oldmako

Please post your opinions after you get them humming. I own original Fortes and CF3's so I'm eager to hear what you think. Enjoy!

0-60 3 seconds.

Not much love here for Carver stuff. I have a pair of 400s and I'm happy with them em. They make a huge difference with my CF3 and KLF20 which seem to love juice. The 400s are warheads. The 700s are MOABs. Try - http://thecarversite.com/

Can someone please explain to this Luddite what that gizmo does? In other words, I currently have approx 450 gig of music on a 1TB external. I use iTunes and a Squeezebox Touch server. My understanding is the SBox has an internal DAC to better deliver my Apple Lossless "recordings" to my 2CH setup. Is this a similar device to the SB or "mo betta?" I gather that "monkey" is the PC based program used to manipulate and arrange the music? I picked up my SB for half price and would consider moving to this device if it provides me the same ease of manipulation and better sound quality. Or, is there more to it?

I profess to be a one gender dabbler.

Wow lots of good info! Thank you my Klipsch Brothers, I hoist a beverage in your general direction. I went to BBuy the other day and purchased a Kenwood head unit for $69. It was last years model and was on sale. Not only am I broke, I'm CHEAP! I'm operating on the assumption that the speakers and amp are far more important than the head unit. I hope I'm right. Model KDC-348U. I visited two stores and spoke with two auto sales reps. The amount of knowledge those two guys had was amazing. Amazing as in "minimal". So, I just tossed a dart and went with this one because it had the features I wanted, the money was burning a hole in my pocket and I had the day off. I was overcome by the need to tear into the truck that very day. It's got a USB interface on the front as well as an AUX input. I typically listed to Pandora and my iPod while driving except in the mornings when my local classical station carries the day. It also has three sets of RCA outputs on the back which will allow me to expand the system in the future if I desire. I'd rather not add a sub because I don't want that big box in the cab and I hope that I won't need one. With decent speaks and an amp I HOPE that the door cavities will provide enough volume to provide adequate bass. My plan is to use the stock wiring. Thanks for all the suggestions.

we need more info...what kind of cheese? The Cheese Shop by Monty Python (a customer walks in the door) Customer: Good Morning. Owner: Good morning, Sir. Welcome to the National Cheese Emporium! Customer: Ah, thank you, my good man. Owner: What can I do for you, Sir? Customer: Well, I was, uh, sitting in the public library on Thurmon Street just now, skimming through Rogue Herrys by Hugh Walpole, and I suddenly came over all peckish. Owner: Peckish, sir? Customer: Esuriant. Owner: Eh? Customer: 'Ee, ah wor 'ungry-loike! Owner: Ah, hungry! Customer: In a nutshell. And I thought to myself, "a little fermented curd will do the trick," so, I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles! Owner: Come again? Customer: I want to buy some cheese. Owner: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the bazouki player! Customer: Oh, heaven forbid: I am one who delights in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean muse! Owner: Sorry? Customer: 'Ooo, Ah lahk a nice tuune, 'yer forced too! Owner: So he can go on playing, can he? Customer: Most certainly! Now then, some cheese please, my good man. Owner: (lustily) Certainly, sir. What would you like? Customer: Well, eh, how about a little red Leicester. Owner: I'm, a-fraid we're fresh out of red Leicester, sir. Customer: Oh, never mind, how are you on Tilsit? Owner: I'm afraid we never have that at the end of the week, sir, we get it fresh on Monday. Customer: Tish tish. No matter. Well, stout yeoman, four ounces of Caerphilly, if you please. Owner: Ah! It's beeeen on order, sir, for two weeks. Was expecting it this morning. Customer: 'T's Not my lucky day, is it? Aah, Bel Paese? Owner: Sorry, sir. Customer: Red Windsor? Owner: Normally, sir, yes. Today the van broke down. Customer: Ah. Stilton? Owner: Sorry. Customer: Ementhal? Gruyere? Owner: No. Customer: Any Norweigan Jarlsburg, per chance. Owner: No. Customer: Lipta? Owner: No. Customer: Lancashire? Owner: No. Customer: White Stilton? Owner: No. Customer: Danish Brew? Owner: No. Customer: Double Goucester? Owner: (pause) No. Customer: Cheshire? Owner: No. Customer: Dorset Bluveny? Owner: No. Customer: Brie, Roquefort, Pol le Veq, Port Salut, Savoy Aire, Saint Paulin, Carrier de lest, Bres Bleu, Bruson? Owner: No. Customer: Camenbert, perhaps? Owner: Ah! We have Camenbert, yessir. Customer: (suprised) You do! Excellent. Owner: Yessir. It's..ah,.....it's a bit runny... Customer: Oh, I like it runny. Owner: Well,.. It's very runny, actually, sir. Customer: No matter. Fetch hither the fromage de la Belle France! Mmmwah! Owner: I...think it's a bit runnier than you'll like it, sir. Customer: I don't care how ******* runny it is. Hand it over with all speed. Owner: Oooooooooohhh........! (pause) Customer: What now? Owner: The cat's eaten it. Customer: (pause) Has he. Owner: She, sir. Customer: (pause) Gouda? Owner: No. Customer: Edam? Owner: No. Customer: Case Ness? Owner: No. Customer: Smoked Austrian? Owner: No. Customer: Japanese Sage Darby? Owner: No, sir. Customer: You...do *have* some cheese, don't you? Owner: (brightly) Of course, sir. It's a cheese shop, sir. We've got-- Customer: No no... don't tell me. I'm keen to guess. Owner: Fair enough. Customer: Uuuuuh, Wensleydale. Owner: Yes? Customer: Ah, well, I'll have some of that! Owner: Oh! I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mister Wensleydale, that's my name. Customer: (pause) Greek Feta? Owner: Uh, not as such. Customer: Uuh, Gorgonzola? Owner: No. Customer: Parmesan, Owner: No. Customer: Mozarella, Owner: No. Customer: Paper Cramer, Owner: No. Customer: Danish Bimbo, Owner: No. Customer: Czech sheep's milk, Owner: No. Customer: Venezuelan Beaver Cheese? Owner: Not *today*, sir, no. Customer: (pause) Aah, how about Cheddar? Owner: Well, we don't get much call for it around here, sir. Customer: Not much ca-- it's the single most popular cheese in the world! Owner: Not 'round here, sir. Customer: (slight pause) and what IS the most popular cheese 'round hyah? Owner: 'Illchester, sir. Customer: IS it. Owner: Oh, yes, it's staggeringly popular in this manor, squire. Customer: Is it. Owner: It's our number one best seller, sir! Customer: I see. Uuh...'Illchester, eh? Owner: Right, sir. Customer: All right. Okay. 'Have you got any?' he asked, expecting the answer 'no'. Owner: I'll have a look, sir........nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno. Customer: It's not much of a cheese shop, is it? Owner: Finest in the district! Customer: (annoyed) Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please. Owner: Well, it's so clean, sir! Customer: It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese.... Owner: (brightly) You haven't asked me about Limburger, sir. Customer: Would it be worth it? Owner: Could be.... Customer: Have you --SHUT THAT BLOODY BAZOUKI OFF! Owner: Told you sir.... Customer: (slowly) Have you got any Limburger? Owner: No. Customer: Figures.Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place. Tell me: Owner: Yessir? Customer: (deliberately) Have you in fact got any cheese here at all. Owner: Yes, sir. Customer: Really? (pause) Owner: No. Not really, sir. Customer: You haven't. Owner: Nosir. Not a scrap. I was deliberately wasting your time, sir. Customer: Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you. Owner: Right-Oh, sir. (The customer takes out a gun and shoots the owner) Customer: What a *senseless* waste of human life.

