Klipsch Forte I

[jukingeo]

Could anybody here tell me their impressions on these speakers? They seem fairy sensitive at 99 dB/W/m, but how are they overall. Thanks!

You want a good laugh?

Back in the late 80's and early 90's I was a DJ and I had a friend back then that turned me on to Klipsch. He had a set of Forte II's. One night his Cerwin Vega DJ speakers broke and he comes back with his Forte's. I was totally convinced he was going to totally destroy these speakers considering they were home speakers and not pro speakers. Furthermore I was very scared about the speaker's scant 100watt rating.

Boy can I tell you that I was totally shocked at what came out of these speakers. First off they sounded WAY better than the Cerwin Vegas and used much LESS power. So he ended up buying a small amp and a second set of Forte speakers for a back up system for smaller parties.

It was at about this time I learned of the relationships between SPL and power input. Also the Forte is a of a Passive Radiator design and it does sound somewhat smoother than a typcial ported reflex cabinet.

Would I ever recommend using a speaker like this for a pro application ? Absolutely not. My friend and I did some crazy things in those DJ days. But what I am amazed was that this speaker kept up with a pro-speaker and then some.

So with a resounding "Yes" at 99db SPL, the Forte is fine enough for SET work. In fact I know what this speaker sounds like...and if it wasn't so large, I would buy a set for my tube projects. Sadly I am constrained to using bookshelf speakers right now. But I still want to get a set of Klipsch speakers.

Geo

[SDS-PAGE]

Well, a lot has happened since I posted that message. I now have a pair of Forte I's and a pair of La Scalas. I think those Fortes are pretty small compare to the 'Scalas.

Min

[battradio]

A pair of Lascalas stacked do a good impresion of a refigerator .

Mark

[JW34]

Ty,

How is the Chorus working for you? Thoughts on the sound compared to other speakers?

Jay

[Ty_Bower]

How is the Chorus working for you?

The Chorus are working great.

Prior to these, I had tried a pair of Vandersteen 2ci. The Vandy's had a fantastic top end, probably due to their time aligned phase coherent mumbo jumbo. But, the Vandy's were hungry for power and the lower midrange and upper bass were lacking in the life and excitement I heard from my old Paradigm 7se Mk3. I ran the Vandy's for about a month, then swapped back for my 7se.

The Chorus seem every bit as lively and fun as the Paradigm. The 100 dB sensitivity is a huge blessing for my low powered GetSetGo. The tweeter and squawker horns aren't the least bit "shouty" as I feared they might be. There is a little bit of coarseness or a lack of detail. It might be the old caps in the crossover, which I have not yet replaced. The bass is glorious - full, rich, and plenty deep enough. It isn't the gut wrenching low note on the pipe organ, but it is very satisfying.

I never did manage to finish my port tuning contraption. I've spent much of this summer on assignment at a power plant near Rockdale, TX and haven't had the time to devote to this project. I've left the port long in the meantime, which should make the enclosure tuned a little bit too low. It doesn't seem to be hurting anything right now. When I finally get around to finishing it, I expect I'll port the other speaker as well and ditch the PR entirely. It'll hurt the resale value, but I'm not expecting to unload these speakers any time soon.