dstrachan Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I've been running my Forte 1's at about 17 watts triode and really liking the open sound but... Recently decided to switch my Ella amp to UL mode and drop in some KT88s. This should give me about 50W/ch and I am VERY impressed with how much the Fortes have opened up! The bass is much tighter and the highs more extended. I know many say you can run Fortes on low power and they do sound very nice particularly with acoustic or soft jazz but for all around music, it would appear to me they like a little more juice to really shine. Lucky for me my amp allows me to choose at the flick of a switch! Love these babies!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fletcherkane Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I run my forte 1's as mains in my ht set up. Also do some two channel listening with them. My Pioneer amp is rated at 100 watts per, and I find that the Forte's are much cleaner sounding at louder volumes. Running my amp at -50 to -40 db seems to be best. I absolutely love my Forte's too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 "Recently decided to switch my Ella amp to UL mode and drop in some KT88s. This should give me about 50W/ch and I am VERY impressed with how much the Fortes have opened up! The bass is much tighter and the highs more extended." Imagine that. Of course, running Forte's with 17 watts is probably like running Klipschorns with 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstrachan Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 Dean, You mean it takes more than 1 watt to drive Klipschorns? I just found it interesting as many have written about how you can drive Fortes with 8 watts, and you can. For certain volumes and types of music they sound great but for a wide variety of music and certainly louder volumes, the Fortes sound more dynamic and cleaner with more power. BTW, thanks for the DIY cap replacement post. I'm thinking of giving it a try on my Fortes. Big difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Big difference? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I run my VRD's in triode and my Peach in SuperLoZ with the gain controls set about 12 o'clock. The VRD's are around 30W in triode or so I have been told. It's plenty of power, and I like to rock. If I want to get really crazy, I push the gain controls up to 1 or 2PM. This seems to sound the best overall to me. At least for the time being anyways. And when push comes to shove I can always flip the switches and immediatley go to 60W ultralinear when the mood strikes me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 my F2's like .... 300w / channel .... average wattage is around 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Congratulations on your discovery; I ran my Fortes for years with a laid-back 120-watt Carver amp; when I switched to a 185-watt McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe, I was amazed at the sound these speakers I thought I knew were able to produce. Live-sounding, with clean powerful bass (not enough for HT and that final sense of realism from room resonances you get from sub -30 Hz; I still needed a subwoofer for that). The trick is finding an amp with a clean, quality first few watts; but that also has the ability to move enough air with those cone woofers to provide a good bass slam. ...not that the Forte can't or doesn't sound great with lower power amps; there is just a live presence to be had by giving them more power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On 1/2/2005 4:05:09 PM bsafirebird1969 wrote: my F2's like .... 300w / channel .... average wattage is around 4 ---------------- That would be about 130Db on Klipschorns!! The only amp that the Khorns have ever challanged for lack of power is a little EL-84 single ended AMT. I think that that is just because of the teeny power supply not the watt and a half of the EL-84s. I'm itching to try that Sonic Image unit on them. Heresys like a bit more power. At least a 300B's 8 watts. They play jazz nicely at 15 with EL-34s in triode but do like them better in 40 watt pentode mode for rock over 90Dbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstrachan Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 I'd like to try triode at higher power (say 30W+) but not an option right now...maybe some day. For now, I can continue to play with Triode and UL. I might try the El34s next which should give me about 34 w/ch UL. I might give up some bass versus the KT88s but the mids should be better. Looks like my future may include higher output triode mono blocks at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstrachan Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 185 watts/ch sticking with tubes would be a challenge (financially if nothing else). I think the Ella is very good for the first few watts...I'm really impressed with the match of her and the Fortes. I agree the Fortes can sound nice with low power but...something happens when they get more juice. I can only describe it as "opening up". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 dstrachan, The difference may be as much the sonic signiature of the new tubes as the added power. A given volume output requires the same power input as your old tubes and/or triode mode. That's half the fun of tube amps, rolling in different tubes to get different performance. How do the KT-88s sound in triode? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dstrachan Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 3dzapper, I actually had the same KT88s in triode before and didn't notice anything like what I am hearing now. A bit better bass but nothing exceptional and not the openness and upper extension. I've got some various El34s here and some 6550s all of which can be swapped in and out of my Ella. I plan to do some more rolling to see what happens and some more switching back and forth but for now, I am going to enjoy listening to some of my favorite stuff with the current sound. The last time I had the 6550s in, I recall they sounded fuller and with better bass than the KT88s in my system. Another possibility is the synergy between the pre amp and amp. I am running a Raytheon 12au7 in the output stage of my pre and even in triode I noticed an improvement over others I have tried. Maybe they and the KT88s in UL together are pushing my buttons...more options and rolling, I'll be exhausted soon! I should probably just accept what I have right now and not mess with it but what would be the fun in that. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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