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I think I've crossed the line.. ForteII's & ChorusII's

Dingman

Dingman

Do you know where your towel is?
Subscriber
In addition to the KLF-20's, HII's, KG4.2's that I already have, for some reason, I felt the need to pick up a few more sets.

Heh, just for making comparisons... yeah, that's it.
Picked up a set of ForteII, ChorusII and an Academy. One diaphram in a FII was shot, but I had a spare already on the shelf. Swapped it out, and good to go.
The Chorus and Academy are in pertty good shape, the Fortes are banged up. Everything does work tho. So far.
Now I get to spend the next few weeks doing some comparisons. I don't expect anything major, my ears aren't so young anymore.
I do have a set of Crites Ti's that I'll put in the Chorus. The KLF-20 are stock except Ti tweets.
 

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Congrats on the find. Quiet a collection you have acquired. I would be very curious of how the Forte II and Chorus IIs sound against the KLF-20.
 
This is getting good for a while I had both Forte and Forte l KLF20 Quartet and Heresy but this is even better. It really is the very best way to find out which work best for you. See if you can find a set of Rev 1 CF3 and you will have a full house. Pick the winner and be a very happy guy. Looking forward to reading more about your fine collection. Best regards Moray James.
 
Moray, you are the best. I am enjoying my new to me Chorus II's as we speak, kind of given up my quest for Cornwalls as they are close to the same..still want a set of Belles though...should get my Fisher X202B and Fisher FM200B tube gear back from restoral this week...can't wait.. In the meantime its the 800C..
 
Love the CII's, I can't wait to afford a flat screen so I can get them back (by necessity in my new digs, I have to have my speakers next to my TV).
 
Thanks guys, yes the comparisons will be fun.

I've already rotated the ForteII's and in and out - they sounded really good. In fact, they had more bass than the KLF-20's at lower volumes. My KLF's don't seem to really come together until I get them fairly loud. The KLF's will dig fairly deep but not easily at low volumes.
The ForteII's seem to be bassy all the time, but it's also not as tight as the KLF-20's.
High wasn't as good as the KLF's, but I have Ti's in the KLF, ForteII are still stock - don't get me wrong, the highs were there, just not like the Ti's.
Midrange seemed about the same as the KFL's.

But a friend came by and was interested in the the Forte's, so when he left, they were in his car.:music: He'll enjoy and I can get them back whenever I want.

Now have the ChorusII in and have installed the Ti's tweets. Not sure yet, but I might prefer these least of the 3 pair.

Yeah, Moray, I've been watching for a set of CF around here for over a year - no go so far.
 
Aw... an Academy

Haven't heard one in years... A well to do friend of a friend had 3 of them across the front in his Surround System when the idea was sorta new for Home Entertainment. They were 'LCR' speakers before the acronym was popular
 
Dingman said:
Thanks guys, yes the comparisons will be fun.

I've already rotated the ForteII's and in and out - they sounded really good. In fact, they had more bass than the KLF-20's at lower volumes. My KLF's don't seem to really come together until I get them fairly loud. The KLF's will dig fairly deep but not easily at low volumes.
The ForteII's seem to be bassy all the time, but it's also not as tight as the KLF-20's.
High wasn't as good as the KLF's, but I have Ti's in the KLF, ForteII are still stock - don't get me wrong, the highs were there, just not like the Ti's.
Midrange seemed about the same as the KFL's.

But a friend came by and was interested in the the Forte's, so when he left, they were in his car.:music: He'll enjoy and I can get them back whenever I want.

Now have the ChorusII in and have installed the Ti's tweets. Not sure yet, but I might prefer these least of the 3 pair.

Yeah, Moray, I've been watching for a set of CF around here for over a year - no go so far.
Click to expand...

You should hear the Forte's with real crossovers :yes: :music: I once listened to a pair of $10,000 headphones and I have owned some expensive ones. But really I have no desire today to listen to headphones when my Fortes are far more entertaining :D

For me all bets are off comparing stock speakers as the networks are so terrible from my perspective. I honestly believe that if one were to do anyone of these speakers with an extreme network with very good associated electronics it would likely overtake all the stock speakers with stock networks.

