seasterl

I wonder if they would have benefited from front porting rather than the rear-firing passive woofer to make placement easier. In hindsight, that’s definitely one advantage to the CW. Of course, for those that want more bass energy, then it’s a good option to have to dial it in. So I guess this tune-ability can be an advantage, too, for those that prefer a more relaxed midrange.

Mark in PA: you were right! I pulled them further away from the front wall and it reduced bass energy and brought the midrange into much better balance. Thanks for the great advice. I’m a very happy camper now and mission accomplished.

I was able to play with positioning a bit more (pulled off front wall more) and minimized the 50Hz peak and excess bass energy and achieve better balance between mids and lows and improve midrange presence. Since this is a loft area with sliding glass doors, I can only do so much. But I’ve never had to work so hard with any speaker before to achieve good sound. I’m now very happy! A little playing with position really went a long way, and I can’t believe how much of a difference it made. I smoothed out the lows with a Bag End 18” and room correction processor without shifting balance away from midrange presence. Now, rock sounds the way it should with tight, chest-ponding bass that doesn’t upsets the vocals or guitar. I can’t believe I was actually considering a different amp to brighten them to fix my problem! Thanks for the help.

I had been struggling with my Forte IV placement in a 13x13’ carpeted room. They’re in the corners (about 18” from front wall and 12” from side wall) and generating too much bass energy and drowning the mids and they sound too laid back and out of balance, IMO. After removing the grills, toeing in, and changing interconnects (to Kimber PBJ), they still sound laid back and with excessive bass energy. So I moved them to a different room (13x18’ carpeted) and placed about 7’ from front wall and 2’ from side wall. The excessive bass energy want away and the mids were now more present and they sound like a more balanced loudspeaker and with a little more of the signature sound I was looking for. But here’s the neat part… when I play jazz and blues at normal volume, they still sound laid back and engaging. When I play rock at the same volume, they still sound laid back, but when I turned up the volume (like we should with rock), the tone shifted from forward considerably and the bass stayed in check. At about 95dB, they really became the speaker I expected since I needed something for rock. In this room, I have it set up using the rule of thirds and I’d describe it more as near-field listening. I find this setup ideal for these speakers and the rock tracks I played sounded much, much better compared to the other setup where imbalance was killing the song. I still plan to put them back in the smaller room (where they’re corner-loaded) and play more with placement the wall to manage the bass a bit more to improve balance. This is just my goal and preference. Others may desire the bass energy.

Thanks! I’ve heard of the miniDSP before, but didn’t know about the quality. I’d hate to have thousands of dollars worth of electronics all going through a $200 device that’s on par with car stereo quality. If there’s any anecdotal impressions about the miniDSP sound quality, that would be great. I’d read an old thread that praised the EV DC-One, and it looks great on paper, but wasn’t sure if it was still a great option. Years ago I used the Bryston 10B, but they’ve since been long out of production and worn-out used once’s still sell for more than they cost new. I didn’t know if that meant there was still no quality replacement. I suspect there is or Bryston would not have stopped making them. The downside to the Bryston peace was that you had to choose which model you wanted, and it was a compromise on slopes and crossover point options, and there was no time correction. It was a price unit tonight offer everything a person needed. With the community here agree that some of these newer options available do not degrade the sound quality?

Does anyone make an active crossover that uses a calibrated microphone and has its own frequency sweep tone and can automatically adjust slopes and time alignment for a two-way loudspeaker setup assuming I enter the crossover point? What’s the closest product currently available on the market that’s suitable for home use and high quality? If nothing available that does this, what’s the current best crossover?

Thanks for the link. I re-read it (since I saw it before and was part of the reason I bought the Forte IV), but they only mentioned use of steeper slopes. I thought I’d read elsewhere that the slope was steep between midrange and highs, but not as steep with the woofer. I was thinking of building a horn to mate with the woofer (for when I want to rock out), but I’d need to know the slopes. Some crossovers offer only 4th order whereas I’ve owned one that switched between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order but no 4th.

I know the crossover point is 650Hz, but not sure about the slopes on both sides of the point.

In the EL34, KT88/90/120, etc family of tubes, IMO there’s the Svetlana SED Winged-C EL34,… and then there’s the rest of the tubes in this family. The Winged-C EL34 gives the fat, rounded, warm tube-like sound everybody thinks about when then think about tubes, and these work great with bright, forward speakers typical of older Klipsch horn-loaded speakers. They’re a perfect match! The rest of those tubes in that family, IMO, sound too much like SS and just don’t have as much soul. These Forte IV I just got, though, are darker than I recall my old H3 and I’m using TungSol KT120 with them to try to brighten them up. But a better sound, to me, is matching the Winged-C EL34 with an otherwise forward-sounding speaker. In general, I think the JJ and Electro Harmonix tubes in this family sound very similar to each other and different from the EL34 SED. I think the bigger differences are not so much between tube type (e.g., EL34 vs KT88), but rather between manufacturers.

I just got Forte IV and still playing with them to optimize sound. I just found this review (with lots of measurements) and he comments on placement w.r.t. the wall. You might find it helpful. https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/klipsch_forte_iv/

I got the $15 one-time-fee version of the app. The only other option was a monthly subscription.

Thanks for the app tip, Cory. I just downloaded the app and it’s pretty cool. Can I record a spectrum sweep in one room that I like and compare to the room that needs help?

Can anyone confirm the crossover point and slopes (on both sides) between the woofer and midrange? Thanks!

Thanks for the comments, Mark. I’ll play with the placement a bit more. I wish I had something to measure the frequency output. I already have and use the Velodyne SMS-1 room correction with a passive sub, but that’s only for the lows. Today I’ll try the RCA 12AU7 tubes. I’ve got plenty of tubes to darken sound, just not used to trying to bright it. Times like this I wish I’d never sold my Cary 300SEI! That was, by far, the brightest amp I’d owned even comparing to SS. The only problem is it would not fit inside the slot I have in this rack, so that’s why I’d considered something in SS, and specifically the ATI Class D because I’d heard they were a little brighter than other Class D amps. If I can tweak the speaker placement as you say, and inch the response a bit more with tubes, risers, and I/C them I’m set.

I’ve used the handy search feature and have been reading, with enthusiasm, many comments and threads about the somewhat new breed of Hypex-based Class D amplifiers. However, I have not read many comments about using ATI’s Class D amps with Klipsch speakers. Does anyone here have any experience using that combination? I have Klipsch Forte IV speakers and considering the ATI 541 NC monoblocks. It would be great to get some thoughts about this set up, and whether or not it would be dry, clinical, sterile, and not very engaging. I’m currently using a factory-upgraded Rogue Atlas Magnum in triode mode with TungSol KT120 tube amplifier and I feel like I’m listening to rock music on the 20th row back (compared to when I had my Heresy 3), and just want to live in it up a bit more. I’ve already removed the grills and toe’d in and still lacking the liveliness I want for this setup. I’m awaiting a new set of interconnects, 12AU7 RCA clear top tubes, and risers to see if this helps. If I get another amp, I don’t want to spend mega bucks getting another dry, uninvolving and laid back SS amp since that’s why I switched from SS to tubes two decades ago. I might hear lots of detail, but it may not be engaging and I won’t care to listen. Thanks!