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Listened to Forte III Amazing!


efzauner

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Went to the Montreal Audio show last night specifically to listen to what Klipsch had there. 

They had a pair of ForteIIs!  Just wow!  Very well balanced, gorgeous cabinet. Perfect imaging.  (and that is what I went for)

 

The only thing was that considering the size and market share of the company, they could have had a bigger room with more wow factor to really show them off, considering they where the cheapest of the lot that I liked..  The local shop is not that big. 

 

The  other makes that struck me in a positive way where the Yamaha NS5000s, $20,000  Paridigm Persona $30,000 and Muraudio $14000(made in Ottawa!) electrostatics. 

Source material makes a huge impact though, maybe other demos where just not my type of music.  

 

Lots of $5000 power cables too!  Oh boy. try getting into a conversation with the reps on those types of products.. Lots of BS and real anger when you ask good questions.  The same sort of response when you ask CAM people about reiki and homeopathy... its all woo.. and lots of Quantum Energy Fields!

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, efzauner said:

Lots of $5000 power cables too!  Oh boy. try getting into a conversation with the reps on those types of products.. Lots of BS and real anger when you ask good questions.  The same sort of response when you ask CAM people about reiki and homeopathy... its all woo.. and lots of Quantum Energy Fields!

 

Sure, they'll cite technical reasons that make them better but NEVER will they cite blinded listening trial data showing they are in ANY way audibly distinguishable from the power cords that are provided by the component manufacturer.  

 

I work for a Pharma company.  If one of our drug reps tried impressing a Doctor by bragging about how the biochemistry of our drug makes it better than another,  the doctor (the good ones, anyway) would stop the rep and say something like,  "Don't bother telling me that - we can discuss that later - first, just show me the blinded trial data that show it benefits the patient by reducing symptoms or halting/slowing disease progression.   If you HAVE the data proving it makes a difference then sure, tell me how it works.  ..If not, I don't need to hear about the biochemistry."  

 

I'll say it again, the utter lack of honesty/bias controls in high-end audio controls hurts this hobby.

 

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I've had my Forte IIIs for about two weeks now. Love em.

 

As for cables, there are differences. All do NOT sound alike, no matter what naysayers say. Spend what you are comfortable with and buy what sounds best within your budget. They don't have to cost thousands of dollars.

 

Audition cables in a resolving system and you'll see what I mean.

 

Shakey

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4 hours ago, Shakeydeal said:

I've had my Forte IIIs for about two weeks now. Love em.

 

As for cables, there are differences. All do NOT sound alike, no matter what naysayers say. Spend what you are comfortable with and buy what sounds best within your budget. They don't have to cost thousands of dollars.

 

Audition cables in a resolving system and you'll see what I mean.

 

Shakey

 

Well, to those who believe there are audible differences b/w cables, let me make this suggestion.  Yes, it may take a few minutes to set up but you'll thank me for the money it will save you.  

 

First, push your two speakers right next to each other.  Now, take two different interconnects (or speaker cables) and have a friend or family member connect one to one channel and one to the other WITHOUT telling you which is which.  ..Now, play a MONO song and switch b/w the speakers using your balance control.  ..Do you hear a difference now??  You can improve this test by using a db meter to first making sure your amp outputs the same SPL (within a db or so) to each channel. ..If one channel is sufficiently louder, this will likely fool you into thinking the cable sounds different.  ..But normally, you needn't bother if your pre-amp is functioning properly.

 

Dollars to donuts you won't hear one iota of a difference.  

 

 

 

 

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Went to the Montreal Audio show last night specifically to listen to what Klipsch had there. 
They had a pair of ForteIIs!  Just wow!  Very well balanced, gorgeous cabinet. Perfect imaging.  (and that is what I went for)

 


Yeah, the Forte III is a very balanced and entertaining speaker. I've had mine for a week now, and after an intensive break-in period I've started more critically listening.

Imaging is not yet on par with my Heresy IIIs, but the gap is closing. The biggest difference is the much bolder presentation of the music, due to the larger cabinets and the passive 15" bass.

The first four days the Forte III was fed from my 22 watt Line Magnetic SET-amp, but since thursday I have been using an old, cheap Cambridge amp. It's a match made in heaven imho. Lost some resolution and finesse, but still... It costs only 10% of the tube amp...

Do you remember which amplifier the Forte IIIs was hooked up to at the audio show?



