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Forte II vs Chorus I


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18 hours ago, geoff. said:

I seem to recall reading somewhere in this forum Mr. Crites stating he had difficulty hearing the difference between his Chorus 1's and his Cornwalls. That is a noteworthy observation. There are always compromises, but Cornwalls are as close as a speaker comes to doing it all.

 

I sold my Forte ii's shortly after landing my first pair of Cornwall's. The punch from the Cornwall's was missing in the Forte's. There is no replacement for displacement.

 

Now having said that, I recently replaced the mid horn (K601) in both my Cornwall 1's AND Cornwall 2's with the mid horn (K-61) used in the Forte ii entirely because I missed the "openess", greater detail, and to some degree imaging at CLOSER listening distance that marvelous tractrix mid provides.

 

I have since acquired a pair of walnut Forte ii's, just like yours, which I intend to have and hold, in sickness and in health...

 

Monogamy is not a practical approach to audio and we only miss something once it's gone. You will find the money to fund your Chorus project. But finding another pair of WALNUT Forte ii's tweaked like yours will be costly AND rare.

 

I would not consider myself an audiophile, but the performance of the Forte ii is head-spinning, in a GOOD way. Low, clean basslines, open midrange, and crisp highs in speaker almost half the size of a Cornwall.

 

Keep the Forte ii's.

If you look at the drivers in all of these speakers, many are the same base parts, Cornwall, Chorus, Heresy, and Forte.  The differences are the crossover implementation and horn.

The II version of the Chorus and the Forte have the tractrix horn which I find to sound more open.  You can bump up the mids in any of these with simple crossover changes but an exponential horn will sound different than a tractrix with a similar cut off frequency.

I do agree that depending on the size of the room, Forte II is an excellent speaker.

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13 hours ago, moray james said:

you will find that there is a distinct difference in the balance between the Forte ll and your chorus. The Forte ll plays a fair bit lower than a Chorus does. I think that this may be what leads some to think that the Chorus and Chorus ll have a bumped midrange they do not they simply do not go as low and that shifts the spectral balance. Either Chorus is more efficient than the Forte(s) are and that alone makes them much more dynamic and exciting to listen to.

 

I agree with everything you say in your entire post but wanted to focus on what I quoted for discussion. As you are aware the Quartet, forte II and Chorus II use the same exact mid horn and driver, they are interchangeable but all three speakers have quite noticeably different input sensitivity meaning they each have different output levels at the same power input. The difference has to be in the tuning of the crossover to level match all of the drivers together, woofers being the weak link in each case. This is what led me to believe the mids are not necessarily "bumped up" but more prominent with the Chorus over the forte. The Quartet seems to be a bit more forward as well which leads me to believe that the forte is actually recessed in the mids over the other two being disproportionately pushed forward. I've compared all three speakers and each version several times over the years with numerous pieces of stereo equipment and have come to the same conclusion each time that the Chorus (I or II) is just more life like and accurate to my ears and also "dynamic and exciting" as you put it.

 

I would argue that the forte with its slightly recessed mid horn and thick-coned woofer scale back the otherwise often perceived shoutyness of the "horn" speaker and is probably why so many people like them, even people who don't necessarily like "horn" speakers. I'm guessing that the new forte III with the titanium mid driver and Heresy III woofer will sound closer to the Chorus / Quartet in mid presentation than the old forte models but I'll have to wait and see.

 

 

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I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I had forte 2, Cornwalls, Chorus and Chorus 2 all at the same time. I ended up selling the fortes and the Cornwalls, i still have both pairs of Chorus. The k48 woofers in the Chorus are simply awesome, they sound great at any volume and can handle a ton of power. It's a better woofer than the forte or Cornwall in my opinion. If you don't need to sell the fortes then keep them, if it comes down to one or the other then I'd sell the fortes.

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I know it sounds odd, but I really do feel as if the mid range is more prominent/noticeable/"there" vs the Forte IIs so far. I am currently driving my Chorus using a borrowed sep amp built by Maynard. I love the sound clarity and dynamics. As for low end, I have a SW12ii that use, and have the cut off set to the lowest level. 

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2 hours ago, Mr._Music_Fan said:

I know it sounds odd, but I really do feel as if the mid range is more prominent/noticeable/"there" vs the Forte IIs so far. 

 

Does not sound odd to me at all in fact that's usually one of the ways I describe the main differences between the two models. If you decide to get rid of those horrible sounding Chorus 1's just let me know, maybe I can help you dispose of them properly.. B)

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I defintely want to keep the Chorus for a while, at least till I get a bigger house. JimJimbo and Matthews are Klipsch Saints, both have worked with me to secure some Lascalas, something that anyone on this forum who needs advice/direction should be really thankful if they find themselves seeking.  One day I'll get some rosewood LaScalas, but for now I'm thankful and enjoying where I am. 

 

Oh oh and who designed the Chorus? Was it @Chief bonehead

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