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Forte I w/Crites Goodbye

13stoploss

13stoploss

Active Member
Might be/probably saying goodbye to these tomorrow. Forte I with Crites titanium tweeter diaphragm and Crites mid-horn diaphragm. Yes, different color drivers. I don't know, but they're both K-23-K. I like these speakers a lot, but I'm working on something else and hoping to acquire something else. I don't think they'll be my last set of Klipsch.

They're very flat and neutral sounding, not a peaky soundstage. Good bass, kind of thin, loads of mid-range, not impressive high freqs. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm only using a Parts Express Sure 2x50w amp? At any rate, with such a cheap, low-watt amp, they sound great.

I really am looking forward to my next Klipsch speaker. Until next time! :P

 
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I've a pair of those to rebuild, providing hell quits breaking loose around these parts. They sound good as is, but the cabinets are roached. Can't wait till they get the full rebuild.
 
13stoploss
I've seen your ads on the DC Craigslist
Looks like you've got some great gear
Hope you can come to our spring gathering
 
I would with respect suggest that if you cannot make a set of Forte which have Crites tweeter and mid diaphragm upgrades not sound glorious then you are doing something(s) wrong. I cannot see how you can move forward with any other speaker and hope to make any realistic improvement if you have not been able to first make these loudspeakers sing for you. The Forte has the lowest 3db down frequency of any Klipsch loudspeaker including the mighty Khorn. With the Crites ti tweeter diaphragm and the Crites phenolic mid diaphragm you should be experiencing excellent sound. Have you considered that your crossover capacitors may be a big part of your displeasure? The Forte and the Forte ll are the best balanced widest range loudspeakers that Klipsch have ever produced and are considered by many to be their very finest ever. I have owned Forte and Forte ll (two pair of Forte ll) as well as Heresy, Heresy3 (two pair of H3) Quartet KLF20 (3 pair of KLF20) and CF3. The Forte is a formidable design that is at a level very few products ever achieve.
I would suggest that it would be in your best interest to investigate the possible reasons for your dissatisfaction with your Forte before you sell them. The experience will be most educational. There are many obvious time related service adjustment that can be made such as changing all gasket seals including the rubber washer between the compression driver and the mid horn. Making sure all drivers mounting screws are tight, 180 degree rotation of the woofer, make sure the cabinet is air tight, install fresh spade connectors and solder as well as crimp for best and longest results. Past this there are a host of modifications which when combined can afford the Forte the ability to run head to head with new loudspeakers easily up to and beyond the ten K price point. Beside if you do make sure that your Forte is at the least up to as new set up and condition then you will have learned much and will have a much better sounding loudspeaker to sell and that should be reflected in your sale price. It does not sound as if you have extracted the full potential of your Forte and it would be a shame for you to not fully appreciate them before you sell them. Best regards Moray James.
 
rogerfederer said:
13stoploss
I've seen your ads on the DC Craigslist
Looks like you've got some great gear
Hope you can come to our spring gathering
Click to expand...

Our? By whom do you mean?

And thank you. Not trying to be an audio whore, but I'm kind of young and I love hearing and trying new things.

Grizzog said:
What are you looking to get to replace them?
Click to expand...

Actually, the Klipsch were supposed to be my daily listener while I was refurbishing my ESS AMT Monitors. Then I found some empty ESS AMT-1a pyramid cabinets for cheap. So, I gutted the Monitors, put the drivers and passives and AMT Heil ribbons into the pyramids, then custom created a new crossover board with new caps, resistor, hook-up wire, banana plug terminals, and then it sounded so sweet and it looked so sweet in my mid-century modern-like room that I decided to just get rid of everything except the Klipsch and the pyramids. Anyway, the Missus said I could keep the pyramids, but she wants some JBL C36s, for both audio and aesthetic reasons. I don't yet have the JBLs and I don't have a line on them... and then a friend gave me a pair of ESS PS4 to refurbish and sell, so... I guess I'm just clearing out and making room for only two speaker sets.

