Is The Original Forte Better Then A Cornwall 2 ?

[ka7niq]

I don't get emotionally involved with speakers, they come and go regularly, but I have a question. Is the original Forte simply a better speaker then the Cornwall 2 ? The original Forte's shook my room with bass, and except for a touch of brightness were by far better then what I have heard out of the Cornwall II's so far. The Cornwalls seem to have anemic bass, no matter where I place them. Even in the room corners, they sound anemic compared to the bass power of the much smaller Forte's. What Should a Cornwall 2 sound like, compared to a Forte, anyone know ?

[djk]

I always thought the Forte sounded better, but it is quite a bit less efficient than a Cornwall.

A pair of Forte and a good 200W amplifier will fill most normal sized rooms.

A Carver M1.0T sounds great, but it is really too much power for a Forte. I over-excurded a pair of woofers with that amplifier, even though it is rated at 200W the Forte is 4R and the Carver has ±99V rails (enough for 800W long-term on program material).

I like the NYAL Moscode amplifers too, but they are a bit colored (in a pleasing way).

[laager]

I over-excurded a pair of woofers...

Creative English. [] Not likely to make it into an English dictionary, though. []

[ka7niq]

I agree, the forte sounds better, and has room shaking bass. I sold the Moscode 600, but it is a colored amp. There are 2 Moscode amps, the 300 and the Moscode 600. The Moscode 600 is a much better sounding amp. You can roll tubes in it, get any sound ya want.

[John Chi-town]

The forte II is better sounding than both INMHO! Better midrange, and larger passive radiator.

[djk]

You couldn't prove that by me.

I sold Klipsch in that time frame, and I did not think the II was an improvement on the original Forte.

"larger passive radiator"

And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

The Forte woofer does not have enough x-max to need a PR at all, much less a bigger one. Small boxes with high excursion drivers, tuned low, need high volume displacement PRs. The rest is marketing (a big PR looks cool).

[ka7niq]

Plus Polk, Klipsch's Competitor, was a passive radiator speaker, remember the 'Polk Fluid Coupled Passive Radiator" ?

Some folks who don't realize air is a fluid thought Matt Polk put water or hydraulic fluid in it.

[Groomlakearea51]

IMHO, all other things equal..... the CW-II should be better in terms of delivery than the F-II. I've had a bunch of F-I's, II's, CW's, CW-II's. Stuck with the CW's in general, and in the case of the CW-II's, they will do the job. Problems? Placement and room treatment can usually be what causes the perceived disparity. Another issue with CW's is they really need to have the crossover redone, at least new caps, etc. Just an "IMHO" thought.

[H]

[ka7niq]

Crossovers all redone, caps at least, Comparing the corn 2's to Original Forte, no comparasion so far, no matter where I place the Cornwall 2's.

I am gonna pull the woofers, since I bought them used, to be sure someone did not stick the wrong woofers in there ? Anyone care to tell me how to identify a stock cornwall 2 woofer ?

[Groomlakearea51]

It should be a K-33-E.... many of the old ones, while they may test ok, can be shot simply because the cone material has simply "flexed" itself to where it is no longer as rigid as it should be. Another problem you may want to look at is polarity. I have seen a number of used Cornwalls that I obtained for rebuilding that had one or more of the drivers cross wired. The polarity is printed on the terminal cup crossover PCB, and for some reason, folks apparently did not look at the "+" or "-" when reconnecting them. usually it's the tweeter, but who knows until you pull the drivers, crossover and check. Also check the other drivers!!! All of them!! A major culprit in "not sounding right" can be the tweeter (essentially a K-76/K79). The midrange is usually ok, but they are often disconnected and then hooked back up out of phase. When you yank the drivers, consider replacing the gaskets on the motor board. Any "leakage" that is present affects the bass response because for those ports to work correctly, everything else has to be sealed.

If you are not doing anything this coming weekend, slide on down and listen to CW-I's, 1.5's and II's (along with the other stuff....) Email me if interested for phone numbers and directions, etc.

[ka7niq]

I would like to get my hands on something to check the color coded wires to the drivers. I have the crites tweeter diapraghms I put in, dont think I made a mistake. But even in the corners, bass is anemic

[djk]

A K34E is the correct woofer for the Cornwal II, but the only difference from the K33E is the cosmetic of the gasket.

The + lead for the C II tweeter comes from the second 1.5µF cap (don't know the color).

http://community.klipsch.com/forums/storage/6/1298286/ciixoverschem1.jpg

[ka7niq]

Anyone know what color wires Klipsch used for the various drivers in Cornwall II ?

I did install Crites Titanium Tweeter diapraghms, but don't think it is possible I installed them out of phase. I put all wires back like before, assuming they were correct to begin with ?