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Forte II’s in the House!


Bonzo

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I have been looking for some more room friendly speakers to “replace” my Cornwall II’s. Found a one owner pair of Forte II’s on CL. It was a two hour round trip but worth it. Oiled oak finish, not my favorite but better than black. They sound great with my Kenwood KR-9400 and Marantz 1060, both restored. I was a bit surprised on how good they sound with the modern Yamaha A-S701 integrated amp. The Boston Acoustics PV-1000 sub adds some nice low end thump. I will live with Forte II’s for awhile before I think about doing any “upgrades.” 

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Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. Here’s a picture of my modest system. I had plans to ad some Quicksilver mini-mite amps but there were issues that ended that deal. They were a bit faded so I used some dark walnut Howards with OOOO steel wool and orange oil that cleaned them up nicely. They are 14” from the back wall and roughly 7.5’ apart, currently sitting on some floor dolly’s to give them a 4” lift. Much easier to move them around to get the placement right. Not my first go round with this speaker but it’s been awhile. As a rule, I’m not a big fan of subs, especially in this room. However, the little Boston works quite well. Oh, the bookshelf speakers are the awesome sounding Boston VR-M60’s which match well with the sub nicely. Going to do more dialing in today.

70FEA83B-BAA9-4D23-B971-0578F7AFB571.jpeg

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Looks great the FIIs are fantastic speakers. You might want to try them on the floor sans casters. Coupling them to the floor might give you some better bass response. Experiment a bit too with how far from the back wall and toe in.

 

Enjoy!

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The furniture dolly’s are temporary until I find the right placement. So far the best overall sound is from the Marantz 1060, not a surprise. I think the cap-coupled 1060 gets pretty close to that “tube like” sound. This one has been completely gone through by a competent tech. The big caps are Nichicon Golds with Wima and Cornell Dubiliner caps and components throughout. Fresh thermal paste on the outputs, complete Deoxit gig and cleaned inside and out. It’s an early one with engraved silver faceplate, internal bracing and original wood case. 

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9 hours ago, Bonzo said:

Oiled oak finish, not my favorite but better than black.

 

1 hour ago, Bonzo said:

They were a bit faded so I used some dark walnut Howards with OOOO steel wool and orange oil that cleaned them up nicely.

Congratulations on the forte's

 

I am not sure about the Howards, but depending on the original oil you could have lightly sanded and stained a darker color. Once a oil finish is drier it can be stained a different color. I think the Howards is more of a light re finisher even though they say it penetrates, dark Walnut stain would not leave the speakers that light. I say this because they say you can even use the Howards over sealed finishes which normally can't be stained again without serious stripping ? But I do like that color.

 

I like the ones we have here, Oak oil and Oak clear, they look nice even though I usually like a little darker color.

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Bonzo

 

Nice system.  I think you will find over time that although you can "feel" the bass more with a Cornwall, the forte II is more balanced and actually digs a little lower. INMHO a better mid range horn as well. I tried various subs over the past 26 years or so, and as someone else mentioned the sonic quality actually sounded a little off with the forte II.

 

Once you get the speakers coupled to the floor again, bass should improve.

 

Enjoy

 

Regards,

John

 

 

 

 

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Thank you all for your comments. I really liked the Cornwall II's but they just took up too much real estate in my one car garage man room. I sold them to a friend of mine who absolutely loves them and has a nice big room where they can breath. Listening to them at his place vs mine, there was no comparison to the openness and the depth and width of the soundstage! 

 

Cosmetically, the Forte's are very nice with just a few veneer issues. The finish looks better now, darkened them up just a bit and covered a few flaws.

 

The Forte's will be anchored to the floor. I have some two inch floor spikes that I may use. Going to try them stock first however. Right now they are at a perfect triangle with the Lazy Boy, 7' x 7' x 7', 14" from the back wall. Sounstage is good, vocals dead center, provided the song was recorded that way. Not as deep a stage as I would like but that's a room issue I'm sure.

 

Hey John, love your avatar with "The Great One!" " Hold up on that car wash gentlemen....................." classic!

 

Sad to see The Bandit go! RIP Burt..........

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I may rethink my amplifier/receiver choice. I did quite a bit of listening with the big Kenny’ KR-9400. It has also been completely restored and has one of the best tuners of any vintage receiver I have had, up to and including the Pioneer SX-1250. I rarely listen to local radio as most of the stations suck with couple of exceptions. Those exceptions were kind of hard to bring in mainly due to the radiant heat shields in the attic. With a modest antenna, the Kenny’ locks on them very well. Also, I am liking the phono section a bit better than the Marantz 1060. With 120 watts per channel vs 30, well the headroom and low end thump is definitely noticeable. A bit of a conundrum as I love the 1060. It’s too nice to become a “shelf queen.” Any words of wisdom would be appreciated, thanks. 

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If any of your kit has a midrange tone control (I know the yamaha does, in the form of the variable loudness knob which are typically centered between 1-2 khz), tweaking it will help bring the soundstage forward with boost and more recessed when backed off.  

 

Stand mounted works ok (see my avatar), but requires quite somewhat more heavy handed eq to restore proper bass balance.  Your casters won't reduce the bass too much to play with placement, but it should be even better when they're firmly planted on the floor.  What also works sans any eq is using corners or closer proximity to the back wall, where inches can make rather dramatic differences (and, as a result, mids will be relatively lower, helping with the soundstage depth thing).  Dollars to donuts the fortes with placement optimized for bass within the room will probably have tighter, more accurate bass and similar extension as that puny Boston sub. 

 

Also, while you have them on casters and can play with placement, consider this: the fortes are rather directional, which means they can be toed in heavily (think axis crossing well in front of your mlp, which may equate to 45 degree or more toe-in); this gets your ears off axis from the mid horns (again, helping the depth of field of the soundstage), eliminates early side wall reflections, while preserving tonally accurate late reflections (again, improving the soundstage), and producing a broad sweet spot that doesn't change when you move around in your chair (via time/intensity trading in acoustic parlance). 

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Thank for the posts guys, I do appreciate the input. Wha else helps is the correct component(s). My friend, who is a very good tech, has a restored Sansui AU-5500 integrated. I have tried this amp with less efficient speakers and wasn’t thrilled with it. In the back of my brain I remember that many aficionados recommend vintage Sansui gear with Klipsch speakers. Well, guess what’s going to be driving the Forte II’s. I was surprised how much more musical it is vs the Marantz 1060, the Kenwood KR-9400. Much more futzing around to do with them but I’m getting close.

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I have had both a 9090 and 9090db in the past. Both great receivers but I had issues with the step attenuators. It seemed like one or maybe two clicks was too quiet, the third click was too loud for my taste. There was no way to get them dialed in. I was having the same problem with the Kenwood which I swapped for the Sansui +.

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