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Forte III test


Fredzz0rs

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I believe it has been mentioned but closing the two doors (shown open in your photo) will improve your bass response in the listening room. While a good SET/SEP can sound very nice the Forte requires some power, it is in reality only a solid 95db (+/-) loudspeaker and in your situation it is driving into a large open area. If you want to go to a SET or a SEP then make it a high powered version otherwise a PP is your best option. I will make a top quality SS suggestion to you, the Benchmark AHB2 will give you an amazingly solid 100 watts per channel and it is the lowest noise amplifier in the world nothing else is even remotely close. A truly superb amplifier.

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5 hours ago, Fredzz0rs said:

 Here is Klipsch answer about the wrinkly grill. 

6A276727-A223-4874-A8FF-D2F5B78594AE.jpeg

Wool is a truly impressive acoustic material but I am sorry to say that its use as a grill cloth material, while visually attractive is acoustically a very poor choice of material. This is literally pulling a blanket over the speaker.The very best grill material is no material at all the second best choice is a very shear (see through) mono filament fabric and the worst choice would be fabrics made of natural fibrous fibers like wool. This is not simply my opinion but is the result of much scientific research/measurements made decades ago. Many folks may not hear much difference when they compare grills off Vs on and if that is the case then there is nothing to worry about enjoy the aesthetic of the fabric as it is. I simply wanted to bring attention to this so that some time down the road someone does not waste time and effort to measure all over again. In the seventies and eighties no self respecting high end loudspeaker manufacturer would have ever dreamed of using wool linen or burlap as a loudspeaker grill material (though all three can look very attractive).

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I would not even consider running my Forte or even Cornwalls without a subwoofer (actually I run 3 subwoofers).   And as far as how far to place them from the back wall, a couple of inches can make a difference. It is a matter of getting the wave of the reflection off the back wall to be in phase with the direct wave of the front driver.  That is where the fine tuning can make a difference.  Of course there would be multiples of that distance that would work.   I have my Forte II facing straight forward (no toe-in) and 10 1/4" from the back wall.  

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12 hours ago, moray james said:

Here is a photo of a set of Forte 3 up on a set of Skylan four post stands. Placing the centre of the mid horn at your seated ear level will make for much improved stage and image as well as an overall improved sense of visual presentation.

Klipsch Forte 3 on Skylan Stands.JPG

oh hey. I thought I recognized, and admired, this turn table and art work, from AC. cool you have the Forte III. ( i've  shared a few of your other speakers)  

 

 For the OG poster... I have Heresy III and a rhythmic sub and a LM210 300b set.  I had a younger audio friend come over the other day and listen to a few different speakers, and he said that this was the first time he had ever heard tight bass.  My room is bass trapped pretty well so maybe his experience is from the room.  But in any case I' think you can never go wrong with a sub.  

 

 

 

IMG_5306 copy.jpg

Edited by guf
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41 minutes ago, guf said:

oh hey. I thought I recognized, and admired, this turn table and art work, from AC. cool you have the Forte III. ( i've  shared a few of your other speakers)  

 

 For the OG poster... I have Heresy III and a rhythmic sub and a LM210 300b set.  I had a younger audio friend come over the other day and listen to a few different speakers, and he said that this was the first time he had ever heard tight bass.  My room is bass trapped pretty well so maybe his experience is from the room.  But in any case I' think you can never go wrong with a sub.  

 

 

 

IMG_5306 copy.jpg

 

Nice room and equipment! 

Do you use one sub? Witch frecuency-range does the sub work in? 

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9 minutes ago, moray james said:

those Forte3 belong to Beatlebum over at Audio Karma. My H3 are very heavily modified and sit up on 22" tall Skylan four post stands. Below are one of two sets of Klipsch H3 which I modified over a two year period of time.

Klipsch Heresy 3 on Skylan Stands.jpg

 

Nice! What kind of modification have been done? 

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8 hours ago, Fredzz0rs said:

 

Nice! What kind of modification have been done? 

a significant amount of internal brace work using English White Oak, the cabinets are about 95% filled with high density fiberglass damping, drivers are heavily modified including damping of the horns and internal damping of the compression drivers along with other woofer modifications. The stands were custom made and much attention went into optimizing the post damping. There are additional modifications but this is the majority of the work. I have included a photo of the internal brace work matrix, it is hard to see in this shot but there is also a horizontal brace between the K701 and the tweeter horn.

klipsch 3 brace work.jpg

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28 minutes ago, moray james said:

a significant amount of internal brace work down with English White Oak, the cabinets are about 95% filled with high density fiberglass damping, drivers are heavily modified including damping of the horns and internal damping of the compression drivers. The stands were custom made and much attention went into optimizing the post damping. There are additional modifications but this is the majority of the work. I have included a photo of the internal brace work martix, it is hard to see in this shot but there is also a horizontal brace between the K701 and the tweeter horn.

klipsch 3 brace work.jpg

 

Cool! How does they sound compare to originals? I bet some will argue that colouration from cabinett and driverchassi  brings soul to the sound. 

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1 hour ago, Fredzz0rs said:

 

Cool! How does they sound compare to originals? I bet some will argue that colouration from cabinett and driverchassi  brings soul to the sound. 

 

I don't mean to offend, but I would not even think about modifying a speaker in this way - particularly a current production model that may still be under warranty.

 

So you're adding bracing to fix presumed resonances, but you're also decreasing internal volume which is apt to have all sorts of ill affects.   Remember, those who engineered these speakers had every opportunity to design bracing into the design if they felt it would improve their sound.  And they didn't.

