Klipsch Speakers

Hi All,

FWIW, as an update, I've had my Forte iv's about nine months now and have been enjoying them with a First Watt F7.

I recently retubed my CJ LP66S amp with Gold Lion 6992's and Electro Harmonix 6990's and reinserted it into my system.  Big improvement over the old tubes as the tube treble is cleaner and the overall tone is improved. 

The tubes have a better "presence" or live sound compared to the F7, which seems almost a bit polite in comparison. Also, for me, the 60wpc adds a body to the Fortes that is ultimately missing with the F7 and its 25wpc.

Of course, what I think sounds better may change in another six months!😊 Probably as much about making a change versus one amp is truly better than the other...!?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

OP,  thanks for giving us more information. 
 

I am on the side that thinks you should be able to rectify the situation. I’ve powered Forte IIIs and CWIVs with many different amps. They are sensitive to amp pairing and source. The Naim pairing sticks out to me yet I have been surprised at pairings.  
 

I loved the IIIs with tubes. Surprisingly they can sound killer with SS too.  
 

OP,

Here are my old Forte IIIs paired with tubes in a nearly empty music room (before decoration a few years back).

yes it’s YouTube but you should be able to get how splendid they can sound. By the way turn up the volume to hear the great dynamics.

i think pairing is key. I sold that PL integrated when I didn’t prefer it with other speakers-after the Forte IIIs

were gone too.

I own a pair of Forte IIIs, unmodified, and I've found best pairing for high efficiency Klipsch IMO are low power SET or SEP amps of high quality build.  My Forte III's sound simply magical paired with a Dennis Had Inspire KT88 whether I run 6550s, EL34s, 6L6s or KT88s.  Dennis built my KT88 with a volume pot so I don't need a preamp or have to use other gain control elements.  A wired or wireless streamer (I run a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 with "warmer" dual Wolfson DACs) straight to the Inspire amp and on to the Klipsch Forte IIIs.  It's a simple, yet wonderful sounding way to access tons of HiRes tracks that sound superb.  And yes, experiment with speaker placement, toe-in, etc. to find your sweet spot.  You'll enjoy ever minute of musical paradise!

The first thing to reduce brightness is to position the Forte’s to fire directly forward to start off. The more you tow them in until they’re facing directly at you, the brighter they will be.

Second, I’ve tried several tube amps including the McIntosh MC275 VI and Rogue ST100 with Dark upgrades, a solid state Enleum 23R, and a hybrid Van Alstine 600R, but the best amp that I tried has been the First Watt F7. The F7 adds more body and warmth while reducing the brightness. You need to be careful matching a preamp to the F7 because of its low input impedance (10K ohms), so the preamp should have a low output impedance (preferably <100 ohms). I’ve tried 3 preamps with the F7, Holo Serene KTE, Holo Bliss KTE and a Van Alstine FETValve CF and they all worked beautifully with the F7. Another post above by dsper mentioned he’s had excellent results with the F7 as well.