Jump to content

Are Forte ll's worth it?


Recommended Posts

I traded a pair of Forte IIs for Cornwalls. It was because I only had one good corner. I couldn't get the balance of the passives in the rear with just one corner. It has to be taken into consideration. Colter and I are both happy with the trade.

Harry

Bad man # 1, but I do understand your reasoning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I traded a pair of Forte IIs for Cornwalls. It was because I only had one good corner. I couldn't get the balance of the passives in the rear with just one corner. It has to be taken into consideration. Colter and I are both happy with the trade.

Harry

Bad man # 1, but I do understand your reasoning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very Nice!

I loved the Forte IIs. I just had a problem with only 1 corner in the room. One side had all the bass reflection and the other didn't. My room doesn't lend much leeway in placement. Otherwise I could have been extremely happy with them. I'm very picky about equal output from my speakers. My small room shows problems immediately. I recommend the Forte IIs highly for anyone. Did anyone say "false corner"?

Harry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very Nice!

I loved the Forte IIs. I just had a problem with only 1 corner in the room. One side had all the bass reflection and the other didn't. My room doesn't lend much leeway in placement. Otherwise I could have been extremely happy with them. I'm very picky about equal output from my speakers. My small room shows problems immediately. I recommend the Forte IIs highly for anyone. Did anyone say "false corner"?

Harry

Bad man # 1 converted into Good man # 8.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless you listen loud, I would lean towards the Forte II's.

DrWho, Forte IIs can play pretty loud.

I seem to settle in at 105db - 108db with Forte IIs and a couple of subs thrown in.

Or were you thinking 120+ dbs?

I was trying to make a comparitive comment....basically that the Forte breaks up sooner than the Cornwall. I would expect a Cornwall to sound better than your Forte II's at those levels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having heard heritage in the 70's friend's had Heresy's, La Scala's, Cornwall's, and Belle's I remember vividly the performance of those speakers. I bought some Heresy's back in '85 and again in '87 and always enjoyed them immensely. I was overseas in '88 and had an opportunity to purchase some original Forte's new for $760 which was a substantial discount over the usual $1100 or more. I previously used Cerwin Vega D-8's. Bose 601 III's, Polk Audio SDA-2's, and Polk Audio RTA-12C's. I was immediately blown away by the performance of the Forte' rated at a mere 100W they took every ounce of the 300W per channel that my DBX BX-3 power amplifier could feed them. Something all the other speakers failed to do. The D-8's resetable tweeter/midrange circuit kept kicking in, the 601 III's would get to a certain level and get no louder, the Polk's flat out could not handle the power but sounded decent. The Forte's outperformed them all, even the JBL L100T's that I almost purchased. I added a JBL B380 subwoofer and BX-63A crossover network and ran the DBX amp in 3 channel mode providing the Forte's 125W while the JBL B380 got 300W talk about incredible.

I owned the Forte's for twelve years and was never disappointed. One day in 2000 I wandered into a local audio store and saw a pair of Belle Klipsch in Oak Lacquer finish with Cane Grills I was in awe! (See photo) They were being used as a magazine/literature display stand. They had plexi covers on the tops of them and I asked the guy why they were there and he said no one wanted big speakers anymore. I asked how much he wanted for them and he said $1100 I ran out of the store and sold off my high end car audio gear at the time and got the money to buy them. When I went back I noticed he had some Heresy II's and KG 2.2V center channel for sale on consignment he wanted $600 for them so I bought them all.

While I loved the Forte' performance for all those years nothing compared to the fully horn loaded Belle Klipsch, they sounded as good as they looked. I would have never got my system to the level it is now if it was not for the Forte's which I actually used in trade towards the Heresy's & KG 2.2V that I started with. In retrospect I should have kept the Forte's for rears but did not have the room for them at the time.

The Forte' is one of my favorite Klipsch speakers and best balanced sounding speakers of all time, the Forte' II improved on the design by using a larger 15" passive radiator and a tractix horn I would have loved to have had them but they did come out until around 1990 and I already had the Forte's.

So to answer your question, are the Forte's worth it?. Without a doubt absolutely! You will not be disappointed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having heard heritage in the 70's friend's had Heresy's, La Scala's, Cornwall's, and Belle's I remember vividly the performance of those speakers. I bought some Heresy's back in '85 and again in '87 and always enjoyed them immensely. I was overseas in '88 and had an opportunity to purchase some original Forte's new for $760 which was a substantial discount over the usual $1100 or more. I previously used Cerwin Vega D-8's. Bose 601 III's, Polk Audio SDA-2's, and Polk Audio RTA-12C's. I was immediately blown away by the performance of the Forte' rated at a mere 100W they took every ounce of the 300W per channel that my DBX BX-3 power amplifier could feed them. Something all the other speakers failed to do. The D-8's resetable tweeter/midrange circuit kept kicking in, the 601 III's would get to a certain level and get no louder, the Polk's flat out could not handle the power but sounded decent. The Forte's outperformed them all, even the JBL L100T's that I almost purchased. I added a JBL B380 subwoofer and BX-63A crossover network and ran the DBX amp in 3 channel mode providing the Forte's 125W while the JBL B380 got 300W talk about incredible.

I owned the Forte's for twelve years and was never disappointed. One day in 2000 I wandered into a local audio store and saw a pair of Belle Klipsch in Oak Lacquer finish with Cane Grills I was in awe! (See photo) They were being used as a magazine/literature display stand. They had plexi covers on the tops of them and I asked the guy why they were there and he said no one wanted big speakers anymore. I asked how much he wanted for them and he said $1100 I ran out of the store and sold off my high end car audio gear at the time and got the money to buy them. When I went back I noticed he had some Heresy II's and KG 2.2V center channel for sale on consignment he wanted $600 for them so I bought them all.

While I loved the Forte' performance for all those years nothing compared to the fully horn loaded Belle Klipsch, they sounded as good as they looked. I would have never got my system to the level it is now if it was not for the Forte's which I actually used in trade towards the Heresy's & KG 2.2V that I started with. In retrospect I should have kept the Forte's for rears but did not have the room for them at the time.

The Forte' is one of my favorite Klipsch speakers and best balanced sounding speakers of all time, the Forte' II improved on the design by using a larger 15" passive radiator and a tractix horn I would have loved to have had them but they did come out until around 1990 and I already had the Forte's.

So to answer your question, are the Forte's worth it?. Without a doubt absolutely! You will not be disappointed.

I enjoyed reading your story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I traded a pair of Forte IIs for Cornwalls. It was because I only had one good corner. I couldn't get the balance of the passives in the rear with just one corner. It has to be taken into consideration. Colter and I are both happy with the trade.

Harry

Bad man # 1, but I do understand your reasoning.

But remember, I had another 7-12 Cornwalls and mainly needed a smaller footprint for my office.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

crawbeaird1 is not online. Last active: 07-07-2007, 7:45 PMCrawbeaird1 you never did say where you live ? There are many here who would let you listen if that is what you wanted ?

I don't see how you could go wrong with the Forte ll, unless you were trying to fill a giant room. I have them in a 24' wide by 34' deep room and they have no problem filling the space.

Like everyone has said ( and they don't always agree ) it is a very good speaker, one of Klipsch best. I will never sell mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...