wdrazek

You may be able to do it, but that is not a very powerful amp. In general, when you run speakers below 8 ohms you want something that has some grunt. Running a 6 and 4 ohm speaker off that Yamaha is likely to tax it, especially if you like higher volumes. The outcome could be anything between reduced sound quality and clipping the amp which could damage the speakers. Not trying to scare you, but with this amp I would be a little careful if you like it really loud. An NAD or Denon receiver would probably be a better bet if you do. YMMV.

Ouch. That had to hurt. Condition is everything in vintage, I am finding. And it is very hard to know what you are really buying. I had a 2238 that was fine for a few weeks and then just died. An NAD 7245 arrived with a disjointed cabinet... and then a 2226B came along that sings beautifully with no marks on it. I've considered having it restored but it ain't broke.

That was a great technical breakdown of the Audiogon fiasco. It was buggy at launch, went down a number of times and remains buggy. I launched a handful of commercial websites over the years and this was more like a high school project that one done by a business. One other aspect not mentioned is that Audiogon provides next to no support for members who get burned. See Steven Stone in TAS and also a really ugly story on parttimeaudiophile. The few times I've had an issue on Ebay they have stepped in. Personally, I don't care about the third party advertising but when a site takes payment for the listing and a cut of the sale price there needs to be service beyond the sale, IMO. I totally agree with all of the negative comments about their forums. They are truly dreadful.

+1. The only thing I like is only one screen to get to ads for a category. Not much else to like. When you look at ads for a category I cannot imagine how they rank them. It makes zero sense to me.

PM sent.

Thank you. This is very helpful. From what I am reading it is a matter of aging, not so much use, non-use or other factors. And that holding the capacitance alone means next to nothing. How vulnerable are the other crossover components (resisters, autotransformers, etc.) to degrade due to aging? Thanks again to all of the helpful posters.

Thanks for the information. I don't have the tools to measure, unfortunately. The prior original owner did not use the Forte's much for several years so I wondered if the caps were bad for sure. Guess I'll never know. My Forte plan now is to get a Crites network, either cap replacement or all new. Suggestions on which to do are welcome. I do not want to go the ALK route as I don't want to substantially alter the basic design, just improve on it where possible. I also want to replace the mid/ tweet diaphragms with Klipsch ti, assuming they are still available. The website has nothing on them from what I can find. For the Marantz, frankly I am surprised it sounds as good as it does, considering it was last produced in 1979. Just wondering if it's worth dropping $200 or so into caps knowing that other components are probably out of spec, too. Maybe, as others have suggested, a low powered tube amp is a better route.

I have a pair of Forte I's that date back to 1986. They sound good powered by a mid 70's Marantz 2226 receiver. I'd like to get better sound from the setup, and a lot of research has turned up capacitors as a potential way to improve things. So, my question is: what causes capacitor failure? I know age is a factor, and the 20 year mark is when caps are often said to need replacing. Is that due to their age alone, or to additional factors, such as amount of use, humidity, or other factors? Also, what are the indicators of bad caps?

Thanks for the feeback on this. It appears this isn't as serious as I had thought.

Easier said than done.I've been trying for the last twenty minutes on my droid and it isn't working.

Hi, I just picked up a pair of Forte's last night and one has a torn center and the other is very weak and looks like it is on its way to being damaged. Aside from buying new drivers what else can I do? After googling around, it appears that replacements are not easy to come by.

Welcome aboard, Audiovox. It's always a tad scarry when a brand as loved and storied as Klipsch is sold. Hoping you let 'em keep on trucking. It is a great brand and deserves to keep its premium placement in the marketplace.

Thanks for the thoughts. For now, I think I will hold tight with the H2's and down the road either upgrade the caps for a few hundred or go all out and get the H3 kit for a little under $600 (selling the exisitng parts). Of those two options, the H3 upgrade is likely where I'll go since the net cost is not likely to be a lot more than just doing the caps.