SET12
 
Even before you guys posted, I was looking at the options for crossover upgrades.

The Ti tweets were a no brainer, easy to swap and cheap. As I mentioned, I did change them already in the ChII, and found that the nuts holding the horn on were all loose! They didn't look like they'd been messed with, no marks and things apparently still stock.
Although, I have to admit, if someone had Ti's in there and then took them out before selling, unless they dinged up the nuts, I wouldn't be able to tell. So, maybe someone has messed with them and left them loose.

Checked the rest of the screws\nuts and alot of them were loose. I snugged everything down, got over a half turn on a couple holding the LF driver in. (still on the ChorusII).

Thanks for the tips on improving performance. I'll be getting some new Xo's (kits or new, not sure) and might see if I can snag some Ti mids too.

Hmm, also debating on upgrading both the KLF and the ChII? Or just one of them. Decisions yet to be made. :banana::music:
 
SET12 said:
You should hear the Forte's with real crossovers :yes: :music: I once listened to a pair of $10,000 headphones and I have owned some expensive ones. But really I have no desire today to listen to headphones when my Fortes are far more entertaining :D

For me all bets are off comparing stock speakers as the networks are so terrible from my perspective. I honestly believe that if one were to do anyone of these speakers with an extreme network with very good associated electronics it would likely overtake all the stock speakers with stock networks.

SET12
Click to expand...

I guess I'll have to wait on listening\working with the ForteII's. I already sent them up to the farm, where they'll be put to good use. :banana: Same place the minty KP-201's went.
I only had the Fortes in the system for about 24 hours, but they sounded great. I can't imagine them with extreme (whatever that means) crossovers. Maybe extreme is like when the crossover is half the size of the speaker?
I'm just looking at the ones on Crites and ... uh, another site I forget.
 
Dingman said:
I guess I'll have to wait on listening\working with the ForteII's. I already sent them up to the farm, where they'll be put to good use. :banana: Same place the minty KP-201's went.
I only had the Fortes in the system for about 24 hours, but they sounded great. I can't imagine them with extreme (whatever that means) crossovers. Maybe extreme is like when the crossover is half the size of the speaker?
I'm just looking at the ones on Crites and ... uh, another site I forget.
Click to expand...

"Maybe extreme is like when the crossover is half the size of the speaker?"

Sort of so, I do whatever it takes to get me there. My standards are pretty high

But really look at the contrast! Because the sound has the same kind of contrast.

fortenetworkcontrast.jpg


Do you really expect performance from 10 cent caps, or inductors that are a few dollars or an auto-transformer that cost a couple of tens maybe?

Other networks will certainly help you especially with aging caps even new larger Iron core inductors will be somewhat of a change but not to the level of these parts.

I do believe the Crites is better suited for people with vintage stock gear.

"I can't imagine them with extreme (whatever that means) crossovers."

Its like putting a set of Fortes on steroids literally, Expressing themselves like they were 3-4 times bigger then they are.

Your not that far from me, you could hear these if you wanted to. I could put you up for a night as well. I have had people visit and drive 900mi with no regrets even to the point of changing there own networks after hearing these.

SET12
 
SET12 said:

"Maybe extreme is like when the crossover is half the size of the speaker?"

Sort of so, I do whatever it takes to get me there. My standards are pretty high

But really look at the contrast! Because the sound has the same kind of contrast.

fortenetworkcontrast.jpg


Do you really expect performance from 10 cent caps, or inductors that are a few dollars or an auto-transformer that cost a couple of tens maybe?

Other networks will certainly help you especially with aging caps even new larger Iron core inductors will be somewhat of a change but not to the level of these parts.

I do believe the Crites is better suited for people with vintage stock gear.

"I can't imagine them with extreme (whatever that means) crossovers."

