oldmako

They're perfect, as in showroom right out of the box from Hope. The boxes, and the spare grill are in the same condition. Everything he owned was perfect, from his gazillion dollar carbon fibre armed TT to his house. There was no way I could low ball him. I handed him the $395 and we shook hands. He is replacing them with a speaker I have never heard of.....Schwein-something or other?? He said they were very very expensive. So...now what to do with them. I set them up next to my CFs and the difference was amazing but not in a good or bad way. Just a totally different sound. I actually found the CFs a tad brighter and a bit bassier. However, the Fortes were pretty far from the wall and fairly close together. With the PR on the back I imagine that placement of them is crucial. It was all quick and dirty so I can't really comment beyond that. They sounded phenomenal on his gear. Craigslist times two. Mint CF-3s for $240 and now these. Now I need to bring the rest of my stuff up to speed! Many thanks for the input!! Neophyte FNG Stereo-Geek. ps....just kiddin' on the end tables

Hifi Jim, How does this compare to simply using my laptop (and iTunes) through my receiver...or is is the exact same thing? I listen to Pandora in this manner, but when I look at the cheesy cable which I use to connect to the computers tiny headphone jack I can't but imagine that I am not getting a very good signal. Is there a better way which will provide a superior signal? Please excuse my ignorance. I agree with the concept, I LOVE using Pandora and / or my computer because the whole 25 plus gig of music is right at my fingertips.

OK, this is going to be insanely subjective but here goes....all I am looking for is your opinion. I currently own a pair of CF-3s. I got them mint and cheap. They are the finest speakers I've ever owned and I love them. I'm in the bush leagues compared to many of you with regard to my gear, but I have what I can afford and listen to music constantly. I now have the opportunity to purchase a pair of Fortes (original not the II's he thinks) from the originial owner. He claims that they are in mint condition in appearance and sound. The foto shows them to be in excellent condition. He is asking 400 bucks. Local guy so no shipping. I don't really need them, but I want them and they seem cheap. They also seem to be very highly regarded by many of you as I read the old posts. I currently do not own any tube gear. Will this hamper my ability to fully utilize them? They'd make great end tables and rear channel speakers should I decide to go that route. Thanks in advance.

I have learned that I was a fool to have not bought those Heresy's back in 1984. I lost 25 years of great listening. If amortized the speakers were worth every freakin penny and then some. Who would have imagined that they'd still sound GREAT 25 years later? What an investment. I have also learned that the $240 I just spent on a mint pair of CF-3s was the best money I have ever spent on anything....well short of that 50 bucks I dropped at the adult toy store for that battery operated gizmo for my GF! And I learned that I am an idiot for selling my dads 25 year old Sansui DB9000 (or something like that) for 75 bucks! I see them on ebay now for over 400 bucks!!!!!!

Never mind......I just did a search and found all I needed. Sorry to waste the bandwidth.

I can pickup a pair very cheap. Are they any good? I won't have an opportunity to listen to them for a few days and it's a bit of a drive. If they're not so hot I'll pass. Thanks.

It's got a built in phono input, and the ability to play two pairs of speakers simultaneously. Most of the receivers I looked at no longer have this feature. My whole domo is wired for sound and I really wanted that option. Soon enough I'll pick up a dedicated CD player, and I'll keep shopping for a different receiver. As I mentioned earlier, I pretty much stole this one, but I don't like all the bells and whistles...I want to find an old fashioned, quality, 2 channel high power unit that doesn't have, and does not require, a 65 page manual.

I plugged my daughters old Walkman into the receiver just for comparison and the difference is dramatic. I knew that the ipod wasn't the way to go, even though it's very convienient.(sp??) But the real treat was hooking up my laptop and running Pandora. Non stop, no yakety-yak blues....or whatever else I want. I have owned the speakers for a week now and they sound better each day. I have fumbled around with the receiver enough to have unlocked some old defaults and I'm getting closer to the sound I want. As far as the volume, that's been taken care of. My normal volume knob position is probably around 9-10 O'clock, with 11 being NICE AND LOUD! hahaha My neighbor is a metal head so paybacks are hell right?? Thanks again for the help. These things sound great loud and I am amazed at how clean they are when cranked. Already searching for my next pair!

The settings are as you recommended, large and no sub. The room is perhaps even a bit larger than what I posted previously. The narrowest section is 14....if I add the stairway it's more like 16. And the stairway is a large opening in the ceiling obviously. It's a big room. I currently do not own a separate CD player. Mine crapped out and has to be replaced, hence the ipod. I have read over and over about the efficiency of these speakers but I can't help but wonder if you're right (and that they could use some more juice). But in the meantime, I'm very happy with them and look forward to bringing the rest of my components up to somewhere near the standard of the CF3s. Thanks to all who replied and scratched their heads. I do like to wail on my ears occasionally.

