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Upgrade crossover in Forte’ or buy a new Cartridge.


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In my office I have a two channel setup for listening to music. I have a Denon receiver with preamp and a Denon D30L turntable and a pair of 1987 Forte’s. The cartridge on the turntable is an AT 95e. It had a Grado on it but one of the grandkids broke the stylus. I sold the cartridge. I have about a $100-150 budget right now. Should I upgrade crossovers or purchase a new cartridge. Where will I get the best bang for my buck? I have hearing loss in the upper register so the Forte’s sound good to me. But I’m itching to do some kind of upgrade. Lol

 

 

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If 150.00 is all you can spend on a new cartridge, I would suggest you either do something else with the money or save some more. A Denon DL-103 will only be a little more and it's probably all the cartridge you will ever need.

 

Shakey

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I agree with Shakey that a new cart is the logical choice but get a good one!  IMO, a change at the frontmost end of a system, a cart, will bring greater rewards than at the back end.  How do you know a crossover change would bring a benefit? 

 

Are you wanting a cart change because the Grado sounded better than the AT?  If so, the Denon 103 is an excellent cart, so I too would do that.

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Do you have the Crites Titanium Diaphragm replacements for the tweeters?  That's a good upgrade for about $60 for the pair.  If the crossovers, you can send your stock board to Crites to replace the capacitors for $110, or if you know how to solder, you can get his kit for $56 to DIY.  If you DIY, you can probably get more bang for your buck by ordering higher quality capacitors yourself instead of the SoniCaps Crites uses/sells. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
16 hours ago, Terry Palmer said:

 


I do not have the Crites tweeters. Does Crites crossovers upgrade kits come with only capacitors?


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The titanium diaprahams  come in a pack of 2 of course and are just another speaker tweak that can be done.

The capacitor crossover refresh kit probably comes with a new resistor as well. Check with @BEC...Mr. Bob Crites for the details and pricing. He is a good source to know for Klipsch speakers. And well thought of here, of course.

Have you decided what you want to do regarding a new cart or a crossover refresh?

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I did pick up a new cartridge. I got the Ortofon  Red. I really like it. It’s hotter than the AT and seems to reveal a real nice presence, separation and good bass extension.  Now I’m wanting to do the upgrades to the crossover since the speakers are over thirty years old. 87’s 

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6 minutes ago, vtpalmer said:

I did pick up a new cartridge. I got the Ortofon  Red. I really like it. It’s hotter than the AT and seems to reveal a real nice presence, separation and good bass extension.  Now I’m wanting to do the upgrades to the crossover since the speakers are over thirty years old. 87’s 

Bob Crites has a website. :   Tried to post it here for you but, klick on the @BEC  and you can see it listed in his profile page. Others may chime in.😃

Glad you are digging on the Ortofon Red...

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Bob Crites has a website. :   Tried to post it here for you but, klick on the [mention=7208]BEC[/mention]  and you can see it listed in his profile page. Others may chime in.[emoji2]
Glad you are digging on the Ortofon Red...

Would changing the tap setting bring down the db of the midrange horn? If so what settings.


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Just now, Terry Palmer said:


Would changing the tap setting bring down the db of the midrange horn? If so what settings.


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Those are questions for Bob or DeanG, others...start a new thread or keep asking here and someone will be able to say...

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Think my forte's were around that time. There is a review done by a couple of respected techies/critics that found the forte as the best they had heard in overall balance. They  even wanted to keep the speakers that Klipsch had sent for their review for publication. So, as is and refreshed, the crossovers

will put all back into spec for you. Are you a DIY solderer?

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Saw where I reposted it before but no linkage for me to the article. It was a review by Stereophile back in around 1985, when think the forte' was first introduced. There are of course reams of info on the forte, done in a search of the forum.

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Do you have the Crites Titanium Diaphragm replacements for the tweeters?  That's a good upgrade for about $60 for the pair.  If the crossovers, you can send your stock board to Crites to replace the capacitors for $110, or if you know how to solder, you can get his kit for $56 to DIY.  If you DIY, you can probably get more bang for your buck by ordering higher quality capacitors yourself instead of the SoniCaps Crites uses/sells. 

Yea I’m probably going to order the kit.


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Think my forte's were around that time. There is a review done by a couple of respected techies/critics that found the forte as the best they had heard in overall balance. They  even wanted to keep the speakers that Klipsch had sent for their review for publication. So, as is and refreshed, the crossovers
will put all back into spec for you. Are you a DIY solderer?



Yea I can get by, because I have built some speakers in the past. And built a few crossovers from some schematics. I actually have a whole box of resistors, capacitors and omh’s but nothing in the right value for the upgrade.


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Yea I’m probably going to order the kit.


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I believe the kit is only the Sonicaps. Perhaps at that point, you should invest a little more in “higher quality” or “higher rated” capacitors? Only issue is if they fit onto the stock board, or do you plan to make your board like Crites does? If the latter then size doesn’t matter. At least that’s what I hope she said.


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I believe the kit is only the Sonicaps. Perhaps at that point, you should invest a little more in “higher quality” or “higher rated” capacitors? Only issue is if they fit onto the stock board, or do you plan to make your board like Crites does? If the latter then size doesn’t matter. At least that’s what I hope she said.


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Yea I may check into just buying the capacitors and resistors myself and reloading by them. That’ll never admit it but size does matter. Lol


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