Cal Blacksmith Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have been looking at this board and I find that the speakers I am interested in gets no play at all. Are the Forte speakers the red headed step child of Klipsch or are there just so few of them that their voice is only heard in the background? I made my first post in the technical questions forum asking (I suppose for the umpteenth time for you vets as certain questions come around over and over from new members (on the blacksmith boards at least!)) about 4 vs. 8 ohm and speaker ratings. (A short background and equipment list is there also under dumb newbe question but I wanna know) I dont have the Fortes yet but I have been looking hard at them. I currently am running JBL 4312 control monitors. They are known for a lack of deep bass but are very accurate in the mid-high sections (possibly even BRIGHT) what is the sound difference between them if I may ask anyone who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 cablacksmith: Welcome to the forum. No prob on the content of your posts. Sometimes posts seem to not be noticed for no apparent reason. I haven't had direct experience to compare these speakers, but, on the Forte's, you might want to do some a search for them. There seem to be quite a few threads regarding these speakers and in my observation, they are quite well regarded. A number of forum members who have done head to head comparisons consider them superior to Heresy's which is an impressive recommendation. Forte's would seem to be one of the "can't go wrong" choices among Klipsch's offerings. Noticed "blacksmith" in your username. Do you do some hammering on the anvil? Both my grandfather and father-in-law were blacksmiths by trade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 DaddyDee; I am indeed a blacksmith. Get it hot, hit it hard! I have been doing it for aout 15 years now. I haven't broken into the "high end" or "art" world yet as as such there isn't a lot of money made. I do it for enjoyment. It is a never ending sorce of wonder that I could take 8 hours to make something, ask $150 for it (which is about 1/2) of what I have into it and people gasp in horror at the price, and ask "why does it cost so much!!??" I see NOW, that I have made a fool of myself, you have a search function availabel. OOPS! Hey, ya gotta cut the new guys some slack unless they prove themselves to be real boobs. I have done this bbs thing before, honest guys. I hope I will fit in to the "culture" of the board. I tend to sometimes have a dry sense of humor. Thanks for the welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Welcome to the forum cablacksmith! I think you will find quite a few folks here who love their Forte's...which version do you have Forte' or Forte' II? Forte's the first 'large' Klipsch speaker that I owned, and it is because I liked their sound so much I continued up the Klipsch line all the way to K-horns. Do check out the search function-there is a wealth of information there. There used to be some very good threads regarding modding Forte's but they were in the old forum software and I am not sure if they all made it to the new software. If you are interested they were mostly in "Updating Older Speakers, "General Forum" or "Odds & Mods", probably all three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Robin Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 welcome and enjoy the forum. It is simple to use the search window. It is at the top of the page right hand side just type in what you are looking for and it will give you all the info it can find. In this case just type in Forte and it will find all threads that have it in the discussion and list them for you. Enjoy Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 Edster00; Not to jinx the deal but the speakers I am making plans to pickup tomorrow are series 1. The inspection labels are missing but they are in good shape from the pictures I saw. I wasnt in the market for them when the auction ran (twice) without any bites but I contacted him and he was willing to sell them in person for a negotiated price of $450. I dont think this is a violation of any policy against private sales as the whole world had a chance TWICE to buy them and didnt. With local pickup and the ability to hear them first, I think I did ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edster00 Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 cablacksmith, Yep, I think you've got a pretty good deal going on there. I always prefer to buy local and inspect before I hand over the cash. I have purchased 2 pair of Forte' one the original @ $400 and one series II @ $450. Let us know if you get 'em and share some photos if you can. If you have any questions there are lots of folks here who will be glad to provide some answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 cablacksmith, Welcome to the forum. I can tell you from personal experience that I usually only enter the fray into the forum on threads I am directly interested in. Occasionally I hit on stuff in general such as this. So if your threads dont get play very quickly just let ride youll get picked up eventually. I have spent some time listening to the Forte's they are a very good sounding speaker. After I bought my La Scala's, I introduced a friend to them and he was blown away, he did not have the green to get a set so he picked up a set of Fortes and mated them to a Denon PRA/POA amp/preamp rig. They sounded great. I believe you will like them better then your JBL 4312s. I have a friend who has a set of them as well. IMO the Fortes have a much fuller sound. I am sure you will enjoy them. The deal you got sounds pretty good too. Once again welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 There is maybe too much chat about K Horns, LaScalas and Corns. As a Chorus II owner, and an old fart at that, I am secure in my perception I get over 85 % of the K horn sound and find bass attributes of the Chorus II that may be better than the LaScalas in my rig. I know a guy that is intimidated to keep his ML $ 8000 per pair speakers that he acquired after the selling of the Forte IIs. He can bring himself to "book"the loss