I am about to receive my first Heritage speakers, the Klipsch H II. I like the fact that they can someday be upgraded to III's and while HI's are a little more favored on these boards, I figured Klipsch probably didn't screw up the V II and the option to upgrade in the future sealed it for me. So to the question.... these are about 20 years old and I am wondering if I ought to upgrade the caps in the near future since they won't be upgraded to HIII's for a while. Do caps lose their values over 20 years or so due to age or do these lose their values due to age and use? What do you think?

Take a listen to them and you should be able to figure it out.

I vote Indy this year and rotating every year.

Thanks, that is very helpful. The seller has assured me that the only difference is in the woofer magnet, and that all other parts are identical. I haven't (dared) to ask about the crossovers since I figured they would need to be redone anyway. What I wanted to determine was if they likely came from the same version of H1. The date codes I was given are not consecutive but both date to 1981. The woofer differences indicates that either they are of the same vintage and one of the woofers went out and was replaced or they are seriously Franked-up. Hmmm.

Thank you very much. The tweeters are supposed to be K77's and the mid squawkers I was told are the same in both but the SN#'s and the mid identities have not been disclosed. As for the crossovers.... I've been communicating for a day and a half so far and my thought was just to go with Crites rebuilds if I am comfortable enough with the rest of the pair. It's unlikely they have been upgraded and need to be redone anyway...

If I pass I will PM you. If there is little/ no difference between them it won't affect my decision either way. I don't need perfect, I just don't want "Franken."

I have an opportunity to pick up a clean pair of HBR's at a good price but am a little concerned that I could be buying a Frankenpair. The owner says that the serial numbers are not sequential but what concerns me more is that the magnet on one of the woofer's in round and the other one is square. How different are these and are they compatible within the same speaker pair? Thanks.

That is a work of art. If you ever tire of it PM me. I live in Rochester and could easily carve out a few hours to take it off your hands.

Thanks for the replies and the 2270 looks very sweet but I like the advice to go for a restored mid-level unit instead of an upper end receiver. In my years as a music lover (close to 5 decades) and equipment ++ore I have to believe that 30+ year old caps and connections are detrimental to sound quality. AFAIK, caps don't hold their own over that long a time. I once had a Dynaco PAS3 which was about that old. It sounded so sweet and romantic but when I put a Van Alstine upgrade with new caps on the PS the sound changed dramatically. Cleaner, more open and much more solid bass. In the basement are a 2226 and 2235b either of which could be candidates for a renovation.

I've been posing and lurking here since before I bought my last 2 channel setup in my Chicago condo five years ago. This spring I will finally be able to put music in the living room again. The centerpiece of this system will be a pair of Heresy I or II, and I'll be sure that the crossovers are updated. The living living room is attached to the dining room. It is 12x24, and the dining room adds another 12x12. Most of my listening is at low/ mid volumes with an occasional blast of Led Zeppelin at higher SPL's. The source will be a PC sending lossless files through Sonos feeding a DAC of decent quality. Source material is primarily jazz and pop (Miles Davis, Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John) with occasional classical and opera, usually something big like Stravinski or Beethoven. I like a firm and well defined bass, airy midrange and smooth highs. What offends me are (in order) strident highs, flabby non-distinct bass and lack of detail. My budget is under $1000, preferably under $500. The suspects I have been tossing around are Marantz, Pioneer and Sansui. A Mac would be nice but I'm not sure it will fit my budget and constraints. I don't have a good tech nearby to check and repair capacitor, transistors and the like so I need to be sure the unit is ready to go when it arrives.

I was a member back in the 90's. At the time I also wondered if corners were cut. Some recordings were ok, but several were thin and compressed sounding, as though they were pressed in the early 80's.

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I heard a pair of H2's yesterday. It's funny that most people say that an H1 and H2 sound virtually identical but a vocal minority claim that there are significant differences. My biggest concern was whether or not I'd be satisfied with their bass extension. I'm not a bass freak but as it turned out I don't think I'd be satisfied with what I heard. So I thought either I'd need to add a sub or just maybe the H3 would provide enough more of what I want. I haven't seen many H3's come up for sale used. That means dropping $1000+ without even hearing them. The only way that would make sense is if it eliminated the need for a sub. Not having heard an H3 I suspect as you do that there is only so much bass you can coax out of a box that size. A larger box is domestically out of the question.