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New CF-3 in Cherry


zingo

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I just picked up a pair of CF-3s from craigslist that are in decent shape. The cherry finish is currently about a 6 out of 10, but a little oil and a little love and I can get them living room quality. Based on the consecutive serial numbers, black horns, short ports, and multi-colored wiring, they are version 3 , and seem to have good build quality. I opened them up last night and everything seems neat and in place, and was even impressed to see the interior surfaces covered in foam. This model has bi-amp/wire binding post cups which seems to be a later addition, and the crossover is a double-decker mounted to the back of the cup.

Having owned KHorns and Fortes, I am enjoying these two way speakers. They do have a different sound than typical Klipsch, but I sat down for my first listening session last night, and remembered how much I enjoyed the horn sound. :) They did have a little siblence on a few recordings, especially female vocals, but I don't know if that is a function of the horn, or the crossovers. The speakers are completely stock, so I'm sure I can do a little tweaking and tuning to help them out a little. While researching these speakers, I read all the horror stories about Ver. 3 and recommendations to only buy Ver. 1, and if you happen to buy Ver. 2 you can "correct" them to Ver. 1; but I have to say I'm enjoying these speakers. They have such a different sound than other Klipsch models that I don't think they are a fair comparison to anything else in the line up, and am just enjoy them compared to the entirety of speakers I've owned.

I'm currently driving them with a custom Hypex UcD400 based amp and tube buffer preamp, and although I'm sure tubes would soften a bit of the edge I'm hearing with them, they would not be as dynamic or have the same bass response.

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Thanks! The cherry cabinets match my current furniture well, and they have a nice wow factor when you are parked on the couch starring into the large horns and four 10" woofers.

I pulled out the horns are they are fairly thin walled plastic/glass, so I ordered some dynamat to treat them with.

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I did the mod on my old Fortes with good results, but they are smaller horns with less surface area. I've also deadened the baskets of woofers before to keep them from ringing, but the Epic woofers seem to be better than the standard stamped baskets. Deadening the cabinets may be next as they do not currently pass the knuckle test...

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I did the mod on my old Fortes with good results, but they are smaller horns with less surface area. I've also deadened the baskets of woofers before to keep them from ringing, but the Epic woofers seem to be better than the standard stamped baskets. Deadening the cabinets may be next as they do not currently pass the knuckle test...

I have forte's and they are on carpet, as I see the C-3's you have are. That seems to deaden reflections , or ringing for me. Maybe you are talking about other...

What is the knuckle test?

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Knocking on a panel of the cabinet to see how it sounds. It should be dead/solid with no resonance or hollow sound, but many speakers are not that way, including these. They do have some internal bracing which is good, but being a larger cabinet, it has some large panels that need a little deadening from the inside; maybe I'll use something like No-Rez...

Not only can the speakers interact with the room to create reflections/ringing, but the woofer baskets and horn bodies can resonate/ring depending on how well they are naturally dampened. It can make a difference depending on associated equipment, and what kind of music is listened to.

PM me billybob if you ever want modification suggestions for your Fortes. I breathed on every part of them a few years ago, and they became the best speakers I've ever heard for the size/price.

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I have a pair of CF-4. One thing I found that made a big difference was lifting the speakers off the floor on something solid... in the case of the CF-4, I took four solid cinderblocks - not the ones with the holes through them, the ones like solid bricks (four per side, total of eight), covered them with heavy black felt so they looked okay (my CF-4 are the "black ash" finish), and put the CF-4 on top of the cinderblocks using the Klipsch-supplied threaded spikes. Made a difference in the bass impact... don't know if it was because the distance between the floor and the lower woofer was different, or the cinderblock provided a more solid foundation for the cabinet, or what, but in any case it made a significant improvement.

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I have a pair of CF-4. One thing I found that made a big difference was lifting the speakers off the floor on something solid... in the case of the CF-4, I took four solid cinderblocks - not the ones with the holes through them, the ones like solid bricks (four per side, total of eight), covered them with heavy black felt so they looked okay (my CF-4 are the "black ash" finish), and put the CF-4 on top of the cinderblocks using the Klipsch-supplied threaded spikes. Made a difference in the bass impact... don't know if it was because the distance between the floor and the lower woofer was different, or the cinderblock provided a more solid foundation for the cabinet, or what, but in any case it made a significant improvement.

So I assume I can unscrew the current rubber feet install a set of spikes? The floor is slab under the carpet, so it does very well with spiked speakers. Getting them up to ear level is a different issue, but one I should explore none the less.

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Mine came with (rather long) spikes from Klipsch in addition to the rubber foots, think threads are 1/4-20 (anybody?) you should be able to put something like a 1/4-20 X 2 round or pan head machine screw in there to couple to floor... wouldn't use hex or flat head, you want a point contact...

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My CF3's are about 9' apart and about 10" from the rear wall. The seating distance is about 12' away. Mine are each aimed a bit outside of the center seat. The Epics have a powerful center image. Many people who listen to them don't believe me at first when I tell them that the center channel is not on.

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how well does the dynamat work on the mid horns? i recently acquired some klf30's. different mid i know but the horn material is the same. its not terrible but i do believe i notice more ringing than i do with some of the older horns made of more robust materials.

do you just apply it to the outer(inner) part of the horn. the part thats actually the outside of the horn but that is inside the cabinet?

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