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according to a post in the epics owners thread, this seller wants to keep the speakers... but the ad is still up & only 5 days old so that sounds kinda strange. beautiful looking speakers in the cherry regardles of the version. i noticed the short ports too & the serial number indicates late v1 or maybe v2. hard to say what has been done to speakers or anything after this long, someone could have changed ports or drivers etc. on a side note, i have owned v2 cf4s & heard a couple pairs of v3... dont let the hype of v1 vs v2 & v3 fool you... v3 cf4s are still excellent speakers! v1 or v2 may be "better" but v3's are right up there with them, any version of epics are awsome speakers!

value of fortes can vary greatly... some guys think they are worth $750+, especially if you look on ebay. but rarely do they actually sell for that much. average real world prices for forte 1 are $400-600 in excellent condition, the forte 2 might get the higher side of that range. i had an almost mint set of fortes in oiled walnut i sold recently for $500 locally & that took almost a month to find the right buyer. condition is very important so better pics showing more of the speaker would help get an accurate price estimate. but i think starting at $500 obo would be a good number.

he wants to keep the speakers? the ad was just listed 5 days ago & it is still active... but he wants to keep the speakers??? why doesnt he just delete the ad if he wants to keep them? also, those dont look like v1 cf4's, they have awfully short ports for v1. beautifull looking epics though!

like you said, everyone likes what they like. thats fine if you dont like adcom, was just saying the vast majority of owners dolike them based on reviews out there. i agree, many other brand amps may sound better in some ways regardless of price point. i didn't miss your comment about cant go wrong for $350, thats kind of what i was saying... for the price, they are pretty good amps. & with a "decent" preamp they will sound better than the AVR he was using.

never heard of either of those but i assume they are "decent" being they sell used for $1500+. probably more than his entire garage system costs! by decent, i meant something in the midfi price range, not a pre that cost 5x what he paid for the amp. so what exactly did you not like about the adcom? was it that it didn't sound as good as amps that cost 5x more or tube amps? obviously they wont sound as good as some of the high end stuff some guys here own. for their price range, they sound pretty darn good to the average guy. it's all about budget, not everyone can afford a $1500 pre & $5k amps.

i dont know the technical details on how or why when they short out they damage speakers but did read that the fuses wont protect the speakers in that situation, too slow or something. when they go bad they send full amperage to the speakers that the fuses wont protect. as for the sound quality, its like anything else, all depends on the rest of the system. you cant compare an $800msrp or $300-$400 used price adcom to true high end amps that cost 2-10x as much or to a tube amp sound. however, the adcom 535-555 amps sound very good with decent gear in the system, if i recall they are a nelson pass designed amp & get great reviews from the vast majority of people that own them. i can say without a doubt that my 555ii's hooked up to forte2, chorus 2, k-horns or epic cf-4s & other brand speakers sound pretty darn good & IMO far better than friends systems with other same priced gear & more expensive speakers or other set ups i have auditioned at local stereo stores. adcom & other brands are what i call mid-fi, far better than your basic best buy receivers/amps & just as good as most any same price amps/gear. all depends on the system, music taste & personal preference.... & of course what you can afford! i use an adcom gtp-500ii pre with a tuner, got it for $200 shipped a few years ago, has very good tone controls too. most tone controls bosst bass too far into the mids, the adcoms bass controls are at like 100hz i think. get a decent preamp & i think you will like the adcom.

curious how you went about hooking it up to the yamaha & integrated? do either of those have actual RCA pre amp outputs? if not you should not hook up an external amp to them. the HT receiver you mentioned with pre outs should have tone controls, but they are in the digital settings of the receiver. i have used HT receivers as pre amps before & they will work but usually wont sound as good as a dedicated preamp. i would suggest finding a matching adcom preamp... they aren't the best out there by any means but you can find a gtp400-500 used on ebay for a couple hundred bucks, or less. & they sound very good for the price point. is the adcom amp a true SE or the standard 555 or 555ii? the 555 SE is a more recent amp adcom introduced with some upgrades over the original 555/ii amps, if you got it for $300 & it works thats a great deal! i have ran the 555ii for years & they sound pretty good (for the price range) & have tons of power, the bass should be very good, depending on the speakers used. in bridged mode they are a beast! a friend of mine rane 2 of them bridged to some non klipsch speakers & they were insanely loud, but at high volumes lacked any detail or quality. shakeydeals comment about a blessing in disguise is probably related to the fact that adcoms design has no protection circuit, so if/when they go bad they will likely take out your entire speaker! i have read of that happening very rarely but its a possibility to keep in mind.

