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Forte II Approx Valuation?


oldmako

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Used cars etc are up 30-40%

I just purchased one for $5K more than it would have been a year ago

To their credit, the Dealer fixed every single defect on the car inc new front engine seal

It is a Buick Lucerne 42Kmi for $14.5 out the door

Lexus es 350 equivalent is going for around 30K-35K

Would have been $8-9K & $22-24k before

 

7-8 F2s were selling for $500-600 pre inflation

So now I would ask $750-1000 for the pair

Great speakers

Compared to the alternatives, 750-1k is cheap

 

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When I was in high school I was standing in Audio Associates listening to a pair of Heil ESS AMT 1's (?).   They had some weird tweeter and I thought they were absolutely amazing.   I think they were 400 bucks a piece.   As a HS kid, they might as well have been 4000 a piece.  No way I could afford them.  

 

Fast forward to my old age and my audio gear, most of which I bought for pennies on the dollar when compared to their original prices.  When I consider how much enjoyment I am getting out of 40-50 year old audio equipment it makes me smile.   When I amortize the enjoyment that a 500 dollar piece of gear would have given me over 40 YEARS I realize just how "worth it" that gear was at the time.  Too bad I was making 1.75 per hour!

 

I found a 40 year old Marantz 2240 on Clist (in near mint condition) long ago.  Craigslist.   40 bucks.  It was probably 450 bucks when new. Yes, it had a few dirty pots when I bought it but that's it.  I added one can of aerosol magic and have enjoyed ten years of smiles.   I am about to send it off to have it recapped and throughly gone through.

 

All this to say that even at 1000 dollars, a pair of Fortes is a pretty good deal in my opinion.   You'll give them to your kids after you're gone.

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5 hours ago, oldmako said:

When I was in high school I was standing in Audio Associates listening to a pair of Heil ESS AMT 1's (?). 

 

 

Audio Assoc Wheaton got my money saved for a car, twice

Long live the gremlin....................

Gave it away to a girlfriend, both left shortly after.......

LaScalas are forever

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1 hour ago, oldmako said:

Sorry, I have never A/B'd them.  I'm a slacker.

 

They both make me smile, that's about all I can say.

 

I applaud you for enjoying the music as opposed to spending your time A/B'ing them.  

I also prefer to spend my time enjoying the music!

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Funny thing about A/B tests and Klipsch speakers...

 

My very first pair were monstrous CF3's.   I had only heard Klipsch bookshelf speakers before, I believe they were the RB35s at my brothers place.  Was blown away that such a small pair of speaks could produce that sound.  Not that volume, that sound.   So when I saw a pair of Cherry CFs for sale on CList not ten mins from my crib I jumped.   No idea what I was going to look at.   I didn't know CF3 from a BM or a DC10.

 

So I give a look and a listen and every bone in my body says, "You cannot possibly put these two phone-booths in your tiny condo irrespective of how they sound!"   They were audible sex to be sure... just huge and gorgeous.   (THE GUY PUT ON AN FM TALK RADIO STATION for the audition....what the hell?)  So, I hem n haw.   The the guy lowers his price.     Hmmmm!

 

Ten mins and one HIDEOUS offer from me later ($250) they're in HIS truck and he's following me to my crib to HELP me unload them.  My bemused neighbors had NO idea what they were in for.   Fast forward a year or so and I see a pair of Mint Walnut Fortes nearby ($400).   Of course I go get em, STAT.    I A/B them with my CF3's expecting them to sound better because by now I'm all over this forum reading all about Heritage, etc etc.   So I'm ready to be blown away.   I'm not.   Don't get me wrong, the Fortes sounded positively fantastic, but better?   No.  DIFFERENT?  Hell yes!      So much for A/B settling the score once and for all.

 

Then came the KG5.2's.  Similar result.   Then some KLF20s.   Similar result.  Then the Forte IIs.   I didn't bother!  I just hauled them into the bedroom and set em up.   EVERY TIME I tried to validate a new purchase I've come away with a smile and the feeling that I didn't really need new speakers after all.  But I never quit looking at CList!     So now I have Cornwalls, KLF30s and CF3's along with a several others and I love them all.  Do I prefer some?  Yes.  These Cornwalls are just sublime.  But if I want to wake the dead?   The KLF30s and a down-firing 15 inch sub (on a crawl space no less!) can really summon the cops FAST!

 

Got a house now and there are Klipsch in every room but the crappers n kitchen.   Too old to move all the crap around now and too blind to see all tiny crap on the back of my gear so that I CAN A/B them.    I just hook em up and enjoy.

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