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Need help diagnosing problem with Belles


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For the past 2 months or so I've been doing some A/B comparisons of my Belles along side my Forte II's. Quite frankly, there is no comparison, the Forte's blow the Belle's away! I know...I'm suprised myself. I know that should not be the case so I am concerned that there is something wrong with my Belles.

I'm using a HK430 and a Toshiba 3960 DVD/CD player. Neither are high-end, but both are considered good bang-for-your-buck pieces and unfortunately I'm on a tight budget. Through the same source, the Belles have very loud and clear upper frequencies, but they sound very small and the imaging isn't very good and the Forte's fill the room (19'x15') with sound with outstanding imaging (with much less high frequencies obviously). My father, who owns both Belles and Khorns, agreed with my observations and said that he had never heard Belles sound so shallow.

I've already looked at all the obvious things. I made sure that all the drivers were working on both speakers and that they were the correct drivers. I checked the wiring to make sure the polarities are correct. I've even swapped the speakers to different channels on my amp to ensure it wasn't the amp. Does anyone have any ideas where I can go from here???

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I'm on a tight budget so a crossover upgrade is out of my price range at this point, so instead I was I was considering having BEC rebuild my crossovers. Is this a good starting point or am I missing something more obvious??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Those two speakers are vastly different, so I feel any comparisons are not really adequate. However, room and placement are critical for good results from Belles.

I recommend getting your dad to loan you his Belle Crossovers, then see if the results are the same as with your originals. That comparison should give you a good indication as to whether you need upgrades.

Wish you the best.

Wes

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I realize that the Belle and Forte are vastly different speakers and I certainly didn't expect to compare them as an oranges to oranges comparison. What I got from the comparison is that it appears that my source isn't garbage since the Forte's sound great with the same exact source (and identical speaker wire just in case anyone brings that up). Cretainly with the Belles, any weakness in the source is much more noticable, but I don't think the source is my problem.

I supposed I could swap out crossovers, that would be much easier if my dad didn't live 6 hours away, but it could be done. If I don't get any other viable suggestions I may just do that. Thanks!

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A friend of mine has his Belle's in a rather large room, say 25 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, which is open to the dining and kitchen area,

and a stairway to the basement. I have heard similar music and a DVD live concert on them, and was not overly impressed with the overall musicality of them. They sit about 2 feet out from the back wall, and are 10 feet apart, not close to any corners.

My guess is the room and placement has an effect on the sound of his.

My Forte's sounded much better to me, too.

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On 6/24/2005 2:56:05 PM 2ndGenKlipsch wrote:

"I supposed I could swap out crossovers, that would be much easier if my dad didn't live 6 hours away, but it could be done. If I don't get any other viable suggestions I may just do that. Thanks!"

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Yea, six hours away does put a different spin on the suggested swap out with your dad. If you are in Southeast Michigan area, I'm willing to help with a local swap out.

Wes

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