peteward

I heard some at a hifi show a couple of years ago, and have heard other Tannoys including a pair of Ardens which I had at home for a while. The Westminster Royals are huge and deliver a huge sound. I've never heard anything like them. They sound natural and dynamic, not overtly detailed like modern speakers but the detail's there. I would say they major on dynamics and speed. Yes, if I could afford them I'd be doing some serious listening. BTW, I found the Ardens to be a mixed bag. Also dynamic and musical, they also suffered from loose bass. I eventually purchased Forte IIs that now have Ti tweeters/squarkers and upgraded crossovers.

I'm probably a bit late replying to this so please excuse me. I don't drop by as often as I should. When I was looking to replace my Lowther Accoustas with Klipsches (I originally purchased the Lowthers from the UK Klipsch importer Guy Holdsworth and he persuaded me to go with Klipsch rather than my preference at the time, Tannoy), I wanted the CF4s. I'd heard them at a hifi show, thought they sounded great, and also that they looked wonderful. So when Guy offered me his ex-dem ones at half price, what could go wrong? He brought them over in a trailer for me to try in my room. Well, whatever I did I couldn't get them sounding good. The high frequencies were very bright while the bass was very lacking even positioning them right in the room corners. Looking inside (the reflex tubes are wide enough to get a torch and mirror in!) I saw little in the way of high technology -- plastic horns, scattered foam damping, tiny-looking crossover, etc. I dared mention this to Guy and his suggestion was... He brought over a pair (also ex-dem) of Forte IIs. Smaller, less visually impressive, even old-fashioned. Yet they just sang. Better bass, much better imaging, simply better. I so wanted to like the CF4s -- I'd been thinking about them for a long time -- but in my room at least there was no comparison. Since I purchased the Forte IIs I've installed upgraded (and external) crossover, titanium tweeter diaphragm, and some deflex damping behind the woofers. I'm awaiting the current Klipsch importer getting back to me on titanium squarker diaphragms, and I still think one day perhaps I'll find a great pair of K'horns or Cornwalls for £500, but until then I'm very happy. I don't miss the CF4s, even though I still have the brochure and sometimes take a look at what might have been.

Just to wrap this up, I finally got my new setup up and running and have been able to listen to it. I made more than one change so I can't point to the effects of a single change. I placed 3 Deflex panels on the bare lower panels of each of my Forte IIs, swapped to new crossovers (both new and old made by Chris Munson), and swapped to anti-cables for the internal wiring. The effect of all 3 changes has been to provide deeper and tighter bass, clearer sound and better stereo separation. I don't hear any downside. I would definitely recommend these changes. I think Chris's crossovers are beautifully engineered, while the anti-cable speaker cable is very quick and clear.

Nice to hear some more positive comments . I've damped the baskets on the woofers and it helped clarify the sound. I've thought about soldering the wire to the tags but I'm hesitant due to my soldering ability. Now you've mentioned it I'll have another think.

OK, thanks for your comments. I guess I'm trying to make the sound cleaner. The cabinets vibrate along in time to the music and I'm sure that's not ideal. I'm assuming that by changing the absorption material I can reduce the amount of internal vibration that reaches the wood, and therefore reduce the cabinet vibration. I had a pair of Lowther Acoustas once. I placed a Deflex panel directly behind each driver and the sound was much improved. I believe this was due to reducing the reflection from the wood panel immediately behind it. There is quite a lot of bare wood behind each bass driver in the Forte II. Perhaps it's fine as it is. If you've tried various options and heard no improvement that's very useful to know. If, on the other hand, the existing foam sheet that goes round the top half of each cabinet is simply a cost-effective solution that does a "good enough" job, then I think it might be worth some experimenting. After all, we know that everything's built to a price.

I have a pair of Forte IIs. A couple of years ago I got Chris Munson to make me some improved crossovers and these have been excellent. I mounted them outside the cabinets. I'm now wondering about improving the absorption inside the cabinets. I used some cut up Deflex panels on the insides of the woofer basket and this definitely helped. I was wondering whether to remove the foam "wrap" that loops round the top of the cabs and fully line the cabs instead with Deflex. However, I've read that 100% isn't too effective, and that Whispermat can be better. Unfortunately I don't think there's a UK supplier for this. So before I start experimenting with various materials, I'd like to know if anyone has tried changing the absorption in Forte IIs. If so, what did you use? Any pitfalls? Anything I should definitely NOT use? Thanks for any help! Peter Ward

I take a look at this website occasionally: http://www.westernlabo.co.jp/hit_speaker_1.html. There are some great speakers there! My browser doesn't display many of the words, so in case yours is the same, you can move through a number of pages from that one using the numbers at the top RH of the page.

I can attest to the success of Chris's crossover modifications. I commented on another thread (can't remember which one) but as this one's here let me repeat that the quality of workmanship is superb and the sound improvements are definitely worthwhile. A bit like Good King Wenceslas -- "deep and crisp and even" :-). Peter Ward UK Klipsch enthusiast

The search facility on these forums isn't great so excuse me if there's a better place to put this. I just wanted to add that I've installed some new K-stack crossover networks from Chris Munson into my Forte IIs recently and they have made a definite improvement. It's still too soon to get to the bottom of all the changes, but my first reactions are all positive. There is more and clearer bass, the treble is cleaner and less aggressive, and overall the sound is cleaned up. The instructions that came from Chris were easy to follow and overall it was a painless and wholly beneficial change. Thanks, Chris! regards Peter Ward