sberger Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 As some of you know, not long ago I got a nice pair of ca. 1987 Forte's. I love the sound, but I am interested in replacing the crossovers. Unfortunately, I'm a total novice when it comes to soldering, and from trading pics and emails with another forum member about this, my set up would require it. So I'm wondering if there is anyone in the San Francisco Bay area who is experienced with this that might lend a hand. Obviously, I would pay you for your time and other expenses. Please email me at bergersv@inbox.com if you can help. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 If you do the whole crossover (like BEC's) there is no soldering .... Gosh, even me, with tennis racket sized hands, and a middle name of klutz, can, and did, do it ............... unless all you want to change is the caps ..... or, the xovers are different than the one in my Cornwalls .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 If you do the whole crossover (like BEC's) there is no soldering .... Gosh, even me, with tennis racket sized hands, and a middle name of klutz, can, and did, do it ............... unless all you want to change is the caps ..... or, the xovers are different than the one in my Cornwalls .... According to a couple of people, including BEC, who have seen pictures of my crossovers, soldering would be necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 So I'm planning on ugrading the crossovers with BEC. Went into the speaker today and thought I was going to be able to unplug the wires from the drivers. But it seemsthat they are soldered into the connectors. Does this seem right? And any thoughts how I can disconnect them? Bob was nice enough to offer to have me send him the x-overs attached to the terminal cups and he would send me back new x-overs ready just to plug and play, but now this does not seem possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Well, thanks to Bob, got them out. They do indeed just unplug from the drivers. Got them out, and they're on their way to Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Wanted to take this opportunity to publicy thank Mr. Bob Crites for the amazing service he has provided me. He got my crossovers today, and already has them upgraded and ready to ship back to me. This is the culmination of a seemingly never ending flow of first class help and patience that he has provided a real novice who simply wants to get the best sound possible from his pair of Fortes. I love these speakers stock, but they're from '87 and I trust those forum members, and Bob, who advised that this was something that just needed to get done. In addition to being somewhat intimidated by actually going in and getting the x-overs out, I also hated the idea of being relegated to headphones for a prolonged period of time. Obviously, Bob sensed that and took care of business so that I'll be back in business tomorrow. I already know that things are going to be improved, so don't even need to talk about that now. But for anyone thinking of doing this upgrade, talk to Bob. You certainly will not regret it. And I also want to thank Chris Munson for his help and patience as well. Chris and I traded many emails about this whole process, and he too was nothing less than a gentleman and scholar. I'm certain that his x-over is equally as good as Bob's. But because of the way Chris is set up, it just wasn't possible to work with him this time around. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that he would have provided the same positive experience that Bob has. So now all that's left is the waiting, and the listening, which will start tomorrow night. I'll report back. I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 You will love the upgrade! I noticed an improvement immediately. The sensitivity of the speakers seemed to raise ever so slightly and everything is much smoother, tighter. Bob's upgrade takes a great speaker and makes them sound fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 So how did the upgrade go? Have you been caught up re-listening to all your favorite music like I have? [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 Unfortunately it's been somewhat of disastrous first evening. I did receive the crossovers, but for some reason I can't get the tweeter and squawker to work. I've tried every connection available, but to no avail. As you all know who have done this before it's pretty much plug'n'play, but I just can't get things to work. Extremely frustrating. I've been in touch with Bob, but he's as confused as I am. I'm getting in touch with a local speaker repair company that work on vintage speakers, including Klipsch. I'm waiting to hear back to see if they can be of any assistance, but suffice to say it's been a mighty dissapointing night. If anyone has suggestions, thoughts, etc, I'd love to hear them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 That's weird. Is it that way for both speakers? Did Bob make new wires for you to connect the drivers to the crossover or did you make them yourself? Does anything on the crossover board looks like it is loose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 It turns out that both the mid and tweeter on both speakers were evidently damaged when I went about disconnecting the old x-over wires. I know it sounds weird, but I can't come up with any other reason. The old wires were very difficult to disconnect, and I was unaware that I could damage the internal wiring by even slightly turning the terminals, which I'm sure I did. Live and learn. Luckily, I have a local repair shop that specializes in vintage stuff, and they have Klipsch parts in stock, so the fix shouldn't take more than a few days or so, and hopefully by next weekend I'll finally be able to listen to Bob's work on the Forte's. Can't wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Now you will probably have new diaphragms in the mids and tweets as well. An almost complete upgrade. They should sound better than new, really, once everything is back in place. I really hate it when something simple ends up becoming complex and costing more than it should have. When dealing with Bob, though, all anyone here can say is he is wonderful to work with. