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Any help dating my Forte II's?


Loneshark

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Whoops okay, we had a miscommunication. The cup is square, the posts are round. 8 ohm. magnetic grills. 1989 seems to be the date most are thinking here but why would they change the way their tag looks or how they code the serial number for that year?

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Don't over react Travis, it's under control.  I'm thinking they are very early 1989's.   Mine are from sep 89 and have the traditional tags with the normal coding.  These look to be (from the tag) just before that.

Overreact not me. Just a suggestion.

I don't think Lewis and Martin would mind you using their rapier wit on your hot sauce packaging. Any major player with a brand to protect would just love having that associated with them.

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Whoops okay, we had a miscommunication. The cup is square, the posts are round. 8 ohm. magnetic grills. 1989 seems to be the date most are thinking here but why would they change the way their tag looks or how they code the serial number for that year?

That's why I posted a couple of pictures and added a few more questions that Oldtimer answered. 

 

 

what I would be gaining in replacing the caps or crossovers all together. 

 

 

 

At the very least it will refresh the sound. Caps in speakers and other electronics get tired and our ears acclimate, so we don't notice until we have a chance to A/B the equipment. With upgraded xover and tweeter diaphragm it will add a lot more / cleaner / detail to the sound.  What Bob Crites offers is very affordable and makes a great improvement in sound. 

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Okay, time for the stupid question....school me. I have a Velodyne 10 inch subwoofer in the same system as my Fortes. I understand that diameter difference may explain why the 12 inch woofer on the Fortes won't move as much as the 10 on the subwoofer. I know the Fortes are producing some bass when on my receiver they are set to "large" but the Fortes don't generate enough bass to cover general music needs unless the power supplied is high. In my mind, excursion is proportional to noise output (not counting in to effect that different frequencies have different excursion measurements. I understand that though) and I'm wondering if it is normal for the Fortes' 12s to have almost no excursion. Would replacing the caps or xovers help this? 

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I have had forte IIs since 1989 and never felt the need for a subwoofer.  I would suggest placement is your problem if you are not getting enough bass, since +/- 3db they spec down to 32 hz, just like a Khorn.  I take it when you set them to large for music you also disable the sub? 

Edited by oldtimer
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I have had forte IIs since 1989 and never felt the need for a subwoofer.  I would suggest placement is your problem if you are not getting enough bass, since +/- 3db they spec down to 32 hz, just like a Khorn.  I take it when you set them to large for music you also disable the sub? 

 

One of the speakers is in a true corner and the other is positioned as best I can achieve. I've thought about placement but I wanted to rule out this excursion question before having the "let's reconfigure the living room" conversation with the missus. If I put the speakers at large they still don't make the bass I feel is necessary - specifically talking about upright bass during jazz and etc. so I leave the sub on. On/off/large/small/receiver's xover I have tinkered with settings so much it makes my head hurt and I ended up running the fortes on large with the sub turned on with xover at 80. I'm just wondering if the fortes should have more movement and how I could achieve that movement if it is proper. It's like the bass is what is lacking out of what should be a great 2.0 system.

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Corners are ideal, with the closest edge of the toed in speaker about 12 to up to 18 inches away from the nearest wall.  For no corner the same applies for distance from the wall.  Too close to the wall and you are choking off the passive which is equivalent to a port in function.  Like I said, since 1989 I have had no problem with bass response.  If your placement is correct, then something mechanically may be wrong, such as reversed polarity at the terminal, or in the box, or perhaps a bad component.  (If you choke off the passive by being too close to the wall, you won't get excursion or proper bass response, first things first)

Edited by oldtimer
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Would it not be better to buy the whole new crossover he offers for 130 per speaker? I don't know how to compare $80 for an old/new mixture to $260 for an all new network. And there seems to be no way to determine if my crossovers are truly the problem. 

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Mechanical as in everything I mentioned.  Reverse polarity. Both inside and out side the box.  Bad wire.  Crossovers perhaps, yet mine are original and no issues.  If they are on the wall, like I said you are choking the woofers and you wont get proper response.  First things first, and if you have them against the wall rather than out the recommended distance, that is clearly the first place to start.  Too close to the wall is like stuffing a sock into a port, or into your car's exhaust for that matter.

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My Heresy IIs had no tags, on the inside I did find a small inspection tag (dated), which helped narrow it down. I'm not real concerned, as I will keep them. Btw, the tag was not attached in any way.

Bruce

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I finally had some time to pull them out from their positions and tinker. I turned the sub off, aligned all receiver settings how it should be and played the Forte's alone. I was stunned to see that once my Yamaha was turned up, like in the -20.0 range, the bass comes through like everyone always said it should. Now I'm wondering about the bass at low volume listening. This is probably why people run a preamp and then an amp - to have the power needed for detail at low level listening? I'm just glad to find out the Forte's are not at fault here

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