Which rears to use with Forte II - KG 5.2 or KG 3.2?

[carbon summit]

I'm going to pick up my new Forte II on Sunday so now I'm looking for advice on which speakers to use as my rears. Would KG 5.2s or KG 3.2s be a better match for Forte IIs in the front and an Academy as the center? My concern is that the 5.2s use the 90°x60° Tractrix Horn and none of the rest do. I realize the common sense answer is to try them both and go with what sounds best but I'd like some imput from others too.

I use the auto setup on my Yamaha 663 so I always worry how the auto setup holds the other speaker back because of one (or a pair). I found this out first hand when I changed from the KG-2 to the Academy how much better everything sounded after the receiver reset the settings after changing only the center. The other problem with trying both and seeing for myself is you don't always hear much from the rears as you do the center and front. I guess I could focus on certain spots in a movie. Hook one set up, play it and then hook the other set up, redo the auto setup, then replay that same part of the movie. A lot of screwing around that could be saved if someone has already gone down this road before me. No point in re-inventing the wheel.

I've got a set of KG 2.5s I may add into the mix for a 7.1 set up down the road. Have not been to motivated to do it yet, but I might. I mention that in case it makes any difference on which way I should go.

[carbon summit]

And if anyone has hints on speaker placement with the Forte IIs that would be great too.

[RichardP]

"My concern is that the 5.2s use the 90°x60° Tractrix Horn and none of the rest do."

The Forte II uses the Tractrix horn, thus the 5.2s should be a better match.

As far as which rears to use, it may not matter a great deal. Only in the most extreme action movies are many loud sounds coming from the rear, so the bass capabilities of the 5.2 vs. the 3.2 may not be put to great use. What may matter more is the height; if you watch from a sofa or large chair; the mid and/or tweeter should be at ear level and above the sofa/chair back.

[carbon summit]

On the Klipsch fact page for the Forte II it says:

tweeter	K-75-K 1" (2.54cm) Polymer diaphragm compression driver
high frequency horn	90°x40° Exponential Horn

That cut and paste didn't work as planned but it worked.

So is it a Tractrix or not? I guess I'll know for sure in a few days.

I've got the 3.2s as rears now and they are up on stands so the tweeters are at ear level when seated. I've also got a Klipsch Sub 10 so the bass may not be an issue anyway. When you think about it if the rears are so seldom used in surround maybe I should move the KG 2.5s I have to the rear. Less speaker foot print may look better in the living room. But when I listen to music if I use the 7 speaker setting (even though I'm only running 5 right now) it sounds really good with the set up I have now. I'm guessing even better with Forte IIs in front and either the 5.2 or 3.2 in the rear.

I guess that I didn't make that clear I use all the speakers when listening to music too, I don't switch to 2 channel. That is why I'm wondering if the Tractrix horn on the 5.2 will blend with the Forte IIs if they in fact don't have Tractrix.

[carbon summit]

Oh wait I just looked at the fact page on the Forte II and :

mid frequency horn

90°x40° Tractrix® Horn

My bad rookie mistake!!!

[Mikekid]

I am using 2.5's rear. Work fine....

[RichardP]

[Oh wait I just looked at the fact page on the Forte II and :

mid frequency horn

90°x40° Tractrix® Horn

My bad rookie mistake!!!]

Yes, and because the 5.2 and 3.2 are two-way designs, they only have one horn-loaded mid/high freq driver, along with the woofer. If I am not mistaken, I believe the midrange is where a lot of the timbre quality is found, so matching in that range is the most critical (although front-to-rear matching is less crucial than for L-C-R). Coincidentally, I have owned Fortes since 1988, and the only other Klipsch I have heard to any extent is a KG 5.5, similar to yours. I like them both a lot!

You also asked previously about placement of the Fortes. The general rule of thumb for all horn loaded speakers is to toe them in, so you are "looking down the throat of the horn" from your listening position. You may have to experiment with how far apart they are, in order to get the best stereo image, then also adjust your receiver's levels for the center and rears. You can find the recommended positions for 5.1 and 7.1 arrangements according to Dolby Labs at their website and other places as well.

[dtel]

I am using 2.5's rear. Work fine....

Nice looking, I like the size of those 2.5's !

[Mikekid]

Thanks dtel...[Y]