Forte

Why didn't they make a Chorus 3 instead of Cornwall 3?

The Cornwall was an one of the five models that spanned many years in Klipsch lineup. It has a legacy behind it that the Chorus does not. The retail price seems high to me suggesting that Klipsch is not looking for high production numbers to offset costs. I would also expect that the CWIII are batch-built according to backlogs of orders so that production fills the demand rather than risk holding inventory in the distribution channel. Using drivers common among products and production jigs on hand makes sense.

I don't think that the CWIII is a cobbled-together product by any means. The woofer in the large, wide, reflex baffle is a well proven design. There is some benefit in using such a wide baffle. The Chorus was in response to marketing pressures to move away from large footprint enclosures and had to deal with response diffraction. I don't see the use of the 701 horn as a backward step given the total redesign of the CW crossover in the III model.

The Forte was not part of that original 5-model line up but fit into a niche within the models. A reissue of the Chorus does not make sense from that perspective since it would tend to crowd out the Forte III.
 
Picked a pair of black Fortes from a neighbor today in good condition together with Denon POA-4400 monoblocks. Took them for a quick spin with the Denons, too bright, apparently the previous owner was happy with this setup but it was too much for me. They sounded much more organic with my warmer Adcom 2535, or even Yamaha MX-600U which tends to be on the bright side. I always wanted to try proper Klipsch speakers, my initial impression I'm going to have a good amount of fun with these. No short term plans for tube gear, maybe later.
 
Picked a pair of black Fortes from a neighbor today in good condition together with Denon POA-4400 monoblocks. Took them for a quick spin with the Denons, too bright, apparently the previous owner was happy with this setup but it was too much for me. They sounded much more organic with my warmer Adcom 2535, or even Yamaha MX-600U which tends to be on the bright side. I always wanted to try proper Klipsch speakers, my initial impression I'm going to have a good amount of fun with these. No short term plans for tube gear, maybe later.

I'm using a 535 on the Fortes in my bedroom, with an Emotiva PT-100 pre, and have been impressed with this budget-separates combo, too.
 
Well, after all the Adcom doesn't have enough grunt for my biggish room, it is pleasant for low to medium volume but it runs out of steam pretty quickly when pushed which I guess should be no surprise at 60wpc. I gave more listen to the Denons and I think I'll stick with them for now, not sure why I thought they were bright initially they sound pretty clean and neutral actually slightly on the warm side. The Fortes are efficient in the mids/highs but happily take more power which greatly helps the low end, that woofer and the resonator with thick rubber surrounding need some oomph to get the best out of them it seems.
 
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Well, after all the Adcom doesn't have enough grunt for my biggish room, it is pleasant for low to medium volume but it runs out of steam pretty quickly when pushed which I guess should be no surprise at 60wpc. I gave more listen to the Denons and I think I'll stick with them for now, not sure why I thought they were bright initially they sound pretty clean and neutral actually slightly on the warm side. The Fortes are efficient in the mids/highs but happily take more power which greatly helps the low end, that woofer and the resonator with thick rubber surrounding need some oomph to get the best out of them it seems.
I seem to be able to get all kinds of oomph out of my Forte with a 15 watt per channel tube amp, don't know why yours can't. BTW it's called a passive radiator, not a resonator. :)
The ADCOM 535 amplifier is underrated by the company, it's output is closer to 90 w/ch.
 
Thanks, I felt "resonator" didn't sound right but was lazy to look it up :) It depends on the music. Surprisingly the Fortes sound pretty good with electronic music, and as you crank it up the low end suffers and the mids become more in your face relative to bass. Classical and jazz is better.
 
I seem to be able to get all kinds of oomph out of my Forte with a 15 watt per channel tube amp, don't know why yours can't. BTW it's called a passive radiator, not a resonator. :)
The ADCOM 535 amplifier is underrated by the company, it's output is closer to 90 w/ch.

the 535 is a great little amp. that's what has powered a set of Fortes in my possession since new in '87 except for the odd experiment here and there. when the first 535 had a problem, I bought another for short money while waiting for the repair. so now I have a pair. one powers the Fortes, the other currently runs a pair of KG 5.5s. no, they're not in giant rooms but, they have loads of 'oomph'. more than enough to shake things and piss off the neighbors (with windows shut).
 
Mine is a 2535, I thought it was 2x535 in one box but maybe not. Likely the fact my setup is in a 25x25' room with 16' ceiling has something to do with it. Or maybe it's time to recap.
 
making amplifiers that make bass is an art not known to all. The finest most powerful bass I have ever encountered using hi efficiency speaker was with the Serious Stereo 2A3 design a whole 3 watts per channel. Stunning and gripping power. How many watts does not tell the whole story.
 
Is it true that the Fortes are as efficient at lower frequencies as they are at 1kHz? It would seem that their efficiency spec is mostly due to the mid-range compression driver given the cross-over frequency of 600-800Hz.
 
no that is not the case efficiency rating is given for 1KHz. Akk speakers will drop in efficiency below this point. Eminence will give you a chart on their woofers that allows you to slide a curser and see the measured efficiency at any frequency. That will give you a good reality check.
 
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