CatManFever

I don't like Sound & Vision, it's nothing but a glossy advertiser's rag. I canceled my subscription a long time ago. It was obviously designed for the Home Theater crowd with it's nice big glossy pictures and doo-dad buttons, switches and fancy lights. This Home Theater phenomena is not "audiophile" stuff.

>>After that review, it was several years before Paul >>would allow SR any Klipsch speaker for review. >>I'll post the article (and letter) if I can find. Yes, please do! I'd like to see what it says. There is no doubt JH didn't really "bad mouth" any speaker or equipment as he seemed to be too much of a gentlemen, BUT - if you are familiar with his technique one could easily read between the lines and find which audio equipment were just mediocre, acceptable or exceptional, thus there was no real reason to "bad mouth" something. After all, I believe he was talking to savvy readers!

Lucky guy. Me, I'm still searching......

Julian Hirsch really liked them. I wish he was still available to review the Forte II and the Klipschorn. I'd be really interested to see what he had to say. I don't care much for the new Klipschs. I agree with what one fellow said about the "bean counters" coming in somewhere around 1987+ and Klipsch seemed to start getting "fancy" from there like the rest of 'em, instead of sticking to proprietary craftmanship, their, uh-um, forte. (No pun intended).

Did anyone here bid on this speaker? I saw it and e-mailed the guy a couple of questions (he seemed to be a powerseller) and waited for several hours but it was too late. Someone bought it and it looked brand new. It was the original Forte and not the Forte II. It came with the original boxes also. A very RARE find and I bet one lucky and happy guy. (I also notice couple of Forte's haven't been bid on and one did not even meet its reserve. Are they becoming too disinteresting or something?) I don't understand why Klipsch did away with the Forte I.

Some say there is a big difference in sound between the Forte 1 and the Forte 2.

Is that really true? I keep hearing that story about no Jews being killed in the Twin Towers. I find that hard to believe, or is it just a rumour put out by anti-semites? Maybe we should call Dennis Praeger and find out?

It's really sad to hear all these bad "shipping" stories. It makes FedX and UPS defeat its own purpose. I will be very leery now of buying anything via Ebay (due to horror shipping stories) and will request extra packing on sensitive equipment. It's really sad with all types of "precious" goods being shipped around only to arrive DAMAGED! What good is the speedy and marvel of UPS or FedX shipping technology if it arrives DAMAGED? It makes no sense sometimes. This message has been edited by CatManFever on 09-10-2002 at 04:38 PM

Klipsch says "in response to customer... demand", well there's a DEMAND for the OLD Klipsch like FORTE, but they won't make'm. Please make them again. Preferably, the way it was done the 1ST TIME. Thank you!

I also bought a speaker on Ebay. A Klipsch Forte and the guy shipped it to me via UPS. It arrived DAMAGED, with a broken 9 lb woofer rattling all over inside and a corner of it SMASHED in! BUT the funny thing was there was no damage to the speaker box it came in!!! Well, the guy I bought it from swears it was in perfect condition when he packed it, but he was real good about it and refunded me every penny! I talked to another guy who used to work for UPS and he said these guys are real ROUGH on stuff. And he gave me a demonstration of how it could of been dropped without damaging the box. BUT that still doesn't explained how the corner got smashed in!

Thanks ya'll for the comments. They were very interesting, considering the vast difference of the way the two Fortes, i.e. I and II were manufactured and the different components.

Hi, I looked back at my e-mail and it looks like I e-mailed a guy named Applecore.

Oh, so that is what is going on! I e-mailed one of the guys (I forgot which one) and asked them to explain why there is two of same speakers on auction. So far I have received no reply (several days have passed). Thanks for the explanation.

Does anyone know which Forte sounds better, the Forte I or the Forte II? It seems the latter crowd likes the Forte II, but I believe these people have never heard the Forte I. Those that have listened to the Forte I don't seem to like the sound of the Forte II from what little I have gathered. Thanks for you opinions (if anyone has any).

I have never heard a review so glowing given to a loudspeaker by the very conservative Julian Hirsch of all my years of reading Stereo Review to one speaker called the Klispch Forte (not the no. 2 version). It made me a Klipsch fan (I should say freak) from that day on. Anyone who knows Mr. Hirsch knows how conservative he is on praising any speaker so this was really something! Nuf' said! Thanks Paul, for a piece of real Americana! You're up there like another piece of Americana, Harley's! Nelson wishing they would remake the Klipsch Forte I again! Now that's a REAL speaker! This message has been edited by CatManFever on 05-08-2002 at 03:40 AM

Thanks Tom for that wonderful tip. I have downloaded a utility that is suppose to let you get in a last moment "snipe' type bids on auction sites like Ebay. Haven't tried it yet, though. Heck, I haven't even unzipped it yet.

