New Fortes

[vondy]

Yesterday I picked up some Fortes I purchased from a guy on ebay. Local pickup talked me into it. $500. The pics attached are the sellers, did not have time to shoot my own yet. As you can tell, they are in pretty good shape. All the drivers look fine. A few nicks on the cabinets but I would expect as much. Only a partial serial number but it looks like they are from 88.

As much as I wanted some Cornwalls, there is just no room in my house. So I figured these are the next best things.

So my Heresy’s are now moved to the rear for surround.

First impressions of the Fortes... Not sure, haven’t had much listening time yet. They are different. Obviously I have bass now, that’s nice. I am also hearing things I have not heard before with the Heresy’s. Little hidden parts of songs that are now evident. Something does not sound quite right though, perhaps I have to work on the tuning and placement. Not sure how to describe it, my audio vocabulary is somewhat limited. I might say the Heresy’s seemed brighter, airier maybe??? Perhaps this is just the bass again, actually having it.

I also like the looks of the Heresy’s better. Not big on the beveled grill of the Fortes. I would like to replace the grill fabric as these are worn. Has anyone replaced theirs before with the Heritage grill material? The more woven fabric. The material on the Fortes looks kind of cheap. In fact, I would not mind cutting some new grills and mounting them flush like the Heresy’s rather than the bevel.

I’m also thinking about removing the risers, I assume they are just screwed on? They are a bit imposing in the small area they are in. Dropping them down will put the tops about even with the bottom of my TV as well. Would this effect the sound at all?

I recapped my Heresy’s shortly after I got them. I’m assuming the Fortes have a modern cap design and this is not necessary? Is there anything else that could be done to freshen them up?

If anyone can fill me in on proper placement, etc. I would appreciate it.

I am excited about them! Now just need a single Heresy for the center channel and it will be complete.

Running 2 channel listening with my HK 433.

Thanks!

[dtel]

Put a rug or something down and flip them upside down, to unscrew the risers, they remove very easy. I have removed mine because they are sitting on a bigger speaker of turned sideways for a center channel and rear speakers.

You can also update the Caps on these also but it would be much harder because of how they are setup, remove the rear speaker connections cup and the crossover is right there, check it out.

[oldmako]

Terriffic speakers, I have the exact pair in my bedroom. You'll love them.

At the risk of sounding like a total knob, have you verified that all the individual speakers/drivers are working? I only axe (ax?) because when I bought mine I thought the same thing. They sounded a little bland compared to my CFs. It turned out that my tweets were squat. Put some tunes on at a fairly low level and stick an ear right up against each one. It will be obvious if one has STB.

Bob Crites has some replacements that are supposedly the bomb. You can also buy the originals from Klipsch if you're into that whole stock thing.

Enjoy and congrats.

[vondy]

I held a sheet of paper over each horn and stuck my ear to them to verify before I bought em. All where good. I probably just need to listen a bit more and tweak em.

[Bacek]

IMO

Heresy has more open and natural sound than Forte (I own Forte). Unfortunatly Heresy with bass is called Cornwall.

Any way you could try to change tweeter membranes to titanium (from Bob Crites), it is very easy and helps a little bit.

[Cal Blacksmith]

I have the F1s in black and love them, they are indeed Heresys with bass and yes I also own Cornwall 2s, a different speaker entirely.

Try setting the speakers about 12 to 14 inches from the wall, you will need to play with them a little to get them to sound right. If you can put them in a corner so much the better but again placement will have to be played with to get the passive in the back to be the most effective it can be.

The Ti dome tweeter mod from Bob is a very effective and inexpensive way to get some more good sounds from those speakers. I highly recommend them. They made a big improvement in my sons KG 5.5s and my Cornwall 2s. One of these days I will get around to putting them into my Fort'es and Heresys, they are just that good.

[runninshine]

I like the idea of refinishing the the grill cloth. I felt the same about my Chorus II's (looks kinda cheap).

I had the chance to buy a pair of Forte II's for $400 and passed them up......now im interested to see how you like them.

[eighteen_psi]

Going to second everything by Cal - my F1s were pretty tough to get set up in my room. A little more or less toe gets the mid horn reflecing off of a wall, or a window or something and they get nasty. They also have enough displacement to completely overwhelm a room with bass if you aren't careful. If you stuff them in a corner or right against the wall you'll probably end up with something boomy and nasty, particularly in a small room. Mine loved to make hotspots of deafening bass elsewhere while leaving the listening area devoid of bass until I pulled them ~18" from my wall.

With them set up 'right' they're smooth and even, not harsh, and the bass snaps, doesn't 'boom' - very clean, very big and very low. Once you verify everything is working properly, just devote a bit of time to playing with how far apart they are, how far from the wall, how much toe in (if any), etc. More than any other speaker I've tried, they do need messed around with. But it pays off

[vondy]

OK, messed around a little more tonight with the new Fortes. Did a rough A/B comparison. Rough meaning that the Heresys are up high on the bookshelf rather than on the floor like before. Seems to me the Heresys project the sound to you more so than the Fortes. Throughs it right at you. Vocals seem crisper as well.