Its like putting a set of Fortes on steroids literally, Expressing themselves like they were 3-4 times bigger then they are.

Your not that far from me, you could hear these if you wanted to. I could put you up for a night as well. I have had people visit and drive 900mi with no regrets even to the point of changing there own networks after hearing these.

SET12
Click to expand...

Jeesh, SETI12, I missed this post entirely - though I was auto-subscribed to this thread? Thanks much for the invite, I might take you up on that someday.
Wow, that is a crossover! I am interested, I need to do some reading and get serious about this - having a hard time focused on this, partly due to the arrival of summer.
 
As far as comparing the different Klipsch speakers in my system ~ I've spent a goodly amount of time listening to both the KLF20's and the ChorusII (the Fortes aren't here, I have KG4.2 and H2's, but didn't bring those into this system).

Whereas before comparing, I was liking the sound out of both of these speakers. And I'm not going to make lengthy comments because I'm not a pro-audio guy, my system is barely mid-range? and the room sucks.

Now, I'm not happy with either one. :arrow:The KLF's seem to have a tight bottom end, as bassy as I like with good punch. The top end seems OK too, crites Ti installed. But when switching from the CII's to the KLF, the KLF midrange seems muffled.

The CII's have good bass also but it seems looser, more sloppy to me. I tried moving the speakers around somewhat, didn't help. Top end seemed just like the KLF's - maybe confirmation bias since they look like the same tweets. Midrange is the difference - more forward, brighter, more "there". When switching from the KLF's to the CII's, the CII's sound so forward in that mid, they don't sound good at first - sounds like a cheaper box. I don't know how else to say it. When I get "used" to the CII's, they do sound good and because of that midrange, sound "clearer" and I think I do like them better at that point.

And of course, I find that diff music sounds better on one set than the other. The KLF's are smoother, and more integrated? I do like them.
The CII's don't seem to be quite as strong as the KLF on the bass and the bass isn't as clear. Midrange is better than the KLF and Highs about the same.

I did try a couple of amps, all Marantz - a 250M, a couple of MA-500's and 75% of the time, was using a SR-4023. There was certainly differences in the amps and the best combo was the 250M with the CII's.

Bad news - while pushing the 250M pretty hard, something inside blew. Mostly my own damn fault, I was cycling power on it while hot (only a couple of times), so maybe that pushed a failing component over the edge. I heard the component sizzle for a few seconds after powerup, then the fuse blew. I haven't opened it up yet. :sigh:

So, all in all, I think I like the KFL's better. If I could improve the midrange, I think I'd be happy as could be.

However, I taken the KLF's out and put the CII's in for the purpose of taking care of the KLF loose baffles.

I've not wanted to take them all apart like you Moray, but this testing has made me more aware of the loose parts (I think it's the front baffle or the side where it joins the back). So, I've moved them out of the system and plan on bracing\re-gluing. I have your threads bookmarked and will go back and re-read them. As I've mentioned before, my wood-working skills are zero but I'm handy enough I can do this. Mostly, I have a lack of space (tho now that the weather is moderated, I could take them to the garage. Thanks for all your advice on this in the past Moray, I'm sure I have all the info I need.

SETI12- I've seen you also have some good threads and feedback on your crossovers, I'll read up on those also. Not sure if I'll do the extreme, but my electrical skills are way better than the woodworking skills.:thmbsp:, so maybe something will happen in the XO's.
 
Thanks for the review. FWIW I found that my CII's worked really well in a large room (20x30) where they could open up and 'breathe'. Not so well in a small room (10x12).

I have found room size and shape to be one of the biggest factors in determining how speakers perform.
 
ding, I have a set of Cll"s also, I called Bob Crites, he"s a member here, and ordered a complete set of x-overs, custom made to just drop in, I think they were 300 for the set, man that woke em up, highly recommend.......Roost
 
njcanuck said:
Thanks for the review. FWIW I found that my CII's worked really well in a large room (20x30) where they could open up and 'breathe'. Not so well in a small room (10x12).

