Newly restored Forte I’s

[Idontknow]

My new Forte I's are finally on the way pictured below. I had them done in African padauk with modern risers and new Crites crossovers from Klipsch Restorations for $2750 shipped. I first listened to them in the 1980's and remembered loving them so much. That's far less than a new pair of Heresy IV's and I have had some personal issues with the Heresy IV's for a while now still. One is box resonance which the Heresy II doesn't have in comparison to the Heresy IV. The other issue is the overall timbre of the upper and middle range of the Heresy IV compared to the II. The II is unquestionably more airy, open and effortless compared to the IV during my endless comparisons. The II is also more efficient despite their claims. The IV is simply not as efficient by about 3db in my estimation which is important for the lower wattage tube amps I use for jazz such as the Alan Eaton 45's and Decware Zen. 

 

The other issue is that the only way to get the bass on the Heresy IV to become more audible is to turn up the volume to unreasonable levels when I'm listening to smooth, ambient jazz during the evening which I really dislike. I use a REL T5i with my Heresy II's, so I can set the bass to be audible at literally any listening level, something the IV's simply can't due on its own without tone controls and even then it's still questionable. I decided however that I wanted to take a different step from my Heresy II's which I've loved and continue to love for the past several years. I have no intensions of ever selling my Heresy II's. They've proven themselves in spades but I really wanted a speaker I could use without a sub for jazz music late at night.

 

I wanted a speaker that wouldn't take up a lot of floor real-estate. I also know that the Forte's bass is in fact audible at lower listening levels unlike the Heresy IV's by comparison. The Forte 1's also have the lowest bass of any of the Forte line to date. So why the Forte I's and not the Forte II's? My concern was the coherency of the design of the midrange horn on the II vs the I. It's basically the same as my current Heresy II's which I already know I love, so I didn't want to deviate from the design. The bass in the Forte I is also slightly deeper compared to the Forte II despite the fact that the Forte I uses a passive 12" radiator vs the II's 15" passive. 

 

 

 After having heard the Forte III's I was not interested in the newer heritage line. The III's were just too bright and brittle sounding up top. From the literature I've gathered, the Forte I uses the K-75-K phenolic tweeter. This is one of the things that attracted me to this speaker and if I determine that I don't like it, then I'll contact Crites and replace the diaphragms myself with titanium which brings me to the next thought. I realize there's more flexibility to work with a titanium diaphragm's sound and even though my Heresy II's currently use titanium diaphragms, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm completely sold on them.

 

What I did is watched OCD HiFi Guy's video comparing the two different diaphragms with his Forte II's. This is a YouTube video, so obviously you're not going to get the full effect, but from a relative listening experience using my headsets, I don't hear anything that sounds better using the titanium in fact I think the phenolic sounds a bit sweeter and smoother as it naturally should. Listen to the video yourselves with a pair of headsets and see what you think. I even mentioned the bell analogy. Bells are made of metal because they resonate but imagine a bell that's made of a tweed or a phenolic sort of material. It would sound dampened and less metallic. So how does it make any sense that listeners would want metal diaphragms when the biggest complaint Klipsch has ever had to deal with is listeners saying Klipsch sound shouty and ear fatiguing. It makes no sense. You would think a phenolic tweeter should help that problem. I haven't experimented with diaphragms yet, but I intend to. 

 

Regardless, I can't imagine the Forte I's won't be an improvement and it's still a hell of a lot less money for a fully restored speaker than a new pair of Heresy IV's and I'm not a big fan of the Heresy IV like others are anyway. It's been absolutely impossible to find a pair of Forte I's in excellent condition. Nobody on earth is selling them despite endless searching for the past three years and if there was a pair, it was for distant pickups only. I just don't subscribe to the newer is better camp like most. I need to know more specifics as I'm as far from fanboy status as one could possibly be. That crap gets you into problems real quick. 

 

 

 

 

 

KLIPSCH FORTE II TWEETER SWAP

 

KLIPSCH FORTE II TWEETER SWAP

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jjptkd]

7 hours ago, Idontknow said:

I had them done in African padauk with modern risers

 

Beautiful speakers! Please share some more pictures and first impressions once you get them in place and dialed in. 

