ForteII vs Quart vs KG?

[colterphoto1]

I've got KG4 and like their sound although the horn is a bit forward. Have heard WHo's mighty Chorus. Seems like whoever 'G' at Klipsch was got the PR thing down pretty good.

Has anyone compared the Quartet to Forte II with each other or either of the above speakers. It seems like a huge jump in price from KG4 to Quartet/Forte II and I wonder what the diff is between the 10/12 layout and the 12/15 layout. Bigger is probably better, but how does it integrate with the horn? Are ALL of these 2-way + PR?

Thanks, I've kinda got my heart set on Forte II, but price seems to be escalation as rapidly as HK430's!

Michael

[merkin]

The price is escalating since you got in the market! []. The way you buy speakers I can see that it just became a sellers market.

[maxg]

Michael,

Forte II - ported?

Should be sealed with a passive woofer on the back shouldn't it? 12 inch powered woofer and 15 inch passive from memory.

[merkin]

Hey Michael,

Here are some forte 1's on their side. Maybe you could work them in for a center channel. (maybe they should tell the guy to turn his camera). http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-Forte_W0QQitemZ5842697894QQcategoryZ94906QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[rplace]

When I purchased my Forte II new back in the day, I also listened to the Quartet and Chorus II. At that time I already owned KG4s. While I like...no...loved my KG4s they were not even in the same ball park in my mind as the Forte II. It has been a long time but I remember the Fortes sounding a lot more like live music and the KG4s being like recorded music for lack of a better explanation. I even liked the Forte IIs better then the Chorus IIs.

I have always been partial to a 3 way design over a 2 way design...that said they both sound great. Given a choice I would take a Quartet over a KG4 and a Forte II over a Quartet. I also recently sold my original Chorus and kept my Forte II. However that could have been for nostalgic reasons. You can't go wrong with any of the variations of C/F/Q.

The reason I think there is a huge difference in price is analogous to why there should be a big price difference between the synergy and reference line: components, build quality, IR&D, etc. People in this forum tend to forget or don't want to admit that the Chorus/Forte/Quartet speakers along with the Academy were all part of the Heritage line Yes it is true, not pseudo-heritage, or "extended" heritage, just plain heritage. For some reason the children who came later to the heritage family (C/F/Q) get pushed to the side by snobbish, purists who think it ain't heritage if it an KH, LS, BK, or H.

From Klipsch's own web site ...The three-way Heritage Series Forte II was... AND ...The two-way KG Series KG 4 floorstanding...

[heresy2guy]

"It has been a long time but I remember the Fortes sounding a lot more like live music and the KG4s being like recorded music for lack of a better explanation." - RPLACE

_________________________

I always notice this myself and it's always evident when I'm comparing a three-way vs. a two-way speaker. Or, maybe I should say, a horn-loaded midrange speaker vs. a cone-driven midrange speaker because there are some two-way speakers out there that use a single horn for the mids and highs. A conventional cone simply cannot, to me, produce the "LIVE, RIGHT-THERE" sound that a horn can. Consequently, like you said, I too find that cones produce a LESS-live, more "recorded" sound. IMHO, horns sound "live" while cones sound "dead." Then again, some people may interpret "deadness" to mean "refinement" but that's their rightful opinion. I feel that a speaker's job should be to try to recreate that "live" sound and nothing does that better, to me, then a horn...and a horn-loaded midrange in particular, since, as PWK once said, "The midrange is where we live."

-H2G

[Bill H.]

Michael,

Most of the KG4 were 4 or 6ohm speakers. Whereas the Fortes and Quartets are 8 Ohm.

The Fortes have a larger fuller sound, and don't require as much power to get the Preceived

Punch in a full sound.......as least this is what I experienced.

[Duke Spinner]

Colt ...

you have been sniffin' around the F2 issue for quite some time ...

Buy 'Em .....you won't be dissapointed ...[]

[NOSValves]

The reason I think there is a huge difference in price is analogous to why there should be a big price difference between the synergy and reference line: components, build quality, IR&D, etc. People in this forum tend to forget or don't want to admit that the Chorus/Forte/Quartet speakers along with the Academy were all part of the Heritage line Yes it is true, not pseudo-heritage, or "extended" heritage, just plain heritage. For some reason the children who came later to the heritage family (C/F/Q) get pushed to the side by snobbish, purists who think it ain't heritage if it an KH, LS, BK, or H.

Hey hey now! Us Lascala owners are nothing like the snobbish Khorn owners. Long live the C,F & Q's []

[MBM135]

I sold my KG4s a few years back and bought a mint pair of Forte IIs off Audiogon. I loved the 4's but the Forte's are a whole order of magnitude better. Truly wonderful and worth it IMHO. I have them paired with a Scott tube amp and a Rega Planet CD player and it is a nice combination. Before I messed with tubes I was simply running them with an entry level HT rcvr and they still sounded great.

The Quartet and Chorus I believe are probably even better although I've never heard them. Perhaps not as much a leap as going from KGs to Forte though. I don't think you can miss with any of them--let condition and price be your guide.

If you keep the 4's, experiment with placement. Putting them on stands made a significant difference.

MM

[dougdrake]

"Seems like whoever 'G' at Klipsch was got the PR thing down pretty good. "

That was John Gillum (may not be spelling the name right), an audio engineer at Klipsch who later left for other adventures.

[Bill H.]

Excerpt from the death notice of PKW. By Gary Gillium

I want to express my sympathy for

the worlds loss of a truly gifted and

unique genius, who made an indelible

mark on the world of audio and the

lives of many, including my own.

My life and work has been guided

in some waythough obscure at

times by Pauls fascination with the

reproduction of music ever since I

heard a neighbors Shorthorn in

Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was determined

to learn more about this

mystic from Hope, who built loudspeakers

of such uncanny realism.

Learn I did, exchanged correspondence,

visited frequently and was

asked to fill a vacancy in engineering

in November of 1974.

This was a different world. I also

began to realize how special my

acceptance into this flock was. As the

saying goes, you had to pinch yourself

to make sure you werent just

dreaming.

I later discovered that many engineers

would have given their right leg

for my position with Paul. What a

responsibility and performance I had

to live up to. As I heard Paul say of

his acceptance of the AES Silver

Medal Award in 1978, I have

stood on the shoulders of giants. I am

proud to have at least rubbed elbows

with one of those giantsPWK.

Gary C. Gillum

Ridgedale, MO

640 J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 50, No. 7/8, 2002 July/Aug

[colterphoto1]

another member was asking about the quality of KG4 vs Forte. I knew there were some comments here that might help them.

M