lyeerluna

Love my Forte's driven by an NAD amp, but I need a little bit deeper bass. They get pretty low, but I guess I'm a bit of a bass fiend. Is there anybody out there who felt the same way and actually replaced the stock woofers with something a little bit better? I know you have to deal with crossover points and all that, but is there a comparable replacement that will hit the low end better? Thought about building a sub, but my amp doesn't have a sub output. Just straight up 2 channel. Anyone tried this? Hate to mess with my babies, but if I can get deeper....

First of all, thanks for your response. I have a newer NAD with no jumpers. It's a c315bee that they made about 3 or 4 years ago. It has the tape in/tape out RCA jacks. So, does that mean I would just run RCA's from the tape out straight to the powered sub?

You're right, I totally forgot I had the pre-outs (I dont look at the back of my amp much). Can you explain to me why I need to use a y-splitter and feed half back into the amp? Forgive my ignorance, I've never used pre-outs before so this is new to me.

I really appreciate everyone's input. Will have to think about this a while before figuring out what to do. Thanks, guys!

I'm contemplating adding a powered sub to my 2 channel NAD amp and Forte 1 combo using the sub's speaker level inputs. Has anyone tried this and how does it sound? Any recommendations as far as brand of sub? Would love to stick with Klipsch, but don't have much money to spend. More concerned with bang for the buck sound quality-wise. Was even considering building one from Parts Express. Also considering just using a Parts Express sub amp and making my own cab or even making a Sonotube sub. Just really want to cover the really low end that the Forte's don't quite hit.(not putting them down-they're solid performers. Love 'em!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I'm contemplating adding a powered sub to my 2 channel NAD amp and Forte 1 combo using the sub's speaker level inputs. Has anyone tried this and how does it sound? Any recommendations as far as brand of sub? Would love to stick with Klipsch, but don't have much money to spend. More concerned with bang for the buck sound quality-wise. Was even considering building one from Parts Express. Just really want to cover the really low end that the Forte's don't quite hit.(not putting them down-they're solid performers. Love 'em!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Thanks to all that replied! Probably wasn't going to do anything anyway, since the speakers sound great already. Anybody have any suggestions regarding further upgrades to the crossovers, or do you think the Sonicaps are enough?

Understood. Anyone else have any opinions on this?

Ok, I'll explain. I spent the extra money on some decent Kimber cables to go from my NAD amp to my recently acquired 1987 Forte's. When I opened the speakers up to do the crossover upgrade, I noticed the wires going from the crossovers to the components were little, skinny, kinda crappy looking wires! I wondered why am I spending the extra money on speaker cables for enhanced sound quality when the final link in the chain is possibly the weakest? I guess my question is would I gain any significant sonic benefits if I replaced the little crappy cables with the same cable I using to connect them to the amp? I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask this question, so I apologize if this issue has already been adressed in this forum. Has anyone tried this? Was it worth it? Thanks for the input! Brian

Did my rebuild from Bob Crites. Kit came with one Sonicap 1uf, two Sonicap 1.5 uf, and a standard 47uf cap (per speaker crossover). Also replaced tweeter diaphragms with titanium. Sounds much better, especially in the treble after the titanium replacements. Crossover work was a bit of a pain cuz the caps are almost twice the width of the stock 1uf's and 1.5ufs, so you have to stack one of the 1.5uf's on top of the other two caps and run the leads down diagonally to the board. Put some sort of heat shrink tubing or wire insulation on those leads so they don't short out with the other leads. And use hot glue to secure them all in place. Not as diifficult as it sounds, just takes time and make sure you think ahead before starting. I found it easiest to just remove the passive radiator in back so you can easily disconnect the speaker leads and pull the whole mess out. Hope this helps! Brian

Let me know how it goes. Maybe it's just my ears, but I suspect these babies need to be brought back to original, or maybe better than original. Could be a personal preferen ce. It could all be a subjective thing, but I need to find out for myself. Anyone else want to share their opnion? Thanks, BTW! Youre all probably getting sick of my posts, huh?

