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
@oldschoolsounds, many speaker companies use a " ring " between the driver and the cabinet ( foam, rubber, paper/cardboard ), but I believe it is used to suppress energy from the driver to the cabinet, and the reverse, to suppress energy from the cabinet to the driver. I also believe it is used to create a better " seal " between the two. If some folks are calling that bracing, I will not argue, although that is not my definition of bracing. A set of Polk towers I have use these rings behind the woofers when mounting. If I recall, my pair of Klipsch CF2s ( Epics ) also use them. I have tried it many times, and in some instances I heard a difference, and in some I did not. @wolf_garcia ,I remember now, making you an offer you could not refuse. I also warned you it might destroy scissors, and please apologize to your wife. And, for your very logical reasoning, I will continue to post, especially when it comes to Klipsch. I will try and add some "humor " next time. Thank you, and Enjoy ! MrD.
Jbhiller...yes I did dampen the things if only to get mrdecibel off my back! It was interesting as I'd never used Dynamat before and the operation does make sense...I'm always up for logical and inexpensive tweaks, especially if reversible which the Dynamat clearly is, so you have nothing to lose except a finger maybe. The Fortes are worth opening up as it's cool to see the detail and professionalism used in Klipsch USA construction...if they're anything like the Heresy IIIs you'll see clean and sophisticated innards with high quality wire and generally clean construction, and I always take any new thing apart anyway...tighten speaker bolts or screws, etc.

mrdecibel,

I wanted you to know that I ordered some damping pads from Amazon a couple of days ago, and it arrived yesterday. I started applying it to the horns of my Klipsch Epic CF 4s last night and was done in a couple of hours.

I had already damped them with the strips of grey putty that is used to seal leaky doors years ago when I first bought them, and that was ok, but I took that off and cleaned them very well and applied theses sheets made by Noico, which many amazon reviewers said was the best. Anyway, it's done and sounds better than before. I am seriously considering taking them out again and putting on another layer. These horns are so thin!

Thanks for the motivation. I've known about it for years, but I needed a little push.

roxy, that is awesome. You cannot over damp the horn, but be sure you can still re-install the horn. The lip at the face of the horn needs to still fit into the baffle cutout, so the thicker you go, you need to leave space behind the lip ( widest point of the taper ). Keep in mind, metal horns resonate and ring, and are a bit worse than the newer poly horns, which is why Klipsch switched over. But as you have heard, these newer horns are still in need of improvement. Incredible upgrade, little cost, a few hours of work. Enjoy ! MrD.
Thanks for the advice mrdecibel. I have looked at it, and there is room for another layer. I actually didn't remember how light and thin the horn was. The ribs on the back are so small and thin that it was easy to just form the pad material right over them. I have plenty of it, so I figured why not.