Advertising can also backfire. One company that comes to mind is Polk. Their advertising really revealed to me over the years that it is just a MARKETING company and not a SPEAKER company. I avoided Polk like the plague and was never interested in their speakers wherever it was sold. If you notice they seem to change speaker lines every year, even when the ads say it is the best speaker they HAVE EVER MADE (or something like dat), well I wonder about the suckers that bought their speakers last year then, huh? So, the message I got was don't buy their speakers because next year and the year after that, (and who knows when it will end?) that they will finally get their speaker right! How many times have you seen Mr. Polk with his ultimate, dultimate, superduper, 100 speaker cones, 50" multi-hole woofer, "finally got it right" speaker??? Gimme a break!

Thanks all for the replies. I'm not planning on buying any Klipschorn yet, what I am interested in is the Klipsch Forte I being rebuilt. The rest of the stuff they make seems to be flash-in-the-pan crap (as far as I'm concerned) except for the original Heritage series by Paul. When Paul was in control Klipsch made REAL speakers. I'm real glad they have remade the Klipschorn, that is REAL interesting. I only hope they now remake the Klipsch Forte I (not the no. 2 version) say as a big anniversary stuff. I'm one of the suckers that never bought it after the Julian Hirsch review and I keep getting "sniped" at Ebay on "mint" versions that I'm totally disgusted bidding!

Does anyone know why on the Klipsch homesite when checking for information on the Klipschorn it says, "this model is currently unavailable". First the Forte I, now they quit making this too???

I too am appalled by the so called "new" Klipsch models and am not interested in any of them at all. Currently trying to obtain a pre-1989 Klipsch Forte, but not the Forte II which I heard is a "different" animal. I was also wishing Klipsch would bring back this great speaker.

I too am currently looking for a Klipsch Forte reviewed by Julian in 1986. (I should of bought it when I had the chance). But there is is a dilemma. Since I did not buy it way back then they have since come out with a Klipsch Forte II. Some say it sounds different than the original Forte. The reviews seem mixed, and well, so am I! And I have not seen a review of the Forte II except a minor one by Soundstage(?). Anyone out there ever compared the two? This message has been edited by CatManFever on 11-18-2001 at 10:48 PM

Serial number tags? Do you know where they are attached too?

Does anyone know why some Klipsch Forte speaker connection plates (where speaker wires go in) in the back of the speaker is round and some are rectangle? This is a Klipsch speaker manufactured in 1986 and it has a rectangle connection plate. I have seen only Forte's with only round connection plates so far.

Thanks for that information. That looks interesting. Will keep an eye on these companies. I have heard of Westlake Audio making horns. Have never seen a review of other horn speakers. Checked out the website. quote: Originally posted by TBrennan: CatMan---Well JBL is still around and thier history goes right back to the 1930s and the MGM Shearerhorn. Word is that the company is seriously considering selling the big no-holds-barred home horn rigs that they now sell only in Japan here in The States. For a look at some of these Super-JBLs like the Everest and K2 and a great deal of information on the history of Altec and JBL going WAY back look at www,audioheritage.org/ Classic Audio Reproductions up in Michigan is making no compromise horn rigs using JBL and TAD components, one speaker they make is a reproduction of the famous JBL Hartsfield cornerhorn speaker. Westlake Audio makes a range of very high quality horn studio monitors and home speakers, they also use TAD and JBL components. And you can always buy motion picture theater horn speakers from EV and JBL (EV is also a very old company with a great deal of history)but no exotic veneers for them. :-)

I agree with you on Klipsch. Lot of posts about their "new" speaker lines are complaints about quality. I really don't like their new speakers. They seem to be making them like everybody else. There's no styling to it, they look cheap, crappy, etc. It's sad! Klipsch is beginning to slowly turn me off. Time to look for another great speaker company. Problem is, there ain't any... not with the history of Klipsch anyway. The only speaker I still admire from them that is still being built is maybe the KLIPSCHHORN. But it requires two great corners spaced right, and they don't offer them in exotic wood veneers anymore. quote: Originally posted by TBrennan: Cat Man---The technology of good speakers hasn't changed appreciably (save the change from field-coil to permanent magnets in the 40s) since the 1930s when guys like Wente, Thuras, Olson, Hilliard, Voight and Lansing, with the resouces of the Phone Company and the radio and motion picture industries behind them, pretty much nailed down the right way to make good speakers. The advances since then have been in making the bad speakers better. Don't worry about age, many high quality speakers from the 1930s are still running well and sounding good. A fella I know recently heard Lansing Iconics from the 1930s and was very impressed! The Klipsch company is now going after the big money, something old PWK evidently wasn't very interested in. There's much more money to be made selling bad small speakers than in good large ones; any good speaker will of neccesity be large.