What to buy? Mint forte II's w/ cross over modded & crites titanium tweeter vs forte II's stock w/ reduced price vs cornwall II's also in great condition.

[AverageJoe]

Hello, new to the community. The fiancee and I are finally able to move out of our cramped 1 bedroom apartment to a proper home, which means I will finally have room for a proper audio experience. I have been looking at Klipsch's heritage line and believe it would be the best way to go. Coming from others in my audio social circles it is quite popular to buy the vintage Klipsch forte's and modify the crossover for a better sound profile. I have been looking for used online and have found 3 solid options for speakers that would be well suited for my situation. 

 

I originally looked for forte II's and these two were are my options:

 

forte II great condition, stock. Price, $1100 for the pair. 1 hour 10 min drive one way.

 

forte II basically mint condition. Crossover already modified, Crites titaniam tweeters(something I had planned to do as well), $1500. 4 hour one way, willing to make a day trip out of it if worth it.

 

And then I stumbled on the cornwall II's:

 

From the pictures, it looks like its also near mint condition, stock. Price also $1500. On the way to where I will be traveling in a week so no commute factor. Color better matches our living room style(Fiancee's input).

 

 

I am leaning towards the cornwall's as they seem to have a great reputation within the lineup in general and I figure I can take time to swap things around as I see fit as I go. I also have a contact who puts together and does crossover changes often(but would have to ship it to me as he lives across the boarder) so access to that would be pretty smooth as well. 

 

If it helps I also attached the blueprint of the living room space it would be in. Where it's marked TV is where we have our TV wall mounted now so it would be on either side of it at least for now. We wouldn't have two table areas shown in the blueprint so the couch area would be able to be pushed back to make room for more speaker clearance from the wall. So a lot of room to play around with speaker location wise. 

 

Any input and recommendations you guys have would be very much appreciated!

[OO1]

 concentrate on the stock speakers and work on the price  whether the Forte II or Cornwall II  , 

 

aftermarket parts alter the klipsch sound in a negative way , while klipsch  original  parts do not  , factory capacitors and tweeter diaphragms  are available from klipsch for  pretty much  the same cost as aftermarkets + Forte II crossovers may still be in perfect specs , so you can stretch the expense for later .

 

 

[PrestonTom]

38 minutes ago, OO1 said:

 concentrate on the stock speakers and work on the price  whether the Forte II or Cornwall II  , 

 

aftermarket parts alter the klipsch sound in a negative way , while klipsch  original  parts do not  , factory capacitors and tweeter diaphragms  are available from klipsch for  pretty much  the same cost as aftermarkets + Forte II crossovers may still be in perfect specs , so you can stretch the expense for later .

 

 

And, this is a highly biased opinion that many long time forum members will certainly not agree with. Alas, Our posts will be deleted and the end user will be mis-lead. Before the lock down comes ..... search elsewhere. Your questions are valid ones.

[JohnJ]

With that large of an open area?

1. Cornwalls have a higher sensitivity than Fortes. Takes less to produce more sound.

2. Cornwalls have the 15" woofer opposed to the 12" in the Fortes. Lower bass response, and more bass.

 

Pretty sure they will be better suited to the large area. Rationalize... they're on the way where I'm going anyhow!   DING! DING! DING!

That would seal the deal for me!

Enjoy & Welcome @AverageJoe

[billybob]

11 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

With that large of an open area?

1. Cornwalls have a higher sensitivity than Fortes. Takes less to produce more sound.

2. Cornwalls have the 15" woofer opposed to the 12" in the Fortes. Lower bass response, and more bass.

 

Pretty sure they will be better suited to the large area. Rationalize... they're on the way where I'm going anyhow!   DING! DING! DING!

That would seal the deal for me!

Enjoy & Welcome @AverageJoe

Agree...Cornwalls, it's about size sometimes.

[JohnJ]

Just now, billybob said:

Agree...Cornwalls, it's about size sometimes.

 And for the "new guy" placement also.  

Don't let the first placement be the final... unless you've played with the parameters a bit. Their might be some basic info in the manual even if you need to download the pdf from Klipsch!

[billybob]

4 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

 And for the "new guy" placement also.  

Don't let the first placement be the final... unless you've played with the parameters a bit. Their might be some basic info in the manual even if you need to download the pdf from Klipsch!

