New Forte 1 owner - need advice

Hello,

I just bought a pair of Forte 1's today. I wasn't really looking for new speakers but, I recently purchased a WE91A 300b monobloc kit from Min at tube audio lab. These amps will output 8wpc and I needed something high efficiency. I was going to build a pair of back loaded horns with a fostex 208 sigma driver but, I sort of fell into this deal on the forte and I bought them for less money than the pair of fostex drivers were going to cost me.

This pair of forte were made in 1986 and are in great condition. I got them from the first owner and they are all original. I hooked them up and they sounded nice overall but, the bass wasn't very defined or as loud as I thought it would be. This could just be a room placement issue. This also made me start thinking about the age of the crossover network and that it has probably drifted out of spec. It is almost 30 years old after all.

I want to do a few upgrades to these. I am considering the titanium tweeter and midrange diaphragms. I also want to re-cap the crossover. I have read a bit about it and seems like a lot of people like the crites network. Crites has lots of good reviews out there. I have also read through the SET12 thread and seen the mods done there. The crossover on the SET12 thread is awesome but, I can't blow $600 on 8 gauge air-core inductors. That's almost double what I paid for the speakers to start with and that's just a single component of the network.

I think I would like to build my own crossovers and use some nice components in there. I want to do a budget version of what was done on the SET12 thread and still manage to fit it on a board inside the speaker cabinet. I would like to stay around $300-$350 for the pair. Hopefully I could build something that would outperform the crites. Do you guys think it would be worthwhile for me to build my own with this budget or would you just go ahead and buy the crites?

Anyone else build their own forte crossovers? What did you use for your parts?

Does anyone have a link to a list of components needed to build these with all the part names and correct values?

Andy

My 1986 Fortes sound good with everything I throw at them power-wise, and I do a lot of daily listening with them. No mods.

Look into Al Klappenberger, his crossover designs are noteworthy. Also, try pro audio crossovers (pretty cheap used), as they are adjustable in frequency range, and some in the time domain. :yes:

I had a pair of Quartets (little brother of the Forte) and did the Crites mods--new diaphragms and the crossover rebuild kit (not the whole new crossover board). Tremendous improvement in the range and smoothness of the top end.

Bob Crites is "the man" for all things Klipsch and a pleasure to deal with. Whether you buy his components, kits or just have questions and want to "pick his brain", he is more than helpful. I'd just do the Crites upgrades and call it a day.

Has anyone noticed an improvement in bass freqs from XO upgrades? Not sure, if that's your primary concern, that XOs will necessarily change much. . . Have you played with placement yet? I have Quartets, quite happy with the bass quality & quantity, but I'm not a bass-head. . . Also, are you already driving them w/ the 300b monos, or something else? Lots of folks LOVE Klipsch on tubes, but others love a beefy SS amp driving them. YMMV, of course!!!

I have never had a complaint with bass on the two pairs of Forte's I have owned. I would make sure the drivers are all snug, and you don't have any leaks in the cabinets. A crossover recap kit would probably help make sure they perform as they should since their age would warrant replacement.

I noticed a vast improvement with just the basic rebuild kit for my Forte II’s. They began to sound screechy in the upper midrange and highs. They still overall sounded good but with some CD’s they just didn’t sound right no matter what amp I used. I replaced the cross over caps with the Crites kit and all that went away. That was over 2 years ago. This past weekend I listened to a CD that I never liked much because I thought it was over produced and recorded too high. It sounded very good for a few songs but fatigue would soon set in. While listening to it over the weekend all that also went away. I listened to the whole thing without fatigue, though I still think it was recorded a bit too high. It’s well worth the upgrade.

I should note I wasn't saying NOT to do whatever floats your boat re: XOs, just wanted to mention that it may not be the first thing I'd look to for a perceived lack of quality bass.

I also have a pair of Forte 1's which will be getting a complete rebuild. The cabinet miters are coming apart. It will be interesting to see how your project turns out.

From the research I've done through the threads here, I've decided to use the Crites x-overs, and update both horns. If you choose a different path, I'd love to hear a side by side comparison of the two if there is an AK fest suitably located 'tween our locals.

My project won't begin until around July-August, as I haven't the spare time in my schedule, nor accrued the materials and parts for the rebuild.

I went the Crites crossover kit route with my Quartets but the best thing that I have done to improve the bass was to get a different amp. Most Klipsch speakers are very revealing and finding that amp/speaker synergy is well worth the effort. For me, either the top end was grainy/harsh or the bottom was lacking or boomy. I think I finally got it right with the class D Niles Audio amp that I just picked up. I'm real happy with it.

I feel like a dummy now but, it was all room placement issue. There is no problem with the Forte bass and they sure don't need a sub. Quite the opposite actually. They have nice full bass. I may have jumped to conclusions when I got them home. I didn't have the correct room placement at all and they weren't doing well. Now that I have them closer to their final position, things are much, much better. I am really enjoying these now.