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 So the speakers were damaged when you unhooked the connectors to them inside? I thought about doing that, but then I decided to re-use the original wire and original connectors. I cut the original wire going to the original crossovers about 3" from crossover so that a connector could always be connected to the original crossovers should they ever be sold or re-used. I wasn't comfortable disconnecting all kinds of wires and then accidentally installing the wrong one or reversing polarity on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Now you will probably have new diaphragms in the mids and tweets as well. An almost complete upgrade. They should sound better than new, really, once everything is back in place. I really hate it when something simple ends up becoming complex and costing more than it should have. When dealing with Bob, though, all anyone here can say is he is wonderful to work with. Bruce Yup. Wasn't planning on that(wasn't even planning on new crossovers until I started hanging around this place) but so be it. I am really looking forward to hearing them because I liked the sound stock. And you're right about Bob. He has been nothing but great from day 1 in helping me, patiently answering question after question, and then when thing went south after I got the crossovers quickly replying to several emails to help determine the problem. If anyone is thinking of a mod to their Klipsch's, you owe it to yourself to speak with Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 So the speakers were damaged when you unhooked the connectors to them inside? I thought about doing that, but then I decided to re-use the original wire and original connectors. I cut the original wire going to the original crossovers about 3" from crossover so that a connector could always be connected to the original crossovers should they ever be sold or re-used. I wasn't comfortable disconnecting all kinds of wires and then accidentally installing the wrong one or reversing polarity on them. I'm guessing that, although now that you bring it up it's possible that I could've blown them out by connecting positive to negative, as seeing the +/- on the terminals was impossible. The woofer didn't go because it was easy to see the symbols, and the connections were not difficult to remove. This was all done because Bob did all the connections in order to make things go easier for me. Ah, sweet irony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Not likely -- reversing the wires wouldn't hurt anything. Now, if you got the wires mixed up and hooked the woofer wires to the midrange or tweeter, that could easily blow a driver-- but not until you used it! Sounds like you simply broke the leads going from the terminals to the VC from rough handling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Yep, me too. But believe me, it would've been tough to remove those wires with any less force. I really thought for a while that they were soldered on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popbumper Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sam: Couldn't help but notice your comment: "But because of the way Chris is set up, it just wasn't possible to work with him this time around. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that he would have provided the same positive experience that Bob has." What could I have done differently? I did not receive any reply from you concerning any specific issues, only to find out here that you had gone another route. Certainly I am glad that Bob has worked as an option for you, but I guess I don't understand "But because of the way Chris is set up". Can you help me understand what that means? I don't want to be a difficult option for anyone, if that's what you are inferring. Help me "fix" it. Thanks! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sberger Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sam: Couldn't help but notice your comment: "But because of the way Chris is set up, it just wasn't possible to work with him this time around. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that he would have provided the same positive experience that Bob has." What could I have done differently? I did not receive any reply from you concerning any specific issues, only to find out here that you had gone another route. Certainly I am glad that Bob has worked as an option for you, but I guess I don't understand "But because of the way Chris is set up". Can you help me understand what that means? I don't want to be a difficult option for anyone, if that's what you are inferring. Help me "fix" it. Thanks! Chris Chris, Sorry, poor choice of words. This was not meant to infer anything negative whatsoever. On the contrary, you were as patient and helpful as Bob. And obviously your crossovers are top notch. What I was simply getting at is that you indicated that because you were out of parts, and you usually buy in bulk and because mine was the only interest you had, you didn't want to buy parts that you wouldn't be using. You did offer me an upgrade. If you feel I have any of this wrong, please let me know. In the end, I decided to go with Bob. It had absolutely nothing to do with anything other than I had to make a decision and I went with Bob. If I had to come up with a reason why, I suppose it ultimately felt a bit less complicated for me. But certainly it was a tough decision to make because like Bob you provided so much advice and experience. So please accept my apologies for an ambiguous first post. Obviously your reputation is well known and well earned, and I hope at some point I will be able to use your services. Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
popbumper Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Sam: No apology required at all, and I appreciate your explanation. I was more concerned I had done something wrong along the way. You are correct on everything we we discussed, I just didn't hear back after the last exchange and was curious as to what happened. Hope you get your current particulars worked out, and you are happy with the results. Again, thanks for the input - I don't want to be problematic for anyone here. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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