forte II with Emotiva

[vnzbd]

I am considering upgrading my amplification that I currently use to push my forte II's. I expect to pick up a second set of forte II's and run them together, no sub. I believe my Marantz rated at 125wpc will run out of gas. I have read that the typical avr will run at 50-70% of its rated power when running multi channel so the actual wattage would be ? I am looking at the Emotiva line up and they would appear to run a true 125 at 8 ohms for the UPA series or 200 for the XPA series. Does anybody have experience with any of these combos or similar? Thanks

[wuzzzer]

Marantz as pre-amp/Emotiva UPA-2/Forte II = []

I noticed an immediate difference when I added the Emotiva into the mix. Detail at louder levels is amazing. Occasionally I run the Fortes full-range without a sub and the Emotiva kicked in a ton more bass.

[dtel]

I expect to pick up a second set of forte II's and run them together, no sub.

Are you talking two speakers on each channel ? If you are, that's not a great idea, if it's just for the extra bass just get Cornwalls ?

[vnzbd]

It would not be just for extra bass although I would expect it. I visted Groomslakearea51 last week and he has Khorns with a set of Heresys stacked on top and with his setup he can make the sound taller if you will. It was a pretty neat effect. I started experimenting with what I had at the house(Chorus II's, Forte II,s and Heresy II's). I tried different versions of stacking and I acheived the effect of raising the sound, although not smooth or a good match. The best was with the c2's on the bottom with the f2's on the top inverted. obviously the same mid but tweeters are different. My idea was to get the same model to do this with. I did stack my f2's together in this manner with the c2's on the other side and attempted to isolate the f2 sound. I would descibe it as effortless with improved dynamics at a much lower volume. I guess that might be the cornwall sound. Just about everything I have read on the cornwall is about the incredible bass while the forte I have read good bass and awesome mids. I do love the mids, and it seems better balanced than my c2's. That may be because of the limited power I have on hand to fed the C2's. I am open to any suggestions and do's or dont's. So that I can learn from this can the suggestions given with theory? I look forward to all input!

[dtel]

Ok, stacked is ( I think ) not as bad as side by side, I have heard that side by side can cause many problems, although I have never tried it myself.

What about trying some homemade stands just to get that taller effect and see if you like it ?

One other thing be careful, groomslakearea51 is just plain not right, [:|] he has what looks like a cross between Sansui showroom and something that could control the whole power grid for the country. [][]

But really Marshall has done things with speaker placement that many would think would not work, but it does because of the way he powers and controls it. [Y]

[vnzbd]

I have tried it on top of other speakers such as the H2's and the C2's. I do get the height but lose the complete top to bottom effect. Also when they are further from the floor the bass does thin out some. I have tilted them on the floor such as the Heresy with a slanted riser which retains the level of bass and raises the image somewhat.

Marshall does seem like an extremist and I mean that in a good way. A man with passion and toys! It would be very difficult to duplicate his set up with my meager means. With what I have on hand it hs been interesting to see the different results. The plan would be to stack the f2's, run them on as L & R, each speaker driven by a seperate channel from a dedicated amp. Possibly my Academy or a Quartet for the center for ht.

[artarama]

I have stacked Forte II's and really like it. I used to run them at four corners to my listening position until some here on the forum questioned the sound stage. I believe it was Wuzzer's input to "stack them and wire them in series." I pulled them all in front and stacked them, tops inverted and it was a dramatic improvement. Thanks agian guy's.

Until just a few days ago I had it set up where one pair is "A" and the second pair "B", then I would run both A&B channels on my amp. Now however I wired them in series(I think) ie. top + to bottom+, top - to bottom - on each channel. And this again was a big improvement.

The amp I use is a Kenwood Basic M2 with 220wpc @8 ohms (2 channels driven). I think with the way I have them wired now the amp is seeing less than 8 ohms and is flowing more current. I may be off on the science there, I am not up on my equations but it does sound better and the amp is barley warm. Perhaps more current flow equates to improved musicality?

I think the physical height achieved by stacking these particular speakers also adds a good element of fullness/size and projection into the room.

I also tried a sub with this set up and did not like it. I really don't think I need it either, there is plenty of bass, not HT type thunder but very adequet for my tastes.

[vnzbd]

That sounds like the same effect that I am looking for and somewhat achieved with my experimentation. I have a Emotiva XPA-5 on order which I would use four of the channels to drive 4 of the speakers(2L and 2R) and the fifth channel would be for a center for ht. Artarama, can you post any pics of yor setup? What did you do about the stability of your stack? I have taken the risers of of mine which seemed to give it a little less of the concert hall feel. Thanks for yor input.

[artarama]

Her is a photo of the left channel stack. I was concerned about stability at first also. I was going to modify some black spring loaded curtain rods with acylic plates to press against the ceiling and top speaker but found it really unneccesary. They are pretty stable as is. I mess with the toe in of the top speaker from time to time but usually run them both facing at the same angle.

[artarama]

Here Here is a photo showing the relative spacing of the speakers. They are about 15 feet apart. The cieling height is 7.5 feet. The cat is an avid music fan.

[artarama]

Hopefully this is a better image size. Just learning my way around photo posts here.

[vnzbd]

Thanks for the pics. You are really able to gain some seperation between them. I would be sitting about 10-12' away with about 9' between the stacks. I have found that my preference is for them to lined up with out any toe-in. With my KLF's I have always toed in, but the forte's give me the same imaging, maybe better with a wider soundstage. With the stack I believe the height will match the width.

[dtel]

Your tryin g to trick us that's not you house, that's a record store ! []

[artarama]

Thanks dtel, I love this place.

"What is a house if it is not a "Record Store".

I actually did buy these racks from my local record store that started to go out of business a couple years ago. He had three locations.

I was one of the first customers (16 +/- years old) when the original owner founded the "Finest Record Store" with a few LP's selling out of orange crates back in 1974.

These bins were actually from the "Corporate Store" (Music Land) in the mall that the Finest well outlasted and purchased some of their fixtures.

Forte's Rock, Long live Forte II's.

Support your local record store if you are fortunate enough to have one!!!!!!!!