unclefred Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 I picked up some nice Quartets this afternoon and have been running them all night. What a revelation (to me). Now I understand the dynamics, immediacy and the 'live in the room sound'. I'm not hearing any horn honk, harshness or all of the negatives I've read and expected. As soon as I lit them up my wife said "these are the best you have". The vocals sound very natural, the bass is very solid, strong output. The top end is not as extended or airy as the EMIT ribbons in my VMPS speakers. The soundstage is not out in front of the speakers as much as the planar mids, slightly less 3d imaging. But everything else is better. It just sounds live. The dynamics of horns, guitars, drums, much better. Vocals more natural. I have them out 20" from the wall, it's a big room. they fill it. I don't hear the boxiness some complained of, in smaller rooms with the speakers too close to the back wall. I hear no reason to damp the horns or mess with the mid horn. I'm guessing the titanium diaphragms will give me the extension I want in the tweeters. I'm very happy with these. I should mention I am using a big high current CODA amp 200 watts per channel at 8ohms 400 at 4ohms. But, The IRL preamp I have is very neutral sounding with variable gain settings. I'm on the lowest setting. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTB Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 (edited) I have Forte, Forte II, Heresy II, KG 4.5 and Quartets. I love the Quartets! (Disclaimer: I love all of my Klipsch speakers.) I agree with all you've stated in your post, and will never part with mine. I do have the Crites Diaphragm upgrades in them, and highly recommend you do this very easy upgrade. The crossovers will also be done soon. During my Forte II upgrade I used them as my mains, and had nothing to complain about. Smooth and with an excellent sound stage, they worked flawlessly. They now are part of my 7.1 system: Forte IIs mains Quartets mid-surrounds Forte I rear-surrounds I'm temporarily using an RB-61 for a center. Being built is a custom center consisting of Forte I mid and tweeter, Forte I crossover and an 8" woofer with perfectly matching Theil parameters to the original K-23, including SPL. It will be ported and fit in the center of my TV console. Edited June 25, 2017 by GTB Correct typo. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter P. Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 9 hours ago, unclefred said: The top end is not as extended or airy as the EMIT ribbons .... The soundstage is not out in front of the speakers as much as the planar mids, .... But everything else is better. It just sounds live. I should mention I am using a big high current CODA amp 200 watts per channel at 8ohms 400 at 4ohms. But, The IRL preamp I have is very neutral sounding with variable gain settings. I'm on the lowest setting. The reason "it just sounds live" is because live music amplification doesn't use EMIT tweeters and planar mids! I think Klipsch speakers are about as close to live amplification as you can get, where efficiency is the name of the game. And with the Quartets' efficiency, you won't even wake up your CODA amp from their nap to work hard enough to fire up those speakers! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclefred Posted June 25, 2017 Author Share Posted June 25, 2017 39 minutes ago, Peter P. said: The reason "it just sounds live" is because live music amplification doesn't use EMIT tweeters and planar mids! I think Klipsch speakers are about as close to live amplification as you can get, where efficiency is the name of the game. And with the Quartets' efficiency, you won't even wake up your CODA amp from their nap to work hard enough to fire up those speakers! That's for sure, the volume dial is hardly cracked on that amp. I played in bands for decades and this is real live sound, not a facsimile. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclefred Posted June 25, 2017 Author Share Posted June 25, 2017 40 minutes ago, Peter P. said: The reason "it just sounds live" is because live music amplification doesn't use EMIT tweeters and planar mids! I think Klipsch speakers are about as close to live amplification as you can get, where efficiency is the name of the game. And with the Quartets' efficiency, you won't even wake up your CODA amp from their nap to work hard enough to fire up those speakers! 1 hour ago, GTB said: I have Forte, Forte II, Heresy II, KG 4.5 and Quartets. I love the Quartets! (Disclaimer: I love all of my Klipsch speakers.) I agree with all you've stated in your post, and will never part with mine. I do have the Crites Diaphragm upgrades in them, and highly recommend you do this very easy upgrade. The crossovers will also be done soon. During my Forte II upgrade I used them as my mains, and had nothing to complain about. Smooth and with an excellent sound stage, they worked flawlessly. They now are part of my 7.1 system: Forte IIs mains Quartets mid-surrounds Forte I rear-surrounds I'm temporarily using an RB-61 for a center. Being built is a custom center consisting of Forte I mid and tweeter, Forte I crossover and an 8" woofer with perfectly matching Theil parameters to the original K-23, including SPL. It will be ported and fit in the center of my TV console. That's an awesome system. I'm just using them in my two channel set up. I think I may try lifting them a bit, like you did with those nice cabinets. when I stand up the bass is much better than when seated. I tilted them back a couple of inches and that recovered some of it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted June 25, 2017 Share Posted June 25, 2017 11 hours ago, unclefred said: I'm not hearing any horn honk Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! You can't let that inconvenient tidbit leak out beyond these walls. The 'internet' thinks horns are honky, therefore they are honky. Now go back to your bliss from whence you came... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclefred Posted June 26, 2017 Author Share Posted June 26, 2017 I put them up on 4" inch blocks, and they sound better, no bass loss, good imaging. They really thump, I didn't expect that. Toed in, they have a nice center image and soundstage. They play so clean, even when loud. I measured a Bruce Cockburn tune I was listening to and it was 80db. So many speakers sound strained at that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 On 6/25/2017 at 11:52 AM, unclefred said: That's for sure, the volume dial is hardly cracked on that amp. I played in bands for decades and this is real live sound, not a facsimile. That is my "reference material" as well. Congrats, it sounds like you made an outstanding choice. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Chief bonehead Posted June 26, 2017 Klipsch Employees Share Posted June 26, 2017 Glad you like them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclefred Posted June 27, 2017 Author Share Posted June 27, 2017 So, I checked the tweeters and they already have the Titanium diaphragms. Now I'm gonna check the crossovers. No wonder they sound so good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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