Southern

I looked up the specs on your Denon AVR-100 and it is similar to my Pioneer Elite AVR, which I get pleanty of low frequency slam. I am now wondering if both your woofers are working properly on your RF-7's? Or maybe the music doesn't have the low frequencies? I listen to heavy metal and Metal Church has that chest thumping bass.

I would go with the Forte mains with the Heresy center. Ideally I would pair the RF-7's with a RC-64.

My experience with RF7 1's is to give it pleanty of solid state power for the chest thumping bass. I have an A/V receiver (Pioneer Elite) that delivers 140 WPC that works for me even without my subwoofer (SVS PB12+2). A low powered tube amp will not produce the chest thumping bass which I have also tried with my Dynaco ST-70. My music source is a Blu-Ray player, I don't stream my music.

I have had great sucess with Howards Restor A Finish, choose the one that matches the wood. https://www.howardproducts.com/product/restor-a-finish/ I have also recently enjoyed SACD's. My favorite so far is Elton John's self titled album, which was his second album.

I have RS-7's and it wasn't practical for me to mount them at ear level. My HT is older so no Atmos. My solution was to tuck them up toward the ceiling, they are in my basement with just over 7' ceiling. The sound is also reflected off the ceiling. I figure that movie theaters don't mount the surronds at ear level why should I? I am pleased with my setup, especially since I recently upgraded the crossover caps on the RS-7's.

A few years ago I upgraded my the capacitors in my RF-7's and RC-7. I didn't feel the need to upgrade the capacitors on the RS-7's since most of the Blu-ray concerts had minimal music content piped to the surrounds. I recently started to listen to SACD's and realized how much music content comes through the surround speakers so I decided to upgrade the capacitors in the RS-7's. I decided to go with Solen capacitors due the relativily low cost and I had used them on my Forte's with great success. After doing the capacitor upgrade to one speaker, I did a comparison. The factory crossover sounded muddled like there was no crossover between the woofer and tweeters. The upgraded capacitor crossover had more of a detailed sound which I could hear the distinction between the bass coming from the woofer and highs from the tweeters. Overall I am pleased with the new capacitors and I am enjoying my SACD's even more! Below are some pictures of the original and upgraded crossovers. There is about 2" of clearance beween the woofer magnet and crossover board which the Solen's were able to fit.

I like the wood finish on your Forte's, it makes the grills pop. What did you do to the wood finish? It doesn't look like a factory finish.

Not a good sign when there is a drywall screw driven into the back of the cabinet.

I'm impressed on how "new" that your RF-83's look. Tempting for me to join you in sampling the bourbon while listening to music on the RF-83's.🍻

Not the paticular advise you are looking for but I have the Forte 1's and RF7 1's (both recapped) and for my type of music, classic rock and heavy metal, I prefer the Forte's mainly due to the 3-way design. The RF7's perform very well with my home theater setup (RF-7, RC-7, RS-7 with an SVS PB12+2 sub). Both speakers dig really deep and can play at concert volume levels in my room.

Congtats on your restored Forte's, they look fantastic! I also have a pair of Forte 1's that I replaced the caps and installed the ti tweeter diaphram. When reworking the x-overs I seperated them into 2 for bi-amping. I have mine positioned 12" from the rear wall with no toe-in, which works well for me. Back in 1980 I couldn't afford Klipsch speakers, fast forward 40 years and I picked up a used pair for a great price. Best bang for the buck.

From my experience with Forte's/RF-7's and classic rock/heavy metal, they perform great. The Forte's/RF-7's dig deeper than the Cornwalls but the Cornwalls have a wider soundstage that doesn't go well with the type of music that I listen to. If you have a chance to listen to Cornwalls/Forte's/RF-7's locally then you can decide for yourself. I suggest listening to them at the volume levels that you would at home.

I applaud you for enjoying the music as opposed to spending your time A/B'ing them. I also prefer to spend my time enjoying the music!

The picture of the passive shows a few scuff marks, will not affect the sound. What will sell your Forte II is is the sound. If you can demo them I suggest it. I also have Forte 1s in walnut. What are your impressions of the Forte 2's compared to the 1's?

For my Forte 1's, I combined a tube amp (Dynaco ST70) for the mids and highs and a vintage Pioneer (SX-1980) for the woofers. Great combination for me. You didn't state what type of music you listen to. I listen to heavy metal, so the chest thumping bass is a requirement which the Pioneer can deliver.

If you can find RB5's or RB75's they have a "cult" following by Klipsch owners.

I have the original versions (1's) of both. The RF7's are taller and slimmer but also deeper and more efficient. Anyone who likes the sound of the Forte's will also like the sound of the RF7's even though the RF7's are a 2-way speaker. Since the OP was asking for suggestions on monitor speakers, I don't think the RF7's fit the bill.

I have both the Forte's and RF-7's and the RF-7's are not considered wife friendly.

This reminds me of the story on how I acquired my Forte's. I purchased them used and when I went to pick them up I asked the husband what did you replace the Forte's with? He hung his head and said in a soft voice "bose, at least that I know that the Forte's are going to a good home". I then noticed little cube speakers in his room. He recently moved to a new home and his wife decided that the look of the Forte's won't work in the new home. Score for me!

I'm saving my $ for a flux capacitor, electricity poles are overrated.

I hate it when I am replying to a 5 year old thread.☹️

I have RF-7's home theater setup that I also listen to them in 2 channel mode. They are more than capable of chest thumping bass in 2 channel mode. Since there are seperate terminals for the LF and HF in the back of the speaker, I suspect that the jumpers are wired out of phase or the connections are loose. Ciao

Interesting, I feel the same way about comments made on forums by forum members. I take most things written with a grain of salt and relay mostly on my experience. RIP George Carlin.

I run my Forte 1's with my Pioneer SX-1980 driving the woofers and my Dynaco ST-70 driving the mids & tweeters. I also wired my Dynaco tube pre-amp bypassing the SS pre-amp in my Pioneer. I get the warmth of the tube sound for the mids & highs and the chest thumping bass from the SS amp.