MD1032

Good but the HK 430 is still better.

Hello all. I recapped the crossovers and upgraded the tweeters on my Forte II's. I'm putting them back together right now but I'm second-guessing myself. The speakers originally had the positive terminal hooked up to what would be the LEFT side of the midrange diaphragm if you are looking at it from the front of the speaker. The problem is that mine don't have the yellow mark indicating positive and negative, they simply have a "B" written in silver pen on the LEFT side, which is where the positive terminal was hooked up before as stated. Has anyone else run into this problem and do they know which side is actually positive and which is negative? I just want to make sure it's correct. I don't think I would be able to measure whether I have them wired right and if they're "in phase" but reversed polarity I doubt I would be able to hear that either, right?

I think the Marantz will probably sound better. I have one of those Harman Kardon "Vxi" receivers from the 80's, and it's not horrible, but it certainly isn't very good, either. I love the Marantz that I have...it's a great sounding unit.

Let me give that a shot tomorrow, good idea.

I am using a regular receiver with A and B speaker outputs. One set of speaker wires is going to my bookshelf speakers and one set is going to the sub.

I have a KSW-50 and I'm pretty tired of having to crank my receiver to get it to turn on, only to have it turn off a few minutes later. Why you would ever design an electronic item to have only the modes "Auto" and "Off" is just beyond me. I took out the board assembly but it's a complete mess and I can't tell which wires I need to short to bypass it. Does anyone have any info on how to do this?

I have the Forte II's and a Harman/Kardon 430, which is a 45 wpc amp. I can personally say that the bass with this setup is enough to cause structural damage. The sheer amount of power in this setup is absolutely disturbing, as is the amount of bass it produces, which is almost always on the border of excessive in my opinion. The Chorus are different speakers and should be treated as such. Many people like myself think the Fortes have better bass...a larger driver does not necessarily mean more perceived bass. The Fortes are rock solid down to about 35 Hz, which is a very nice, low starting point to work with, to say the least. Bottom line, I've been running this setup for two years now and do not feel the need to upgrade any part of it, although I realize Crites' crossovers and tweeter diaphragms are in my future eventually. To say the Fortes have "visceral" bass would be a vast understatement...the way this speaker produces sound in the f-fff range when things get loud during the music as well as when they're p-ppp is just perfect...there's no blare AT ALL at high volumes (and I've had almost every person remark about that), and all of the details are perfectly presented and perfectly audible at all times. You will feel and hear the sound as if it were in the room with you. This is simply how high-end Klipsch speakers are and why Klipsch makes a better speaker than most other audio companies like JBL. If you buy the Fortes and don't like them, you will have a line out the door of members on this board willing to buy them from you depending on your location, I'm sure.

amusing to answer you honestly. The Forte's are the only klipsch speakers ive owned that can sound sonically perfect across the board with all types of music ( anything). Powerful and spacious in movies.. The klfs are fantastic rock n roll speakers, with excellent kick drum bass..bass as flat and as it gets. where the forte s bass seems to be more spacious and seems to present a wider sound stage IMO.. side by side I prefer the forte's because the imaging is very pleasant where the klfs can sometimes be a bit harsh and in your face. Wow, that's interesting to hear from a man who's heard both. I remember finding some KLF-20's in my area, cheap, right after I bought my Forte's and I always wondered how they would compare. I must say, the Fortes really surprised me. They were the first speaker I ever heard that just explicitly sounded the best with classical music and at the same time could just utterly bring down the house with rock. The bass is insane, yet really balanced...I just love them to death. In terms of design, they just scare me with how easily they can push ridiculous amounts of sound. You can turn them up and the sound gets disturbingly loud very fast, but without any distortion, and it's confusing to hear such loud sound with no distortion at all! PWK was a master of audio engineering, without a doubt.

I think the main problem with the Forte II's is that they're too good. I seriously doubt Klipsch could remake the Forte II and sell it at the $1200 a pair they used to sell for. It's also pretty obvious that they aren't easy to make as they have that extra moving part stuck in the back compared to the other heritage speakers.

I just might take a trip back and check it out. The thing is, I'm not one for "brand loyalty", however, like I said, I've owned three different sets of Klipsch speakers and heard at least half a dozen others, and if I had to admit bias, I would definitely say speakers are one area in my life where I have been heavily biased towards a particular brand (Klipsch) for a number of reasons, the bulk of which is the sound quality of the products this company puts out. If Best Buy has their setup set up wrong, then every other customer is going to come out of that room with the same exact impression that I had, believe me. If not, the heavily biased salesperson would steer then towards the competing "Vienna Acoustics" model if they had any doubt. I can see that Klipsch might have invested some effort to make sure their model is on display in the Magnolia room rather than outside with all the other crap... or I could be wrong. Either way, the product could possibly be misrepresented. So what's the deal with the inputs? How should they have it set up? Also, yes, he was using some extremely sophisticated switcher that had a touchscreen with a fancy GUI and everything.

That's what he was telling me. I could tell that it was working properly because it required a lot less volume from the receiver than the other speakers on display.

