Heritage Forte III paired with Croft Series 7 Amp

[Pete Ashcraft]

Hello - this is my first post as I'm new to Klipsch. I am planning on upgrading my system to a Vintage McIntosh MC225 Amp and C22 preamp. Through research on that, I was led to the Forte III. However, I'm going to have to hold off on that until probably  the end of the year or at least 6-months but I would like to get the Forte's now and pair them with my current amp which is a UK made minimalist hybrid amp, Croft Acoustics Series 7 Amp and Micro 25 preamp. This amp is a hybrid and has a power rating of 45 watts per channel. I'm wondering if this is a good pairing with the Forte III's. 

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated - thanks! Pete

[John Chi-town]

Welcome to the forum.  Yes, your gear would match very well.

Regards,

John

[Pete Ashcraft]

Thanks John! So is it a good match for the McIntosh, the Croft or both?

 

Thanks!

 

Pete

[Panelhead]

  I would recommend the Croft gear.  Tiny production runs, handmade in the U.K.

I had a Croft OTL, do not remember the model, it was silent. Think the spec from Croft was 107 dB S/N. Used with a horn that was a little more efficient than Forte. Ran four 6080 output tubes at about 150% rated dissipation. Generated as much heat as a Manley 350.

  Also used with a Croft preamp, think it is an Epoch. Great phono section, a cascaded 12AX7 per channel, linestage was a cathode follower, current sourced tube design. Used 500K pots to reduce the loading on phono. 

  The Croft gear is handmade, and the brains is Glenn Croft. Got some different ideas. But results are usually very good. I saw their later hybrid designs are well received. 

  They have been flying under the radar for many decades. Great value products.

  The reason is Glenn Croft. Think there were three US distributors while I used the Epoch preamp. All three said Glenn was very difficult. 

  Typical, great designer and skilled at listening. But less skilled in marketing.