My Forte 2s

[Thos1000]

I was trying to find out what year my Forte 2s were manufactured. I viewed a post on here the showed how to decipher the numbers. But mine are nowhere near those numbers. I'm doing a show right now and can't remember all of the numbers but I do know that the first 4 were 0090 and the last numbers were 1111. Any ideas.

I always wanted a pair of Klipsch speakers. And finally got them. They are in a very small room and not even facing the same way. I thought they were supposed to have big bass but didn't hear it. I actually bought a powered sub the other day. Then while reading on this forum, someone mentioned a proper distance between the wall and the back of the speaker, which makes sense with a 15 passive there. But what is the recommended distance.

Last thing is that back in the day, it seems everyone had big power. Then there was a change to lighter more effecient low wattage amps. I have this huge old Sansui 7000 vintage that I had the Fortes on. It get's hot, so I put an older Pioneer reciever in that room to drive the Klipsch. I then read on here somewhere that the Forte 2s would rather see a low wattage amp anyway. Any opinions would be gratly appreciated.

Thanks

Tommy

[WMcD]

Welcome to this happy place.

What you report seems to indicate a problem. Forte II have some the best bass of any speaker.

Check to see that the wiring is correct with red on the amp connected to red on the speaker terminal, for each speaker. Black too, of course. If one is wired backwards, bass will suffer. The bass diaphram on one will move out while the bass diaphram will move in. In that way, they are fighting each other. Actually, if both are wired backwards they will perform as well. but it is good to observe polarity. You'll have to look at markings on the feed wires for this. I always suggest marking them with a tab of tape or red and black nail polish.

Also, it is possible that the speakers have been damaged by the previous owner and that is how they got on the second hand market. If your amp has a balance control, pan between full left and full right. See if they sound the same. Actually this may show up a reverse wiring problem too in that full left or full right should give better bass than when balanced.

Check tone controls on the amp, if any.

You ask about distance from the wall. I have my FII in corners toed in with the rear edges touching the walls. It works well. A long time ago a moderator suggested a distance of about half the diameter of a port and I'll extend that to the passive radiators. So, call it eight inches from the wall if you're not in a corner is the minimum to make sure the function of passive is not compromised.

I don't see that a big amp, small amp, old amp is causing this problem as long as it is functioning properly.

I suppose it could be a problem related to a small room. I don't subscribe to the theory but maybe you can move them to a big room in the abode and see what happens.

Let us know results. The fellows here love to trade information.

WMcD

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[Thos1000]

Thank you so much for the reply. I know have the positive and negeative the right way. One speaker is about 4 inches away from wall, the other about 3 inches. I would love to put these babies in a bigger room, but I can't. My wife is a pro audio engineer. No matter what I come up with she doesn't seem to think it's anything great. I don't know if I'm exspecting too much low end response when I don't have it crank up. It's promoted as a loud speaker. It's started to bug me, thinking, LOUDSPEAKER. Thinking that maybe they only sound good when they are loud, I don't know. I will try moving them to the living room while she's out and see what happens.

About finding out when these were made. Now that I'm at the house, here are the numbers on the back of speaker

P/N 0900053111

FII Oak Oil

S/N 60766

W/O 11938

One of the speakers has a horrible square stain, it's almost grey. Any ideas. Can I sand them and re stain it?

Thanks Guys

Tommy

[Cal Blacksmith]

If you ever check back, it has been a while since this thread was active, Fort'e speakers need at least a foot behind them, they like corners too. Small movements in back distance makes large changes, you need to play a lot to get them just right but once you do, they play very nicely, Fort'e speakers are known as "ROCK" speakers and they excell there when you get them setup right.

They are very effecent so you do not NEED large gobs of power but it great if it is there, that is called head room, it allows the amp to reproduce large punches such as gun shots, drums etc to give the kick in the gut you expect. If the amp is grunting just to get the sound out, there isn't any left for the punch.

[Thos1000]

I was playing the speakers the other day. The room that they are in is too small so when I play them I have to bring them out. The bass was much better being not against the wall that's for sure. How do you think the speakers sound when they are sitting out in the middle of the room? Do they have to have something behind them like a wall? Because the low end was much better. The midrange did not sound right. I think it has to do with what I'm driving them with. I'm using a vintage Sansui 7000. It's a very heavy receiver with a speaker chanell A,B, and C. I also have an old Pioneer receiver. Next I'll try the pioneer

[Bluehusky]

I bought my Forte II's new in 1990. I have always used them 4" to 6" from the wall, since 1990 we have moved a few times, so have adjusted to the rooms we used. Used with a 200 ADCom AMP for 2 channel.

Never had an issue, always a full sound, recently discussing with Moray James that I had never done anything too them other than wipe them down with lemon oil every few months. He explained that the crossovers should be replaced every 20 years or so. So I contacted Bob Crities and purchased new crossovers, as well as upgraded my tweeter to Titanium. I contacted Klipsch and got Titanium replacements for the Mids as well. I expected the actual upgrading to be difficult, Bob Crities provided excellent directions w/ pictures. And Moray provided instuction plus moral support via email and telephone. I received the parts fairly quickly, 6 or 7 days tops. Couple days of procrasinating. Then decided I would do one speaker and the second the next day if all went well. First speaker used my rachet screw driver and took me about a half an hour. After completing first speaker and listening to it - WOW. Sound was clean, clear, warm, I had forgotten how well they sounded.

So I did the second speaker immediately, (suggest using a variable drill, a time saver) took maybe fifteen mintutes.