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Initial Forte IV Impressions


Calibuck

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Finally pulled the trigger on a pair of Forte IV’s and am powering them with a Vincent 237MK Hybrid Amp. I relegated the Tannoy Revolution XTF8’s the the bedroom stereo system and am stoked as they are great speakers in their own right. My initial impressions are WOW! The scale, punch and “live music” feel are all there. To my ears there is nothing missing as the bass is deep and tight, mids are clear and unmuddled and the highs are clean and defined. Have about 80 hours on them and always questioned the “break in period” notion although it makes sense on some level. These speakers absolutely rock but have handled everything (jazz, metal, blues) I have thrown at them. And for me there are definitely sonic improvements over the Forte 3’s, which I almost purchased. Interested in the thoughts of other Forte 4 owners.

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Several months ago I purchased a pair of beautiful Cherry Forte IVs to replace my 1986 Forte 1s I had inherited from my father. I also added a set of the lambswool grills and man oh man the combo is stunning. I power these with a Primaluna EVO 400 Integrated amp and to my ears the IVs are a major improvement over my upgraded Forte 1s. The number one thing I notice is the incredible sound stage. It is much larger in width and depth and vocals are much better centered. It makes me feel like the artists are playing live right in front of me in my living room. Bass is deep and very punchy, the midrange is fabulous and the highs are more accurate without being fatiguing. I love my system with the new Forte IVs as my mains. In my mind they are a major improvement and fill my home with incredible music. There isn’t a genre of music that I have heard that doesn’t  sound freaking fantastic with the IVs.

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About a week ago I have joined to Klipsch club becoming the proud owner of Forte IV Black ash model. 

 

Using them with my SE 300B based 8W amplifier and I have to say this is fantastic sound. 

I have to accept all previous comments delights, the sound is unbelievable in all genres of music I used (from classic to new age). 

 

I have stopped to think about next updates planed previously to improve sound in my system, currently I  don't know what need to be improved. :)

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, gromush said:

About a week ago I have joined to Klipsch club becoming the proud owner of Forte IV Black ash model. 

 

Using them with my SE 300B based 8W amplifier and I have to say this is fantastic sound. 

I have to accept all previous comments delights, the sound is unbelievable in all genres of music I used (from classic to new age). 

 

I have stopped to think about next updates planed previously to improve sound in my system, currently I  don't know what need to be improved. :)

 

 

 

I feel the same way. I have a couple of nice Turntables with good cartridges and a nice sounding Puffin phono preamp and an awesome sounding Denefrips Pontus DAC playing thru my Hermes DDC and Node 2. All of this is playing into my PL EVO 400i and the system synergy along with those Forte IVs is the best I have ever heard in someones home. Now my search is still on for new music or new to me music. The Forte IVs are very under rated IMHO. Especially on this forum where its mostly just macho men that think speakers need to be BIG the BIGGER the better no matter what size room you are in. 

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Each speaker model is a different design philosophy

Klipsch probably went through lots of failures, to get to a few good ones.

Sounds good on paper is not the same as sounds good.

 

Fortes are sleepers

1 best sleeper I know of

2 same thing but better

3 haven't heard it

4 haven't heard it

 

I'm guessing 3&4 are better since there was time to evaluate and improve

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Bubo said:

Each speaker model is a different design philosophy

Klipsch probably went through lots of failures, to get to a few good ones.

Sounds good on paper is not the same as sounds good.

 

Fortes are sleepers

1 best sleeper I know of

2 same thing but better

3 haven't heard it

4 haven't heard it

 

I'm guessing 3&4 are better since there was time to evaluate and improve

 

 

It’s funny how we compare everything today as good, better, better still or the best and worst. All that matters to me is how much I like listening to the music on my equipment that is in my home. I could care less if anyone else likes my system. The IVs sound big and can play very live at low volumes and sound great to me cranked to louder levels than are safe to my ears or louder levels than I enjoy listening at.

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I have owned the Forte IV since February...   Fido and I were amongst the first owners of these awesome speakers .  They are the best speakers I've ever owned , and I have owned several decent ones over the years.   I have been running a pair of Quicksilver 40 watt mono amps and it is such a great match.... so you don't have to break the bank to be rewarded with realistic , true to life sound.