SWL3600 said:
What Klipsch speaker are you looking to go to next?
Click to expand...

Going back to my ESS roots. My AMT-1a pyramids are almost done. Just need to re-veneer the cabinets. I should have brand new ESS drivers and cone passive radiators by the end of the week or early next. Then I'm going to re-make another crossover based on the AMT Monitor with bi-amp posts. Once I get rid of some extra stuff laying around, I'm going to look for some JBL C36. If I get too impatient, I'm going to build or buy some Cornscala. :)
 
moray james said:
I would with respect suggest that if you cannot make a set of Forte which have Crites tweeter and mid diaphragm upgrades not sound glorious then you are doing something(s) wrong. I cannot see how you can move forward with any other speaker and hope to make any realistic improvement if you have not been able to first make these loudspeakers sing for you. The Forte has the lowest 3db down frequency of any Klipsch loudspeaker including the mighty Khorn. With the Crites ti tweeter diaphragm and the Crites phenolic mid diaphragm you should be experiencing excellent sound. Have you considered that your crossover capacitors may be a big part of your displeasure? The Forte and the Forte ll are the best balanced widest range loudspeakers that Klipsch have ever produced and are considered by many to be their very finest ever. I have owned Forte and Forte ll (two pair of Forte ll) as well as Heresy, Heresy3 (two pair of H3) Quartet KLF20 (3 pair of KLF20) and CF3. The Forte is a formidable design that is at a level very few products ever achieve.
I would suggest that it would be in your best interest to investigate the possible reasons for your dissatisfaction with your Forte before you sell them. The experience will be most educational. There are many obvious time related service adjustment that can be made such as changing all gasket seals including the rubber washer between the compression driver and the mid horn. Making sure all drivers mounting screws are tight, 180 degree rotation of the woofer, make sure the cabinet is air tight, install fresh spade connectors and solder as well as crimp for best and longest results. Past this there are a host of modifications which when combined can afford the Forte the ability to run head to head with new loudspeakers easily up to and beyond the ten K price point. Beside if you do make sure that your Forte is at the least up to as new set up and condition then you will have learned much and will have a much better sounding loudspeaker to sell and that should be reflected in your sale price. It does not sound as if you have extracted the full potential of your Forte and it would be a shame for you to not fully appreciate them before you sell them. Best regards Moray James.
Click to expand...

Comments like this is why, after several years, I stopped lurking and finally created an AK account. Thank you for the thoughtful response.

My Forte were very nice sounding speakers. I liked them a lot. I had tons of seller's remorse after selling them. Especially since my big boy amplifier came the very next day (2x500 at 4ohm). And that's the crux--it wasn't that they were not fine sounding speakers, or even that I didn't enjoy them. With just 50 wimpy watts, they sounded great. They are the reason why I want another pair another time.

As we all know, this is an expensive hobby. None of my audio purchases are allowed to come from my paycheck. My children go to private school and my stay-at-home wife cooks food grown/raised on a local farm. DC ain't cheap. I've had to do some astute wheeling and dealing to build the system to where I am now, and that includes a new Emotiva XSP-1 gen2 pre-amp while running a DIY PE amp. I've bought and fixed and sold a few speakers to make some extra cash. The deal I got for my Forte was too much to pass up. Also, as I mentioned in the previous comment, the Missus said she wants JBL C36s. Who am I to say no to that? Until I can find a pair of those, I have my eyes set on some Cornscalas. And a tube amp. And an active crossover. And getting rid of this nasty, harsh tile flooring. And maybe some room treatments, too.

See? It never ends. In the meantime, I'll be "getting by" with my ESS AMT-1a pyramids. :rockon:
 
Glad that you are enjoying the experience as a whole it i s better that way. It's the journey that really matters. If you are considering a Cornscala then I would strongly suggest that you consider the Bob Crites Cornscals type D. I would further suggest that you bypass using a small format compression driver and jump directly into large format and use the Faital Pro two inch exit compression driver and matching horn. Two way will give you more of what you are after in my opinion. See the attached link.
PS: too bad about that cabinet it really did look good in your room. I am sure you will find or have found an equally nice replacement. Best regards Moray James.

http://www.critesspeakers.com/cornscala-style-d.html
 
local AKers have 2 mid-atlantic gatherings per year. one in the spring and another in the fall. lots of fun always. will have to get you on the invite list. all are welcome!
 
