papashawn

RichardP, How would you rate the quality of the sacd/dvd-a playback over the analog outputs? I've read a ton on the AVS forum about how this player outputs DSD over HDMI and can convert it to PCM if you have the earlier 1.1 version of HDMI in your preamp. Well I don't have any hdmi inputs, and plan on using this player for probably 80% sacd/dvd-a over the analog outputs into my pre/pro. I just want someone's honest opinion on how this unit sounds over the analogs. Thanks!

That is the exact pre/pro combo I'm using. I have been very pleased with it. I've used it for just under 1 year now with Forte II's and for 2 channel music, its fantastic. The options you have as far as dsp modes are ones that you would actually use, stereo, upsample, and bypass (in which all the video circuitry is turned off and no processing is done to the signal whatsoever). I've recently been listening to a lot of multichannel music and I've yet to be dissapointed with the options I have with the outlaw. It has independent bass management for all 5 (actually up to 7 but I only have 5) channels, as well as delay correction that allows you to input each speaker's distance from your listening spot. You can also increase/decrease the level of all the channels independently by +/- 12db I think. I've never changed this setting by more than 2 or 3db but I know you have a lot of control with it. Also, all the connections in the rear of the 990 are high quality, nothing feels cheap or likely to break with multiple changes of interconnects. I opted to get the balanced cables for running between the preamp and the amp, mainly because I've never had the option before, and the cables didn't cost must different than a good set of unbalanced interconnects so I figured it was worth it. All in all, I think the outlaw gear makes a good match with my Klipsch speakers. I just can't wait to get my Denon 3930ci dvd player so I can finally listen to all my multichannel music in hi-resolution. I hope all this helps! Shawn

I've listened very closely to both the woofer and the passive radiator, and it is definitely the woofer making the noise. The best way I can describe it is a flapping sound, almost as if the cone is coming unattached from the surround, even though it is completely attached and has no problems at lower volumes. I checked the wires behind the cone and they seem to be out of the way. They weren't any closer to the cone than on the good woofer, which doesn't make any sound. I took a brief look at the spider, it appeared to be flat when I was looking at it, not sticking up at any parts. I don't know if its loose, I'm not sure where exactly it attaches though. I'll have to take it out and have another look. Was yours loose where it attaches to the cone or to the metal frame? I'll look tonight and see if that's an issue. Thanks for your help!

I did the test pressing in on the woofer and the passive moved out equally and stayed there for a several seconds, both speakers behaved the same. I don't believe there is an air leak, or at least there isn't any more air leaking that what seems to be normal (as the passive does return to its resting position eventually). I removed the mid driver when I was first investigating this problem, thinking it was the mid and not the woofer at the time, but everything with it seemed to be in fine condition. I reattached the horn to the driver as snugly as possible, and I reinstalled the driver flipped 180 degrees. The mid doesn't sound bad whatsoever. My first impression from sitting on my couch listening was that it was the mid, but upon closer inspection, the mid is fine and only the woofer exhibits the floppy vibrating sound. Luckily it only occurs when the volume is really high, but on some recordings the bass hits hard at lower volumes so it can be more of an issue depending on the recording. Does anyone know how much a recone costs roughly these days?

Ok, I've done a lot of reading through the forum about forte woofer problems, and I think the issue has something to do with the cone touching the voice coil. I took out the woofer and lightly pressed in evenly, didn't get and scraping, but when I pressed in around the perimeter, I had a scraping sound between 9:00 and 4:00. I've reinstalled the woofer turning it 180 degrees to see if it alleviated the vibrating sound when playing. I also checked the good woofer. It had the same scraping against the voice coil as the other, but doesn't make any vibrating sounds while playing. I reinstalled the good woofer turning it 180 degrees as well. The best way i can describe the sound is as follows. When the volume is turned up very loud (almost uncomfortable) and the bass really hits, it sounds almost as if the cone is not attached to the surround, and its a flapping/vibrating sound, but only on those really long throws when the bass hits that hard. The other woofer doesn't have this problem, and l really don't see or feel any areas where the cone isn't attached to the surround, and the dust cap is securely attached as well. Would it be worth it to apply a ring of white speaker glue around at the surround and the dust cone just to reinforce it? Since this only happens at such high volumes, its not as big of an issue as I had originally thought. If it starts to happen at normal volumes, I'll have to either get the new woofer replacements from klipsch (the K-28 I believe, since the K-25 is no longer made) or send them off to be reconed. I've read a lotof good things about woofer.com and nevisonics. I would definitely prefer to go this route if the cost were going to be the same as buying new. This way I could keep the originals.

So this is some really bad news. Its not the midrange diaphragm at all, its the WOOFER! I made sure to listen to really clean and clear music, turned it way up and stuck my head right next to the woofer, and sure enough, when the bass hits hard, it sounds really muffled and sloppy. At lower volumes, this doesn't happen at all, so its only when the woofer is really moving that I get this problem. I made sure to listen to the other speaker,and it was clear at the same volume, nothing muffled or vibrating. Is there something I can do to remedy this, or am I going to have to replace the woofer? This is sounding like a much more expensive fix than I had anticipated.