Thanks for that. I have been to the Crutchfield site and was a bit overwhelmed so I decided to post to try and narrow the choices down a bit. I read a number of very positive reviews for the Polk 650 series and have placed them on my short list. But, I know bupkis about car audi so I'm a bit lost. I bought a new head unit which has several RCA outputs which will allow me to easily add an amp if I'm not happy with the speaker upgrade alone. Thanks again.

Going several miles out on a limb here since I have never seen this site blasplemed by car audio before but I figured I'd try. Here be my dilemma- I just bought a schweet 2001 Silverado Pickumup with blown 6.5 inch speakers in the front doors. In as much as yous guys are gear heads I was wondering if someone would be willing to offer a suggestion for replacement cones. Money is no object as I am fabulously weathly. Actually that's a lie. I eat government cheese and would like to keep them on the reasonable side of idiotic. Fire away or flame away. Your choice.

Nah. I was just thinking back to all those horrible commercials in my yout. I didn't mean to badmouth Box. I listen to classical, jazz, rock, alt, blues, motown, reggae, bluegrass, old style country. It runs the gamut depending on my mood. This is one of the reasons I love Pandora. Type in Bix Beiderbecke, Spoon, Catfish Hodge or something else obscure and just enjoy the ride.

RAP. Death Metal. Justin Beaver. Euro-Trash Techno. Really bad top 40 modern CMT crap country. Millie Vanilli. Richard Clayderman. Nana Mouskouri. Red Sovine. Boxcar Willie. Roger Whittaker. The amazing Pan Flute of Zamfir. Pretty much anything advertised on TV commercials in the 80's or horrible in its own right. Just kiddin. I hate all the above.

Chub.

None. But fear not grasshopper. From what I read here, the heads on this site have owned everything under the sun and I am confident that you'll get some good intel from them. Unfortunately my gambling, hookers and crack habits consume my flow of fungibles and I only have ordinary stuff. Enjoy the hell out of those 30's! If you get a chance, please post pics. I've only seen them once and they were sublime. I've been looking for a pair for years but finally caved and bought some satin black 20's at a fire sale price. I'd break the bank for Mahogany 30's.

Mahogany 30's. I think that those must be rare because I never see them. I am chartreuse with envy! Well done sir.

