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KenazFilan

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About KenazFilan

  • Birthday 05/01/1965

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  1. I've got a McIntosh MA6200 connected to my Fortes. McIntosh and Klipsch pair together beautifully: the McIntosh's natural warmth cuts the Klipsch's tendency to brightness.
  2. My wife got a pair of Klipsch Forte Is home in the back seat of a 2003 Honda Accord. That pretty much maxed out the Honda's storage capacity: I don't think we would have been able to move Choruses and LaScalas would be right out.
  3. I'd say 99.99% of us couldn't afford them. I've always wondered who spends this kind of money on audio equipment. I have spent a bit under $3k on my main room system ($400 for the DAC, $850 or so for the Fortes + mods, and $1650 for a refurbed McIntosh MA6200 integrated amp) and I am pretty satisfied with my listening experience. If I had the spare cash I can see how spending $4k on a pair of new Cornwall IIIs might pay off in significantly better sound or how Khorns or Jubs could take it to a whole new level that might be worth the money. But I'm not sure how these $95k speakers would be ten times better than a $9.5k pair of Jubilees. At some point you start running into the law of diminishing returns: I'm not sure where that is but I'm pretty sure it's well under $95,000.
  4. The harshness came after the titanium upgrade and I built the LP filter Bob Crites designed for titanium midranges. (I've attached it here). Crites recommends against installing titanium midranges as he doesn't like the sound: I found that his low pass filter took care of the problems with my system but I can also see why some people prefer phenolic diaphragms. Even with the LP filter titanium diaphragms are very unforgiving: poorly recorded material is reproduced with every artefact and problem glaring at you in the foreground.
  5. I put titanium midrange diaphragms in my Forte I. They gave me better definition and soundstaging, but I noticed harshness and fuzziness on some songs. That disappeared when I installed a low pass filter to recreate the phenolic diaphragm's natural roll-off at the top end. For me it was worth it but some people don't care for the titanium sound.
  6. For $95k I could buy a pair of stock Jubilees, get them veneered, and then use the remainder for a house to put them in. Volti's Vittora is a nice-looking speaker -- it looks like a Belle and a KHorn had a one-night stand. But a fully tricked out pair with the ELF cabinet will set you back $30k: I'd rather get a vintage pair of KHorns, refresh the crossovers and drivers, have them refinished, then biamp them and have equally good or better sound for around 1/3 of the price. Heck, I'd put my Fortes up against most $10k speakers and I've spent around $850 total on them.
  7. My Forte Is are in a 12 x 15 x 8 room and about 12" from the wall: I am using them for computer speakers, which is probably not ideal but there is something to be said for having Edgar Winter sitting in your lap during "Frankenstein." I put in Crites crossovers, installed titanium diaphragms in the tweeter and midrange, and built and installed a low pass filter on the midrange to make up for the titanium's extended range. For about $850 total investment I would put them up against speakers costing 4 or 5 times as much. The only way they are leaving my living room is if I decide to upgrade to Cornwalls or La Scalas -- or I move to a place where KHorns would be feasible. In their current location the Fortes hit 32hz with ease, and have an amazing presence (for lack of a better word) that on good recordings can bring the performers right into your listening space. Congratulations on an excellent purchase that will provide you with much listening enjoyment.
  8. You're in Athens? I went to school at UGa for a couple years. Some guys leave their heart in San Francisco: I left a big chunk of my liver in Athens, Georgia.
  9. You're right: it passes everything below a certain frequency, not everything above it. My bad.
  10. These are the parts I used: Dayton Audio 4.0 mH 18AWG solid core inductor Dayton Audio 0.5mH 18AWG perfect layer inductor Dayton Audio PMPC 1.5uf 250v Precision Audio Capacitor Blue Perforated Large Hole Crossover Board 5x7 (pair) I am not sure I used exactly the right parts but it sounds fine so I'm not arguing. Going forward I might use an air core inductor instead of a solid core as I've gathered some audiophiles think the iron leads to distortion. (If it does I can't hear it: the sound is much better than without them).
  11. The link in the OP has the parts list: each filter uses a 4 mH inductor coil, a 500 uH inductor coil and a 1.5uF capacitor: you'll also need a large hole perforated crossover board, wiring, crimp connected terminals (2 female terminals and two fork terminals), solder and a soldering iron. It took me about 30 minutes to put them together and a few minutes more to install them between the crossover and the midrange driver.
  12. I put titanium midrange diaphragms in my Forte Is a while back. While I liked the added detail and separation, I noted some fuzziness and harshness in many recordings. Finally I decided to try the band pass filter which Bob Crites designed to deal with the titanium midrange's higher range. (The phenolic midrange rolls off before the tweeter kicks in: the titanium keeps going for a few hundred hz more). I ordered the boards, inductor coils and capacitors from Parts Express: I already had some solder and a soldering gun from my last project, recapping a pair of DLKs. Arranging the caps and coils was not difficult: I even managed to solder the point-to-point wiring without burning anything down. Crimping the end connectors on was actually the most difficult part: I've got a stripper/clipper/crimper combined tool which resulted in multiple terminators being insufficiently crimped and sliding off. But at last I got everything together and installed them between the squawker and the crossover. The results were impressive: gone was the distortion I had noted before and in its place was crystalline clarity. If you are thinking about adding titanium midranges I would definitely recommend building this filter and installing it. If I can do it so can you, and it's definitely worth the effort.
  13. McIntosh + Fortes is also pretty darned nice.
  14. Am presently a/bing my Fortes & Bose 10.2 on Kahlehi Avo's Contrabassoon Concerto (Lewis Lipnick, Contrabasson; Bergen Symphony Orchestra w/Andrew Litton, Conductor). The Fortes have a much clearer high range and a better sense of presence. The strings have much better separation on the Fortes: the horns, of course, sound best reproduced on horns so they win there as well. (I also need to listen to the 10.2s with the volume at 12 o'clock to get what the Fortes will play in the 9:30 position). Even the percussion, one of the 10.2's strongest points, is clearer and more distinct on the Fortes. Symphonic classical music is definitely better on the Fortes than the 10.2 IIs. That being said, I should note that the 10.2s did an entirely satisfactory job of reproducing Lipnick's contrabassoon solos and have an excellent dynamic range. Checked out Tori Amos' "Caught a Lite Sneeze" from Boys for Pele, and the 10.2 IIs fared much better. The Fortes did a superior job of reproducing Tori's voice and piano accurately: through the 10.2 IIs the sound was warmer and more inviting. The 10.2 IIs also do better with less impressive material. The best recordings sounds veiled on the 10.2s: the Stereo Everywhere effect means you don't get the kind of razor-sharp imaging the Fortes can give you. MP3s lose their harshness on the 10.2s while the Fortes reproduce every artifact and metallic-sounding harmonic in painful detail. There's no question the Fortes are superior speakers, but for what they are the 10.2s are excellent. They are also tower speakers which have a smaller footprint, though they put out a surprisingly big sound for their size. If WAF is a factor and/or you listen to a lot of garage band recordings or compressed audio, the 10.2 IIs might suit your needs just fine. Sheesh... ask me for the time and I tell you how to build a watch.
  15. I second this. My MA6200 comes from McIntosh Audio: Tom Manley and Terry DeWick are both great guys and I have been entirely satisfied with my purchase. A refurbished 40 year-old McIntosh still romps and stomps over most contemporary audio gear.
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