[First Klipsch Heritage Advice]

OK. Assuming you are correct what would the Forte, Chorus, etc. line be referred to then? When I look at my paperwork, and Heritage Klipsch advertising, IE; broschures etc. Both Forte and Chorus are listed as "Heritage" series.

John

[First Klipsch Heritage Advice]

Forte and Forte II's are part of the Klipsch Heritage series. From the Forte introduction to the last run of Forte II was well over a 12 year run. My Forte II's date back to 1992. Someone and I cannot remember who on this forum attended a Klipsch reunion and asked why the Forte II was not re-released as part of the Heritage series. The answer was that the Forte II does not fit into Klipsch's current go to market strategy. MHO is that they are too expensive to build today and would canabilize the Cornwall III market. At $1,000.00 a pair in 1992, they would probably need to sell for at least $1200.00 a piece today. Right around the price point of the Cornwall III.

The Hersey line, or any other Heritage product is no more so than the Forte series.

John

[Looking for guidance on a new 5 CD changer/player]

Well, after 18 years of faithful service it appears that my Adcom GCD 600 CD player needs to be replaced. I am looking for suggestions on new 5 CD changer/player's to add to my 2 channel system which consists of the following:

Adcom GFA 5802 Amplifier

Adcom GTP 500 II Premap/Tuner

Adcom GCD 600 CD Player

Adcom ACE 615 Line Conditioner

Klipsch Forte II

Velodyne VA1215X II Subwoofer

I would like to spend under $600.00 for new, or preowned. Thanks in advance for your assistance!

John

[Klipsch vs Paradigm]

Go with one of the following Klipsch "Heritage" series on the mains, and you will not be disapointed:

1) Klipsch Forte or Forte II's

2) Klipsch Chorus

3) Klipsch Cornwall

The RF series is not as full of a sound, but that is just my humble opinion. Also look for some vintage Klipsch products for your center and satellites.

[Found a new love...Forte II]

I agree with your assesment 100% as it relates to Greg's article. I own a pair of 1992 Forte II's that I will pass on to my son prior to ever parting with.

Originally powered by an Adcom GFA 555II, and now by an Adcom GFA 5802. I was and have always been happy with the sound. I would not consider Adcom components at the "High End" today or ever, but a great "Bang for theBuck" in my humble opinion.

The reason I posted the article is that I am in search of a used pair in the marketplace and was wondering if the 1996-1997? re-issues are exactly the same as the original run of Forte II????

Thanks!

John

[Found a new love...Forte II]

Attached below is an article on the limited 1996 re-release of the original Forte II, does anyone have any experience with the "2nd" generation of Forte II? Considering a second pair on used market and am wondering if they are the same as the original? Thanks! John

-
Greg Smith

---

October 1996

If you've been reading my Entry Level columns, you've noticed
that I frequently talk about my speakers. Klipsch introduced a collection
of designs they called the Heritage series back around the beginning of
the decade, and the jewel in that collection is a model called the Forte
II. Being from Klipsch, they use horns, but these speakers are the best
designed horns I've ever heard for any reasonable sum of money. They've
been out of production for many years now, so I haven't been pushing them
too much. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Klipsch is making them
again, and they're even cheaper than before! With the current craze, centered
around things like single ended tubes, toward higher efficiency speakers,
it's particularly appropriate to talk now about what these speakers do
well and to mention some of the things I've learned in five years of system
matching.

The Return of the Forte II

Klipsch Forte II

$1000/pair. Horn Tweeter, Tractrix Horn Midrange, 12 inch woofer,
15 inch passive radiator, crossover points at 650hz and 7Khz. 99dB sensitivity,
8 ohm nominal impedance, 4 ohm minimum. -3dB@32hz, 20Khz.

There are speakers that you just buy, plug in, and play. Sure, maybe
you move them around a bit, but most speakers aren’t all that difficult
to get working well. These are not speakers like that. The Forte II is
something you need to plan your whole system and room around to make it
perform well. You don’t just pick a random set of components, position
them like regular cone speakers, and expect them to perform. The result
will probably sound horrible. I will fully agree that most horn design
sound horrible in any case, including many from Klipsch. The Forte II can
be made to sound very good, but it takes quite a bit of sweat. Just because
you’ve heard horns before and thought they sounded bad, don’t dismiss these.

Here’s one thing I’ve noticed about horn speakers. Because the efficiency
is so high, it’s much easier to use the drivers out of their normal operating
range without causing over-excursion problems. This is why you’ll find
so many two-way horn designs. You can push most tweeter horns so that they
work down to around 2Khz, and keep the frequency response fairly flat.
Unfortunately, this results in a less than pleasant off-axis response at
higher frequencies. The horn problem most people refer to as "honking"
is most obvious with two-way horn designs, and I’ve never liked them because
of it.

When the engineers at Klipsch were designing the Tractrix midrange horn
that is used in the Forte II, they found it could be used up to 20Khz if
they played with the EQ on the driver. They didn’t do so; instead, there
is a separate tweeter horn for the very high frequencies. Limiting the
bandwidth used for the midrange horn lets it cover a horizontal area of
60 degrees smoothly while controlling the vertical coverage for better
integration with the other drivers (see Tractrix Horns in the March
1991 issue of Audio for information how the Forte II was created). The
fact that the midrange is so well designed is the primary reason this particular
model sounds so much better than the other speakers I’ve heard from Klipsch,
or from any other horn manufacturer for that matter.