 

I wasn't even looking to purchase new speakers.  I had a pair of Heresy III, a fine speaker but made the mistake of listening to the Heresy IV while buying my daughter a sound bar .

 

I also listened to the Forte III and almost bought them but I got a little advance notice that the Forte IV would be out soon and thats what I ended up with.  It was worth the wait and the premium over the III.

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22 hours ago, Steve. said:

The Forte IV are so good I am having Matt from Toolshed Amps build me a custom 300b.... I should have it by Dec or Jan.....   check out Toolshed Amps on their site,  Instagram or FB.... awesome stuff

That should make those Forte IVs sound even more incredible. I read some reviews of the IVs and they all said they sound like crap with crap music and I’m guessing they don’t sound good with overly bright amplification or bottom end weakness. Feed them great tunes thru a nice analog or digital source and it’s extremely enjoyable.

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The most important thing is how you like them. If they reproduce music and it draws you in ... that's all it takes. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

 

I have some 'big' stuff. Doesn't matter, really. On some music, time of day, mood I am in... the JBLs work their magic. The Heresy IIs... great. The MWMs and associated stuff... yup. It all is good. Don't get hung up on the stuff.

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I love these speakers !!!, I'm sitting here listening at midnight.....  happens a lot lately.   I have used three different preamps in my system so far and I have never had a speaker that was so revealing of changes upstream. I think that's a good thing.  I am a firm believer that many speakers can and will sound better as the quality of electronics ramps up.   I am hoping that 300b will be my last amp,  I am never going back to low efficiency speakers so I'm sure it will serve me well til I'm dead....

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28 minutes ago, Steve. said:

I love these speakers !!!, I'm sitting here listening at midnight.....  happens a lot lately.   I have used three different preamps in my system so far and I have never had a speaker that was so revealing of changes upstream. I think that's a good thing.  I am a firm believer that many speakers can and will sound better as the quality of electronics ramps up.   I am hoping that 300b will be my last amp,  I am never going back to low efficiency speakers so I'm sure it will serve me well til I'm dead....

Yes man, fell for some speakers Klipsch and still falling and,

like them a bunch.

Falling in love can understand.

Faithful yet watching 5hem close.

Like all a bunch.

They appear not jealous of another...cool, so far.

 

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9 hours ago, Westcoastdrums said:

@Steve. Sounds like you have found a good fit. Happy you are loving them. I owned fortes I-III and I'm sure the IVs are that much better.   I'm sure they are killer speakers for most and I would likely be able to gladly live with them as my last pair. Enjoy the music. 

I know you had been thru a lot of speakers before settling in on your JBLs and I’m sure those sound exceptional. It is awesome when you find a sound that draws you to listen to music and I know when I wake up and come downstairs the first thing I do is flip the switch on my amp. Can’t get enough of the joy music brings.

 

I have enjoyed music my entire life even listening to my transistor radio as a young child. I still enjoy most of that music I grew up with. I do not know if I get more enjoyment from the music I love just because of the gear I own now. I have just learned that there was music I was not hearing on that am/fm radio with the tiny speaker in my handheld radio.

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On 9/9/2021 at 5:58 PM, Fido said:

I feel the same way. I have a couple of nice Turntables with good cartridges and a nice sounding Puffin phono preamp and an awesome sounding Denefrips Pontus DAC playing thru my Hermes DDC and Node 2. All of this is playing into my PL EVO 400i and the system synergy along with those Forte IVs is the best I have ever heard in someones home. Now my search is still on for new music or new to me music. The Forte IVs are very under rated IMHO. Especially on this forum where its mostly just macho men that think speakers need to be BIG the BIGGER the better no matter what size room you are in. 

It's not macho unless you give up too much LIVING space for them. Otherwise it's very reasonable micro details, transient response, and low distortion, at any volume. Kind of like using long lenses on a camera! LOL.

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3 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

It's not macho unless you give up too much LIVING space for them. Otherwise it's very reasonable micro details, transient response, and low distortion, at any volume. Kind of like using long lenses on a camera! LOL.

Macho macho macho man. Love those long lenses and if I had a big house I’d have some Jubes and Danley Subs 😎 but I don’t have a big house so those crappy tiny distorted Forte IVs with no micro details, no bass and zero transient response will have to do. I also want a 400mm f 2.8 to shoot my favorite cats and dogs.

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