I have read every page of the SET12 crossover upgrade thread. I have figured out that it would still take me over $700 to do a cheaper version of what he did. If I were to use 12 guage north creek inductors, that would cost $350 just for that single part of the build. I know what he did with his crossover was awesome and I envy it but, I can't afford to go that route at this time. I just spent over $2k on a 300b amp kit from Min and $400 on these speakers. I may do it sometime in the future

For now I have decided to go with the ALK engineering crossover and I am going to replace both the tweeter and midrange diaphragms with the crites parts.
I chose the ALK crossover because of the fact that it is a true constant impedance multiplex network. This will eliminate the impedance dips that are associated with the stock network and will be a whole lot easier on my SET amps. I also chose to use the crites phenolic midrange and the crites titanium tweeter driver because they can be used together without adding an additional bandpass circuit. I understand that the crites phenolic midrange diaphragm is a slight upgrade over the stock unit.

I feel this is a good starting point. I am going to complete these mods first and then complete my amp kit. If I still feel the need to do more, I might add the klipsch titanium midrange and add a bandpass to make it work with the tweeter.

Woo-hoo!!! Congrats - that's a terrific solution. Enjoy.

Glad you found your path. Very very happy owner of ALK networks in my Forte I's. Happy to answer any questions you might have about my experience with them. I'd also like to recommend a quick mod that yielded positive results for me - install speaker spikes on those puppies. Three on each speaker. One at each front corner and one in middle at the back. Tightened up the bass and gave me more air around each instrument. Takes under 30 minutes. Way less if you're comfortable with a drill.

I use a 300B amp with my Forte's. They sound beautiful.

I just picked up a rough pair of Forte 1's over the weekend to play through my Fisher 800c . I ordered the Crites parts ahead of time so I could rebuild them as soon as I got the speakers home. My next planned upgrade will be the mid range diaphragms and A&M speaker stands so I can get rid of the ugly risers. Madisound sells really nice speaker spikes for unbeatable prices. I would agree with what has been said about speaker spikes, they make a big difference.

AndyPrice44 said:

For now I have decided to go with the ALK engineering crossover and I am going to replace both the tweeter and midrange diaphragms with the crites parts.

I chose the ALK crossover because of the fact that it is a true constant impedance multiplex network. This will eliminate the impedance dips that are associated with the stock network and will be a whole lot easier on my SET amps. I also chose to use the crites phenolic midrange and the crites titanium tweeter driver because they can be used together without adding an additional bandpass circuit. I understand that the crites phenolic midrange diaphragm is a slight upgrade over the stock unit.

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Good :thmbsp: I'm sure you'll be very happy!

BTW -- I put the Ti mids in mine and with proper setup/speaker placement I have no problem with the 8K bump. Perhaps I eliminated the spike when I rebuilt the XOs with different parts and slightly different freq point, a trial-n-error process that took me over a year, but it was fun

I agree with Frank. I put all Ti diaphragms in a set of Forte two sets of Forte ll a set of Quartets and two sets of KLF20 By the way I have two sets of Heresy3 with all ti diaphragms and the additional filters I see/hear no real advantage to the added filter. I can tell yo that as nice as Bob's phenolic mid diaphragm is (and if you are a true phenolic sound lover it is the way to go) the titanium mid diaphragms in my opinion simply takes the speaker to a level of performance that phenolic diaphragms are simply not capable of going to. There is a reason the pro Klipsch drivers run ti diaphragms Best regards Moray James.

Would you guys recommend the titanium midrange diaphragms with rebuilt stock crossovers ?

Spoke with Al at ALK about his forte networks, He said his networks already have a bandpass at each crossover point and that the midrange is cut off after 6K. This seems like it would work just fine as I believe that is the normal roll off of the phenolic diaphragms. I am going to order the titanium midrange and give them a try once I have my ALK networks installed

Andy

I thought the Crites crossover was just a nice rebuild of the stock circuit. I have a pair of Forte I's, bought caps for them a couple years ago but haven't put them in yet; they sound great. I have them fairly out in the open, not near any corners, in a 1600' space and they really crank, the bottom end holds up just fine, not exaggerated but very much there.

Playing through a CJ PV-5 and a rebuilt Dynaco ST70, really happy with the combination. I'll probably do the Ti dome on the hf horn, hadn't considered the mid seriously but perhaps that as well.

Having got the PV5 partially updated, I'll probably now finally re-cap the crossovers as my system's at a point where I might possibly hear a difference. Anyone know if there's a way to tell before I open them up whether I'll find the crossovers on a board or scabbed onto the plastic terminal plate?

I own a set of Forte 1s and honestly have been very happy using them in my "Vintage" rig. They sound wonderful with a thunderous bottom end. Not sure exactly what year they are, but they don't sound anywhere near a recap to me. I've driven them almost exclusively with Pioneer SX Receivers. The Fortes are a very efficient speaker and sound amazing even on the SX 727s 37wpc. I usually have them hooked up to my recapped SX950 and it's 85wpc can shake the walls with the Fortes. Wonderful speakers OP. Congrats, and enjoy