You might try spacing them farther apart and a good SS amp....next time. The first pair of Forte that I bought (I'm on my 4th pair), I bought a Luxman 1050R. That 55 watt receiver drove the Forte to concert levels. With the Crites upgrades, those Forte can go toe to toe with anything else of that size.
 
Sounds familiar. At each stage of my audiophile life, I've attempted to possess a pair of the mostly highly-reviewed speakers. I realize it's all subjective, because each of us have a peculiar neural network and its efficiency is constantly changing. I'm going to be 85 next September and have, no doubt, some frequency loss. I went to my doctor and had a water pulsating procedure which brought back a ton of acuity - best $100 I've ever spent on audio improvements! I'm sure many of you would question my present choice of equipment: two 1987 Klipsch Cornwall IIs with Crites cross-overs driven by the little Marantz 2220B Receiver, a Technics Quartz Direct Drive Automatic SL-1401 turntable in mint shape and just gone through by my tech Greg Duncan and a SONY CD Player CDP-C545, also given a once-over by Duncan. When I have friends over for a musical evening, I get nothing but compliments on the quality of the music. Some of my neighbors have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the 'latest' gear for their home theaters, so I feel my investment of about $2,500 is money well spent. My listening room is 15x18 and the speakers sit about 8 feet apart on the shorter west wall with their backs to the ocean. Would anyone like to comment on what I'm doing wrong...or right?
 
Bob you have a very nice and well rounded system. You would probably like a set of Bob's titanium tweeter diaphragms in your CW2 they are a quick and easy install plus they don't cost an awful lot. Bob also has a phenolic mid diaphragm which I think is a little better sounding than the stock Klipsch phenolic probably due to the diaphragm profile, but the stock Klipsch mid diaphragm is a good smooth sounding one and will last forever. The difference is not as big as you will hear with the titanium tweeter. I am not sure that the difference in SQ is going to make as big a difference as you might like it to for your effort. You could tighten all the screws in your cabinets that would be a worth while project. So far as your system goes you could step up to a better digital source and I am sure that you would enjoy the improvement. You could keep the CDP-C545 for back ground multi disk play when you don't want to stop and feed the single play machine. You could also spend some time auditioning interconnects between your CD player and the Marantz. Past spending a whole lot more money and time burning in new gear I would say stay about where you are and enjoy as you have already realized you have a system which plays well above the average of many much more expensive systems.
 
moray james said:
Bob you have a very nice and well rounded system. You would probably like a set of Bob's titanium tweeter diaphragms in your CW2 they are a quick and easy install plus they don't cost an awful lot. Bob also has a phenolic mid diaphragm which I think is a little better sounding than the stock Klipsch phenolic probably due to the diaphragm profile, but the stock Klipsch mid diaphragm is a good smooth sounding one and will last forever. The difference is not as big as you will hear with the titanium tweeter. I am not sure that the difference in SQ is going to make as big a difference as you might like it to for your effort. You could tighten all the screws in your cabinets that would be a worth while project. So far as your system goes you could step up to a better digital source and I am sure that you would enjoy the improvement. You could keep the CDP-C545 for back ground multi disk play when you don't want to stop and feed the single play machine. You could also spend some time auditioning interconnects between your CD player and the Marantz. Past spending a whole lot more money and time burning in new gear I would say stay about where you are and enjoy as you have already realized you have a system which plays well above the average of many much more expensive systems.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, Moray! I'll go for the Crites Ti diaphragms for now. I put them in my Fortes in 2016 and didn't notice much difference, but that was before I had my ear wax blasted out with my doctor's pulsating water pick-like device. If you've never had this procedure, you might save a lot of consternation over why your audio system seems muffled. Of course not everyone benefits. I happen to have a lot of wax and a narrowing of the auditory canal from 55 years of surfing in cooler water. With the clarity of the Klipsch, I really hadn't noticed, as its a gradual thing. After the ear irrigation, my stereo came alive. Now, I'm putting in the finishing touches on my musical masterpiece. None of us will probably ever find the 'perfect' sound system, but it's the hunt that keeps the adrenaline going for me.
 
