Southern

The speakerlab K had two small level controls next to the midrange horn (at least in their late 70's version). Speakerlab also made a SK in the early to mid 80's that looked much different and used a 7" cone midrange. A picture of the speaker and crossover may help us decide what you have.

Great find Yura, it looks like new. Back in the late 70's I purchased a Pioneer SX-980, had it for several months and sold it when the SX-1980 was on clearance as a discontinued model. I still have and use my SX-1980 but I am bi-amping it with my Dynaco ST-70 tube amp. My receiver is 30 years old and my tube amp & pre-amp are over 50 years old, gotta love that vintage audio gear.

It's been my experience that speakers and wife's do not mix. You should be asking your wife what she thinks about stands for your speakers since she will have the ultimate say so, my guess is that she will think that is a bad idea since your speakers will appear to be floor standing. I have seen people "hide" their small speakers by putting them on top of their equipment racks. I have even tried to hide my side surround speakers (which are fastened to the wall) by placing the wife's candles on top of them. It didn't work. I feel that black speakers tend to blend in after a while over a lighter colored speaker. Good luck.

I am using an older Pioneer Elite Receiver for my home theather setup and am very satisified with it. For 2 channel I prefer the sound of my 2 channel setup, mainly due to the tubes.

With a decent amp you won't need a sub to fill in the low end. With my Forte's bi-amped they have pleanty of low end umph. I also suggest the Crites midrange diaphragms to go along with the titanium tweeters.

Could you elaborate Dean, The Forte's have a horn midrange and tweeter. The comparison was done with the Fortes's first followed by the RF-7's, listening to the RF-7's separately tend to grow on you. Scott, my next objective is to work on my pre-amp. I would like to remove the volume control along with the bass & treble controls since I am using them on the Pioneer. I'll wait for you to pour sand in your walls first to see if I wan't to do the same.

Scott, the Crites mid drivers are keepers. It tamed down the vocals in the midrange to match the Crites tweeter very well. I can turn it up louder without the midrange vocal distortion I was getting with the original mid drivers. They make my RF-7's midrange sound more horn like. The vocals were running too hot compared to the Crites midrange drivers. Now I need to work on my pre-amp to get rid of the hum. I'm curious on how your KLF 30's sound Scott.

The first upgrade I did was replace the stock caps with Solon's. I replaced these myself and at the same time divided up the crossover network to allow my Forte's to be bi-amped. I noticed the most improvment in the midrange, with the original caps the midrange appeared to be 1 foot in front of the highs and lows, after the re-cap the midrange appeared to be in the same plane as the highs & lows. After listening to the Crites tweeter upgrades more, the impression I have is that I have traded in my Forte's for an improved model. After comparing the Forte's to the RF-7's, the Forte's were the favorite. The RF-7's has a tighter low end and a silky smooth high end but the midrange appeared muted, especially with vocals. This was the impression after listening to the RF-7's immediately after the Forte's. After listening to the RF-7's for an extended period, they held their own with their "unique" sound. I didn't have a chance to install the Crites midrange drivers since we were busy doing comparisions with different speakers and gear. Thanks to Jim who brought over his Eastern Electric tube pre-amp, I verified that the hum I have is due to my almost original PAS 2 pre-amp. Thanks to Mike for bringing over his modded Dynaco MkIII monoblocks, they had made the mids sound less distorted on my Fortes. Thanks to Scott for bringing over the Crites midrange drivers, I will try them out when I bring my system back down to the basement (wife thing) and thanks to the other Scott for bringing over his Emotiva CD player.

I installed my Crites titianum diaphragms in my Forte's. I immediately noticed that the guitars are more articulate and clearer sounding. I am very pleased with the Crites tweeter diaphragms. Saturday SWL is bringing over his Crites midrange diaphragms for me to try out as well. Then we will have a RF-7 (with DeanG crossovers) shoot-out with the Forte's (with Crites diaphragms). This will be the first time I will have both sets of speakers in the same room to compare. I will be powering both with my 2 channel setup (Dynaco pre-amp with the Pioneer driving the woofers and Dynaco driving the mids/tweeters).

SET12, Thanks again for your advice. I have the schematic for my Heathkit. I purchased new caps for it when I got it several years ago but it is still sitting. If I had another one I would have stereo but I am not sure what I will end up doing with it. The resistors are running cool on the back of my Dynaco. I will check out the graphite resistors. When you first alerted me to the potential problem with my set-up I took my meter to the back of my Forte's and was supprised to see that the mid/tweeter section of the crossover was capacitive where the woofer section was resistive. I am new to bi-amping and was use to measuring crossovers in a full range mode which measure as a resistive load. All is good now.

