Mark Wayne

I wouldn't pay that much without new Crites crossovers as well. I modded my Forte IIs and the titanium tweeters are an improvement, but the new crossovers were a more significant upgrade.

Well if anyone wants them shipped, and can pay you to send the boxes to me, that would work. Thanks, Vintage Fan.

I'm not ready to ship yet. If they don't sell before the holidays, I may try to figure it out. I think the buyer would have to hire someone to come package them and insure the shipment. I have never shipped without appropriate boxes.

His signature indicates that he uses ALK crossovers... it's an odd comment given that. Regardless, the improvements are very obvious as evidenced by the positive comments by nearly everyone who has made them on this forum. With the aging crossovers and tweeters, the Forte IIs were not very good. Perhaps there are some pairs out there where the parts have not degraded as much over 25+ years as my pair had, but I recommend anyone with an original set of Fortes spend a few hundred bucks at least on the tweeters and crossovers.

Your post is misleading regarding the updates I made. As set forth in my original post, I swapped out the aging crossovers with Bob Crites' crossover... same circuit with new, higher quality parts. I see in your signature, you are using the ALK Universal Network in your speakers, a completely different circuit, so I'm not sure I understand your comment. I would like to hear the ALK crossover for the Fortes, but went with Crites specifically to avoid changing the overall character. The improvement is immediately obvious to most people on this board who have made that update to virtually any Klipsch from the 90s. The Crites titanium tweeter did very little to change the overall sound or balance. They did eliminate a hiss from the old tweeters and I sense a very slight improvement in decay on cymbals/triangle, etc. The No-rez is a cabinet dampening material. I haven't seen anyone on this board complain that additional cabinet stiffening or damping changed the overall sound of their Fortes. Further, the dynamat dampening of the horns was an obvious improvement in clarity to my ears. The 2 oz. washer on the passive honestly made no difference to my ears. Some people claim to hear a slightly deeper low end... maybe I do too... I'm not sure... This is certainly a "mod" but it's so minor and may only effect the lowest frequencies, I doubt many people could hear any difference in a blind test. Anyway, if you follow threads on modding Fortes, I think you'll find that very few people are disappointed in these changes. My Forte IIs have the same overall balance/tonality as they did in their original state, but with noticeable improvements as mentioned above. It was fun listening for the improvements each step.

Sorry, they are walnut. Not sure why I wrote Cherry.

I heard slight but noticeable differences with the: 1. Dynamat on the horns and No-Rez cabinet deadening, very significant improvement with 2. The Titanium tweeter, and 3. Crites Crossovers. 1. seemed to slightly unclutter the high frequencies... each sound was more distinct. 2. The titanium tweeter reduced a slight hiss from the old tweeters and I noticed more extension in cymbals 3. The crossovers dramatically impacted dynamics. I wish I had a second pair so that I could compare the other 3rd party crossover available to the Crites, but I wanted to see if I noticed a clear difference by simply replacing the old and cheaper parts with the new and better parts in the Crites which is the same circuit. I also sealed the little holes in the front baffle for the screws which leak air. A little putty. Very simple... didn't notice a difference... but that's a pretty minor change. One more "mod" there is an impressive difference if you lift them off the floor about 8-12 inches as suggested so that your ears are level with the mid horns. I never got around to building nice bases for them, but I would highly recommend it. If I had wood working skills, that's the first thing that I would do. The Forte IIs are just fabulous with the right music. My opinion is that if you have the space, they are far better than expensive smaller speakers for small group jazz and rock. I don't think they do strings and complex orchestral works well, but they gave me an idea of what the big horn speakers do well. I suspect that the Forte IIIs and newer Klipsch speakers may be much better in this regard, but those new Cornwalls I have my eye on are quite pricey and the more resolution in the speaker, the better the source and amplification required. I am running the Forte IIs with little Antique Sound Labs DT25s which were only about $400 20 years ago. I picked up a $99 DAC (xfi... zen blue? something like that). This makes an amazing second system for $1500.

I think it was 2 oz.

BUMP for lowered price to $950. NOTE: pickup only in Philadelphia, PA. Auditions welcome. Please reply for hires images as they are too large to attach. Cherry Klipsch Forte IIs, upgraded with Crites Titanium tweeters, Crites Crossovers (which make a significant difference), and GR Research No-Rez (a sound deadener). I also added Dynamat to the horns to add mass and lower vibrations. The titanium tweeters were about $55 and the crossovers $260. The No-Rez was $85 (plus $40 shipping). Pictures showing the interior of each speaker with Crites crossovers and no-rez are included in this ad. This is as good as the Forte IIs can get if you don't want to do the tinkering yourself. I bought these specifically to learn how each upgrade would affect the sound. I have used them with a 20 watt tube amp, and they put out plenty of bass with very little power. I also added a tiny bit of weight to the passive as per the suggestions of many on the Klipsch forums which slightly deepens the low end. Pictures to come