STL The spec sheet for the Forte II on the website says that the midrange driver is a K-61-K. I haven't got a price quote from Klipsh yet, I forgot to bring the serial numbers to work with me today, so I won't be able to call them again until tomorrow. But if the replacement is still the same as with the tweeter, I'll be happy because I've done that before and its simple.

Thanks for your help guys. I called Klipsch for the replacement diaphragms but needed my serial numbers, so I have to write them down and call again tomorrow. Is this replacement going to be difficult? I know I can replace one from the tweeter, but I'm not sure how different the mid driver is going to be. I'm assuming I'll be disconnecting the wires from the crossover, and taking the horn/driver out of the front of the speaker to do the replacement. Has anyone else ever done this surgery before? I saw a few posts with some instructions for doing this on a cornwall, but didn't have much luck with the forte. Thanks again for your help!

Is that goo something that could have damaged other parts of the driver, or will I be able to just clean it up when I'm replacing the diaphragm and take care of the problem there? Thanks for the info!

One of the midrange drivers in my Forte II's is damaged I'm afraid. It sounds fine at lower volumes, but when I turn up music fairly loud, I can hear it distort. Also, over the weekend I replaced the crossovers and noticed an amber colored liquid (with the consistency of molasses) coming out of the bottom of the midrange driver. I wiped this off with a rag, but I can't help but think that this is somehow related to the damaged driver. The first night I listened to them with the new crossovers installed, I didn't notice any distortion. Last night I watched an entire Pearl Jam concert DVD and didn't notice any distortion, but I was listening to some CD's afterwards, and heard it again. Is it likely that replacing just the diaphragms will solve my problem? Also, I'm assuming that I should replace both diaphragms at once to keep things balanced between the two speakers. If I'm replacing the midrange diaphragms, should I also replace the ones for the tweeters, or should I leave them alone if there is no problem with them? Thanks in advance for your help!

Likewise Gary!

I'm currently waiting for my new set of Forte II and Academy crossovers from Chris. They should be shipping any day now. Believe me, I can't wait to hear what kind of improvements I'm in for. I'll definitely post again after I get them installed and take them for a test drive. Also, I'm going to attempt my own upgrade to the crossovers in my KG2.5's. Not totally new networks, just new caps and resistors. There were only two of each in one of the KG crossovers, and being a newbie to this type of work, I figured this would be a good place to start. I've got some old electronics to practice my soldering skills with, and then I'll install the new components and have a fully upgraded 5 channel setup. I feel spoiled!

My KG2.5's actually have a small hole drilled in the bottom from their previous owner, he did it to attach them to speaker stands as well. So at least I won't have to drill any new holes. I'm thinking about making the vertical section solid to hide the wires (for the most part). How large would you say the base is? I know the KG's are about a 9" square footprint, so maybe a 12" square base would be enough to keep them from wobbling. Did you end up painting the stands black to match the speaker, or another color to match the room? Thanks again for all this info, I'll be much happier with these things sitting right where they belong, instead of where my walls would allow.

I have the outlaw 990 and their 5 channel amp, the 7500. They sound awesome with my forte II's and academy. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Their prices are very good since they are a direct to consumer company. The 990 actually had a price drop recently, even more reason to take a look!

Steve, that's a very nice stand you've made. What type of wood did you use for the verticals? I may be able to put something like this together and just put the speakers wherever I want. I bought a pair of wall mounts so I had been set on using them. I didn't even think of making stands. This should make for a much better setup than I was expecting. Thanks!

I'm moving into a new house and it is posing a problem with my surround speaker locations. Previously I was able to have both surround speakers sitting roughly 1.5' above my head and almost directly to the side of me, maybe 5 degrees towards the rear. Now, my living room is nearly completely open on one whole side with the exception of the butt end of one wall that is only about 8'-0" from the wall that my TV and Main speakers will sit along, and the other small portion of wall is at least 16'-0" or more from that same TV wall. In one case, the surround speakers would be mounted to the wall slightly in front of me (and this can't be good). In the other case, the speakers would be a good bit behind me, not ideal, but I'm thinking this would be better than slightly to the front. BTW, my surrounds are the KG2.5's in my signature, so they're monopole and will be pointing at the center of my couch which will be the optimal listening position. I'm not a huge HT nut, mainly my 5 speaker setup is for multichannel and I definitely don't have room for more Forte's in the back. Do you think having them that far to the rear will have a negative affect on listening to multichannel music?

Does anyone have a copy of the Emerson Lake & Palmer "Brain Salad Surgery" DVD-A that you would be willing to sell? I didn't even realize this album was ever made as a DVD-A. Please email/pm me if you have it and would be willing to sell. Thanks!! BTW, the Yes-Fragile DVD-A is pretty good, a little more reverb in the vocals than I'd like, but still very good and clean sounding. The Grateful Dead album "Workingman's Dead" is almost as good as "American Beauty". Beck's "Sea Change" is a nice choice also, even has video's for the songs but I prefer to turn off the TV when listening. Last but not least would be The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds". Sounds awesome in 5 channel, and they just re-released it in a 40th anniversary edition with both the redbook and DVD-A discs in one case for $16!

