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Forte Speakers Sounding Very Bad


DCRT08

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Hello All. Searched the forums but couldn't quite find what I was looking for so hopefully someone out there can point me in a good starting direction. Before getting into the details of the problem, I'm running a B&K AVR507 receiver with nothing in between. No EQ, DSP, nothing. It's a HT receiver, but I have it set up for 2 channel stereo music and no sub output turned on. I originally had RF-7s connected to the receiver and sold them a few years back. It was a financial thing and honestly, the RF-7s were so harsh they would actually give me a headache if I listened for more than 30 mins. I replaced them with a pair of Polk Rti8s. The Polks were kind of, well, average at most things. Sounded ok but muddy at times and took a lot of amp power to get the volume up. I also had to dial down the bass setting or the Polks were complete mud.

 

Soooo, just replaced the Polks with some Klipsch Fortes which I expected to sound an awful lot like the Heresy speakers I bought way back in the day except with more bass. What I have is, well, I have no clue. As expected, it doesn't take much power to get volume, but I have the receiver bass setting maxed out and I still don't get much of any bass from the Fortes (not thinking of bass in terms of giant subs used for hip-hop/rap...just like a bass drum sounding like one). Guitar and brass sounds pretty decent, but nothing else. It's really ugly when playing rock. I'm also getting a ton of the dreaded snake hisses on lyrics starting with an "S." Crossover and tweat upgrades aside (because I'm not sure it would directly affect these issues?) I just don't get it. The radiators are in tact and woofers seem to be woofing, but the speakers sound terrible. My Fortes sound worse than stuff I've heard on the shelf at Costco. I mean really, really bad. Any ideas? Thoughts? Holy water? 5 gallons of gas and a match?

 

Thanks.

Edited by DCRT08
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Do you have a different receiver that you can hook up to see if you get the same result? Double check the speaker wires to make sure you have a good connection. I know this sounds obvious, but you have to start somewhere, might as well begin with the easiest things to check first. I own and absolutely love my Fortes. Good luck!


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My experience with my Forte II's, gain great benefits with simply repositioning your speakers. Always amazed by how much improvement is gained by adjusting the distance from wall (better Bass), plus the toe in of speakers.

Above suggestions, along with prior suggestions from fellow forum members should resolve your issues. Good luck, please share how you make out.

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For one, like my NAD T773 flagship AVR from 2004, your B&K AVR507 is one of those great sounding musical AVRs.  Don't think the B&K is the problem unless just not set up "properly".  Describe your room, speaker placement/toe-in, etc.

 

Bill

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1 minute ago, BlueHusky79 said:

My experience with my Forte II's, gain great benefits with simply repositioning your speakers. Always amazed by how much improvement is gained by adjusting the distance from wall (better Bass), plus the toe in of speakers.

My thoughts exactly.  Same can be said for the forte I's and Quartets.

 

Bill

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Sure does sound like the speakers are out of phase.  That would attenuate the bass.  If you have a test disc, double check with it, in case the internal wiring got reversed, somehow (unlikely). 

 

They aren't out in the middle of the room, are they?  Fairly near a wall might help.

 

If you are using them with an AVR, with no subwoofer, the AVR is not set for "Small," is it?  That would decrease the bass below crossover (usually about 80 Hz).

 

 

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14 minutes ago, garyrc said:

Sure does sound like the speakers are out of phase.  That would attenuate the bass.  If you have a test disc, double check with it, in case the internal wiring got reversed, somehow (unlikely). 

 

They aren't out in the middle of the room, are they?  Fairly near a wall might help.

 

If you are using them with an AVR, with no subwoofer, the AVR is not set for "Small," is it?  That would decrease the bass below crossover (usually about 80 Hz).

 

 

 

I agree with garyrc's good advice.

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What kind of reciever are you using? My son and I hooked up his Belles to a Denon reciever, my Integra, my Onkyo and the Belles sounded terrible. We rebuilt the crossovers in the Belles and they still sounded bad. My son had a friend over and we did everything again then he went out to his car and he brought in an old Sony integrated amp and then the sound was awesome. Everybody I talk to says you have to use a 2 channel reciever to get the best sound out of them.

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I know you checked, but I suspect the amp.  Are mains set to small? by mistake?  This would cut the bass.

 

Listen to the amp on headphones if possible or with other speakers.

 

Can you borrow another amp to check these.  Even an old dorm room type.

 

Gasoline is never a solution.

 

Where are you located?  Maybe some forum member can visit.

 

WMcD

 

 

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Check for air leaks from around the woofer and passive.

I had an issue with a passive in which the rubber surround came loose from the stamped metal frame. Hard to see bit easily found by pushing gently on the woofer and feeling for leaks around the passive and then pushing on the passive and checking around the woofer.

 

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I certainly agree with UH1.  My thought was that one woofer system failing is possible but two failing is less likely.  It is surprising how good a stereo pair can sound working with one woofer.

 

The push test will require getting the (front) grill off.  IIRC the Forte has the mechanical trapped ball type fastners. The grill can be pried off with a butter knife or putty knife.

 

WMcD

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Well since I just got an AVR I think I know what the problem is. Go into the equalizer section and turn up the lower frequency's. With out that the regular bass and treble adjustment does not do much. Or if you really want to hear sweet sound get an HK 430 receiver and sit back and enjoy.

 In fact that's why I knew when I got my AVR it was the AVR cause I knew what my speakers should sound like.....in all likely hood your RF-7s sounded bad because of the AVR settings. I'm still learning how to adjust this AVR.. steep learning curve for me and 109 page manual...lol. But I still have my HK 430 to fall back on just incase.,,,,lol

 You should try almost any older stereo receiver and I bet they will sound awesome.

Should have kept the RF7s cause it was not the speakers causing the problems.

I just looked up your manual trying to find how to manually adjust the tone I could not figure it out...maybe easier with on screen adjustments. You should be able to adjust the tone to make it sound better.

But all the above assumes everything is ok with the speakers which most likely are fine. But there is a small chance that the speakers may have something wrong with them. The only way to make sure is borrow a stereo receiver and try it out on them.

Maybe your close to another forum member and one of us could help.

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You can use a 1.5V battery to test the woofers for phasing, too.  Connect the battery + to the speaker + and battery - to speaker -, briefly.  The woofer cones should move forward.  If they don't, someone must have been mucking around inside.  There is a schematic of the crossover in one of the pinned threads above.  You can use that to correct any errors. 

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On ‎5‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 5:28 PM, drewg74 said:

Do you have a different receiver that you can hook up to see if you get the same result? Double check the speaker wires to make sure you have a good connection. I know this sounds obvious, but you have to start somewhere, might as well begin with the easiest things to check first. I own and absolutely love my Fortes. Good luck!


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Thanks. I'll see if I can dig one up and give that a try. Can't do any worse. LOL. I did verify connections and so forth. My hair hurts on this one.

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On ‎5‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 9:06 PM, WMcD said:

I know you checked, but I suspect the amp.  Are mains set to small? by mistake?  This would cut the bass.

 

Listen to the amp on headphones if possible or with other speakers.

 

Can you borrow another amp to check these.  Even an old dorm room type.

 

Gasoline is never a solution.

 

Where are you located?  Maybe some forum member can visit.

 

WMcD

 

 

Thanks. I did check the speaker settings on the receiver and at least it thinks I have the settings to large speakers. I'm in Grand Rapids, MI

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