George in Georgia

Hmmm... I've been running my Fortes on a Harman Kardon HK 590i receiver with only 45 wpc. I've resisted "upgrading" because of the expense, of course, and also the HK has a feature set which seems unobtainable on current gear. Who now offers tone controls with two different shelving points, a mono switch, and a rumble filter? Not that my AR ES-1 has any rumble, of course! [] How can a surge arrestor, of any cost, "choke off" the AC? Contact corrosion? Skimpy internal wiring? How many amps would your new gear draw? Please, get a good surge arrestor! Your equipment will thank you!

I've been running Forte I's with a 45 wpc Harmon Kardon HK 590 for years now. The combo has never sounded stressed up to sound levels louder that I want.

I'm using a HK-590i receiver dating back to the mid '80s. It has the advantage of defeatable tone controls with two different hinge points, plus a low frequency cut off filter so my Fortes won't be overloaded by footfalls, etc. A mono switch is nice for my oldest vinyl; the 590's phono stage handles the AR ES-1 with Shure V15 micro ridge very nicely. HK has a nice sound, and is reliable. Fortunately the Fortes are happy with 45 wpc, and I suspect that HK's happiness with low impedance loads and more than ample power reserves helps its ability to drive the Fortes as loud as I want. You made a good choice.

Here's an interesting site related to this good thread http://sound.westhost.com/cables.htm Be warned: the developer of the site is, in addition to being an audiophile, an electrical engineer. He and Roger Russell, of http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm would probably find much in common. For several years I subscribed to Stereophile and back in the day to Audio; I can hardly think of two magazines with more divergent philosophies. I tend more to the Audio philosophy: show me the money, let's do a double blind test, etc. Some of the descriptions the sound qualities of various (expensive) cables sound more akin to a wine tasting than music reproduction. I can't afford to play around with varying cables, so I use heavy gauge wire and save the extra coin for recordings or for my other money sink of a hobby, photography. Thank goodness my very tolerant wife sews most of her own clothes so we have money for the "important" things!

My experience with linseed oil hasn't been all that good. Years ago I refinished a rifle stock with 5 or 6 coats of linseed oil, rubbed in with a cloth and then rubbed with fine steel wool, allowing several days between coats. Almost immediately it "bled" little drops of oil? and tended to be sticky, especially in humid weather. I also finished a maple butcherblock dining room table with linseed oil cut with turps on the advice of the dealer; not a happy outcome. Since then I've used Watco products with good results; I'm sure that there are other good products. BTW, "boiled" linseed oil isn't really boiled, it has various metallic dryers added which probably make it unsafe for food surfaces. Fine Woodworking is a wonderful source of finishing information. Those guys and gals know their stuff. Hmm, my lovely Fortes could use some TLC. Great forum! For what its worth, my Fortes are powered by a HK 590i. Its 45wpc are more than enough, and the tone controls with variable hinge points are the way such things should be done. Plus it has a tone control defeat switch, and a high-pass filter to safeguard the Fortes from really low freq stuff. Playing vinyl on my AR ES-1 with the last Shure V15 cart the Fortes make a lovely noise.