 

Before even considering this I would insist on a careful direct and blinded comparison b/w a pair so modified and an original pair - I would NOT simply take someones word that it improves the speaker. 

 

I have Cornwall III's and will admit that they sound fairly hollow and unbraced when you knock on them.  Yet, I hear ZERO smearing at ANY volume and with any kind of music or test tones that could be attributable to resonances.  To my thinking, adding bracing sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

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7 hours ago, Fredzz0rs said:

 

Cool! How does they sound compare to originals? I bet some will argue that colouration from cabinett and driverchassi  brings soul to the sound. 

As mentioned I started with two sets of H2 and I spent two years working on all the changes one at a time always comparing to the non modified set. When changes were optimized both sets were made the same then further changes were made on the first pair in this way I had a reference to go back to. If you make it up to Calgary you are welcome to visit and listen for yourself.

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6 hours ago, ODS123 said:

 

I don't mean to offend, but I would not even think about modifying a speaker in this way - particularly a current production model that may still be under warranty.

 

So you're adding bracing to fix presumed resonances, but you're also decreasing internal volume which is apt to have all sorts of ill affects.   Remember, those who engineered these speakers had every opportunity to design bracing into the design if they felt it would improve their sound.  And they didn't.

 

Before even considering this I would insist on a careful direct and blinded comparison b/w a pair so modified and an original pair - I would NOT simply take someones word that it improves the speaker. 

 

I have Cornwall III's and will admit that they sound fairly hollow and unbraced when you knock on them.  Yet, I hear ZERO smearing at ANY volume and with any kind of music or test tones that could be attributable to resonances.  To my thinking, adding bracing sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

No offense taken, you are welcome to your opinions. I don't mean to offend either as I do not intend to enter into a discussion about the rational behind my modifications and that was not my intention by posting here. I only wanted to bring up the topic as I feel it may be of interest for some members. Such work is not for everyone nor is it for those who do not have any experience. That said you have to start somewhere to gain experience.

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22 hours ago, moray james said:

Here is a photo of a set of Forte 3 up on a set of Skylan four post stands. Placing the centre of the mid horn at your seated ear level will make for much improved stage and image as well as an overall improved sense of visual presentation.

Klipsch Forte 3 on Skylan Stands.JPG

After seeing this picture, I tried putting my Fortes up on stands. HOLY COW.  I am really loving it. 

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For decades people have been recommending placing the tweeter at your seated ear height. I expect this recommendation came about during the days of small two way mini monitors like the LS35A and the ProAc Super Tablet. With larger speakers the focus must be on the mid driver. With my set of modified Tannoy Mrecury 7.2, I flip the cabinet on the stand and position the woofer above the tweeter (with the woofer above the tweeter at my seated ear height) and this places the tweeter below the woofer which then provides some free and necessary time alignment between the two drivers.

If you look into the off axis response of a direct radiator or a horn you will find that it is not what you would want to be listening to. I set up my speakers so that I am directly on axis to the mid driver and make fine adjustments from that point. With horns and my Karlson K-Tubes I and most always able to look directly down the center of the horn or K-Tube from the seating location. This usually results in the flattest response possible.

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I have now spent a few days with Forte III and can coincide with the fact that there are a couple of fantastic speakers that sound balanced and surprisingly soft at the top. Very easy to listen to. The Heresy III I had at home last weekend had a bit more lively rendition. But they could be a little sharper with some music and also thinner, which is not so strange given the size. Forte III is better all around and I could live without subwoofer.


So the big question is whether a new pair of Forte III is worth their money. Here in Sweden you have to pay $ 5000 for Forte III because of the weak Swedish currency.

Sometimes if you are lucky, it can turn up Forte II and Chorus II in Sweden and Norway for about 1500 US dollars.

 

For around 2500-3000 us dollar I could get a used pair of Heresy III and one or two REL sub/Velodyne SPL-1000 Ultra. 

 

would like to hear your opinions :)

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I think you need more power for those Fortes to get those passive 15 inchers moving. But a lot of people here have added subs to both H3 and Forte. Some even add sub to LaScalas while I have not tried it I dont think its required. 

How much power you got going to those Fortes right now? I dont recognize your equipment from the pics. But I do like that rack. Heres the rack I made out of solid Oak.IMAG0527.thumb.jpg.26b5ad00eea669a644e73d4d831b02fe.jpg

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41 minutes ago, ricktate said:

I think you need more power for those Fortes to get those passive 15 inchers moving. But a lot of people here have added subs to both H3 and Forte. Some even add sub to LaScalas while I have not tried it I dont think its required. 

How much power you got going to those Fortes right now? I dont recognize your equipment from the pics. But I do like that rack. Heres the rack I made out of solid Oak.IMAG0527.thumb.jpg.26b5ad00eea669a644e73d4d831b02fe.jpg

 

Nice setup! 

I have a Line Magnetic 216ia with 22 watt in triod-mode. But don’t think I have used more than 1-2 watt with the Forte III at home and then it was very loud. 

 

Mabye the drivers get better control with bigger powersupply but I don’t think that amplifier with many watts in general kick the drivers more than a 20 watt amplifier if give the speakers 10 watt with each amplifier. Excuse my bad english. Hope you understand what i mean

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On 5/19/2019 at 4:24 AM, Fredzz0rs said:

This is my listening posistion. 

It sound better and better :)

My Line Magnetic 216ia is a good match. 

But I bet it would sound even better with a SET-amplifier 

3CF25507-12BD-450B-AD16-27AC3F9A49FE.jpeg

Are you running in ultralinear or triode....

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