When you get that mother fired up, you might want to sample some Karl Hungus.

"Hello Dude, I'm Jackie Treehorn"

Nicely played! "I like your style Dude"

Kristin CHenoweth is 4'11". Among other things, she has a huge voice.

Excuse me for piling on and diverting the thread, but all this talk of R2R made me pull my TEAC A4010 S out and fire it up. I was looking last year on CL and found this one. The guy gave it to me for nothing because he was glad that someone wanted it. It was filthy and INOP. But after some elbow grease, two new belts (not too heinous a job) and plenty of cleaning and lubing (i.e. the pinch roller arm was frozen stiff) it's now quietly spinning in the corner. I'm not yet sure if it's 100 percent, but right now I am very happy. It's got a gorgeous walnut cabinet and freshly shined SS face. Start to finish was two hours. It's approximately one thousand times cooler than a CD player, and almost as cool as a turntable. I think you should get one.

Never mind.,

I picked up a very nice looking TEAC A-4010S from a guy on Craigslist for zip. He was the original owner and it was just collecting dust. He was thrilled that I had an interest in it and gave it to me. Its in good shape physically but there are a few issues. The walnut case is perfect. There are a few stains on the aluminum face. I have not tried to remove them. Mechanically I have yet to tear into it so I don't know what its issues are. The pinch roller that snaps on to the capstan is very sluggish, but all the motors seem to work. I used to mess with them about a milion years ago. Unfortunately I sold my last one and all the tapes I had accumulated along with it. When acquired, it was a basket case but only ended up needing belts and a good cleaning / lube. You feel like a NASA engineer when (if) you get it back together. It has 7" reels with 1/4" tape. Auto Reverse. I'm sorry that I can't offer you any additional information because I simply don't know what the hell I'm taking about. But, they're very cool to mess around with. I loved to see it quietly spinning away while listening to music.

This week the sonic turd developed a hiss. It's very minor, but I fear it may be a harbinger of more sinister noise. It's persistant through all inputs, switch positions and both speakers. It's also persistant through the second set of output jacks (and second amp and second set of speakers). Because of this I have eliminated either amp and any of the other appliances as the culprit. It used to be very quiet. 1) Is my conclusion that the Pre is the problem reasonable? I currently run two amps and two sets of speakers with the Phase 4000. I live in a van down near the river and space is limited, hence the four speaker set up. I'd like to be able to run like this with whatever I end up buying. 2) If a preamp doesn't have two sets of outputs, is it possible to use a splitter on the one set and still use two amps? Will it cost me any significant degradation or give me shingles, mumps, trenchmouth, gout any other heinous audio by product? I'd like to consider tubes, but have read that tube preamps and SS amps don't play well together. 3) Is that correct? I used to use a Pioneer SA9100 switched to preamp mode and the sound was nice. Better than the PL4000 S.T. And, I am not opposed to going a similar route, but no longer have the 9100. I do not have an audiophile checkbook, yet I love the McIntosh look. Black and blue look great next to brushed aluminum. 4) Is it possible to reach near blissdom with 500-600 bucks? 5) Am I delusional and or smoking crack thinking that I can get something NICE for that kind of coin? 60 percent of my listening is CD, and Discs ripped Lossless to a Squeezebox server. 20 Percent Pandora and the rest LP. Any opinions welcome and valued. Especially those dripping with sarcasm, disdain and derision. They will be graded!

Interesting and informative thread. I picked up a pair of 20's last month and had no idea that this issue was widespread. Obviously, mine sound fantastic (with no telltale vibration or rattle). So is there an easy way to determine if the problem is present? Can you make the determination from the front of the speaker or the rear?

Depending on where you live, 350 may be a bit too low for a really nice pair, but 550 may be too high. However, no matter what you pay you'll be glad you did in the long run. There are a handfull of Klipsch speakers that dominate this forum's "gotta have" column and the Fortes are right up there along with the C-Walls, Heresies, K-Horns and LaScalas. Sure there are others, but if you searched "Forte" you'd need a week to read all the threads and 99% percent of them would be positive. I picked up a pair for 400. They were as new with boxes from the original owner. Oiled walnut. The bottom line is that you can't go wrong, but try to soften the blow by knocking a bit off the price. You'll be glad you did and you'll keep them a long time. What were they new.....$1600? Furniture grade phenomenal speakers for 400 bucks. A steal in my book.

I am without a doubt the largest dolt on the forum and I am most definitely under the influence of a certain elderberry and botanical flavored exiler but I think that I am able to answer your querie! Wrongly perhaps, but answer none the less. A passive is a speaker sans magnet, and sans wires. IOW, it has no electrical function whatsoever. Hence, the "passive" moniker. It simply gets into the groove of whatever is playing and encourages air to move freely within the confines of the speaker cabinet in response to the movement of the "powered" drivers. In this way it improves or adds to low frequency response. My understanding is that a speaker with a passive on the back should be placed approx one half of the diameter of the passive to the wall (for starters). Time to refresh my cocktail. Enjoy the KG4s!!