Artto, I may have not conveyed my set-up to you very clearly. When I hooked-up my Dynaco pre-amp to my Pioneer (running it full range) it sounds very close to my Dynaco amp, with the Pioneer the midrange is a little bit more forward. I made some wiring modifications years ago to my Pioneer and re-discovered what they were today, I have bypassed the pre-amp section from the Pioneer. I am still using the volume control and the inputs (phono, aux, tape) of the Pioneer since they in much better shape the my Dynaco pre-amp. With my Pioneer (running full range) sounding very close to my Dyanco amp was the premise of the title (even though it is not technically true). I have my system bi-amped since the Dynaco is a bit less forward in the midrange and it helps heat my basement. After owning my Pioneer since new for 30 years it is the first time that I have very closely achived the sound of my Dynaco amp and I am very happy with my system. For those of you who which to comment on how bad my system sounds without hearing it all I can say is "sticks and stones". What is important is the sound of my system to me. I have posted my experience for those of you who have a 70/80's vintage receiver that which to experiement with a tube pre-amp.

Dan,I'm doing something similar. A 20 wpc HH Scott 222c powering the mids-highs on FOUR KLF-30's. It has 4,8 and 16 ohms taps. What do you reccomend? Does powering four speakers rather than only two take up the slack? Scott, I did what SET12 suggested and noticed better separation between the bass and the mid/highs, thanks SET12. I ended up using what I found in my basement, used two 33 ohm resistors (2W wire wound) wired in parallel.

Talk about judging a book by it's cover Artto. I acknowlege your invite and invite you to hear my imagination. PM sent

SET12 I am using the 8 ohm tap from my Dyanco to the mid/highs of my Forte crossover. If I am understanding you correct you recommend putting a 16 ohm resisitor in parallel with my tube amp (at the output)? I thought about the fact that I am putting the full frequency spectrum of my amps to each of the passive crossovers and considered using an active filter up front to only amplify the lows or mids/highs to the passive crossovers. Any thoughts?

You are technically correct but I am still amazed on how the tube pre-amp makes my solid state amp sound very close to my tube amp. I encourage anyone with a "old school" receiver with pre-out/power-in jacks to hook-up a tube pre-amp and give it a listen.

Bi-amping is having one amp powering the woofers and another amp powering the mid/highs. You would need to modify your crossovers to bi-amp your speakers since you have only one pair of speaker connections. Others would argue that I have a "fools" bi-amped system since I am using the passive crossovers. I have discovered that you can get a tube sound with your Pioneer by connecting a tube pre-amp to it. There are pre-amp out/power amp in jacks in the back that allow you to do this.

Bring your Jolida over with some of your music and will compair the Forte's with the RF7's.[]

At the moment I am listening to Nils Lofgren Acoustic Live CD. When the wife is not home I crank up up some Godsmack.

I have been experimenting with my 270 WPC Pioneer SX-1980 and my Dynaco ST70. First I bi-amp them through the Pioneer with a home-made (line level) tube pre-amp. They sounded great seperately but when I bi-amp them there seemed to be a hole in the midrange. Then I connected my Dynaco PAS-2 pre-amp instead of my home-made pre-amp. At first I just had the Pioneer connected and when I pipped in music I thought that my Dynaco ST70 had grown balls. It was amazing how much my Pioneer had sounded like the Dynaco amp, very articulate warm sounding but with the chest thumping bass. Then I bi-amped the Dynaco amp with my Pioneer (Pioneer 270 wpc feeding the lows, Dynaco 35 wpc feeding the mid/highs) which is 305 wpc of pure tube bliss. My speakers are the orginal Forte 1's that have been re-capped and modified for bi-amping. Here is the link with pictures: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94027 I have been talking about bi-amping my Pioneer with my Dynaco for years and I have finally done it, thanks to SWL for encourging me and after hearing his RF-7's bi-amped. My next step is to drag my RF-7s down stairs and hear how they sound with my 2-channel setup. I previously had my Dynaco amp and pre-amp playing thorugh the RF-7's and I was astonished on how silky smooth the mid/high end was, it just didn't have any chest thumping bass.

Yes, when I re-capped my Forte's I seperated the woofer crossover from the mid/high crossover and added another pair of terminal jacks on the rear cup. Here is the link with pictures: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94027

Can't wait to hear your "new" system. Let me know when your down in my neck of the woods, your more then welcome to stop by and give my system a listen. I still have yet to haul my RF-7's downstairs to compare them with the Forte's.

I am currently using my home-made tube pre-amp which I have only one volume control on the Pioneer receiver. I don't feel there is a need to have a seperate gain control on the Dynaco the balance between the lows & highs appears to be perfect. My home-made tube pre-amp has a slight hum which only audible between tracks. I'm still playing around with my Dynaco pre-amp to get it to work with my system so I can compare it with the home-made pre-amp. I havn't had my Pioneer hooked up for some time, when I pumped it through the Forte's I noticed a buzzing sound on low frequency's. I realized that it was my basement windows rattling. Good to have the low end punch back.[] Glad that your enjoying your tubes with the solid state, great combo with Klipsch!

Scott, Did you bi-amp your tube amp with your SS amp? I recently bi-amped my Forte's with my Dynaco & Pioneer receiver. I am still playing around with it but with metal music pumping through the Forte's it makes them sound like a Marshall stack. []

Try some carpet cleaner on the grills and scrub lightly with a soft brush. I prefer the "dry foam" carpet cleaner by Electrolux, they call it "turbo shampoo". The stuff at the auto parts store should work as well. Great Score.

It could be the settings in your pre/pro. Did you increase the gain to the main speakers? Are you playing music from an MP3 player?