Roc Rinaldi Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 I love FORTE IIs so I need more of them. Here is what I require. Looking for 3 FORTE IIs in oiled walnut, but I will buy up to 4 in order to get three. They must be in excellent condition located in the mid-Atlantic states so that I can go get them. Willing to pay a fair price for mint speakers. Must be FORTE IIs. Cash on delivery. Contact me through a "private message" or at rrinaldi@jhsph.edu. Please help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Here is a pair in reasonable proximity from you. http://cgi.ebay.com/klipsch-forte-II_W0QQitemZ290075859736QQihZ019QQcategoryZ61378QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290075859736 Good luck with your quest, very nice speakers some of the best balanced ones that Klipsch ever produced. ***Note: I just looked at the auction more closely and the speakers are the original Forte' and not the Forte' II as advertised. I sent the seller an email letting him know. Many prefer the original Forte' over the Forte' II because it has been said that the larger 15" passive radiator makes them sound "boomy" as compared to the original version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roc Rinaldi Posted January 24, 2007 Author Share Posted January 24, 2007 Thanks Frninvt, This is very interesting. I had called this person and was actually planning to drive 415 miles from Baltimore to Mass. this weekend to buy them at $600. When I called him back he said that someone had alerted him to the fact that they were fortes. I just naturally thought that the IIs would be better sounding but maybe not. Do you have any actual listening experiences comparing Fortes to Forte IIs? Do you think they both sound about the same? They are walnut and in excellent shape as far as I can tell. Keep looking please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Roc, I auditioned Forte's in 1989, and decided to buy them. Had to order them to get the finish and grille cloth color. The pair that came from the factory were Forte II's because that's what they had started making. I figure i must have some of the first II's ever built. I was not disappointed, still have them as mains. You cannot go wrong either way but if you have II's already and are matching stay with the II's. The midrange horn is probably the biggest difference, most feel it is an improvement. Those who are used to the old line heritage pre-tractrix speakers might like the I's better, but boominess is more a matter of your room and speaker placement. Forte's in either version are sensitive to placement, due to the passive radiator. Both are great speakers. I would recommend you match what you have. It's not about better or worse in this case, it's about matching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 I owned the original Forte' for over 12 years and the only reason that I parted with them was I had the chance to trade them towards a pair of 1980 Belle Klipsch finished in Oak Lacquer with cane grills. Prior to acquiring the Forte's I had owned Cerwin Vega D-8's, Bose 601 III's, Polk Audio SDA-2's, Polk Audio RTA-12C's, and JBL L100T's. The Forte' bested them all! I ran them with a 300 Watt per channel amp and they took all that it could dish out. I never had the chance to listen to the Forte' and Forte' II side by side but I can say that the Forte' is the best balanced Klipsch speaker that I have ever heard. The bass, mids, and highs just blend perfectly as compared to a Heresy or Cornwall and the footprint is considerably smaller. I even chose them over the Chorus since they dug just as deep in the bass regions and were smaller. The boomy, bloated comment I have heard a number of times here on the forum. The Tractix horn was an improvement and theoretically you are supposed to use a passive radiator that is larger than your main driver so I think that Klipsch corrected that in the Forte' II. The bottom line is you will not be disappointed with either speaker both are proven performers. To take their performance to a whole other level have Popbumper (aka Chris Munson) here on the forum build you new networks, he has custom made PCB's (Munson K-Stack's) that he puts premium parts in and makes drop in crossover replacements that bring the speaker's performance to maximum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roc Rinaldi Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 REPLY to oldtimer & Frzninvt, I pretty much agree with both of you. Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts on my plans. I feel that you are both somewhat knowledgeable and sincere in the help you are trying to give to me. The Forte IIs I'm sure represented some improvements over the Is, like the mid-horn change and the 15" passive which I also believe needs to be the next size larger than the powered woof of 12". Now Mike Colter of Klipsch actually wouldn't answer my question as to what the sonic improvements were when they went from Is to IIs, but obviously Klipsch believed that they were making improvements otherwise why change? I doubt if it was for cost considerations. oldtimer, you are correct that the boominess is more a matter of room and speaker placement than anything else. My 2 Forte IIs are angled inward about 30 degrees, speaker corner closest to the back wall is about 8" away and three feet from the side wall. No overboominess that I can tell. In fact with my sub off I don't get enough bass at all for rock 'n roll. To get more bass from them you probably need to have them in corners parallel to the back wall and maybe a foot out. I need mine angled so the sub fills in nicely. You are right. It IS about speaker matching and nothing matches better than the same speaker, plus it gives you a full range speaker in the center which can't hurt for movies and music and it looks good. My new A/V controller has modes that send both the L & R stereo signals to the center, so in my opinion a full range speaker is needed there. Frzninvt, your story is quite interesting. I started with a pair of new KG-4s in 1988 and was so impressed that in 1990 I purchased a pair of new Forte IIs. I moved the KG-4s to the rear and hooked them in parallel to give me 3.8 ohms (forte II [8 ohms]; KG-4 [6 ohms]). Now I am going to add the third forte II for center, move the KG-4s to the sides elevated about two feet and add the fourth & fifth forte IIs elevated 2 feet, for the rear giving me 7.1 sound. oh yea I'm also going to add a second sub from Dr. HSU. Cerwin Vega, Polk & JBL are OK brands. What do you think? Just don't get me started on Bose. Dirty, crumby, rotten company out to hood wink the entire customer base. Stay as far away from Bose as you can. What stories I could tell you. Anyway, thanks to both of you. Please add any further comments that you thing would help. My new 7.1 amp. has been ordered so I need to get my 3 forte IIs or I'll only be able to listen to 4.1 which doesn't even exist. I'll check back later for further comments. Anyone else have anything to add?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 25, 2007 Moderators Share Posted January 25, 2007 " Anyone else have anything to add?? " Yes, good choice of speakers ! [Y] Sorry couldn't help myself. You will find them just keep looking, the hard part is over, deciding what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 The only thing I would add is that if you don't find someone close to split some Forte II's with, let me know if you can store the one you won't use for a while until I can come retrieve it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roc Rinaldi Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Hi dtel & oldtimer, old - I will let you know if I wind up with an extra forte II, which I might. It would be great if you are really serious about buying one from me but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still got some searchin' to do. You do know that I live over 1000 miles away? dtel - I'm so excited. I've already got my order in for an MC207 http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/data/brochures/MC207.pdf & http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=1&id=14&cat=Power+Amplifiers&prodid=1096&product=MC207 and an MX120 which doesn't start shipping until February 1. It is brand new. It is basically the MX119 http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/data/brochures/MX119.pdf & http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=1&id=15&cat=Audio%2FVideo+Control+Centers&prodid=1099&product=MX119 with additional capabilities including 3 HDMI connections and one of the strongest video upconverting processes I have come acroos, all the way up to and including 1080p. The McIntosh switches are of extremely high quality built to last for a lifetime. The literature on the MX120 isn't available yet. ...no, the hard part is finding acceptable used speakers. It is the one part of my plan for which I do not have control. And that makes me very nervous. I do want to find good ones as my four speakers are in the same condition as when I unpacked them in 1989 & 1990. Not a scratch to be found. The ones that I find have to be IIs, oiled walnut, fairly priced (about $500 - $700), in excellent condition and somewhere along the mid-Atlantic coast. Not too much to ask, ya think? BTW "d" - exactly what is "south miss"? Is there really a place called south miss? Just wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 25, 2007 Moderators Share Posted January 25, 2007 I guess I need to change that, it's south Mississippi. Hearing about all that new Macintosh ordered, makes me want to go kick my old Yamaha. [] Too many other projects already started to even think about any changes for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roc Rinaldi Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Life's tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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