My dad and I just took a trip to Best Buy today since we're upgrading to HD and were in the neighborhood and I wanted to see the TV he picked out at Best Buy (and subsequently bought on amazon.com for $400 less). While we were there, he mentioned our antiquated DVD surround system and I was showing him some A/V receivers on display and the purpose of getting an A/V receiver (with subtle hints at upgrading to some Klipsch surround speakers). We were approached by a BB employee working in the Magnolia area. We were talking and I got a sense that he at least knew something about audio or had some liking for it. He offered to show us the Magnolia listening room, so I was happy to oblige. He was doing his thing and showing us some various products and I noticed that the Klipsch XF-48's were on display. I mentioned that I was a Klipsch fan and that I hadn't heard this particular set yet and he offered to play them. Fortunately for me, he had an Eagles CD on hand and I told him to play "Take It Easy" for me since I'm quite familiar with that track. The receiver was a top-model Pioneer Elite, which I'm assuming can be trusted. Anyway, the speakers really sounded bad. The highs were ridiculously harsh, the mids were shouty and honky, and there wasn't nearly enough bass. The first worlds out of my mouth were, "These speakers sound like crap. I can't believe Klipsch would make a product that sounds like that." I've literally heard highs that were less harsh out of crappy car stereo systems. He played some stuff through a pair of "Vienna Acoustics" speakers of a comparable price, and they sounded much, much better, in addition to, upon closer inspection, looking much nicer. I also heard a pair of Electrostatic speakers that had even smoother highs than the Vienna, although the rest of the sound spectrum was a bit compromised. So what's the deal? I think I should post this here because it bothered me. While I have the urge to take this at face value, I'm also willing to accept the possibility that I'm just another victim of a poorly set up or rigged Best Buy setup. I've owned three sets of Klipsch speakers, all of which I love. The Promedia 4.1's were a great introduction to hi-fi, the Synergy B3's were a great upgrade from those, and best of all, now I have the Forte II's, which I bought for $400 and in my opinion could singlehandedly kick the crap out of any speaker in that room.

How far they are from the wall will directly affect how much bass you'll have. I keep mine at least a foot from the wall because otherwise it gets really overbearing really fast. Congrats on the Fortes! They are some really fine speakers.

Play the part where it rattles over and over, sticking your ear right up to the woofer and PR and listen around... I don't see how this can't be diagnosed easily.

I actually just got a grinder for Christmas as well as one of those glass jars with the clamp to keep the beans fresh. I was finding that the coffee was just not quite as good by the end of being stored and used as when fresh-ground while using the tupperware. Anyway, I use the cheap Black and Decker $18.00 coffeemaker with the paper filter you can find at Wal-Mart, because it's basically the same as any other drip-brewer you can buy. It's still 975 watts, still boils the water, and it makes some killer coffee. I use Starbucks. My favorite coffee is their latest Anniversary roast, but man, that stuff's expensive, and hard to find. It's easily the best coffee I've ever had in my life, though. With the right amount of half-and-half and sugar it just downright tastes like drinking really good dark chocolate. Mmmmm!! My regular favorites are their Sumatra and Italian Roast. I tried the Gold Coast blend and thought it was too dark. I also tried the Ethiopia and that stuff was pretty crappy and just not strong enough despite bearing the "Bold" label. I'm really not a fan of their darker-roasted coffees like French Roast... to me it just tastes like they outright burn the coffee. The Sumatra, though, is definitely their best non-seasonal coffee. In general, wherever I go, I find that the Sumatra is just the best. It really has just a nice, rich, complex flavor. I like the Italian Roast because it's the opposite, being very sweet and smooth while still being very powerful in the flavor department. Switching off between those two keeps me happy.

Totally had to carry my Forte II's up two flights of stairs to my apartment at the beginning of the year...only moment that I wished I had just succumbed to getting towers. Of course, once I hooked them up and the bass began to levitate me off my seat, I immediately remembered why the weight was a good thing.

Congrats... you made the right choice. The Forte II certainly isn't the prettiest speaker around, but it can kick some serious butt. I have an HK 430 powering mine and I'm very satisfied. The HK really pumps out a lot of power and isn't harsh at all. I'd go for any of the x30 amps but shoot for a 730 if you can because it has more bypass options than my 430.

We got some fairly inexpensive Firestone FR380 tires from Firestone for my Civic. Our local Firestone really has a great group and they know absolutely everything about tires, so we're happy buying from them (plus we can ususally get discounts). They don't grip as well as the last ones I had on my last Civic in the rain, but they're very quiet on the road, and best of all, they're cheap, and durable. New tires are the best!!

Where did you get the idea that Volvo is European? It's owned by Ford like you admit. If you don't like the car, trade it in, and get another one. Simple. Lease a new F-150 and shut up.

Since he uses a tube amp, I'm guessing it might have something to do with the tubes. Try rolling those.

I'm gonna guess 1000.

I think the thing about those cheap PC speaker systems is that people just don't realize what they're missing. They hear the bass in those systems that isn't present in, say, their laptops, and associate it with an improvment in sound. Personally, I started off with such a system, one of those Logitech 2.1 crapos. It wasn't great, but at the time it was such an improvement over the crappy PC speakers I had at the time that I liked the sound. Then I got into headphones and Head-Fi and realized I was missing a lot, so I got the PM4.1's. That pretty much flipped my wig right there. Bottom line, I think people liking those systems just stems from a lack of knowledge more than anything else. My solution is to just bring people to my apartment, show them my Forte II's, and say "this is how it should sound". The Fortes are easy to impress people with due to their insane bass but curiously the most frequent first impression I get is "oh my gosh, I've never heard that <insert subtlety> in the music before". Yes, folks, there's much more to sound than bass, although bass is certainly a lot of fun.

Sounds like it might have been a problem with your control pod. I would take it and the back plate off and replace what you can if it looks defective.

Definitely KSF-8.5's, in rosewood.

+1 on everything he said. The room is absolutely crucial. When I moved into my apartment, my forte II's bass went from quite possibly the tightest, deepest bass I've ever heard to extremely flabby-sounding. Why? The room, despite being small, has a serious amount of echo in it. I pulled them out from the wall more to alleviate the amount of bass I heard and that tightened things up a lot. Having your speakers close to the walls can be good in terms of increasing the amount of bass, but it can also be bad. Take a picture of your setup! We'd love to see it. You'll definitely want to fix this before putting in the RT-12d.