Came upon this craigslist post and I've contacted the guy. Hasn't been very helpful so far about telling me what these speakers are. Just says that they're dual horn and when i asked what model they were, he just told me he wasn't sure. I've written back to ask what size they are and maybe how big the woofer is, but I wanted to see what the possibilities could be for them. The dual horn speakers I could think of were the chorus/forte/quartet, cornwall (not likely to be them, but they have two horns) Heresy's, and the KLF20/30. There's no bookshelf speakers that have two horns, and they can't be anything that big and special for the price he's asking. One of them has a crossover problem, but if I can get these for that cheap, its nothing BEC can't fix! Any other ideas of what they may be? I'll post again if he writes back and has some sizes for me.

I've posted these in the garage sale section (link), but also wanted to post them here. My boss gave these to me after I bought his Forte II's off of him. He was the original owner. I haven't used them except to test everything out. The amp only had one working channel when I first tested, discovered there were two blown rail fuses inside. Once I replaced the fuses, everything works just fine again. I'm asking $375 for both the preamp and amp, plus shipping. I would prefer to sell them together, but may consider splitting if someone wants just one.

I ended up mounting a wood shelf above my plasma to put my Academy on. The center of the speaker is 12" from the top of the tv. I like the way it sounds when listening to multi channel music and it sounds good with movies as well. I may mount the shelf a little lower when I move into my new house, but I think I'll be keeping it above the TV.

I have a 5 channel setup with Forte II's for the mains, an Academy for the center and two KG2.5's for surrounds. As far as keeping the center and surrounds as small as possible, this is a great way to go, but the Academy can be difficult to find and can also be expensive. For example, I paid $400 for my pair of Forte II's and I also paid $400 for my Academy. They sound fantastic together. I got the KG2.5's on Audiogon for $200 I believe. Not a bad deal. They're 19" tall and have a 9" square footprint, not too large. I don't have a sub in my setup, but I would imagine a nice used RSW-12 or RSW-15 would go well in that system.

I just found these on the Ft. Lauderdale Craigslist and I have no idea what they are. Any clues? Here's the link, and i've attached one of the pics. http://fortlauderdale.craigslist.org/ele/401132025.html

Has anyone here on the forum purchased any upgraded equipment or had their own equipment modded by the upgrade company? http://www.upgradecompany.com/ I've read nothing but good reviews on the work that they do. I've been wanting to get a Denon 3910 or 3930ci for some time now, and I've been watching them on the used market, mostly Audiogon. The 3930's are finally starting to trickle in at reasonable prices, but then I always remember these upgraded versions and I start to wonder if its worth the extra money. As you can see from my signature, I'm have Forte II's with the Outlaw Audio 990 preamp and 7500 5-channel amp. I love the sound right now, but I'm playing everything through an older Panasonic DVD player. I want the 3930 as its a great video performer, but its no slouch in the audio department either. But if the reviews are accurate, this upgrade company modded 3910 must sound night and day better than the stock 3930. Here's a link for one on Audiogon right now: http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1193109820 Would my current equipment allow me to hear these differences, or would it be a waste of money? If you need a $5,000+ preamp/amp then count me out. But if its a great improvement with modest equipment such as what I already have, I might consider waiting a while and getting one of the modded 3910's. My use will be primarily for music, mostly 2-channel, but I have a handful of multichannel discs and I would definitely be getting more with a true DVD-A/SACD player. Any thoughts?

I'm glad you mentioned budget, that was an underlying question I had. I definitely want to do a full replacement, not just a re-cap as I'm not very handy with a soldering iron and I don't want to take the chance of screwing up what I have, and still have to get replacements. I like the idea of replacing all of the old parts with new, seems to make sense to change everything out at once. Without getting into specifics, there is a cost difference between Bob's and Chris's crossovers which seemed significant enough to try and determine how different they are in both performance and components used, and how well they compare to the originally intended output of the speakers when new. Like I mentioned before, I've read plenty about both of these upgrades on the forum to know that everyone has been more than happy with the results. I would like to get all three (Forte II's and Academy) from the same person to keep things consistent and make sure they blend seamlessly. I appreciate the comments so far!

Bob, I did some searching in the forum over the weekend and found the schematic for the Academy posted by DeanG a while ago. I've attached it here. Not sure if you had it or not. I know that Chris makes them using his K-Stack PCB boards, I just didn't know what differences I would hear if I were to install his crossovers vs yours, or if my ear wouldn't be able to tell a difference really. Also, I think there is a possible size/space restriction inside the Academy as well. I don't know the dimensions of the original crossover or how much space you can get away with safely inside there. If anyone knows that answer, please chime in. Thanks! Academy Crossover Schematic.pdf