Thanks RIAA, just a passing whim.
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.
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.
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- 103 posts total
Hi Mrdecibel! Always good to see you around these parts. I did damp my mid horn. I’m curious about dampening the interior cabinet but I didn’t want to upset the magic that’s there. Do you think swapping out crossovers for “better” parts would be of benefit? I didn’t look for the board inside so I don’t know how hard it is to access, remove and what its layout consists of. |
I agree with this review, the video will get into the Klipsch Forte III review 1 minute and 40 seconds into the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giU7PbNKfg8 |
I've had the Forte iiis for a few weeks now. So far no bueno. I'd have to say I don't like them that much. I am feeding a Chord Quetest DAC spdif from a Bluesound node 2i streamer using Roon. This runs into a Creek Destiny Amp. Speaker cables are the AQ rocket 88 and grover huffman interconnect. AQ Hurricane PC on the amp. Just nothing to write home about with the sound. Bass is a little lacking considering the size of the speakers. I have a set of Dynaudio Xeo 4 speakers that are also fed from the Node 2i and damn if they don't sound better. They are in the opposite room so both can be playing at the same time and walking from room to room I'm always more in favor of the Dynaudio sound. It's so boring and simple to just have these powered speakers and no system to play with but dang I paid just over 1K new for the Dyns and I have more than 5-6X as much in this Klipsch system and it's not as good! I keep hoping I'll warm up to the sound but so far it's not happening. |
- 103 posts total