Dang straight...!

[OO1]

  OEM klipsch parts are  superior to  aftermarkets   because klipsch factory parts   adhere to strict quality standards at roughly the same price as the  cheaper aftermarkets  , it's  an excellent bang for the buck ,   +  the products come with a  klipsch full warranty   ,it's a no brainer .

 

[AverageJoe]

54 minutes ago, PrestonTom said:

And, this is a highly biased opinion that many long time forum members will certainly not agree with. Alas, Our posts will be deleted and the end user will be mis-lead. Before the lock down comes ..... search elsewhere. Your questions are valid ones.

Hmm I see what you guys mean, and it is something I've gone back and forth on. I also do like the idea of starting stock and letting my ears decide where to go from there. In terms of changing the crossover I do think I am leaning towards that modification though, just based off my listening preferences and what I've heard so far.

Also I don't know what you mean by lock down but if I didn't post this in the right place or properly....honest mistake, let me know and I can change it. 

[billybob]

Welcome...no man you are good. What do you think about the Cornwalls?

@AverageJoe

[AverageJoe]

50 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

With that large of an open area?

1. Cornwalls have a higher sensitivity than Fortes. Takes less to produce more sound.

2. Cornwalls have the 15" woofer opposed to the 12" in the Fortes. Lower bass response, and more bass.

 

Pretty sure they will be better suited to the large area. Rationalize... they're on the way where I'm going anyhow!   DING! DING! DING!

That would seal the deal for me!

Enjoy & Welcome @AverageJoe

Yes! This is why I'm leaning towards the cornwalls. Thanks for the welcome! I am very excited to start this obsessive, expensive, maddening journey with Klipsch, I'm sure my partner's going to love it too😅

[AverageJoe]

40 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

 And for the "new guy" placement also.  

Don't let the first placement be the final... unless you've played with the parameters a bit. Their might be some basic info in the manual even if you need to download the pdf from Klipsch!

Oh yes, I watched one of my best friends go through it, I will be inching everything daily, marking off the perfect spot with floor tape and then readjusting it again in no time. I also have a parametric room acoustic optimizer on my current receiver, I'll obviously be buying a proper amp but I wonder if it can be useful for that.

 

And you don't have to remind me about the manual, my soon to be father in laws and engineer and his motto is RTFM, read the ******* manual.

[AverageJoe]

31 minutes ago, OO1 said:

  OEM klipsch parts are  superior to  aftermarkets   because klipsch factory parts   adhere to strict quality standards at roughly the same price as the  cheaper aftermarkets  , it's  an excellent bang for the buck ,   +  the products come with a  klipsch full warranty   ,it's a no brainer .

 

I guess I saw the crites supplier pop up so much in my research that it stuck with me, but that makes a lot of sense.

[AverageJoe]

7 minutes ago, billybob said:

Welcome...no man you are good. What do you think about the Cornwalls?

@AverageJoe

Waiting to finalize the offer online and then I can pick up those bad boys in a week! 

[billybob]

1 minute ago, AverageJoe said:

Waiting to finalize the offer online and then I can pick up those bad boys in a week! 

Sounds good, let us know and enjoy the conversation...

[JohnJ]

2 minutes ago, AverageJoe said:

Waiting to finalize the offer online and then I can pick up those bad boys in a week! 

That is when the trouble starts.

Don't go and audition a pair of LaScalas ten months later like I did.

Didn't feel buyers remorse so to speak... but I did want to spend more $$

[AverageJoe]

5 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

That is when the trouble starts.

Don't go and audition a pair of LaScalas ten months later like I did.

Didn't feel buyers remorse so to speak... but I did want to spend more $$

Dam man, When I was researching I was looking at some LaScalas, ya know, just "for fun"...

[billybob]

Agree with John again. The heritage Cornwalls are awesome for a good reason, and in their own right...

[JohnJ]

I did that almost a year after I bought my Forte III right when they came out. The fully horn loaded are exceptional if you have the $$ and space.

But I think Cornwall IIs for that price can not be beat!

Back to my movie... haven't seen "Secondhand Lions" in a long time and it's just good fun!

[AverageJoe]

I might be getting ahead of myself but I've also read that some people prefer to have them raised a bit to get them to the optimal ear level, has that been anyone's experience here as well?