[Shakeydeal]

Congrats. But 2750.00 is not what I would call " a hell of a lot less money" than Heresy IVs. I guess it's all about perspective.

 

Good luck with your new speakers.

[Southern]

Congtats on your restored Forte's, they look fantastic!

 

I also have a pair of Forte 1's that I replaced the caps and installed the ti tweeter diaphram.  When reworking the x-overs I seperated them into 2 for bi-amping.

 

I have mine positioned 12" from the rear wall with no toe-in, which works well for me.

 

Back in 1980 I couldn't afford Klipsch speakers, fast forward 40 years and I picked up a used pair for a great price.  Best bang for the buck.

[Audible Nectar]

Did you furnish the original Forte cabs or were they cabs he had and then just sold the whole works restored as pictured here?

 

I am just finishing complete component rebuilds on three Cornwall pairs here, and short of the veneer they are as good as I can make them. I have thought about having these cabs reveneered in the future but they have everything else they will need for the next 50 years. So I do have that curiosity as to a potential "suitor" to reveneer my cabs but would want them to be MY cabs (no trades) and wouldn't need the inner components replaced, short of maybe the "batting" for sound absorption. 

 

I love the character of these old builds and thoroughly love having them in reworked condition. The Forte is one of Klipsch's all time greats; that speaker had a balance in its presentation that made it sooooooo good for sooooo many who couldn't necessarily handle the bigger stuff.

 

Outstanding.

[Idontknow]

3 hours ago, Shakeydeal said:

Congrats. But 2750.00 is not what I would call " a hell of a lot less money" than Heresy IVs. I guess it's all about perspective.

 

Good luck with your new speakers.

 

Thanks Shakey, and despite my ongoing rants I do appreciate you guys. I agree it’s not a whole lot less, but there’s no doubt they will outperform the new H IV in my mind so for me I felt it was a win win situation. I’ll share my thoughts again once I get them in my hands and spend some time with them and report back with you guys. Regardless, I appreciate your thoughts. 

[Idontknow]

6 minutes ago, Audible Nectar said:

Did you furnish the original Forte cabs or were they cabs he had and then just sold the whole works restored as pictured here?

 

I am just finishing complete component rebuilds on three Cornwall pairs here, and short of the veneer they are as good as I can make them. I have thought about having these cabs reveneered in the future but they have everything else they will need for the next 50 years. So I do have that curiosity as to a potential "suitor" to reveneer my cabs but would want them to be MY cabs (no trades) and wouldn't need the inner components replaced, short of maybe the "batting" for sound absorption. 

 

I love the character of these old builds and thoroughly love having them in reworked condition. The Forte is one of Klipsch's all time greats; that speaker had a balance in its presentation that made it sooooooo good for sooooo many who couldn't necessarily handle the bigger stuff.

 

Outstanding.

 

 

They’re just original Forte I’s re-veneered along with new Crites crossovers installed. Klipsch Restorations keeps a truck load of Klipsch’s original speakers so you can select any speaker. They had the II’s available but I preferred the I’s.. For example here’s their list of of original speakers in stock for restoration below. They were done in about three weeks. The thing for me is I love vintage gear and if it can be restored to like new, that’s all that matters because I actually prefer some of the older gear anyway. If newer gear sounds better, then no problem. I’m happy to buy newer gear, but I like knowing more specifics before subscribing.  I’m buying another house with more corner space specifically that will allow me to use Klipschorn’s. Those are my dream speakers and I will contact Klipsch Restorations for a pair of those as well the moment I’m ready. Klipsch has really hiked their prices up in recent years because they’re becoming more of a marketing company. That’s fine since they still make really beautiful gear, but it’s just going to cost more to support that campaign. 

http://klipschrestorations.com/?page_id=157

[Schu]

Beautiful work... I wish I had those skill sets

[Fido]

I still have the Forte 1s my father bought in the mid 80s and they now have Crites crossovers and Dave As lmahl tweeters and some gorgeous cane grills. I use them as my rear surrounds now with Forte IVs as mains with a REL s812. I am very satisfied with the synergy of the speakers in my system. 
 

