Friday afternoon...

nikolas812

Keeps us posted.

Take your amp if you can.


My bet is you take them home.;)



Nik

zingo

Have you done any mods to your Fortes Nik?

nikolas812

I sold them to buy a Crotch Rocket for the summer....

Bikes in the summer. Music in the winter.:)


Nik

zingo

I knew I liked you for a reason Nik.

zingo

Picked up the Klipsch Fortes a few days ago (will post pictures when I get the chance). This is the first pair of horns I've owned, not listened to, and I'm liking them a lot. The sound stage isn't as good as other speakers I've heard, but the clarity of sound is amazing, and I still need to work with their placement and rebuild the xovers .

zingo

Just ordered a pair of Bob Crites autotransformers for my Fortes as the start to a XO rebuild. I image that a transformer would be the weak link in a XO, so I figured that would be the first place to upgrade.

Face

It wasn't the weak link in my Tannoy crossovers, but there was still a noticeable improvement after replacing it with an air core inductor.

zingo

How did you do that? The autotransformer is used in the XO to attenuate the signal 9db to the mid horn. I don't think an inductor would work in that situation; would it?

Conradicles

zingo, how is the bass response on those bad boys?

Face

zingo wrote: »

How did you do that? The autotransformer is used in the XO to attenuate the signal 9db to the mid horn. I don't think an inductor would work in that situation; would it?

You would have to add a resistor before the series cap and add an inductor in the shunt where the autoformer was.

I found the tap that I use for most of my listening, measured the output tap to ground(mH and DCR), replaced it with the appropriate inductor and experimented with resistors in front of the series cap to adjust the HF level. I also had to adjust one or two other values in the HF circuit, so it's not plug and play, but the FR is now flat as a board. It may have lost some of the Tannoy house sound, but it's now a much more accurate and revealing sounding speaker.