Samac Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I've had them since '88. Bought them new from a local dealer. I had them sitting idle for the most part of the last 10 years while I played audiophile. Sad really and I hope you all can forgive me. I had them in service for a few years as background music and now they are back where they belong as the star of the system. I've always loved them and I'm really glad I didn't sell them when I was chasing some audiophile fantasy. I just knew something was suppose to be so much better. I mean everyone was telling me they were mid-fi at best and I needed some "good" speakers if I wanted to be taken seriously. Ok, enough fun. I've come to my senses and am enjoying music again with them and that's all good. I've got a question or two. The forte's are original and stock. I had to replace a tweeter diaphram on one of them and I sourced that from Klipsch. I am not interested in updating or modding them but they do have 26 year old crossovers and I would like to know if there is anywhere recommedable that woud be able to check them. I believe Klipsch actually use to do this. Man, i wish they still did because I'd load them up and take them there. So, any suggestions. Also, since I'm enjoying them so much and I'm not interested in modding/updating maybe I just shouldn't worrying if the crossovers are within spec? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Scott 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Welcome back Home, Scott; I'll leave it to others to give advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 Thank you, Sancho. It's good to be back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budman Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) check bob's site out http://www.critesspeakers.com/prices-crossover_repair_kit.html http://www.critesspeakers.com/crossovers.html Edited February 3, 2014 by Budman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Chi-town Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Yes. Bob Crites. Also do yourself a favor and order his titanium diaphragm kit for the tweets. Then get the squawker titaniums from Klipsch. I promise you will be WOWED! Best regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 I've had them since '88. Bought them new from a local dealer. I had them sitting idle for the most part of the last 10 years while I played audiophile. Sad really and I hope you all can forgive me. I had them in service for a few years as background music and now they are back where they belong as the star of the system. I've always loved them and I'm really glad I didn't sell them when I was chasing some audiophile fantasy. I just knew something was suppose to be so much better. I mean everyone was telling me they were mid-fi at best and I needed some "good" speakers if I wanted to be taken seriously. Ok, enough fun. I've come to my senses and am enjoying music again with them and that's all good. I've got a question or two. The forte's are original and stock. I had to replace a tweeter diaphram on one of them and I sourced that from Klipsch. I am not interested in updating or modding them but they do have 26 year old crossovers and I would like to know if there is anywhere recommedable that woud be able to check them. I believe Klipsch actually use to do this. Man, i wish they still did because I'd load them up and take them there. So, any suggestions. Also, since I'm enjoying them so much and I'm not interested in modding/updating maybe I just shouldn't worrying if the crossovers are within spec? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Scott I have just completed week one with my new Crites,, zero complaints, Lascallas sound as great as new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelt Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hi Scott, I see you are in ohio. I live about 40 mi south west of cleveland. I have forte 1s that have been modded to some degree. Your welcome over for a listen. They have ti.tweets and mids along with a recap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 (edited) i'm no cap expert by any means & while i do understand caps can go "bad" after time, i feel strongly that if the speakers sound good & the tweets still produce nice crips high notes that the caps they are hooked too are most likely fine. likewise for the mids. but on the other hand, i have heard an older speaker that it was obvious the tweets werent working right, when pulling the tweeter & hooking it up to the other speaker it sounded fine... so that indicated the capacitor was indeed bad. ordered a cheap equal quality one from parts express & it fixed the problem. moral of the story, if it sounds good, it probably is. as a forte 1 owner myself, these things sound awsome, even at 25+ years old. i bought mine from the original owner, an elderly gentleman that was selling his stuff to move to a retirement home, he said they were barely used in the last 10 years & he only listened to classical at what i assume was "lower" volume levels. he didnt even know the grilles came off untill i pulled one when i was looking at them, it was so tight i had to gently use a butter knife to pry it off. definantly had never been removed. long story short, they were in literally like new cosmetic condition & sound downright amazing. probably never had any rock & roll played through them untill now & i bet the woofers never actually moved. i have since cranked them up to pretty decent levels & am blown away at how good they sound. better than my kg 5.5's in every way. could only imagine what the ti tweets would do for them. might upgrade them soon. if yours sound ok, i wouldnt worry about the caps for awhile. Edited February 4, 2014 by klipschfancf4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bracurrie Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Congrats on pulling out the Fortes and enjoying it. I would suggest that good speaker placement is still the most important thing for good sound. Some of that audiofool stuff about placement and room treatments etc. do make sense so you probably know this already. I just had my Forte IIs in a very large room probably 30 deep and 100 wide. The imaging was spectacular and there was no shortage of bottom end. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for the replies, guys. Might have to get the crossover rebuild kit from Critesspeakers at some point. Would just have to find someone I could completely trust to do the work. Never soldered and I don't want to practice on my forte's. As klipschfancf4 said, if they sound good, enjoy. They do sound fantastic! So that's wha I'm going to do. bracurrie, absolutely, good placement is crucial. Thanks. I'll say though if you don't care about soundstage and imaging you just need to put them in good corners at 45 degrees and enjoy. That's why I love them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Why don't you just send them to Crites? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Or you could send to DeanG... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Sacho, The anxiety over if they would get damaged in shipping would kill me. Someday though I may load them up and take them there myself and visit Arkansas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 billybob. That thought has occured to me. Dayton is my hometown. If DeanG was open to it I may take them down there when I visit sometime. I'll have to reach out to him and see if he's interested. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 UH1dg337, I'm about an hour southwest of Cleveland so I may take you up on that. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Crites, Dean, ALK .. they all make brand new crossovers (some costing $800+) and ship them just fine. I'm currently listening to a pair of crossovers that are part of a "roadshow", meaning they spend nearly as much time in shipping transit as they do inside a speaker cabinet. I also just shipped my crossovers to Dean and they will be shipped back. Put your fears to rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I've had them since '88. Bought them new from a local dealer. I had them sitting idle for the most part of the last 10 years while I played audiophile. Sad really and I hope you all can forgive me. I had them in service for a few years as background music and now they are back where they belong as the star of the system. I've always loved them and I'm really glad I didn't sell them when I was chasing some audiophile fantasy. I just knew something was suppose to be so much better. I mean everyone was telling me they were mid-fi at best and I needed some "good" speakers if I wanted to be taken seriously. Ok, enough fun. I've come to my senses and am enjoying music again with them and that's all good. I've got a question or two. The forte's are original and stock. I had to replace a tweeter diaphram on one of them and I sourced that from Klipsch. I am not interested in updating or modding them but they do have 26 year old crossovers and I would like to know if there is anywhere recommedable that woud be able to check them. I believe Klipsch actually use to do this. Man, i wish they still did because I'd load them up and take them there. So, any suggestions. Also, since I'm enjoying them so much and I'm not interested in modding/updating maybe I just shouldn't worrying if the crossovers are within spec? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Scott What wayward path did you take? You started with Fortes and ended with Fortes, what was in the middle? This will be a good lesson for the youngon's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samac Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 I've had them since '88. Bought them new from a local dealer. I had them sitting idle for the most part of the last 10 years while I played audiophile. Sad really and I hope you all can forgive me. I had them in service for a few years as background music and now they are back where they belong as the star of the system. I've always loved them and I'm really glad I didn't sell them when I was chasing some audiophile fantasy. I just knew something was suppose to be so much better. I mean everyone was telling me they were mid-fi at best and I needed some "good" speakers if I wanted to be taken seriously. Ok, enough fun. I've come to my senses and am enjoying music again with them and that's all good. I've got a question or two. The forte's are original and stock. I had to replace a tweeter diaphram on one of them and I sourced that from Klipsch. I am not interested in updating or modding them but they do have 26 year old crossovers and I would like to know if there is anywhere recommedable that woud be able to check them. I believe Klipsch actually use to do this. Man, i wish they still did because I'd load them up and take them there. So, any suggestions. Also, since I'm enjoying them so much and I'm not interested in modding/updating maybe I just shouldn't worrying if the crossovers are within spec? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Scott What wayward path did you take? You started with Fortes and ended with Fortes, what was in the middle? This will be a good lesson for the youngon's. Multi-driver dynamic floorstanders to to sealed box stand mounts. I enjoyed other set-ups I've had here and there but nothing ever came together easily or last very long or even had the sound I like. They were high maintenance and expensive (for me). It was my fault, I made it too hard. I had great sound from the forte's ten years ago and I should have just enjoyed the music. They were used with a tube pre into the amp section of an NAD 320BEE, source was an NAD 541i cdp and it was sooo good. But I just knew it should get even better (yeah, right). That's when the ugly journey began. What the forte' does so well for me is full range, dynamic, detailed, transparent music that just sounds right and you don't have to spend a fortune to get there, just choose equipment wisely. The set I have listed has just recently come together and I can now honestly say that I'm just about back to where I was a decade ago. I do still miss that octal tube pre I had. The music from it was outrageous. That's my story in a nutshell. I hope it makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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