to go back to klipsch. A sad case. Rest assured there are hundreds of people who frequent the forum that respect he Forte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 AND Most Forte owners are so satisfied they do not need to get defensive of their speaker performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have not owned fortes but I have heard them, the local Klipsch representative owned a pair and used them in his main system...what impressed me most was that he certainly could have used any of members of the klipsch line but he CHOSE the fortes...they did sound great in his system...welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing more about the rest of your system, etc. regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strabo Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 ---------------- On 3/17/2004 6:56:52 PM Audio Flynn wrote: AND Most Forte owners are so satisfied they do not need to get defensive of their speaker performance. ---------------- After owning mine for 12 years I finally tweaked them. Now I'll probably own them for another 12 years before I change anything. The only reason I could think to change would be to go to a fully horn loaded speaker like the big Heritage and SET. Even then I'd find a use for the Forte's somewhere. Currently I don't have the room. Heck, my Forte's barely get to breath in my 12 by 24 foot room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I have a pair of older JBL 4311 speakers, and used them all the time until my son got me a pair of Heresy IIs. My JBLs definitely have better bass than the Heresies, but the rest of the sound is very balanced. The Forte boxes will have better bass. I hope you keep the JBLs. Our house now has two pair of Heresies (I and II), one pair of JBL L46, L56, 4311, and a set of Alesis Monitor Ones. And a set of JBL subs of some model that are probably going up for sale soon. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 The Forte is one of the best speakers ever produced by Klipsch ( or anyone else ). Buy them you will never regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieb Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Owned pairs of 4312s and 4311Bs myself. Had the 4311 side-by-side with pair of Heresys, all powered with Denon seperates. The Heresys were much smoother than the JBLs, tighter on the bottom but did not go as low. The JBLs were brutal with the Denon, listening fatigue set in quickly. I now have a pair of Forte 1 for the last month and really enjoy them. Have upgraded to a tube integrated which is so nice with the Forte. In my opinion, the Forte kill the JBLs, but then, my entire system has undergone an upgrade. Now on the lookout for a nice pair of LaScalas. I must agree with one reply that much of the forum is directed toward Klipschorn, LaScala and Cornwall and I suppose, with good reason. However in my room the Fortes are excellent and bested a pair high dollar, "audiophlie" Triangles. It also seems that us so called "newbies" are sometimes ignored, , maybe looked down upon. All I know is, this "newbie" owned a pair of 1975 LaScalas IN 1975, in my very early twenties. I knew then a good sound when I heard it. Traded a custom pair of JBL S7. Now I obviously regret selling both. Some of us "newbies" are not so new after all and maybe deserve a bit more respect then we get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 We're all newbies of some sort aren't we? That's what makes this so interesting. I never found my 4311s to be tiring at all. My wife really likes them. They are sitting in my daughters room right now, and will have to move before she comes home this spring. They do have perhaps a little bit of pronounced midrange, but I have almost always left the controls on the cabinets set flat. Used them to mix with a lot, and the mixes always seemed to translate well to other systems. The L56s on the other hand, were given to me last summer. They are only a two way, and don't have any mids at all. The crossover is at 2.2k, so it may be the woofer is a bit saggy/damped or something. Nice walnut cabinets though. Yup, the Fortes would be great to have. Still hoping for one of the big guys here, but the wife already thinks the Heresys and JBLs are too big (Not too big, but she doesn't want anything bigger). Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubeglow Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 cablacksmith, welcome to the forum. Personally, I think the Fortes and the Choruses tend to be overlooked as a very fine speaker...I friend had a pair of Fortes for a number of years and we would argue about the merits of my Heresys vs. his Fortes in a good natured way. I think I had the edge on him in regard to gear (he agreed) but the Fortes brought something to the party that the Heresys didnt and vice versa. The other factor to consider is size...for many years, anything more than heresys would have been way overkill for my listening/living environment. Now that my space is bigger, I love my Corns but for many years they just would not have been remotely an option. Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoocow Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I bought my Fortes I last year for $500. I love them. I think they are way better than my RF-3's for music. I listen to them everyday. Best purchase I made. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 RICHIE b; get it on! that is what is necessary on this foru or any, is mandatory specific history questions so NEWBIE is not poorly focused on. there have been some nice pups in their early 20's and some older that profess competency. they sometimes struggle! JBL 4311 is a hot monitor! in any age it is not a horn it is a... JBL but a large piece of USA HIFI history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted March 18, 2004 Author Share Posted March 18, 2004 Thank you all for the timely and great information! You truly provided a warm-fuzzy welcome. Please see the new thread I started. "Got the forte but what a day" I hope it will provide you some entertainment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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