The Fortes seem shrunk into the background. Vocals not as pungent. Much better rounded with the increase in bass for sure. And I think more realistic. Again, I can pick out the instruments better than the Heresys. They are also not as harsh as the Heresys much warmer.

Something still doesn't seem right though. This is my first time hearing Fortes but the way everyone raves about them it seems like they should be giving me more. For instance, the bass, while way better than the Heresy, it seems like there should be more of a kick to it. It's just kind of there right now. Placement hasn't seem to change much. I would also expect they should reach out and grab you more. They just seem reserved.

I don't mind refreshing or buying new crossovers, etc. But for all I know, this may just be how the Forte is. I assume they have the modern crossovers and not the old oil caps that wear out?

Thanks for everyones suggestion!

[dtel]

Not much help here but...

A new/different speaker is always going to sound a little different.

Anytime you turn up the bass a little the high's seem to be lacking.

Anytime you turn up the highs a little the bass seems to be lacking.

The Heresy is a little brighter than the Forte which could make it sound like you describe.

Just as an experiment turn down the bass on the forte and see what kind of difference is makes, see if it comes a little closer to the Heresy ?

I have no doubt changing the caps should help but it will still sound different than a Heresy, thats not necessarily good or bad just different.

Do I sound like a politician yet ?

[Bacek]

Room placement is important and you have to find the right one. But I still say you wont get from forte midrange that is as good as from Heresy. But I am taking about Heresy I with good old combo K55/k77. Newer Heresys have completely other driver set and IMO it was not a progress. If you want better in every area sound you need Cornwall I (II and III have other driver set) . Don't know which Heresy did you compared to forte. If first one than you done steep to the side (it is not steep back). But if you compared II or III version then CO upgrade, titanium and room placement can clear your doubts.

[dtel]

Room placement is important and you have to find the right one. But I still say you wont get from forte midrange that is as good as from Heresy. But I am taking about Heresy I with good old combo K55/k77. Newer Heresys have completely other driver set and IMO it was not a progress. If you want better in every area sound you need Cornwall I (II and III have other driver set) . Don't know which Heresy did you compared to forte. If first one than you done steep to the side (it is not steep back). But if you compared II or III version then CO upgrade, titanium and room placement can clear your doubts.

Heresy lll has the same midrange and high freqency driver set as the Cornwall lll.

[Bacek]

And Heresy II has same midrange driver as Forte I.

I've never heard Cornwall III but Cornwall I sounds great. I think threre is a reason that variants of k55 and k77 are still in use in new khorns and lascalas.

[vondy]

I'll give the upgrades some thought. Just don't want to put too much into the speakers if I'm not going to get the sound I like. The corns would be sweet but my wife would not have it I'm sure. They are just to big and imposing for the small area. She'd probably go for Khorns. Smaller in the corner and they have that "vintage" look to them. She loves some vintage.

I do know they are going to be different than the Heresys. Just hopeing they would blow me away with their difference. Hasn't happend yet.

[vondy]

So I looked over Bob Crite's site. Looks like the Titanium Diaphrags are only $52. That's very reasonable. Plus a cap refresh, might be dooable. Has anyone replaced their Forte with the Crites Titanium upgrade? Cal I see you did with other speakers and like them.

And yes my comparison was with Heresy I.

[Groomlakearea51]

Last pair of Forte's I had were redone with the titanium tweeter diaphragms. Marked and quite noticeable improvement. The best improvement will likely come if you do the caps. I also found that you can "tighten" the bass by moving it closer to the wall. But again as all seem to agree.... You gotta' play with them. In my opinion (just mine...) They are not the best "match" with Heresy's, particularly Heresy-I's. Just a different sound.

[dtel]

She'd probably go for Khorns. Smaller in the corner and they have that "vintage" look to them. She loves some vintage.

Hold everything.........show her a pic of Khorns and if she like vintage looking stuff use one of the old pic's with all the 60's furniture ..[H]......if there OK with her, what are you doing messing with forte's ?

I love the Forte but if you can slide a Khorn in there do it, with the economy like it is now is a good time to buy.

[vondy]

If it wasn't for the money the Khorn would be dooable. But that's quite a bit of dough right now. Especially when the wife is saving up for a couch.

[dtel]

Well don't spend to much on the Forte's and wait untill after the couch deal, do you have two good corners ?

[vondy]

Would be a hard sell to the wife even then, money wise. Would have to sell the Fortes, which would be OK if I were getting Khorns. Actually one corner has a large window and a small window on each wall. Not sure how that would effect it.