NICE!

looks like i was wrong on the walnut option... ive just never seen a set in walnut, not in person or listed for sale anywhere. epics are awsome speakers & in walnut they would be even better! looking at the pics i dont think those were restained in walnut, just a very clean medium oak. walnut is very dark by comparison. ive had a few medium oak klipsch speakers & they all were a little different color, the grain can make them darker/lighter. but walnut is definitely much darker than oak. either way, nice speakers!

hi. to answer your question on the consecutive serial #'s... no, there really isnt any significance to them being consecutive, just that it means they are a matched pair made together. many times dealers would substitute another speaker for a damaged one or a warranty issue if the customer didnt want to wait for a repair from klipsch & most people back then didnt know or care if the serial numbers matched. having matching #'s does help the resale value though. also for many klipsch speakers the grain of the veneer is matched so they look the same. glad yours are a matched set. you can verify what version they are by checking the serial number date of manufacture, also by the internal wiring. theres a long informative thread on here for epic owners that has great info on these speakers. also, can you post a pic of the labels &/or speakers? i could be wrong but i dont think epics came in walnut, they were black, oak, cherry & maybe mahogany.

worth checking again...

Forte rubber surrounds do that over time, its just a chalky or dried out cosmetic thing, usually will go away with some good rubber treatment like 303 protectant. Also they are not a maple finish like the seller states or cherry... they are walnut oil finish. $350 is an excellent price.

If you havent located what you need yet, try calling simply speakers for a quote to recone your woofer. They have the correct replacement cones at a very good price, that way you keep your correct speaker & will be much cheaper than buying a replacement.

Best to find a correct used klipsch replacement, they do show up on ebay from time to time. Or I would suggest having it reconed from a place like simply speakers, they have the correct type cones & would be the cheapest option... next to repairing it. Looks like an easy fix, you can use elmers type glue carefully in the tear & push it together with a piece of tape from the back to hold it untill dry, probably can barely see it afterwrods. Then remove the tape & use the glue & paper trick on the back side for strength, I've used cig papers with good results but have heard of tissue or coffe filters too.

what in the heck? https://www.ebay.com/itm/132600542599?_trksid=p11021.c100851.m5053&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170803121420%26meid%3D2399f5b566184601ae39a2576a37b23e%26pid%3D100851%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26b%3D1%26sd%3D163064041866%26itm%3D132600542599&ul_noapp=true

But ???

You could also just buy the capacitors & install them yourself... very easy to do if you have average soldering skills. Don't need to use sonicaps either, many other caps out there that will sound just as good for less $$. Unless you are going for top of the line caps/sound, the improvement is mainly from replacing the cheap/aged original klipsch caps.

see above 2 posts.... serial numbers should be on the tags in the top rear corners. cf3 v3 sell for around $500-$800 in good condition.

FYI for anyone interested, i just spoke to the seller, he is asking $900 & said he had an offer of $925 to "hold them"... his description is that one speaker got wet & has minor cosmetic water damage on the top & has more damage on the bottom from sitting on wet carpet with missing spikes. from the looks of them with the greyish horns they are likely v1. too bad about the water damage on one, they look nice in the pics...

congrats! pics or it didnt happen aside from a visual inspection of the x-overs to be sure no leaking capacitors & that all wires are connected right... you can just hook them up to a known good amp/receiver & play them. give them a little volume & see how they sound, k-horns are pretty bullet proof & they should work fine if they were working when last played. you can verify the mids & tweets are all working by covering the mid with a magazine or even your hand & put your ear up close to the tweet, then cover the tweet & listen to the mid, should be very easy to tell if they are all working. from there i would listen to them for awhile & decide if you like the sound & if everything is up to par. then you can decide on refreshing the x-overs or upgrading other parts.

gotcha. sorry, not too familiar with the new finishes & the specific speaker wasnt mentioned...

what speakers are they? if they are klipsch, the finish type should be listed on the rear tags... by "distressed oak" i assume you just mean they are old/dry/worn. lemon oil is good stuff for maintnance & should be used on the "oiled" finishes, if they are cleared then just use a damp cloth or mild furniture cleaner to wipe them down.

looks like version 2 or 3 based on the short ports, would have to ask for a serial number to be sure since you cant read the label. seller says "pick up only" in the description, must have made a mistake in the listing. i doubt they will ship these for $129... & it shows me $86 shipping because ebay bases it on location. definitely an error on shipping.

unless klipsch used a differet screw in the KM speakers, that is definitely a stripped out phillips screw. the spreaker wire/x-over & drivers use phillips screws in every klipsch speaker i have seen from heritage to KG to reference. & that is a pretty bad stripped out head, these screws are just short wood screws into MDF or plywood, cant imagine how they would get that stripped out. before buying some specialty screwdriver/ bit i would suggest trying some different size phillips to see if they will fit better, or what ive done on lots of stripped screws is to get a flat blade screwdriver that will grab 2 of the legs & that should be enough to carefully remove them, they should not be that tight. then go to your local hardwre store & get some new screws to put it all back together.

KG5.5 grille in very nice shape with excellent badge. no snags or stains but a very small hole in top right corner of fabric. $25 + shipping.