My journey to Forte II's!

[Dark Rambler]

I had been struggling for years to get a good sound in my two channel set up. Every time I thought I had it sorted out, I would listen a different type of music (or movie) and I would be up and adjusting something again.

 

My living room is my listening space, and it is asymmetrical. Many years ago I had acquired a pair of speakers from a friend who considered himself an “Audiophile” who suddenly needed cash more than speakers. These speakers were Vero Research (no longer in business) Soundwaves Point Source 3.0 Towers (vintage 1992). I had seen the original invoice and knew I was getting these speakers for a fraction of their new cost.

 

The Soundwaves are an unusual 2 way polygonal design that can create a very open sound. Unfortunately for me, the design does not seem to work well in my living room. Over the years I have added acoustic absorption to key points of the room and changed electronics and still I could not find a sound to make me happy.

 

Late last year my wife are at some outdoor venue and I hear something that makes me smile. Fifty yards away are some JBL professional speakers running background music (before a festival) at a low volume that sounded clear and powerful, even from a distance. As I get closer to these speakers I realize they are a horn driven design! This is the sound I was looking for!

 

OK, so at some point here I have a flashback and remember back in the late 80's or early 90's (yeah I am an old man) I was in a hi-fi shop sampling some speakers and they demonstrated some large Klipsch speakers tucked into the corners of the high-end room. To be honest I don't remember if they were Klipschorns, La Scala's or what. What I do remember was the clear powerful, lifelike live sound they produced! Unfortunately the price and size of these speakers didn't match my budget or listening space then or now.

 

Last December, the frustration of not knowing if my 'audiophile' speakers were at the root of my sound issues became higher when I discovered that the closest Klipsch Heritage dealer was 300 miles away! I was thinking of getting a pair of Heresy III's, but I still had a hard time in my mind spending this amount of money until I knew where my sound issues really were. I debated taking this trip to this dealer, but I was exploring other options.

 

The week before Christmas, I am checking out E-Bay for used Heresy II's, and I find a pair of Forte II's in good shape for $600. They were black (which matches our decor), and while the pictures showed the wear and tear of the years, all the corners and drivers looks good in the pictures. The only downside was a 1200 mile round trip to get them! This is the pair I bought!

 

So my wife and I take a three day road trip during a cold and rainy weekend before Christmas to meet a very nice man and his family who was the original owner (vintage 1995). His reason for parting with the Forte II's was that he finally upgraded to a multi-channel system and no longer felt the need for a large speaker. He even had the original boxes! I believe he really did me a favor!

 

Once we get home, I plug the Forte II's up to my amplifier and whoa! My wife, who is rarely interested in music is floored, as am I. The character our our listening experience improved so dramatically in such a short period, I know now the root cause of my previous frustration was speakers!

 

In early January I ordered a pair of new crossovers and the titanium tweeter diaphragms from Bob Crites. In late January I disassembled the speakers, gave them a light sanding, did the rattle can paint job, and reassembled them with the upgrades (the Crites crossovers are a work of art themselves) adding in a bit of rockwool dampening. I figured we have $1500 invested in the speakers, from the cost of speakers, electronics and cost of the round trip. The speaker grills are a bit faded by time, so I removed them, and painted the speaker mounting screws red for contrast and added a Klipsch logo I found on E-Bay for a Industrial look.

 

I currently have our rebuilt Forte II's paired with some old Sub-10 Klipsch sub-woofers I had, connected on the high side with a 40hz crossover point. I cleaned out some old electronics and bought in the Yamaha WXC-50 Streamer/DAC/Preamp connected to a new Emotiva A-150 amplifier. This simple system now sounds glorious with any music played or any movie watched.

 

It is interesting to see now that the hi-fi reviewers such as Steve Guttenberg, Andrew Robinson and John Darko have also found their way to the Klipsch Heritage line.

 

This journey has been a fun one with us being rewarded with a new appreciation for well record music. For under $3K for everything (except the TV), this budget system sounds better than I could have imagined, and continues to impress new guests to our home.

 

Sorry for the long post but I have read many posts in the Klipsch two channel forums concerning the Heritage speakers and I wanted to share my experience as well.

[DizRotus]

Welcome.

[Rivernuggets]

Thanks for sharing your story. Welcome to the Forum!

[glens]

Bet it was/is difficult to get bass/mid/treble balance developed with that room structure!  Congratulations.

