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I have NOT heard these speakers, so I cannot comment on their sound. However, this reviewer took the time to write a lengthy and detailed review of the Polk Audio R-30 Reference Loudspeaker Monitor. It would SEEM to be a strong consideration for your amplifier power and budget considerations. The reviewer states:

"With an MSRP of $400 per pair it must be considered a most worthy performer but at its actual street selling price of $78 to $200 per pair...you just ain't gonna find anything as good looking or sounding!"

And he also says:

"Power Handling is such that the R-30's are recommended for use with amplifiers rated at 20 - 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms. Efficiency is rated at 89db @1w 1m."

Just an idea, and as I said, I have absolutely NO personal listening experience with this speaker--NO firsthand knowledge. So beware. But this review caught my eye in the bang for the buck category.

Thanks MDHoover, I'm looking for a little bit more expensive unless they truly can compete with more expensive speakers. I should probably mention I'm looking at used speakers on Ebay, and thus getting everything fairly cheap. Thanks again.

Greetings.Have a look at the new Monitor 5 series from Paradigm.VERY efficient & much more refined sound than you'ld get from the Forte's.You would also be getting new speakers with excellent factory warranty that would support a future upgrade in the front end.

I can vouch for the Paradigm line of speakers sounding very good.

Hey Cwaigy,

I owned the Klipsch Forte II for over 15 years before I sold them about 3 months ago. They are fantastic speakers for the money, even back then. They are extremely efficient and require very little power. You can't go wrong whether you continue to use your 75 watt receiver or upgrade to a tube amp. Even a very low power tube amp will power these fine. I was using a Rogue 88 tube amp in Triode mode which translated to about 35 watts and it was more power than needed.