The midrange is really what makes this speaker sound great. There’s
a totally effortless feeling to vocals that comes from a driver operating
nowhere near its limits in either frequency response or output level. And
the foundation that midrange is working on is very solid. The bass is tight
down to 30hz if the associated electronics keep up. You’ll feel little
need for a subwoofer.

And if you want peak output, you’ve got it. I’ve measured my speakers
clearing 115dB in my room before (with my ears covered, thank you). They
sounded about as distorted as your average cone speakers do with 10dB less
output (which is what you’d expect with a typical 10dB sensitivity difference).
While I certainly don’t recommend listening to anything that loud, it’s
nice to know you can use your speakers for low-grade sound reinforcement
without constantly fearing damage. The low distortion makes the volume
level deceptive; I can listen to these speakers at a considerably higher
volume than more traditional designs without ear fatigue. Distortion makes
speaker sound loud regardless of the volume, and it’s surprising how much
quieter the same volume levels sounds without it present (this is a central
concept to Paul Klipsch’s philosophy for the company).

Amplifier matching

With that 99dB sensitivity, you’d think you could use any old amplifier
and have plenty of power. This is not at all the case. In order to match
the output levels of the drivers (those horns are even louder than that
without some padding), Klipsch uses some very unique matching techniques
using things like a type of transformer. (see A Visit to the Klipsch
Kingdom in the 4/89 issue of Speaker Builder for comments from Paul
Klipsch on their autoformer design). Transformers are obviously inductive,
as they are made out of inductors. What this means is that while the amplifier
used doesn’t need to have a very high power output in typical terms, it
does need to be able to deal with the very difficult load that inductors
present. Using a cheap receiver to drive these speakers just because you
don’t need much power is the wrong approach. What you need is a high- current
amplifier that can deal with difficult loads without introducing problems.

One of the problems you’ll constantly fight with these speakers is that
any components that might sound a bit harsh with other speakers will have
that harshness revealed in all its glory. Use a typical cheap CD player
and a pair of these speakers will drive you from the room. The amplifier
matching in particular can introduce an incredibly rough sound. Back when
I was using an Adcom GFA-555 with these speakers, an amplifier generally
recognized as being a bit too aggressive in its treble, I had to deal with
a level of sibilance that was almost unbearable. The Proton D1200 amplifier
I current use is a very good match, but you can’t buy them anymore. Essentially,
I recommend trying amplifiers from manufacturers known for producing laid-back
components. I’ve had excellent luck building a system around these speakers
with components from Rotel, and I have no reason to expect that their power
amplifiers would be a bad match for these speakers (and they even make
inexpensive, low-power models that still have excellent current driving
ability). The tube amps I’ve tried all sound terrific with these speakers.
A 35w/ch Dynaco ST-70 is plenty of power to drive a pair to ear-bleeding
levels with no problems.

Placement

The other thing that really can bite you and leave a bad impression
of these speakers is how you place them. All of Klipsch’s speakers are
designed to be placed closer to the corners than typical designs. I like
these best sitting about 1-2’ from the left, right, and rear walls. Pull
them far out into the room and they don’t sound as good. Another things
to watch out for is toe-in. Most people angle their speakers so that the
drivers are directly facing them. Bad idea here--you want these facing
directly forward, with no toe-in rotation toward the center. When pointed
right at you, the harshness that’s always waiting around for the unwary
comes right out. The off-axis sound is much smoother and more pleasant
to listen to. The manual that comes with the speaker has very generic recommendations
that recommend toe-in for all their speakers; ignore all of their suggestions.
They may very well be true with other models, but with the Forte II they
are just plain wrong (current production might have a revised manual that
gives better advice).

Don’t wait too long...

Two warnings. First, if you’re interested, start moving now. I’m told
that the rerelease of these speakers is a temporary thing, and that they
are going to disappear again in some indeterminate period of time. Second,
I haven’t actually had a chance to try out a sample from the current product
run. I don’t see any design changes, and they seemed to sound about the
same during a brief listen at the local dealer, but I’m not 100% certain
these are exactly the same speakers I’m used to. Even if I had a pair,
I couldn’t tell you for sure for a while--it took me six months to get
my old pair broken in properly (you really have to move that woofer around
to stretch the cone and radiator out to get the bass going as deep as it
should). The bass does take a while before it sounds exactly right, and
the volume level required to break these in right is enough to get your
average dealer evicted if they tried it in the store.

As far as I’m concerned, the Forte II is a terrific design competitive
with any speaker in the $1000 price class is every category. And they are
possibly the best available in terms of deep bass output, sensitivity,
and maximum output for that much cash. If you give them a fair audition,
following the suggestions I gave for matching components and room placement,
you may just find that inexpensive horn speakers can sound better than
you thought possible.

.....GS

---

[Found a new love...Forte II]

I have owned a pair of Forte II's since early 1992. They truly are a "Lifetime" speaker. I will never part with mine. I am new to this forum, and have a couple of questions regarding upgrading the crossovers and midrange/tweeter.

Some may consider the question crazy, but is there a bennefit of upgrading if the speakers are still in top working order and never abused, as I am the original owner?

What can I expect as far as overall sonic improvement? Ballpark figure on costs and who to work with would be helpful as well.

Thanks in advance.

John