Belle Review

[jcmusic]

3 hours ago, avguytx said:

I'm pretty sure his are the ones listed on the auction site right now.  Still makes me happy that I built a pair. 

Which auction site?

 

[TasDom]

16 minutes ago, canyonman said:

Which auction site?

https://tucson.craigslist.org/ele/d/klipsch-belle-beautiful/6535236421.html

[avguytx]

And there too, I guess.

[Schu]

Yikes... that was fast. Faster han even Rodney used to sell his gear

[Frzninvt]

Good luck recouping that kind of cash.  That is Klipschorn money.

[jcmusic]

15 hours ago, TasDom said:

https://tucson.craigslist.org/ele/d/klipsch-belle-beautiful/6535236421.html

I thought we were talking about the ALK's not the speakers, my mistake.

[jimjimbo]

2 hours ago, Frzninvt said:

Good luck recouping that kind of cash.  That is Klipschorn money.

That's two pairs of Khorn money, if you are patient enough.....

[jcmusic]

Guys there is no need in making him feel any worst than he does already, he saw what he thought were great speakers and bought them....

[Quiet_Hollow]

Kink, I’m in Tucson as well. Drop me a PM if you’d like to discuss further. -QH

[kink56]

Now that the Belles are gone, and since I like my Forte I and my Heresy III, I am getting Forte III to replace the Belles.  

[Shakeydeal]

6 hours ago, kink56 said:

Now that the Belles are gone, and since I like my Forte I and my Heresy III, I am getting Forte III to replace the Belles.  

That should be interesting. I haven't heard the Belles, but I own the Forte III and love it. Keep us posted.

 

Shakey

[kink56]

I do have a first impression. But first a little background on my Forte I.  I put Crites x-overs and Ti tweeters in them, nice improvement.  Then I put Ti midrange diaphragms in them and TOOK THEM OUT after a day. TOO harsh. 

 

Now on to the first impressions of the Forte III.  They sound a LOT like the Forte I.  They are somewhere in between the Forte I with the stock midrange diaphragms and the TI diaphragms.  That is: the Forte III is a bit hot in the midrange, but not offensive . A matter of taste.  I will be listening for awhile before I comment further. 

 

 

 

Oh the irony.   I went seeking the Belles because most people say they have excellent midrange.  For me the resonance of the bass bin obliterated that. (I found the same problem for K-horns by the way).  As for the Forte III over my gently upgraded Forte I:  The Forte III are less boomy in the bass, and the highs are more extended and sweeter.   The depth of the soundstage is deeper.  All good.

 

But the main selling point of both the Forte II and Forte III has been the MIDRANGE and the Tractrix horn. I find the midrange a bit "digital" sounding or maybe "transistor" sounding compared to the midrange in my Phenolic diaphramed Forte I.  I do not think it is the horn but rather the Ti diaphragms in the Forte III that are a slight annoyance to me.     However I am so far happy with my purchase.    Maybe the crossovers in these new Forte III will "break in" to where the slight overbearing "zing" in the midrange will tame a bit. 

•  
•  

[Shakeydeal]

They will smooth out after you put some hours on them. And play around with how they are toed. Don't fire them directly at you.

 

Shakey

[garyrc]

5 hours ago, kink56 said:

I do have a first impression. But first a little background on my Forte I.  I put Crites x-overs and Ti tweeters in them, nice improvement.  Then I put Ti midrange diaphragms in them and TOOK THEM OUT after a day. TOO harsh. 

 

Now on to the first impressions of the Forte III.  They sound a LOT like the Forte I.  They are somewhere in between the Forte I with the stock midrange diaphragms and the TI diaphragms.  That is: the Forte III is a bit hot in the midrange, but not offensive . A matter of taste.  I will be listening for awhile before I comment further. 

 

 

 

Oh the irony.   I went seeking the Belles because most people say they have excellent midrange.  For me the resonance of the bass bin obliterated that. (I found the same problem for K-horns by the way).  As for the Forte III over my gently upgraded Forte I:  The Forte III are less boomy in the bass, and the highs are more extended and sweeter.   The depth of the soundstage is deeper.  All good.

 

But the main selling point of both the Forte II and Forte III has been the MIDRANGE and the Tractrix horn. I find the midrange a bit "digital" sounding or maybe "transistor" sounding compared to the midrange in my Phenolic diaphramed Forte I.  I do not think it is the horn but rather the Ti diaphragms in the Forte III that are a slight annoyance to me.     However I am so far happy with my purchase.    Maybe the crossovers in these new Forte III will "break in" to where the slight overbearing "zing" in the midrange will tame a bit. 

•  
•  

 

1.  Resonance of bass bin in Belle and Khorn.  I eliminated the very small resonance in a Belle by flush mounting it in a thick wall, with neoprene pads crammed in against the outside of the sides.  As to Khorns:  I have had mine in three different rooms, with no resonance audible.  The bass bins are 1982 models.  They have the narrower aperture directly in front of the woofer cone, not the larger one that was used before 1963.  They used neoprene pads to provide a seal to the walls (as Klipsch advocated in the instructions) in the first two rooms, and pipe insulation in the third room (as Klipsch later recommended).  All three rooms had very rigid corners, and the Khorns were pressed against the corners.  I never heard even a trace of resonance, spurious vibration, or rattle from my Khorns.
2. MIDRANGE.  What kind of music do you listen to?  Midrange without a touch of harshness is somewhat hard to find on Rock or metal CDs, although it is (was) plentiful on vinyl.  This is true both with my Klipsch speakers (Khorns, Belle, Heresy IIs) and older speakers my friends and I had (JBL, Wharfdale, ADC, Ampex, EV).  I listen to a lot of classical and jazz, and harshness is harder to find there, but I do have a little stack of them that I don't play often.  The Ausyssey roll off setting (Audyssey Reference, or just plain Audyssey, not Audyssey flat) helps with these, sometimes curing the problem completely.  IMO, it is not the VHF roll off that helps, but the accompanying "Midrange Compensation," similar to, but not identical with, the "BBC Dip" that reduces the response around 2K.  There seems to be bass attenuation and midrange boost in many modern recording.  See Chris A's thread on de-mastering.  All of this is to suggest that some Klipsch speakers reveal harshness that is on several recordings.  I have never heard harshness or other midrange anomalies on a Blu-ray of a modern movie (we have run about 2/week for the last several years).