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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14 minutes ago, hammershaug said:

 


Yeah, the Forte III is a very balanced and entertaining speaker. I've had mine for a week now, and after an intensive break-in period I've started more critically listening.

Imaging is not yet on par with my Heresy IIIs, but the gap is closing. The biggest difference is the much bolder presentation of the music, due to the larger cabinets and the passive 15" bass.

The first four days the Forte III was fed from my 22 watt Line Magnetic SET-amp, but since thursday I have been using an old, cheap Cambridge amp. It's a match made in heaven imho. Lost some resolution and finesse, but still... It costs only 10% of the tube amp...

Do you remember which amplifier the Forte IIIs was hooked up to at the audio show?



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I am using a Line Magnetic 518ia and I think the combo is amazing. Like you, I think the speakers are experiencing some break in, another taboo subject for some around here.

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1 hour ago, Shakeydeal said:

Your experiment works great for people who don't actually enjoy listening to music, i.e. active listening.

 

All you guys who like listening to test tones and/or those who relegate music to the background, knock yourselves out.

 

I listen to music incessantly.  ..But I approach this hobby with a critical mind.  ..I think it's hurt by a general disinterest in sorting out the real audible differences b/w gear and those that are imagined because of biases.

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9 minutes ago, ODS123 said:

 

I listen to music incessantly.  ..But I approach this hobby with a critical mind.  ..I think it's hurt by a general disinterest in sorting out the real audible differences b/w gear and those that are imagined because of biases.

Blind listening tests are fraught with problems. Long term listening in a relaxed environment will bear out if a change has made an improvement.

 

But I am not going to hijack this thread with double blind nonsense, back to singing the praises of an excellent speaker design. 

 

Shakey  

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I am using a Line Magnetic 518ia and I think the combo is amazing. Like you, I think the speakers are experiencing some break in, another taboo subject for some around here.

 

Taboo subject or not, I remember the day I unboxed and hooked up the Heresy III. A rather thin, anemic sound and an uneven bass response was what I heard. After a week or two they were slowly changing, no doubt about it. No, my ears wasn’t getting used to the new sound. The voicing was clearly changing - to the better.

 

Switching from KT88 push and pull to 845 SET was another step up the ladder, but I was still not there. Listening fatigue was a major factor for me gave up that project.

 

Therefore I bought some huge, classic Spendor monitors. Amazing speakers, especially on vocals, folk, blues and jazz. Not so much on rock and more complex music.

 

Fast forward to January 2018. The hi-fi system has now been moved from the attic/man cave to the much bigger living room; due to tragic circumstances. My beloved wife - and mother of our two kids - suddenly died on a mountain trip last autumn. 46 year and her heart just stopped. My world stopped. There was indeed no need for a man cave any longer...

 

So, one day in January, and just for fun, I swapped the Spendors for the Heresys.

 

Oh my god. What has happened?!

After two and a half year the Heresys finally sang to me. A colourful soundstage was in full bloom right in front of me! Just like a Panavision movie. I heard sounds from everywhere but not the speakers. Even the bass was in place, not much of it, but very very fast, presice and articulate.

 

Then, I start reading all those strong reviews of the Forte III, decided to sell the Spendors and go Klipsch all the way.

With Forte III I have the foundation I was missing from the little Heresy. Sometimes I think there is too much bass.

 

I will not sell the Heresys before I experience that kind of magic with the Forte III.

I may never sell them anyway...

 

Pardon my english. I just typed this piece from my iPhone, and I’m Norwegian.

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It's as you would expect each is better than the previous, with by far the biggest difference in the third version, easily much better than the other 2.  I was only using them for Ht so about all I tried besides a HT receiver was an old HK 930, this was much better than a HT receiver. But all I use them for is Ht as we use a different set of speakers for 2 ch.

 

But I could see how the Forte lll with a good amp would be really good for 2 Ch. Have Heresy 1 and 2 version here also and the Forte lll would be my choice between those three models.

 

My problem is I like so many of them, and no more room to put any.

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Give them a good front end and some fine tube amplification and you can have better sound than many speakers costing several times more. IMHO, of course.
 
Shakey


IMHO also;)

Tonight I’m gonna put back the Line Magnetic SET amplifier. I guess it will be an upgrade to my «break-in amp», the old Cambridge, all in all. I also fear hints of harshness. With the forgiving british amp everything sounds very good, but not the highest resolution.

The more open nature of the SET-amp will reveal bigger differences between recordings. I think so. Win some - lose some. That’s life.

I will post more later.
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