I have found room size and shape to be one of the biggest factors in determining how speakers perform.
Click to expand...

Room size and placement, the II's like to be about 1 to 2 foot away from the room corners and back wall for best bass sound.
 
Dingman said:
As far as comparing the different Klipsch speakers in my system ~ I've spent a goodly amount of time listening to both the KLF20's and the ChorusII (the Fortes aren't here, I have KG4.2 and H2's, but didn't bring those into this system).

Whereas before comparing, I was liking the sound out of both of these speakers. And I'm not going to make lengthy comments because I'm not a pro-audio guy, my system is barely mid-range? and the room sucks.

Now, I'm not happy with either one. :arrow:The KLF's seem to have a tight bottom end, as bassy as I like with good punch. The top end seems OK too, crites Ti installed. But when switching from the CII's to the KLF, the KLF midrange seems muffled.

The CII's have good bass also but it seems looser, more sloppy to me. I tried moving the speakers around somewhat, didn't help. Top end seemed just like the KLF's - maybe confirmation bias since they look like the same tweets. Midrange is the difference - more forward, brighter, more "there". When switching from the KLF's to the CII's, the CII's sound so forward in that mid, they don't sound good at first - sounds like a cheaper box. I don't know how else to say it. When I get "used" to the CII's, they do sound good and because of that midrange, sound "clearer" and I think I do like them better at that point.

And of course, I find that diff music sounds better on one set than the other. The KLF's are smoother, and more integrated? I do like them.
The CII's don't seem to be quite as strong as the KLF on the bass and the bass isn't as clear. Midrange is better than the KLF and Highs about the same.

I did try a couple of amps, all Marantz - a 250M, a couple of MA-500's and 75% of the time, was using a SR-4023. There was certainly differences in the amps and the best combo was the 250M with the CII's.

Bad news - while pushing the 250M pretty hard, something inside blew. Mostly my own damn fault, I was cycling power on it while hot (only a couple of times), so maybe that pushed a failing component over the edge. I heard the component sizzle for a few seconds after powerup, then the fuse blew. I haven't opened it up yet. :sigh:



QUOTE]

I had a 250M with a 3600 pre on my set of Chorus II's and I can tell you first hand not a good match at all. Actually a 2325 sounds much better. The bass is sloppy with the 250M. I have had Aragon, Adcom, QSC and Crown and they all sound like a sledgehammer with the Chorus II's.

The mid horn on a Chorus II is so much smoother than a KLF it isn't even funny. In my opinion it's not even close.

Cheap box? We all know which speaker of the 2 has the cheap box. It's a shame.

I like to rock and I like to use amps that can control the woofer.

I find it amazing how one persons perspective is so different than another.

I listen to alot of live venues so I know the sound I am seeking.

Room is critical. Source is critical. IT takes alot of work to get it right.
Click to expand...
 
Looking forward to hearning my '86 Cornie 2's go head to head with some '93 Chorus II's i just picked up. Already put Crites XO'ers/woofs/Ti tweets into the Cornies. Crites XO'ers and Ti tweets going into the Chorus II's. After 20 years, i'd think new caps for your XO'ers at minimum are a must.
 
My Chorus II's REQUIRED a cap replacement, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I was bordering on disappointment when I got them, but after the cap replacement they were golden.
 
ThanatosOfOn said:
My Chorus II's REQUIRED a cap replacement, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I was bordering on disappointment when I got them, but after the cap replacement they were golden.
Click to expand...

Bingo!

Last night, I received a large box of Ti Tweets and Crossovers from Crites. Thought long and hard about ALK but... done.

Installed the new into the Chorus II's. Crimped the spades on way tight, checked all screws in the cabinet and buttoned it up.
Sounds Mucho better.:thmbsp:
I'll probably comment further later, as I've only heard 3 songs so far
Eagles - Victim of Love
Steely Dan - Do It Again
Three Dog Night - One

So far, I've heard new things in two of those tunes. 2 out of 3, not bad. :banana:
 
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