Chorus II too big for my room?

[mcp]

Opinions please...room is 12 X 20 (ceiling 8' rising to 12'). I currently have Fortes on the long wall (under the 12' ceiling peak) in a 10' equilateral triangle with my listening position. The Forte's are only about 1' from the wall behind them--great bass--no boom. I could do a 12' equilateral triangle with the Chorus II's. Any thoughts?

[Dflip]

Check some of reviews and comments posted here already. Type both forte and chorus (separately) into the search window and start reading.

Someone expressed an opinion that the Forte had better bass and the chorus was good, but not spectacular. My memory might be failing, but read up. Here is a quick summary of what I found. ---- indicates comments from another individual.

Chorus I uses the same midrange as Cornwall II (Chorus II, on the other hand, uses a tractrix midrange which gives a different sound). Cornwall II and Chorus I present a better, bigger-sounding midrange then the Forte can, although the Forte's no slouch. The Forte I shares the same midrange as my Heresy II, and I like it a lot (Forte II uses tractrix midrange, which produces a slightly different sound...less horn-like is how some people describe it). Insofar as Forte vs. Chorus midrange is concerned, the Chorus will basically give you more of a good thing.

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Chorus I doesn't deliver the bass as low as the Forte will. This isn't to say the Chorus I "lacks" bass per se, but it doesn't dig as low as the Fortes do and you will notice a difference between the two.

Overall, Chorus I will deliver a "larger" sound then the Forte I, but this comparison is really a subjective issue depending on a) how low you like your bass and your approximate room size. It's been my experience that the larger Klipsches don't sound as good in smaller roooms. Room size and it's reflective/absorbent properties have a lot to do with how good a speaker will sound, all other things being constant.

In a normal room (12 x 14), the Fortes will have no trouble at all and personally speaking, I myself wouldn't want to go any larger insofar as speaker size is concerned.

There's so much to be said (again, in my view) of ensuring you don't have too much or too little speaker for your listening room. The bigger Klipsch definitely need room to "breath."

Hope this helps.

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I used to have the Forte-II and now have Chorus-II. I agree with the remarks above by heresy2guy. I went with the Chorus-II for more of a good thing .. slightly more dynamic, more natural sounding, a bit more picky about amplification. Forte definately goes a few tones lower, but I prefer the quality of the Chorus bass .. sounds less like a speaker and more like whatever is playing the bass.

Pretty much they're all the same. the cornwalls are slightly more foward in the midrange, the chorus and forte are a bit laid back and the forte digs just a bit deeper. You'll find lots of posts in the HT and 2-Channel forums. ----------------

The chorus is a nice speaker and less fussy about room positioning.

The chorus II on the other hand i find particularly fussy about set up. The passive radiator needs a corner to shine.

I have always found the mids a touch smoother with the chorus II as well.

So with the proper set up chorus II gets my vote between the two.

[jt1stcav]

I think your Fortes are about the largest size loudspeaker to still sound natural for your room...maybe the Chorus IIs would be pushing the limits of your room (I think Chorus loudspeakers are about as tall as Cornwalls, just not quite as wide).

Just from my experience, my Cornwalls were in my present 12' x 13.5' x 8' room on the short wall, and they were just too big and honky in there, no matter what amplification I used (from SS to vacuum tubes). Highs could get piercing and the midrange downright screechy at times (bass output was perfect, without any boom)! I experimented with placement location to no avail; nothing could improve the Cornwall's sound while they were being restricted in this small room!

It's been said here many times, large Klipsch loudspeakers (mainly from the Heritage lineup) need lots of quality room to breath properly. When my dad owned my Cornwalls many years ago, they were positioned near the corners of the short wall in a "huge" formal living room and sounded so real and life-like, with wide dynamics, fast transients, sparkling highs, full-bodied mids, excellent soundstaging, and deep, tight bass...these very attributes from these ol' Cornwalls are what attracted me to their sonic signature, their realness, their you-are-there presentation, especially in that living room, which I guess acted like a sounding board of sorts (a perfect blend IMO).

But since my dad built his residence pipe organ, its 2-manual/pedal console was placed along the back wall of the living room. Then came the antique Steinway & Sons piano and huge 1888 Estey church model reed organ (plus all the usual furnishings that had to be rearranged so these instruments could fit without cramping anyone's style (except for the Cornwalls and his entire audio system, which he retired and boxed up and put away when my folks moved back up to CT). The pipe organ's up for sale now...once that instrument and its console are sold and removed from the house, then my hopes of returning my audio system back to the large living room, along with my Cornwalls (which are stored away safely in a hallway closet), will be finally realized! The Cornwalls will then be free to speak in all their glory once again, like I remember them as they sang, filling that entire large room with beautiful music!

Try the Chorus IIs out...that's the only way you'll know for sure whether you can use them in your music room or not. They may just work out fine for you with your favorite music. I wish the Cornwalls could just disappear sonically in my little room, but they're way too big.

Good luck.

[mcp]

Yeah, I know that I will have to try them in my room. I dread buying and moving those beasts only to find out their too big for the room...decisions, decisions...

[DrWho]

The Forte and Chorus are really close to the same size:

Forte:

35.4" (89.92cm) x 16.5" (41.9cm) x 12.25" (31.1cm)

Chorus:

39" (99.06cm) x 18.5" (46.99cm) x 15.5" (39.37cm)

That's like 3" in every direction, I don't think you'll have any problems. Worst case scenario they have a really good resale value. Or you can even experiment with swapping out the MF and HF drivers. I really enjoy the midrange on the chorus quite a bit.