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Klipsch Forte III--Pleasantly Surprised

First off, I have to say that I always had significant bias against Klipsch speakers. I thought maybe some of the Heritage Series were possibly decent, but in no way audiophile grade.

I recently bought a pair of Forte’s in distressed white oak. They look super vintage and the grills are very tasteful. My impetus for the purchase was I moved to a house this past spring that has a dedicated music room for me, and I wanted to experiment seeking a bigger sound as the room is large (25 long x 15 wide x 10 foot high ceilings). My system is the following:

Winter: Primaluna Dialgoue HP Premium Integrated,
Summer: Schitt Freya, NAD M51
Constant Year Long: Bluesound Node 2, NAD M22 DAC, Manley Chinook Phono Pre, Technics 1200 GAE Turntable, AudioTechnica ART9 Cartridge.

I’m really enjoying the Forte IIIs out of the boxes. I haven’t even tried them out with with tube amps (only tube pre) yet. I thought they would be fatiguing and have tons of bass. The treble spectrum (midrange northbound) is sweet and doesn’t sound cupped. The bass is perfectly integrated but not as prominent as I’d expected. The soundstage is seamless and they are not fussy about positioning.

The other thing that surprised me was how much of the NAD M22 juice I can use. I thought that I’d never move volume much due to the whopping power of the NAD M22--not true. So this is making me curious--what will happen when I hook up my 300B tube integrated? I think it has 8W per side. Will I miss the NAD’s power? That’s going to be fun experiment.

And, it’s going to be super interesting to try the Primaluna integrated with them. I can’t wait to see if I like my KT150s or EL34 variants better.

I’m not going to give some glowing review because it’s too soon and I’ve learned some speakers may sound so so with one system and great with another and even more so with different rooms. There is, however, a big takeaway for me personally: I can use reviews as guides but you have to try stuff out in your room with your stuff to really know. I recently sold a near mint pair of KEF LS50s because my $500 Wharfedale Dentons just sang better with my Creek integrated in the specific room they are in (downstairs system). And that doesn't say anything about the KEFs--they are still amazing boxes.  



128x128jbhiller
jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,399 posts
 
@drumnman2, 

Placement affects imaging with these speakers less than average in my opinion.  While I don't think they image as good as other speakers, they do image well.  I'd say a B+.  When stuff is mixed with something hard left or hard right, they do it properly and holographically.  Disclaimer--in my system in my room.
jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,399 posts
 
I thought that I’d drop a note about my first weekend with these guys.

Vinyl sounded better than Tidal/MQA. I have a great phono pre in the Manley Chinook. My DAC is no slouch. I’m not sure if a better DAC would help narrow the gap, but vinyl had more air, better midrange and more believable bass. There is a clarity with vinyl with these in my rig. With my PSB Imagine T2s, vinyl v. Tidal/MQA challenge each other and the victor was decided album to album. Here, the Forte IIIs just sound better with vinyl.

I had a good listening night with 75% vinyl and 25% digital. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all sorts of music. Voices, horns, and certain percussion stuff sounds fantastic with the Fortes. With digital, I felt like I was sitting 25 rows back and looking into a diorama of the show. Everything was there but in a tight box that I had to look into through a view finder.

With vinyl, I was sitting in the same room as opposed to at a larger venue or through that viewfinder. The sound was taller, wider and more ethereal. My mind’s eye seemed to be viewing a large screen as opposed to looking into the diorama or framed picture of the performance. The Fortes did a great job in displaying massive amounts of air and space in the performance. But why such a difference between vinyl and digital? Again, when the PSB Imagine T2s were in my system, vinyl would best digital more times than not yet digital was much more palatable than with the Fortes.

I closed the 4 hour session thinking these were fun, listenable speakers that keep music the priority. Then my curiosity got me...how would these sound with my Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium?

I fired up the Primaluna today and my first reaction was there is much more texture with the Primaluna. With the NAD M22 everything is clean and clear--so much so that I’d describe the overall color like a daylight lumen colored lightbulb whereas the PL was a warmer, lower lumen bulb.

I'm glad the weather is cooler because I want to keep the PL in the chain now.  Everything is so smooth, warm and still tight with the PL. And the texture seals the decision. 


gawdbless's avatar
gawdbless
1,235 posts
 
@roxy54 

I think the reference was your typo of 20" rather than 20'.......
no biggie, I knew what you meant......lol
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
If you think that George, you haven’t heard them all.

I had an all day sessions at a "Klipsch Nut’s" man cave with K-Horns, LaScala, Belle, and Heresy, none of these were as musical to me as the Forte II’s were, they all just shouted at me where the Forte did not.
I must admit I didn’t know about the Chorus, it looks to me just like a larger extension of the Forte, which should be great.

Cheers George
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,130 posts
 
George,

You mention Forte II, but in other posts you say you have heard the IIIs. Is this true?
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