Chicken/egg

[851 SP3]

I'm mentally preparing myself to do my first speaker 'mods' and I'm looking for experience-based opinions on:

*which set to start with?
*which component gives the best 'first step' (thinking tweeters or crossovers, mostly though I understand Crites has mids available for Fortes, too)? is the answer the same for both sets?

The speakers are:

*'87 Fortes. These were gifts to my son from my best who bought them new. Nothing currently wrong with them other than age (good grief, 30 years has blown by).

*'?? KG 5.5s (tags missing). I bought these from their original owner a couple years ago. Nothing currently (sonically) wrong with them other than age.

Age and sentimental value say to start with the Fortes. But, they aren't used as much as if they'd been a gift to a 17 year old me. The KGs are used at least weekly so, in that regard, they should be 'first'.

There's a budgetary constraint behind all this prioritizing as I don't have the play money to do both sets and/or all components simultaneously. One set, one component at a time.

Most likely part source would be Crites (though comments differing are welcome). Pretty much sold on his Ti tweeters vs phenolic/polymer types.

So, what say you all?

 

[moray james]

tweeter diaphragms first then the capacitors. With the Forte the crossover is such that the K79 tweeters only play harmonics. You can upgrade to ti mid diaphragms for a more substantial impact in sound quality. The Klipsch factory ti mid diaphragm is available from Simply Speakers/ Bob Crites only has a new aftermarket phenolic mid diaphragm which I prefer to the stock phenolic but it is still not as good as the ti mid diaphragm. For next to free you can add 2.5 ounces of dead weight to the centre of the passive radiator on your Forte to re tune the bass to obtain deeper bass response from the loudspeaker. Easy fast very inexpensive just some large steel flat washers and just a little adhesive. You can lower the reflex tuning of your KG5.5 also by extending the reflex tubes. This is as easy to experiment with as cutting some light poster board and using some scotch tape to hold it in a snug tube shape. There are lots of other mods that you can experiment with when you have done these. Hope you have a lot of fun. moray james.

 

[Jenkster]

Strictly speaking about the Forte', the biggest "upgrade" I made was adding a quality tube amp to my system. Not knowing your upstream components, this is just an opinion based on my experience. I found throwing a bunch of money at a speaker when your gear is not a good match to begin with can be a waste of money and effort. System matching, placement and room acoustics can have a much bigger impact on sound than a couple of capacitors or diaphragms IMHO. Just my $.02.

 

[Jenkster]

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/got-fortes-get-tubes.709119/

Here's a thread I started about a year ago you may find interesting.

 

[851 SP3]

Thanks for the comments, gents. I also posed the same questions to Mr. Crites. No real consensus, in total.

I've ordered his ti tweeters, to start. I have decided to do the KGs first since they're used most often. I'll kick the family out for a day and have a proper pre- and post-swap listen; probably one tweeter at a time.

Should be both interesting and fun.

Jenkster, the kit is in my sig line. No tube amp in my (foreseeable) future, as nice as that would be. Funnily enough, I just read that whole thread the other day.

 

[usedto]

Chicken/egg


The correct answer: The rooster.

 

[Hajidub]

I would do the Forte's.
Crites crossovers, or at least caps.
Put 'em on speaker spikes.
Ti mid later.

Totally agree with this assessment. The 5.5 are new-ish and shouldn't require upgrade for another decade. I personally know the Ti mid's weren't a huge improvement, but caps wouldn't hurt.

 

[851 SP3]

I personally know the Ti mid's weren't a huge improvement,

Good to know.

 

[DEFTECHY]

What is your budget for these upgrades? If budget isnt a concern then go with the overpriced caps, but I'm quite sure you wont be able to hear the difference from some dayton type poly caps that are a couple bucks a piece. The improvement is from replacing the cheap electrolytic aged caps, you do not need expensive caps to make that improvement & IMO with your average solid state components you will not hear any difference, but you will feel your wallet is a little lighter.

The fortes are so good after a cap upgrade & tweets that the TI mid isnt really needed & may need a x-over change. You can play with the bass mods moray james mentioned, but the biggest thing is placement, both these speakers will have much better bass when placed in the corners of a room.

also on the KG's, when you can, play some bass heavy music at higher volumes & listen around the sides & back of the box for vibration or rattling, the KG & KLF are known for bad glue that can cause vibrations at high volumes, if thats the case some good glue &/or braces can help. titebond makes a melamine specific glue that works on these speakers & gorilla glue works great too.

Tubes are always nice but VERY expensive... they will sound good for low to mid critical listening but for the average person with SS gear that listens to rock & roll or many other genres of "rock" music, you want higher power for these speakers. feed the forte or 5.5's 100+ watts of quality power & they will really come to life.

 

[851 SP3]

Listening to Bridge of Sighs, going through a pile of things, and found the Crites boxes with the original diaphragms in them. I realized I never gave an update.

So, first off, I did only one at a time (a couple days apart, actually) and listened to several different things to try and be as objective as possible. I even swapped channels and also ran in mono. Wasn't convinced I heard a difference with the first recordings. When I got to the later selections with BOTH new dias installed, I was finally convinced.

First, I like the way they sound. Less strained or strident or shrill (none of which is a really good description) but also somehow 'veiled' (more the former). The thing I notice most, and it's very apparent on In This Place and About to Begin (both on Bridge of Sighs), is that the sound of the drum stick tip lightly tapping the cymbal. At the sound levels I listen to most (can still have a convo and up to about 90db), it really is lifelike now.

Back to the Crites boxes, in my failure to give the update, I didn't report what I found when I pulled each horn apart. See photo. Shouldn't be too difficult to figure out what I'm referring to.