hanfrac Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 On an impulse, I bought some Forte I's from their original owner off a CL ad. I brought them home and put them up against my Snell Type A's. My initial reaction was that the Snells were more musical and smoother and the Fortes were fun with deep bass and a forward, involving sound. But the bass was a little flabby. I did more listening and am reaching the conclusion that I care more about the energy/fun factor the Fortes give me vs. the sophistication of my big Snells. So I want to make the Fortes better. I want to tighten up the bass and get more clarity in the highs - I expected the highs to be bright, but they aren't. Here's what I plan on doing (I'd love some input): - I've already ordered Crites crossover caps and tweeter diaphragms - Dynamat on the horns - wood glue along interior seams to better seal against air leakage (when I push the passive radiator in, the woofer comes out and returns to its starting spot in about 1 second) - remove all drivers and add rope caulk when reinstalling them and round terminal cup to get a better seal - add weight to passive radiator using pairs of small disc magnets (not sure if this is going to help with the flabbiness - I care more about tightening the bass up rather than increasing extension) I've read that I should also seal the grill hole openings, but don't know exactly how to do that. Are these the right things to be doing? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Hanfrac, Welcome to the forum. Your decision to keep the forte's and improve on the "energy/fun factor" is a good choice. The forte's have the potential to be the best sounding speakers in your house if set up properly and refreshed with newer/better parts. The sealing the air holes idea is a good one also. I have no experience with the adding weight to the passives but forum member Moray james is a huge proponent for this mod. I think with the mentioned improvements and placement, toe in/toe out, the Klipsch forte's can be very musical and smooth and maybe even rival just about any new speakers you can find today in the $2000 to $3000 range. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Snells are pretty dope, but quite different in how they'll interact w/ your room. Here are a couple helpful links to help get the most out of your new fortes: DOPE from HOPE Toe In.pdf 159k .pdf file Setup of WG Speakers.pdf 206k .pdf file Tune the bass by playing with proximity to corners. Inches matter. And I highly recommend fairly heavy toe-in/cross fire style orientation as described in the second link, for a larger coverage area and stable image. Edited November 30, 2014 by Ski Bum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Flabby bass can certainly be room related. Experiment with placement of speakers and your seat. Sealing the cabinets is also an excellent idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MORE KLIPSCH PLEASE Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Hey hanfrac, Just a welcome to the forum. The Forte's are a nice Klipsch speaker. I have no in-put to mods cuz I have yet to do any. I do have plans but all my Klipsch are stock for now. Just wanted to say "hey"......let us know how you mods work out :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anotherforumname Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 All the mods you are planning are good, I have Forte II's and bought them with upgraded crossovers and titanium diaphragms. All I have done is add some weight to the passives to bring the frequency down, it also tightened them up as well. Also I built some stands to get the horns up to ear level all per good advise here on the forum. I know what you mean, I have other speakers that are more neutral and detailed and on some things prefer them but for the most part prefer the more forward sound of the Klipsch. Also like not having to turn the volume up so loud like with the other inefficient speakers I have. Welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Chi-town Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 (edited) Welcome Replace both the tweeter and squawker diaphragms from phenolic to titanium, This will require a minor modification to the crossover. Recap or upgrade original crossovers. Best regards, John Edited December 1, 2014 by John Chi-town 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Jove Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 I'm sorry to hear that your Forte's are not performing well. Normally these speakers are very impressive. Fortunately, there are plenty of upgrades available. I have a pair of Chorus 2's and they are very loud. My bathroom door begins to tremble when I push the dial on my power tube amp. It literally begins to rattle. Along with anything that's not nailed down. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanfrac Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 My Fortes sound pretty good. There's no real problem with them. I do want to make them better. The highs are a little muted for my tastes and don't sound like the Forte signature, so I'm sure the caps and diaphragm will help open them up. I just received my box from Mr. Crites today, so by the weekend, I'll get this stuff installed. I don't see doing the titanium midranges if it requires crossover work. Plus, I want to see how far I can get get for $100 (about what I've spent on caps and the TI tweeter diaphragm) before doing more costly things. Does anyone have specific recommendations on what to do with the grill holes? I've read that they can be a source of air leaks. Do I go behind the baffle when I have the drivers out and either caulk or apply a ring of glue around the perimeter of the grommet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 (edited) If the horns are not metal, then don't wrap them with the dynamat. It will do nothing for you, and that stuff is killer to remove. Edited December 2, 2014 by thebes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincymat Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Welcome Replace both the tweeter and squawker diaphragms from phenolic to titanium, This will require a minor modification to the crossover. Recap or upgrade original crossovers. Best regards, John What John said! My Forte II's have never sounded better than with Ti tweeters, Ti mids, and new Xovers. I would also be very meticulous in determining the correct speaker placement for your room. I've found the distance from the rear wall to be very important in regards to tightening up the bass. Also, though toe-in is highly touted I've found mine sound the best almost parallel to my listening position! I know, "Oh the horror!!". Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Chi-town Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 My listening position is about 14 to 15 feet from my forte II. I keep them 18 inches from the rear wall. I to have found that for my set up and room that no toe in is best. Most find the forte, forte II best bass response to be between 10-20 inches out from rear wall. Also, the mod required to the crossover for titanium mids, is very inexpensive and simple to perform. A simple band pass roll off. INMHO, the benefit gained with titanium squawkers far outweighs that of replaceing the tweeter. A much more noticeable improvement. As Paul always said, the music is in the mid. Best regards, John 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanfrac Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 Thanks, John. Duly noted on the titanium midranges. I'm still not going to do it until I get through the list of stuff above and see where I'm at. I don't know what a band pass roll off is, so it's not something I'm excited to do - yet. If I want to tighten the bass, I want to be further from the rear wall, right? Closer gets me more bass? My listening position is about 14 to 15 feet from my forte II. I keep them 18 inches from the rear wall. I to have found that for my set up and room that no toe in is best. Most find the forte, forte II best bass response to be between 10-20 inches out from rear wall. Also, the mod required to the crossover for titanium mids, is very inexpensive and simple to perform. A simple band pass roll off. INMHO, the benefit gained with titanium squawkers far outweighs that of replaceing the tweeter. A much more noticeable improvement. As Paul always said, the music is in the mid. Best regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelt Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 (edited) For the grill grommets just pop them out and apply a little black rtv. wont even be noticable. +1 for the Ti mids. Edited December 4, 2014 by UH1dg337 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Bum Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 (edited) If I want to tighten the bass, I want to be further from the rear wall, right? Closer gets me more bass? Closer = more, further = less, but "tighter" is a different thing. I think there is only so "tight" things can get with a reflex enclosure, and the forte does a pretty good job. And quality bass is a very tough audio nut to crack, given the room's influence. Consider this: shoved deep into corners, the acoustic gain is dramatic, and as a result the drivers barely move to reach rather loud levels, giving very little speaker-related coloration. So perhaps "more" and "tight" are not at odds.. Go ahead, try it! Fortes love corners. Nothing is perfect, of course, so you should try them every which way, and go with what sounds the "tightest" to you. As I mentioned upthread, inches here and there matter for tuning the bass (and because they're horns, the mids/highs are largely unchanged wherever you put them). This gives them much more wiggle room compared to say your Snells for tuning via placement, which must be used to get the most out of them.* Regarding the upgrades, IMO the caps/networks are the biggie, cabs since you're accessing them anyway, and the the rest is season to taste (depending on how far into re-engineering them you want to go). *If done right, think "Baby Jubs".** **Ok, hyperbolic perhaps, but what do you expect for a forte fan? They really are one of the finer Klipsch ever made. You made a good choice for your initial Klipsch speaker. Edited December 4, 2014 by Ski Bum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anotherforumname Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 I have mine set up away from the corners or back walls, this kills their low end extensions but great for mid, I have a Sunfire sub that fills the bottom in nicely. I too looked into doing the Titanium mid but Bob Crites told me that not everyone cares for the upgrade so I decided to pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanfrac Posted December 8, 2014 Author Share Posted December 8, 2014 I did most of what I had planned to do this weekend. - recap using Crites caps - TI tweeter diaphragm - wood glue to seal seams/caulk on grill grommets/rope caulk around drivers and terminal cup - all meant to improve cabinet air tightness and improve bass - add weight to passive radiators (I added 2 oz) - since my horns are plastic, I skipped dampening them - thanks for the heads-up My initial impressions after less than 90 minutes of listening time (and little time to mess with placement) - the speakers sound more refined and more expensive. Probably easier to listen to for long periods - feels like it smoothed out the high end (however, I was hoping to get more sparkle out the highs, which I don't think happened) - I can't really tell whether the bass is deeper or tighter as a result of the weight - the cabinet work made no difference as measured by pushing in the passive and watching the woofer - it behaves exactly as it did before and nowhere near the 3 second return time I've read is the desired target - not sure if the smoothing and refinement has lessened the exciting, live sound of the speaker. I haven't had the opportunity to push the volume up The net of it is that for the $110 I spent, I'm relatively happy, more from a "peace of mind" standpoint than an actual sound improvement standpoint. I unfortunately have not had the experience of "this turns these into world-killers that it would cost $5000+ to compete with in today's market." I think they are slightly nicer than before, but I have to listen for the differences. The good news is that the Fortes, more than my Snells, has me listening to and enjoying whole songs and enjoying the music vs. being overly focused on analytically listening for details and trying to determine whether I liked my speakers. The Snells went up on Craigslist this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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