Chorus II Impressions

[oldtimer]

First of all, these are observations with no scientific validation. I have forte II's in one location, and newly acquired Chorus II's in another. Two very different rooms, two very different amplifications. What is the same is the source and music used for comparison, a high bit rate digital file from a laptop.

The midrange in the Chorus is fantastic and the most obvious improvement from fortes. The Chorus are of course larger and sound larger, image as well as the fortes, and naturally have a similar sound signature. The bass on the Chorus is punchy, but also can get boomy at the lower hz levels. At high volume they evoke memories of being in a club with a very good sound system. If I had a club I would not hesitate to set up a Chorus II system. The forte II's have an overall more balanced sound throughout the frequencies, sounding more like a great home speaker, they never quite give the "club" effect which to me is a plus in the living room. From past listening experiences the Chorus sound a lot like a combination of Cornwalls in the bass and expanded fortes in the mids and tweeters, which would lead me to prefer them over Cornwalls (placement issues notwithstanding). If push came to shove, I would still keep forte II's as the last speaker standing you'd have to pry my cold dead hands from. I am however very glad to have the Chorus II's in their present location and consider them a steal at $200 even if they are a little beat up with no risers.

[moray james]

OT: thanks for your comments on these two speakers. This is useful I am sure to many who are trying to decide if they should choose a Forte or a Chorus. In your situation both speaker sets are the Mkll versions. Both uses the exact same mid and tweeter drivers and horns. The only real difference there is that in the Chorus ll the mid horn starts at 600Hz Vs 650Hzin the Forte ll. Of course the Chorus uses a fifteen inch woofer and passive where as the Forte ll uses a twelve inch woofer and a fifteen inch passive. I find it interesting that on a number of ocassions I have read very similar comments to yours regarding the Chorus seeming to have better mids. The Chorus ll runs the mid horn lower by 50 Hz than the Forte l. Since I have seen similar comment I would suspect that this mid horn is happy to run down to 600 Hz. The Forte ll extends deeper in response than does the Chorus ll.

Forte ll's modifire to run dual ten inch woofers would sound very good I should think, much like the KLF 20 and running dual twelve inch woofers would be most impressive I think, like the KLF 30. A pair of cornwall's would not be able to keep up to dual twelve inch woofers and dual tens coud give a Cornwall a good run for the money. Thanks again for posting about these great speakers. Best regards Moray James.