In my space and with my ears the forte 1s still sound fantastic and are even more beautiful than the day my dad brought them home from the local high end Klipsch dealer. That said I do think that the forte IVs sound quite a bit better than the 1s. I think that Roy did an amazing job on the Forte upgrades he incorporated in the IVs. Bottom line is that I enjoy all of my Fortes eithervintage Forte 1s or my newer Forte IVs.

 

I hope you enjoy those beautifully restored forte 1s of yours. Vintage is cool and I love the sound that vintage speakers can produce.

 

[YK Thom]

It is really something that a specialty operation like this can exist. Says everything you need to know about the Heritage line. Enjoy your Fortes!

[Idontknow]

Video on the Forte I is now on YouTube under “drD E”. No reason for anyone to get a Heresy IV.

[Shakeydeal]

How about posting a link?

 

 

[Idontknow]

https://youtu.be/IJoTgWMxjug

[Buddy Shagmore]

Good video! Hopefully the V will return to the 12" passive. No shame in admitting it was wrong to switch to the 15 incher. A real head scratcher as to why they did that in the first place, knowing it lessened the impact of the low end. Edit: The II version also got down to 32hz...my bad! Guess maybe it was more about the woofer than the passive?...😬

[jjptkd]

6 hours ago, Buddy Shagmore said:

 Hopefully the V will return to the 12" passive. No shame in admitting it was wrong to switch to the 15 incher. A real head scratcher as to why they did that in the first place, knowing it lessened the impact of the low end. 

 

 Does anyone have any actual proof that the forte 1 plays lower than the forte 2? The forte 3 & 4 use a different woofer than the first two which is why / when they changed the freq. response rating from 32hz up to 38hz. I've owned quite a few pairs of the 1's and 2's over the years and have done extensive side by side comparisons more than once and in my experience bass response between the 2 models were nearly identical. 

[Shakeydeal]

I have never heard the II, but I compared the I to the III in my room and the bass response of the III was better IMHO. 

[Fido]

I have also never heard the 11s. But, I have the 1s and the IVs and I much prefer the bass of the IVs over the 1s. Much punchier mid bass from the IVs than the 1s and the entire sound stage of the IVs is deeper and wider. 
 

My experiences are that the Forte 1s are great speakers but I would not trade the IVs for the 1s. I am lucky to have and enjoy both. I think the IVs take my system to another level over the 1s. Of course that’s just me in my space etc. 

[Buddy Shagmore]

12 hours ago, jjptkd said:

 

 Does anyone have any actual proof that the forte 1 plays lower than the forte 2? The forte 3 & 4 use a different woofer than the first two which is why / when they changed the freq. response rating from 32hz up to 38hz. I've owned quite a few pairs of the 1's and 2's over the years and have done extensive side by side comparisons more than once and in my experience bass response between the 2 models were nearly identical. 

The Klipsch spec sheet shows the lowest frequency response on the 3 & 4 to be 38hz. The Forte 1 & 2 - 32hz.

That said, I am in no way knocking any Forte version. I am just suggesting, wouldn't it be great if the Forte got down to 32hz again? 

forte-brochure.pdf Forte-IV-Spec-Sheet-v01-1.pdf

[Idontknow]

Probably explains why people still contemplate subs even after having spent 5K on a pair of the latest Forte’s. Pretty absurd if you ask me. 

[jjptkd]

32 minutes ago, Idontknow said:

Probably explains why people still contemplate subs even after having spent 5K on a pair of the latest Forte’s. Pretty absurd if you ask me. 

There are obviously a lot of variables here in play I will say that my custom 335's should be tuned to about roughly the same as a Chorus II-- 39hz at -3db. In my room with the right amplification like my old Carver 275 or my new to me Sunfire 600x2 my speakers will flat demolish my whole house with bass if I'm not careful, much to my liking.

 

It wasn't that long ago I had a Topping PA5 and with everything else exactly the same getting bass out of my speakers was like drawing blood from a turnip-- I had to buy a subwoofer as my stereo sounded like a little old shiity transistor radio. What I'm getting at is reasons are many as to why one might "need" a subwoofer through no fault of the main speakers themselves.