Broke my heritage cherry :-)

[jephdood]

Picked up a pair of Walnut Oil Forte II's tonight. They're probably 8.5/10 on the condition scale.. pretty dang good shape, really with just a couple tiny nicks in the top of one of them.. And, they have the Crites tweeter diaphragm upgrade. Paid $400 for the pair, so I think I did OK. They sound absolutely amazing!

Any recommendations on potentially filling a small nick in the finish without completely sanding the whole side and re-staining? It's not large, and I don't want to get into a whole thing over it.

Also, I assume the Academy is the right speaker to match these at center, assuming I can't fit another Forte under my screen?

Thanks in advance... looking forward to some quality time with these babies.

[gnatnoop]

see...that didn't hurt much, in fact, i bet it's feelin' pretty good 'bout now!

congratulations....sounds like a fantastic deal for forte II's...

[muel]

Any recommendations on potentially filling a small nick in the finish without completely sanding the whole side and re-staining? It's not large, and I don't want to get into a whole thing over it.

Congratulations! [Y]

Matching wood putty would be the way I would go to help that nick be less noticable. Some putty won't like being on an oiled finish so you will have to look at the labels. I think one was called "Swedish putty" that you mix with stain and boiled linseed oil.. I would think that would be compatible but more of a hassle than if you can find the right color in a ready made form. I'm not sure if you should oil the cabinets before you do this. If they are dry you take a risk of the surrounding edge of the nick soaking up some of the color and becoming darker. With fresh oil the putty might not adhere as well. You should be able to oil as normal after. Those with more experience can/should speak up to correct me.

[jephdood]

Cool, thanks guys. I'll wait to hear from others, then maybe look into some putty. What I DON'T want to do, obviously, is make it any worse. The nicks are really hardly worth mentioning, and I could easily leave them as-is and be totally happy. But an improvement is an improvement. If possible.

Oh, can someone help interpret the serials? 90001855/90001856. I was thinking they were built in '90, but I don't think that quite fits with the serial deciphering chart.

[Rivernuggets]

Great deal on those. After getting my Forte IIs I installed the titanium diaphragms and had Crites recap the crossovers. I love them! Have fun going through your music and movies again for the first time.

Yes the Academy is the desired center, but you could also use a Synergy SC-1 with good results. They're cheaper (under $100 on Ebay) and will do the job well. Here's the thread.

[twistedcrankcammer]

Not as qualified as someone like Marshal per se, and hard to make a quality recomendation without seeing the exact problem, but you may considder the size, shape, grain diection and patern and think about buying a short roll of walnut edge banding to look into trimming a small sliver here and there to make the repairs. Using an exacto nife to trim the chipped area first of any ragged edges. glue showing through at the edges of any such filler piece is your enemy.

Roger

[garymd]

Do what I do, cover them up with nic nacs Just no potted plants!

Not to burst your bubble but aren't Fortes from the Legend Series? Just kidding. I believe they are considered to be from the extended Heritage family.

Congrats and enjoy.

BTW - Go with an Academy. They come up for sale quite often these days and are fairly reasonable compared to years past. I paid way too much for mine!

[fini]

For the nick, I'd just get a can of Howard's Restor-a-Finish.

[Groomlakearea51]

90001855

Forte-II's

We know they were made after 1989, but since the coding changed in 1990 and again in 1997 after Forte-II production ceased (1996), and it would not match the second part of the code for that spread, so it was at the tail end of the 1989 productions, and it was likely after the first month or two of January 1990 that the coding went to the 1990-1997 method.

let's "parse" it for the pre-90 coding, but assume that the coding actually extended in to 1990 for a few months.

90 = 1990

00 = week "0" or first week of January

1855 = speaker number

let's parse it for 1990-1997 coding method

90 = Day 90 (~March 27th);

00 = 1990, BUT it;s supposed to be 09 in order for it to be 1990

But then again, it's possible that the "year" assumes 1990 as year "0" which would work.

There have always been some oddities and anomalies with the serial number system and in particular, when it was first used. In this case I suspect that the inital 1990-1997 scheme was actually used through some point in early 1990.

The only way to really pin it down would be for me to make the trip to Indy and sit down with the Engineering Library archives. A trip I have planned, but work circumstances have again delayed and postponed for at least the next 3-4 months.

