Dark Rambler

I purchased the Emotiva A-150 a few months ago, the little brother to the A-300. I wanted a simple Class A/B amp and 75WPC is more than enough to drive my Forte II's to ear splitting volumes! This calculator is a great tool: https://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html I am not a big believer in electronics needing a break-in period, but he Emotiva did seem to warm up (sound wise) a little after the first month. (This could be me getting used to the Forte II sound also, which have a clear mid-range) The amp does not run hot even when I am pushing over 95 + db for longer periods. The above calculator says I will use 8 watts to get 100db at the listening position, a whole 25 watts to get 105db, which is as loud as I want it to go for anything! Though there is not much info about the A-300 (and less on the A-150) in terms of reviews, I think you will be happy with the A-300.

After my wife decided she wanted hardwood floors (vs the carpet we had) a number of years ago, the acoustical mess that was this living room became very apparent. The journey to tame the acoustics is a story in itself, ultimately solved with the last piece of the puzzle, the Forte II's. A brief description of the acoustic modifications: In the picture you can see a pair of 2 X 4 foot (2 inch deep) of commercial acoustic absorption, and below them a pair of 2 X 2 foot (4 inch deep) custom built bass traps filled with rockwool. The down firing subs sit on 3 inch deep foam isolation (inside of black pillow cases) topped with a single floor tile sample, which helps tighten the bass and keeps the subs from walking across the floors. To the back right corner out of view of the picture are two more stacked bass traps, effectively 2 X 4 foot (8 inches deep). This corner was one of the bigger problems in the room. Behind the listening space I built a custom textile hanger of which I filled a large burlap bag with rockwool which I hung inside, and then covered with a few layers of decorative blankets which absorb reflections off of the rear wall. The three seat couch sits in a 10 foot triangle from the speakers, three and a half feet from the rear wall. There is a 8 X 10 shag rug (plus pad) under and in front the couch, plus various rugs in the room. The big rug really helped to tame the echos that were created by the flooring. It's hardly Home and Garden, but it's a nice humble house that we will have paid off before I retire in 10 years. And yes, I have a great wife that puts up with my modifications! I am considering replacing the custom absorption with commercial units just to clean up the look a little (they probably are more effective too).

I had been struggling for years to get a good sound in my two channel set up. Every time I thought I had it sorted out, I would listen a different type of music (or movie) and I would be up and adjusting something again. My living room is my listening space, and it is asymmetrical. Many years ago I had acquired a pair of speakers from a friend who considered himself an “Audiophile” who suddenly needed cash more than speakers. These speakers were Vero Research (no longer in business) Soundwaves Point Source 3.0 Towers (vintage 1992). I had seen the original invoice and knew I was getting these speakers for a fraction of their new cost. The Soundwaves are an unusual 2 way polygonal design that can create a very open sound. Unfortunately for me, the design does not seem to work well in my living room. Over the years I have added acoustic absorption to key points of the room and changed electronics and still I could not find a sound to make me happy. Late last year my wife are at some outdoor venue and I hear something that makes me smile. Fifty yards away are some JBL professional speakers running background music (before a festival) at a low volume that sounded clear and powerful, even from a distance. As I get closer to these speakers I realize they are a horn driven design! This is the sound I was looking for! OK, so at some point here I have a flashback and remember back in the late 80's or early 90's (yeah I am an old man) I was in a hi-fi shop sampling some speakers and they demonstrated some large Klipsch speakers tucked into the corners of the high-end room. To be honest I don't remember if they were Klipschorns, La Scala's or what. What I do remember was the clear powerful, lifelike live sound they produced! Unfortunately the price and size of these speakers didn't match my budget or listening space then or now. Last December, the frustration of not knowing if my 'audiophile' speakers were at the root of my sound issues became higher when I discovered that the closest Klipsch Heritage dealer was 300 miles away! I was thinking of getting a pair of Heresy III's, but I still had a hard time in my mind spending this amount of money until I knew where my sound issues really were. I debated taking this trip to this dealer, but I was exploring other options. The week before Christmas, I am checking out E-Bay for used Heresy II's, and I find a pair of Forte II's in good shape for $600. They were black (which matches our decor), and while the pictures showed the wear and tear of the years, all the corners and drivers looks good in the pictures. The only downside was a 1200 mile round trip to get them! This is the pair I bought! So my wife and I take a three day road trip during a cold and rainy weekend before Christmas to meet a very nice man and his family who was the original owner (vintage 1995). His reason for parting with the Forte II's was that he finally upgraded to a multi-channel system and no longer felt the need for a large speaker. He even had the original boxes! I believe he really did me a favor! Once we get home, I plug the Forte II's up to my amplifier and whoa! My wife, who is rarely interested in music is floored, as am I. The character our our listening experience improved so dramatically in such a short period, I know now the root cause of my previous frustration was speakers! In early January I ordered a pair of new crossovers and the titanium tweeter diaphragms from Bob Crites. In late January I disassembled the speakers, gave them a light sanding, did the rattle can paint job, and reassembled them with the upgrades (the Crites crossovers are a work of art themselves) adding in a bit of rockwool dampening. I figured we have $1500 invested in the speakers, from the cost of speakers, electronics and cost of the round trip. The speaker grills are a bit faded by time, so I removed them, and painted the speaker mounting screws red for contrast and added a Klipsch logo I found on E-Bay for a Industrial look. I currently have our rebuilt Forte II's paired with some old Sub-10 Klipsch sub-woofers I had, connected on the high side with a 40hz crossover point. I cleaned out some old electronics and bought in the Yamaha WXC-50 Streamer/DAC/Preamp connected to a new Emotiva A-150 amplifier. This simple system now sounds glorious with any music played or any movie watched. It is interesting to see now that the hi-fi reviewers such as Steve Guttenberg, Andrew Robinson and John Darko have also found their way to the Klipsch Heritage line. This journey has been a fun one with us being rewarded with a new appreciation for well record music. For under $3K for everything (except the TV), this budget system sounds better than I could have imagined, and continues to impress new guests to our home. Sorry for the long post but I have read many posts in the Klipsch two channel forums concerning the Heritage speakers and I wanted to share my experience as well.