 

I was cheaper/lazier than you.  My room/equipment layout isn't as difficult as yours but is non-optimal in its own right.  I decided speakers that had much better directivity control would be needed and for the life of me can't remember how I came to even consider Klipsch in general or the Forte III in particular, but I didn't even drive an hour to audition them.  I just ordered a pair.

 

Still grinning ear to ear every day.

[geoff.]

...hi, my name is geoff. and Forte II’s made my life unmanageable... 

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

If you stop reading now, you will enjoy what you have for many years.

 

... excuse me while I chase the Klipsch dragon...

 

 

[Audio Flynn]

Very cool story. Tough room to be certain.

[WillyBob]

these stories make me feel very fortunate to have jumped from entry level R15M's to the LS immediately... even if I don't know how good they are. They are fantastic sounding speakers... I kinda cheated myself of the experience of "sampling" the different lines.

 

Getting them home...

  I had to wait 6 months and make a 4000 mile [r/t] to fetch them.. 

[dtel]

Welcome and nice story, the good thing is you found the sound you were looking for, AND the wife likes it.  

[DizRotus]

On 5/27/2019 at 9:57 AM, Audio Flynn said:

Very cool story. Tough room to be certain.

 

I agree, sort of . . . 

 

Each summer I’m surprised how good Klipsch Heritage sound outdoors.  Sure low bass is all but nonexistent, due to the absence of room gain, but the absence of reflections makes the rest of the musical spectrum sound magical, at least to these septuagenarian ears.

 

Dark Rambler, your open space is so open as to possibly mimic the outdoor experience.  All that really matters is that you’re able to enjoy the music.

 

GO GREEN!

Flynn

[glens]

1 hour ago, DizRotus said:

your open space is so open as to possibly mimic the outdoor experience.

 

Outdoor as to the source, yet indoor (even more than usual) as to the reverb.

 

Getting great sound would be akin to getting all the meat in as few pieces possible from a shagbark hickory nut (well worth the effort if you can find some neither the worms nor squirrels got first - had a few bumper crops so I know).  Definitely want to avoid speakers which splash sound around unevenly (vs. frequency) in that room!

[Dark Rambler]

After my wife decided she wanted hardwood floors (vs the carpet we had) a number of years ago, the acoustical mess that was this living room became very apparent.  The journey to tame the acoustics is a story in itself, ultimately solved with the last piece of the puzzle, the Forte II's.

 

A brief description of the acoustic modifications:  In the picture you can see a pair of 2 X 4 foot (2 inch deep) of commercial acoustic absorption, and below them a pair of 2 X 2 foot  (4 inch deep) custom built bass traps filled with rockwool.  The down firing subs sit on 3 inch deep foam isolation (inside of black pillow cases) topped with a single floor tile sample, which helps tighten the bass and keeps the subs from walking across the floors.  To the back right corner out of view of the picture are two more stacked bass traps, effectively 2 X 4 foot (8 inches deep).  This corner was one of the bigger problems in the room.  Behind the listening space I built a custom textile hanger of which I filled a large burlap bag with rockwool which I hung inside, and then covered with a few layers of decorative blankets which absorb reflections off of the rear wall.

 

The three seat couch sits in a 10 foot triangle from the speakers, three and a half feet from the rear wall.  There is a 8 X 10 shag rug (plus pad) under and in front the couch, plus various rugs in the room.  The big rug really helped to tame the echos that were created by the flooring.

 

It's hardly Home and Garden, but it's a nice humble house that we will have paid off before I retire in 10 years.  And yes, I have a great wife that puts up with my modifications!  I am considering replacing the custom absorption with commercial units just to clean up the look a little (they probably are more effective too). 

 

 

[DizRotus]

I’m impressed.

[Audio Flynn]

On 5/31/2019 at 7:27 AM, DizRotus said:

 

I agree, sort of . . . 

 

Each summer I’m surprised how good Klipsch Heritage sound outdoors.  Sure low bass is all but nonexistent, due to the absence of room gain, but the absence of reflections makes the rest of the musical spectrum sound magical, at least to these septuagenarian ears.

 

Dark Rambler, your open space is so open as to possibly mimic the outdoor experience.  All that really matters is that you’re able to enjoy the music.

 

GO GREEN!

Flynn

Go White!

 

My long wall room has a 4 foot halway in the back left and 10 foot open wall on the back right to the open dining room. Third house as of 2010 was the charm for minimizing reflections.