lionheart-uk

I had the same problem with my Fortes, I find the speakers to be very amp fussy. I originally brought a Nuforce power and a Threshold pre to team up with the Fortes and the sound was atrocious like the poster mentioned. I decided to reserve judgement until I paired them with some vintage amps that I have, the speakers sounded a whole lot better the older the amp, in the end I found what I was looking for and the Fortes sound exactly how I wanted now. If you take the vintage route I found a humble Quad 303 to be exceptional with the speakers, the Marantz 2230 is also good but in the end I found the ancient wood cased 10w Sugden A21 about the best mating for these fantastic speakers.

Indeed the Shure V15 III is a tremendous cartridge and was the high point in MM design (imo), if it sounds muffled and you are using the original stylus it might well be that the rubber mount has given up and died, the good news is you can find a replacement from a well known US seller for £15 that is so good I can't tell the difference between new and old.

I had the same lack of bass and harsh treble from my Forte II's when I bought mine a few months back, they were replacing a pair of Dynaco a25's because I needed a bigger speaker to fill my room, the Fortes were a disappointment at this point to be truthful but as soon as I replaced the ribbon like DMN cable that worked so well with the Dynaco's with a heavy gauge cable (Supra) the speakers came to life and I'm very happy with them now, plenty of bass and the shrillness gone. I originally bought the Forte's to front a few low powered amp's I had gathered over the years, they work well with most of the amps particularly the 22 series of Marantz receivers and the early wood cased Sugden class-A A21 (IMO)

I don't think the review on the RB-81's is bad at all in fact I think it’s pretty good and wouldn’t put me off buying (I’ve owned a pair for 6 months and couldn’t be more impressed), I've seen the UK Hi-Fi press slaughter decent speakers over the last three decades whilst heaping undeserved praise on UK brands that to my ears sounded way over warm and bass flabby, I prefer my Klipsch over all of my past 'rated' speakers (Linn, Naim, TDL etc), to give a US speaker a 4 star rating in a UK publication is nothing short of open revolution, sad but true

Another good 'un

What is your favorite Stereo record (non audiophile pressings) that you always head for when auditioning new speakers, I always seem to draw the same five Lp's what ever piece of new kit brought, here's mine Della Reece...Cha Cha Enoch Light Orch...Discothèque George Benson...Breezin' Pretty Things...Parachute Pierre Henry...Les Jerks Électroniques De La Messe Pour Le Temps (theme from Futurama)

If you want to totally restore vinyl I find the following to be unbeatable and not as expensive as some people think, I've experimented with nigh on every cleaning method and this is the only one that is correct in my opinion.: Moth Record Cleaning machine for Albums (DIY Kit/Suction) , Nitty Gritty RCM for 7" and Ep's (Manual/Suction) Hunts Ed fibre brush Audio Technica at637 vibrating stylus cleaner

This one does it for me

I was trying to build a DIY/Minamilst setup spending as little cash as possible to gain a high end sound, home made speaker cable, racking, turntable shelf, highly rated but reasonably priced amps. I got as far as the speakers and realised I needed something superior to the various pairs I have stashed around the house/Loft: Heybrooks,JBL,Revolvers,TDL,AR's. I looked at the speakers on the UK market but soon realised the 'higher dB' path I had to take if I wanted to hear the tripath amp at it's best. I decided to buy the Klipsch speakers blind (I couldn't find a dealer in my area to demo them) so I took the plunge due to their fantastic owners feedback online, I must say it's one of my greatest leaps up the hi fi ladder I've made in recent years..........I've had a lot more expensive kit but I can honestlty say "none that sounds as good as this 'under $1000' setup".

Your right my friend it's a British made (Temple Audio) tripath amp called the 'Bantam'

What No Sex Pistols, Small Faces, Zombies, Black Sabbath or Joy Division

Afraid so, I love the 1960's and they give the room a kind of psychedelic feel, I listened to my copy of the 'Pretty Things' Classic 'S.F Sorrow' Lp last night with the lights off and both lamps on, the RB 81's released passages from the vinyl that I had never heard before, you could almost smell the Joss sticks.

Thanks for the info James

There you go James, picture uploaded.

Hello James......I can't seem to work out how to upload a photo, any advice please, Cheers

Thanks for hearty welcome folks, it's appreciated....I play 99% vinyl and the purchase of the RB 81's has sent me hurriedly into the record room to retrieve an armful of my best recordings, which is always a good sign the upgrade is superior to the previous kit used. Tommy I live about 15 miles outside of London in Coulsdon, Surrey (near Reigate/Epsom) right at the very top of the Surrey hills/London Basin.. The speakers passed my most critical test, my little Lakeland terrier dog always starts howling at certain notes on some of the better speakers I’ve owned…… he hasn’t stopped all day, that’s good enough for me but the dogs off to his new acoustically lined kennel home at the end of my garden.

there are two affordable cleaning machines (electric/suction), Keith Monks (UK) or 'Nitty Gritty (Stateside), both clean records perfectly

Hi I’m new to the board and this is my first posting. my first pair of RB 81’s arrived today within 4 days of putting the order in which I think is a great turnaround, I used a pair of Heybrooks speaker stands to mount the speakers and was immediately blown away by the speakers quality of sound and depth of bass when I put them through my home system, I constantly upgrade (well for the last 30 years) and generally dabble with UK made kit, I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to reach a true hi-fi level of sound, I’ve lost count of the amount of over rated speakers I’ve owned (20’ish at a guess). if these non run-in speakers can perform so well straight out of their boxes I was just wondering if or how long they need to perform at their very best…..Cheers, John