Sorry, I know I'm replying to a post that is almost 6 years old, but if you're willing to indulge me I have a question about the Moretite/Dynamate being applied to the horns. I just acquired some 89 Forte's and plan on rebuilding the crossovers. Do you mean applying that to where the horns are sealed to the enclosure making a more airtite seal? Or do you mean applying it to the shell of the horn to reduce resonance? Thanks, Brian.

It seems to me, from what other people are telling me, that this wouldn't be a total re-design or even an upgrade. More like basic maintenance. If you have an old car and something isn't working right you fix it. That's all I intend to do. I have a pretty good ear for details in music and the hearing loss thing was sort of a half joke. I'll probably go with the crossover first since it's less expensive and go from there. I really appreciate your feedback!

Forgive my ignorance, but when you say preamp, I think preamp plus amp combo. Mine is an integrated amp. I have the bass and treble turned all the way up , I guess cuz I like a good deal of bass and a good deal of high end as well. I'm about to turn 40 and have been to my share of rock concerts, so there may be a little bit of hearing loss over the years. But, in my defense, my old sort of crappy speakers had more treble than these. I'm not saying I don't like them, but I know that they could hit the highs better and want to figure out how to do that. Thanks, Brian.

Gotcha! Will weigh the options and figure out where I can go from here. Thank you for your time! Will be doing something soon depending on blah, blah, blah. You know what I mean. Again, appreciate the input from all who are reading! Brian

Thanks, Bill. Appreciate the feeedback. What's your opinion of the before and after of the crossover rebuild?

BTW, thank you to all replies and anyone else who does. Just wanna get these babies working as best as possible, only on a limited budget. Welcome any advice and thank you for your time! Brian

I'll keep that in mind. Will probably start with the crossover rebuild first and go from there. My main problem is with the treble; just something missing since I swihched from some old so-so speakers from the same era. BTW using a brand new NAD c315 BEE amp to run these and got bass and treble cranked all the way up. Bass is solid, mid excellent, just not so crisp in the highs.

Would like to know what happened after the crossover upgrade. Recently bought some 89 Forte one's and plan on rebuilding the crossovers and replacing the tweeter diaphragms with titanium. I feel my "new" speakers are lacking a bit in the treble dept. Running a new NAD C315BEE amp with Kimber speaker cables and sounds pretty good, but not as great as was hoping. Please let me know your suggestions. Thanks, Brian. kimbrigreen7@gmail.com

Recently got some 89 Forte's and am going to upgrade crossovers and maybe even titanium tweeter diaphragms. Could anyone recomend a powered sub to fill in the low end? Don't have much money, so looking for an inexpensive solution. Could even build a kit if you know of a good one. Thanks, Brian.

Thank you to all who replied. That's pretty much the conclusion I was coming to as I sat here looking at Klipsch compnents on e-bay and such. I do like working on those types of projects, but one of the main reasons I wanted to build my own was to try and save money. I think I'd rather wait to be the proud owner of a pair of classis Klipsch's and save some dough(and possibly some heart-ache, too!) I really appreciate everyone's input on this! I probably would have been able to pull it off reasonably well, but it doesn't seem to really be worth the effort. Thanks for the advice! I'm back in the hunt for some Forte's again. Brian

I was thinking of trying to build a Forte II clone. Would it be possible?(Or even worth the money to do so?) Does anyone sell comparable components. I've seen a few actual Klipsch components on a couple of websites, but they were quite expensive. Maybe I could mix and match components from more than one model(Forte II, Cornwall, Heresy, etc.)to make my own version. Also, would it be difficult to make a crossover for such a speaker? Where's a good place to get parts and what's a good design software to use? I don't have a lot of technical knowledge or speaker building experience. I've made a couple of sub boxes for our cars and they turned out really nice, but they didn't need crossovers(used the amplifier's). Ideally, I would just like to buy a pair of Forte II's or other model, but they are not that easy to come by. In fact, someone outbid me on e-bay for a pair for $336, but I didn't have the money at the time to fight for them. Anyway, it's just a thought I've been entertaining lately. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks, Brian.