Turnip

Good to know. If he or anyone else want to take out a soldering iron and go to town, then that is a good option.

Well, I will say to my ears, and my friends ears, the new crossovers made a HUGE improvement in my Forte IIs. My friend put Crite crossovers in his Corus Is and it made a huge improvement in those too. Maybe Klipsch uses / sells better components now, but after 30 years, capacitors are going to degrade and should be replaced.

Fire dancer, Oahu, Hawai'i. Shot it back when I lived there. Sure do miss it.

Hifi72, I have a pair of Forte II from 1990 so only 1 year newer than your Forte I. At 30 years old, you can pretty much guarantee capacitors will degrade and shift in value. So performance of the crossovers degrades. Several years ago, I replaced the factory crossovers with new ones from Crites. Crites uses better capacitors and inductors than the factory. Removing the rear passive radiator made swapping out the crossovers a breeze. The difference in the speaker performance was a dramatic improvement. If you don't want to replace the entire crossovers, at a minimum you should consider replacing the capacitors.

Looks like the cake is going into the ez-bake. Nice work.

I agree. I really like the copper plate tops on their chassis. So far, I have been very happy with the 40 Mk IV. The headphone output on it is outstanding too, so at least I'm not tempted by their headphone amps. I emailed some questions to Icon and I promptly received a reply from David Shaw himself.

Snapped this night time shot of my Icon Audio Stereo 40 Mk IV. I run it in Triode mode with Low Feedback

If they are in good shape, $400 is a great deal for the speakers alone. I have four KG4.2's and they are great speakers. Not as good as my Forte II's but I really think the 4.2's are great speakers and some of the best two way speakers ever made by Klipsch especially at the price they went for new. They have fast, tight bass and good for HT.

KG's might be a better sonic match, but you should get good mains and then build a surround system around them. Not sure why you are starting with the cheaper center/surround speakers and then trying to build a system around them. Anyway, I have KG 4.2 and Forte II's and while I love the KG 4.2's, the Forte II's blow them away. The Forte II's have much better mid-range and a larger sound stage. Get the Forte II's and then upgrade your center / rears later if the sonic match isn't good enough for you. - d

I've never heard the CF-2's, but I have Forte II's and love them. I would go with the Forte II's just because I like passive radiators better than tuned ports (in this case, the Forte II's do go lower) and also because the 3 way Forte II is most likely going to have a better mid-range than the 2 way CF-2's. I own several Klipsch 2 way speakers and the 3 way speakers just blow them away in the mid-range. As was mentioned, the low height of the horn on the CF-2 could be a problem too. - d

Sorry for the confusion, see my above post. I can get a 2120 for $500. What is the difference? - d

But I can get a 2120 for $500. What is the difference between a 2505 and a 2120? - d

Ahhhhhhhhh.....................blue. - d

I like the blue meters. :>) (yah, ok, blue meters have nothing to do with good sound, but the the blue meters are just freakin cool!!!!!!!! :>) - d

If anyone wants it, I will buy it and go pick it upright now. Talk to me. - d

UGH! I should have bought them myself. They are beautiful! I am kicking myself in the butt right now. Oh well, glad a forum member got them! Good luck! - d

Just one?1?1?!!?

OK, dumb question alert.... I can either get a McIntosh MC2505 amp for $1000 or a McIntosh MC2120 amp for $500. Both are solid state. Both have the vintage McIntosh autoformer outputs. The 2505 is 50 Watts, the 2120 is 120 Watts. The 2505 has the aweome blue meters. The 2120 does not. I LOVE the blue meters! :>) Are the blue meters worth $500 more money and 70W less power? Is there something else that I am ignorant about? Help me! A fool and his money are soon parted. I would like to at least listen to my money. - darren ps: will be used with Forte II's and (hopefully) a tube preamp (coming VERY soon)

Congrats!

Personally, I would wait a long time to see pictures of speakers like those....they look awesome. :>)

Wow, those cabinets look sweet. So does that McIntosh amp... :>) Congrats. - d

speakerfritz - glad you got them for the original price. I was bummed when it looked like my thread was going to steer people wrong. I'm glad you got hooked up. jtnfoley - I'm in SE Mass too. I had been looking for Cornwalls for a while and finally "settled" for a pair of Forte II's. Not much of a settle. :>) I'm still looking for Cornwalls but I think I will get a vintage McIntosh amp first. :>) - d

Oh you gotta be kidding me. No such thing as a free lunch.... bummer that the guy called him and told him that. I just checked and the ad has been deleted. Ugh. - d

No affiliation, but there is a pair of Klipschorns in New Hampshire for $1500: http://nh.craigslist.org/ele/281770656.html Figured maybe someone here would be interested. I'm toying with the idea, but it would be nice if one of you would buy them so I don't have to think about it anymore. [] - d

Just a question on the speakers. Instead of buying RB-61's, have you thought about picking up a pair of Heresy's off ebay for about the same cost? - d