Hey Bob it's always nice to do anything that makes your music listening experience more involving. Past the suggestion of upgrading the CD player you would need to upgrade your amplifier to make a big difference in your current system. You did not indicate what sort of working budget you might have. I can recommend the all in one Naim system which blend a player and amp in one, they would not fail to impress but they may be beyond what you want to invest. You might check them out at a local to you dealer and see what you think. These like your Marantz when new perform at an astounding level given the price. Considering the savings they present by way of lack of interconnects and multiple power cords they represent excellent value and flexibility. There is the option of purchasing used gear but again a budget would be necessary to make any suggestions.
 
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Goof suggestion. I really haven't listened to any modern outfits, as I have to divide the budget between audio and photography. I am reducing my photo hobby expenditures, as everyone seems to think they are a photographer because there is often a small camera aboard the smartphone. We've seen the collapse of an entire industry or two, if you count publications and camera manufacturers. It's the Age of Do It Yourself, which is a lot of fun unless you are one of the laid off staff of Popular Photography, Sports Illustrated or a Japanese maker of cameras great and small. Classical music stations are an endangered species, too. There's only one left in the South West - KUSC in Los Angeles. I listen to it every day, pulling in a strong signal on a $1.98 dipole antenna. Line of sight, it's 100 miles or so to LA but I think I'm getting a good signal on the '86 Marantz because KUSC has a transmitter in Orange County, a little closer. But my receiver could use its tuner re-aligned and the amplifier stage needs new capacitors. Still, the ancient rig impresses my friends. Maybe some think MP3 is the yardstick since its newer. You've got to move air to get concert volume, not just produce a fairly square wave pattern.
 
Bob Andrews said:
Sounds familiar. At each stage of my audiophile life, I've attempted to possess a pair of the mostly highly-reviewed speakers. I realize it's all subjective, because each of us have a peculiar neural network and its efficiency is constantly changing. I'm going to be 85 next September and have, no doubt, some frequency loss. I went to my doctor and had a water pulsating procedure which brought back a ton of acuity - best $100 I've ever spent on audio improvements! I'm sure many of you would question my present choice of equipment: two 1987 Klipsch Cornwall IIs with Crites cross-overs driven by the little Marantz 2220B Receiver, a Technics Quartz Direct Drive Automatic SL-1401 turntable in mint shape and just gone through by my tech Greg Duncan and a SONY CD Player CDP-C545, also given a once-over by Duncan. When I have friends over for a musical evening, I get nothing but compliments on the quality of the music. Some of my neighbors have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the 'latest' gear for their home theaters, so I feel my investment of about $2,500 is money well spent. My listening room is 15x18 and the speakers sit about 8 feet apart on the shorter west wall with their backs to the ocean. Would anyone like to comment on what I'm doing wrong...or right?
Click to expand...
Wow! I have klipsch forte II and a marantz 2285b and I’m waiting for my Crites titanium tweets and crossovers to arrive. My left tweeter cuts in and out so since I’m replacing it I decided to do the upgrades and see what happens. But for the love of god you have A great system. About the only thing that would improve it would be a hi resolution source. I use tidal streaming service Through my laptop with a separate Dac that decodes MQA and other high Rez formats. it brought more depth and clarity to the system. I love my system so much that I’m buying a new modern amp just to hear if it gets any better lol. I’ll likley audition a few and if one compares to or bests my marantz I’ll buy it as a backup in case anything goes wrong with the marantz. Or I’ll just buy another vintage marantz lol.
 
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