Wish I could be more accurate.

[H]

[Cal Blacksmith]

Congrats, you willl love those speakers!

A quick question on the nicks. Is the wood missing or is it more of a dent? If it is a dent, you can use a damp cloth and a heavy soldering iron or clothes iron to steam the wood back into place. There may still be a visable distortion mark but most of the time you can get the wood up level with carefull use of steam. If the wood is missing, then the only way would be to use a filler carefully and color to match without refinishing the whole thing.

Nice pickup and good price! The Academy is the center that is voiced for your extended heritage line speakers but as was said in the linked thread, I had good luck with the SC1. I paid $450 (if I remember right) for my Academy in my HT which is different than the TV room that the SC1 is in. I don't know what they are selling for now.

[jephdood]

Are Fortes really part of the Legend series? When I think of Legend I think of the KLF's and such. Oh well. Oops. Guess I should familiarize myself with this new world I'm in. :-)

Thanks all for the serial info. Probably doesn't matter much, but I'd like to know when to pick up the cake and ice cream for their birthday. Heh.

I'll try to get a pic of the nick I'm talking about later today and post it here.

[Rivernuggets]

Are Fortes really part of the Legend series? When I think of Legend I think of the KLF's and such.

Forte IIs are part of the Heritage family. Gary was just kidding. And yes, you're right about the KLFs being the Legend series. Details, details....you have a great pair of speakers!

[runninshine]

Pics please!!!!!!!

[WMcD]

I think you should be careful about going overboard on a refinishing project.

Using putty, IMHO, is going to be more of project than it is worth. Also, you have to find a putty which is very near the correct color because it is not going to absorb stain like real wood. Cutting and patching a new piece of veneer is a project requiring years of practice. It is something done when there is gross damage, like a cigarette burn.

I'd suggest using a pencil filler like these.

http://www.minwax.com/products/maintenance_and_repair/blend_fil_pencil.html#Colors

It is just colored wax -- but probably enough. Minwax used to make other forms of this as I recall and you might still find a kit of four sticks of different colors at HD or Lowes.

OTHO it should give you a good amount of repair factor for not much money or expertise. I think you just want to make the surface look presentable from a viewing distance of a few feet.

If you have an oil finish you will want to give the units a wipe with furniture oil, sometimes called lemon oil at HD, Lowes, or the grocery. I use a Scotchbrite pad or 600 "Wet or Dry" sand paper with oil as a lubricant to gently scrub the surface at first, IF they are dirty.

If you want to be careful, just use a clean cloth or a paper towel. Wipe off the excess with a cloth or paper towel. This brings up the contrast and depth of the wood. You should expect to reapply oil once a year or maybe every six months.

Wm McD

[BE36]

Small nicks or dents can be steamed out of solid would with iron and damp cloth, then restained or sanded lightly with very fine grit and then stained locally. Back when Drivers for golf were made out of wood, I used to refinish them to help pay for college. . .

I have not tried this on veneer like Klipsh uses.

How about some else who has tried this on veneer? Does the Glue still hold.

[jephdood]

I think since most of the speakers I've owned have been new, and perfect.. I might have too high an expectation for how 20-year-old speakers should look. The nicks really aren't much, and I think I agree with the poster earlier that I might be getting into too much to try and make them look absolutely perfect. They're close to it already. Just not absolutely mint like I'm used to, and I need to just get over that. Because they sound UNREAL.

Here are a few pics.. Sorry, the room is really dark and my camera gets really grainy in low-light. And my photoshop removal of the grain left some pics with poor definition, but dems is my new girls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96273981@N00/sets/72157625063717448/

[fini]

Those are excellent pictures! Cal's damp towel/hot iron technique might improve those, but really, they look very nice as-is. Nice speakers!!

[HarryO]

Nice speakers with a bit of "history and character" there

[twistedcrankcammer]

I would leave them as is for something so minute.

Did you get the covers with them?

A final thought, you are really missing out on their true capabilities by not having them properly placed in some good corners.

Roger

[Cal Blacksmith]

Sweet looking speakers! If they were mine, I would leave them alone. I have speakers that have marks worse than that! One of my CW2s has a plant pot mark much worse than that LOL![]