The room is approx 14x30 with a 9 foot ceiling. Standard drywall with a pop corn ceiling. It's a big box to fill and the speakers are so clean, that you can fill the hell out of it without distortion. I have yet to hear anything other than clean sound from these. Today I reset the receiver to factory settings and went from there. I did pick up some volume, probably on the order of 15-20 percent max. Messing with the tone controls helped "fill out" and improve the sound. I am not running any other speaks (no surround) other than the B channel (upstairs) and it's not on currently. But, I cranked Beethovens Piano no. 5 and was able to comfortably sit about 12 feet in front of them with the volume at approx 2-3 O'clock. During the loud passages, it was pretty damn loud, but I sitll think there is some room for improvement. Likewise they sound great when listening to head banger music and blues. These speakers sound amazing. I am a happy guy. Best $240 I ever dropped on stereo gear. I think the fix for me will be to toss this receiver and find a quality, old fashioned hi end stereo receiver. I can't stand all the crap you have to go through to manipulate the sound when using a surround sound receiver. I most recently was using a mid 70's Sansui 9000 with 160 wrms. That mother could wake the dead. The pioneeer was only used a short while after I sold the Sansui. With it, I could easily listen to music at WOT. Time to blow some more dough I suppose

I will try to answer some of the questions which you guys tossed out. Sorry in advance if this is rambling. The speakers do indeed have two sets of of connections with a bridge between the two. I understand that with this set up one can power the woofers separately from the horns. I dont use them in this manner. At the 12 O'clock position, the speakers sound just great, but not nearly as loud as one would expect from that position. Fairly loud yes, but the amount of crank is not in propoprtion to the level of volume. The sound is clean and full. The bass response is not yet what I want, but I assume that is due to the new receiver and it's settings. It's a surround sound BS unit and I don't care for it. I want to be able to modulate the tone in the manner I have always done....just plain old bass and treble. I'm a luddite. I will dig into the manual and figure out how to tailor the sound. I know they have the capability to produce BIG bass because when I first set them up they were far far too bassy. I ended upmoving them to a different wall in the room and the difference was dramatic. The amps protection circuit does not kick in. Neither on my old Pioneer or this sony. I have had the volume as high as full on the old amp and 3 on the new. That just does not seem right to me. That's insane. The source so far has been a Denon TT through the receivers phono input (a nice surprise) and an Ipod through the CD input. The volume on the iPod is at about 90%. Any higher and the sound becomes ragged and muddy. I hope that there is nothing wrong with them and I don't believe that there is. They sound great and I would think that the quality of the sound would suffer significantly if there were something wrong. I realize that twice the power means a very small overall increase in db, but I was hoping that since these mothers have a pair of woofers that the increase in power would provide much better (and fuller) sound. I am optimistic that there is just some muting feature which I have not yet figured out on this receiver. I picked it up used because I got it for next to nothing, it has a phono input, and it will drive two sets of speakers at the same time. I do not use it for the surround sound function. My TV is old and puny....just like my...oh never mind. At any rate, please accept my thanks for your constructive inputs. The bose are boxed up and on Craigslist. I still have my original Advents from high school and some very nice Polks. My starter wife got the rest of it.

New to me CF3s. My old amp would not allow me to listen to the speakers loud enough. Not even at WOT. (that's full for you non motor heads). It was a mid level, probably 50 watt per channel old Pioneer amp. El Cheapo. I just hooked up a 110 watt Sony DE935 5.1 (I think) Same drill. I can easily crank it to near max and while loud, it's not LOUD. I used to wail on a pair of Bose and you coundn't even get near Full volume with them. Granted that was with a 160 watt beast I was abusing my ears with. But they were loud. In fact, they ONLY sounded good loud. Low power and low volume made for low enjoyment. I realize that loud is very subjective....and difficult to quantify over the web. But, these are big damn speakers and I want to listen to them loud once in while. My room is maybe 14x20...it's not a gym. There is a selector on the back of the receiver for 4 or 8 OHM. I assumed that these were 8 ohm speaks....correct?? I should also add that I do not have the manual for the receiver, so I may have things messed up. I will search the web for one as soon as I am done typing this. While not a super hi-end audiophile type geek, I have always had fairly decent, above average stuff, and have never run into this issue before. WTFO?? Hell I can crank my Klipsch PC speakers up louder. Disappointed, dazed and confused.....pretty stupid too. Flame if you must.

If CCR is good enough for The Dude, it's good enough for me. The Dude Abides!

I got them for 240. They are in excellent condition. One or two small marks on the cabinets and very nice grills. The speakers themselves look brand new under the grills. I was a sap, I am now sure I could have gottne them for 200.....oh well. My gain is still my gain. The first location I had them in was no good....WAY too much bass. I had the knob turned all the way down and they still had plenty of thump. I put them on another wall with wider spacing and they sound much better. Any recs regarding power?? I am shopping for a new receiver and I am using 100w as my minimim. These things suck ALL the power from my old Pioneer (junk) amp and it looks to me like they will perform MUCH better with more power. 100 watts a good number for them??

Thanks for the quick reply. I will get the chance to hear them before purchase. I inquired about power so I could better gauge them on his system. THe price is right.

FNG here....I have an opportunity to purchase a pair of CF3s for 250. Sounds like a heck of a deal but I have not heard them yet. My brother owns some RB35s, along with some KG4s and I like them both. I have listened to the Herresey's quite a bit and love them as well. Are the CFs close in sound quality??? And, what kind of wattage will they perform best with?? Excuse my ignorance please. FNG out.