MikeFord

Other than features and marketing, no difference.

Good speakers don't wear out or even significantly degrade for many many years, so I gave up on the notion of new speakers decades ago. $500 to $1500 a pair buys amazing used speakers. My HT setup has Forte's L&R, C7, Heresy's on the sides and KG in the rear.

Bump for nice BIG speakers.

This is the sort of thing I can't resist, comparing two speakers that are close. That and buying any Klipsch I find at a good price.

Any resolution in this thread? Replacement or repair?

I don't think this is a good time to use long term audio memory, better to sum the source to mono and a/b between two speakers side by side. Better still, use a calibrated mic and do a distortion test, as it could be the speaker sounds fine except in some narrow resonant bands related to the damaged area.

Well, yes, it has been measured correctly. Secondly, it is the mid driver, not the woofer Thirdly, I don't think "wiggling" the woofer cone will affect it, since, yes, it is the mid.... And lastly, it's not connected to the crossovers. Any other advice? Try measuring them again, not because error is likely, but its easy to double check. Maybe apply some torque to the body to see if the measurement changes. The point of checking all the numbers and crossovers is to see if the speakers have been modified in some way. Nothing shows up, replace the diaphragms.

I find it hard to understand why anyone could think otherwise. If it were not so, why wouldn't you just buy any off the shelf cdp and be happy? Everything has it's own sound, amps, preamps, cables (shudder the thought), etc. It's the raison d'etre that this hobby exists. Otherwise we would all be shopping for rack systems at Best Buy...... Off my soapbox now....... Shakey Funny how the "sound" seems 100% tied to visual id of the item, and 0% related to audio only comparisons. Mastering, rooms, and speakers have huge differences, everything else, not so much.

Used to be a small audiophile brand with speakers called Lead Balloons using tubes like that.

Forte with the rubbing voice coil happened the same week that a new Linkin Park album came out. Took me three days to realize "some" of the distortion wasn't in the recording. Unless I am confident the speaker is totally fixed I will always wonder if this or that sound is the speaker messing up. Might push me over the edge to finally buy some real speaker measurement stuff, calibrated microphone etc.

Matched pairs look like they go on ebay for $100 a pair or more.

IF the DCR is measured correctly, no they will not work well together or with the squawker and tweeter. Measure again carefully, maybe wiggle the woofer cone a little to see if the measurement changes. Check all the numbers and letters on the two drivers, and maybe the crossovers.

While not convinced any properly functioning DAC has a "sound", I do really like the idea of going all digital to the output stage with something like the ICE amps. My old Sony STR DA3000ES uses a similar Direct Digital Drive a few generations older, but its no weak link in the sonic chain.

What is the point in using the power from the 12v supply for the raspberry as opposed to using two supplies, one for the amp and one for the strawberry and dac? Putting two supplies in series means the input to the raspberry supply is going to have some modulation from the operation of the amp. What sort of sensitivity to input power variations does the DAC have?

Like all solid wood somewhere in the response curve will be big resonant peak from the wood. I have a showbox sized solid wood box that used to be popular to make. Just an empty box with half a dozen saw blade wide front to back cuts on the top, and each of those bars cut at different distances front to back. You play it like a Xylophone with a super ball on the end of a dowel.

The Epic CF-4's that I bought have threaded holes about 3/8" in diameter and an inch or so deep in each corner of the bottom. A couple are buggered, so if there was a factory foot, they will need some fixing before replacing. I am thinking some kind of insert or Tnut for all of them, any ideas or suggestions on feet to use? Alternatively I could see going directly to some kind of stand to raise the tweeter to ear level.

Every step of moving mine since purchase has been a bear, and I have a good sized ape to help me. When I bought my Forte's the seller told me he had people come and look at them and just walk away due to the size, they must run screaming when seeing the CF-4. Because of that they sell at a wide range of prices depending on the size of houses in the area.

Rubbing alcohol is my least favorite solvent, contains glycerin and diluted with water. Disinfectant alcohol in as full of strength (not diluted with water) is usually a better choice, but only from the stand point of leaving a residue. If rubbing alcohol did not work, you need some other solvent. As mentioned, none of the goop should result in a shorted voice coil, something else is doing that. I would sort that out first.

A small number of cartridges and turntables are fairly neutral in sound, most have a sonic "character" so a record transferred using them would sound a bit different via each. What many miss when playing back a needledrop transfer are the ritual actions of LP's as well as the sonic character of their own system.

Condition is 2/3 of that kind of price, not the amp I would slip my toe into the tube water with unless the price was good.

With the woofer face down on the table, the Ferrite disc portion of the magnet structure sticks out about 3/16" on one side and about 1/2" on the other, presumably it shifted. The basket and rear plate seem fine, as is the cone. Did a google, not sure it applies, but Orange County Speakers (10 miles away) shows magnet realign $55. I may give them a call on Monday.

I like Sony, but don't know the full line. Some items were as good as they get, it will be a cold day when someone pry's my Sony STR DA3000ES receiver away from me, even if I eventually find a slightly newer version with HDMI inputs. CSNY did great stuff, awful mastering on many releases. I haven't listened to the CSNY 1974 live box set, about to, but the Audio Fidelity releases are at times amazing. Doing the vinyl conversion cleaning is key, but so is going with the best table and cartridge.

I am pretty sure my Forte speakers sounded fine for a couple weeks before I noticed a scratchy sound. VC clearly rubbing on something when the cone is moved. I bought a pair of replacement drivers from Crites, and set the old woofer aside. Today I was looking at it, and the large round ferrite magnet on the rear is clearly off center. Any thoughts on fixing this? My first thought is heat and a soft hammer, but too much of either and its fubar. OTOH driver is useless as is unless I tried to transplant the apparently perfectly good cone/spider/VC. Any screws hiding, or is it just glued and clamped somehow?

Any treatment could alter the sound, shoe dye might have stuff to keep leather soft etc. Would be good to see some before and after parameter tests.

After just sitting and nothing whatsoever done to it the bulged speaker "looks" fine. To see any sign of damage I need to know which speaker it is and use a good flashlight at an angle. No idea yet on the sound, but I do intend to "play" with it. I have some fabric glue I plan to use on a couple speakers with minor damage. Not mentioned on the bulge speaker is that a small area of the surround was lifting, so that will get a dab of fabric glue on a toothpick poked into it. Overall point is that visual inspections may not reveal serious flaws. When I bought my Forte's they sounded fine to me, but a couple weeks later one voicecoil was rubbing. Old speakers, roll the dice. Recones in all the sources I've checked are priced between known good used speakers and upgrades from Crites, ie generally a worthless option. If you have a simple issue like the old foam type surrounds going bad, easy DIY, but anything cone or voicecoil and you need jigs, plus I can't say I fully trust a recone to meet original specs. BTW I would also be game to try using good bits from a bad speaker to make "patches" to glue into another speaker, but again I would want some way to test the end result.