Quartet to Kg4 comparison

[kohill]

I have a pair of kg4 speakers. I am looking at a pair of Quartets. What differences will I notice on 2 channel listening. Merely a sony receiver and most music styles. (rock, Christian, country) Thanks

[dougdrake]

kohill - I didn't do the exact comparison you are looking for, but mine was between KG4 and Fortes, the bigger brother of the Quartets. The biggest difference I noticed was going from a 2-way to a 3-way design. That horn midrange on the Forte really brought the music to life, for me. The bass was also stronger, although the bass on the KG4s is no slouch. IMO, as good as the KG4s are (and I still have mine), they are in a different league than the Quartet/Forte/Chorus family. You'll like the Quartets better, I believe.

DD

[SteelerFan]

KG4's were the first Klipsch speakers I ever owned. I remember I just couldn't get over how clear they sounded. I traded up for Quartets and the biggest thing I noticed was the improvement in bass. I ended up trading up again for the Forte ll's. They really pump out the bass. I had intended to trade up again for the Chorus ll but when I listened I couldn't tell that much of a difference . But I only listened in the store. Everything sounds much better at home. But I ended up sticking with the Forte's. I still have them.

My point is you will not be disappointed with the Quartets. The KG4's are great, but the Quartets are even better.

[jhawk92]

Just to add a bit to the discussion, I would agree with Doug's comments about the 2-way to 3-way upgrade. You will certainly enjoy the difference. As reference to that, another member, Erdric had a pair of KG4s. He purchased a set of KG 1.2s and a KV-3 from me and listened to my Chorus IIs and Forte IIs. He now owns Forte IIs.

KG4 = Very good speaker

Quartet = Even better speaker

[Klipschfoot]

I have both. KG4 upstairs, Quartets downstairs. They use different sources but I can tell you that the KG4 holds it's own for it's size. The Quartets, however, like others have noted, give you deeper bass and more pronounced mid. I used the Quartets satisfactorily without a sub and about 10" from the wall, toed in slightly, but now have them paired up with a sub for HT. I don't have any more room for exclusive two channel setup so I can't comment about critical listening with the Quartets, but with my Velo 12" sub&Quartet&Academy combination, I have a HT setup than is as good as any I will have for quite a while.

[111db]

Yet another perspective regarding the Quartet/Forte/Chorus vs. KG4. I recently a-b compared my Fortes with a friend's KG-4s. More different than I had expected. KG-4s had impressive bass for their size, and unexpectedly sounded just as efficient as the Fortes on first listening. The KG4s had a more forward high midrange that sounded really punchy with some music styles, but harsh and thin and artificial compared to the Fortes with really natural acoustic music recordings like classical and folk. The reason the KG4s seemed a match for the Fortes efficiency at first is (I think) that the music we auditioned first was predominantly acoustic guitar, and in that frequency range the KG4s output is high compared to that at lower frequencies. Male voices also sounded less natural from the KG4s, as the chest tones sounded somewhat distant while the overtones were right up front, so the voice localization seemed smeared front-to-back. As a result of the audition my friend is selling his KG4s; not that either of us felt they were bad speakers at all... well above average actually. But Fortes are OUTSTANDING speakers. IMO KG4s would work really well in home theater applications where their higher intelligibility from the midrange rise would make dialog really clear.

I speculate that the midrange peak we heard in the KG4s is due to lobing in the crossover region where all three active drivers are operating and throwing a vertically off-axis beam of sound, in which case careful placement, particularly vertical placement or tilt-back, might make a huge difference in how the speakers sound.

Don