[Skylab]

Several of us here own HPM-100's. I love mine. They need a little care to get the best out of them, but having done so, a great speaker, especially for rock and jazz.

 

[toxaco]

>They need a little care to get the best out of them<
 
do you modify the cross-overs, replace capacitors etc?
 
any info would be great ?
 
thx

 

[Skylab]

Recapping the crossovers helps a lot, as does setting them on 10-12" stands, and of course, like any speaker, carefully positioning them in the room.  Also, very important to play with the mid and treble pots that they have to get the balance right for the room.

 

[Rawrbington]

Picked up these Forte II's a couple weeks back.  perhaps the best purchase i've made in a LONG  time.  Ranks right up there with my 45$ TS 5998 matched pair.
 
anyways, they were cheap because the cabinets are rough.  poor things were battered and abused.  Maybe the original owner didn't like horns?
 



 
not sure exactly what happened to the woofer.  why its discolored like that.  Accoustically I love them.  I just wish the cabs were in better shape.
 
anybody have any simple easy ideas i could try to clean them up a bit?
I don't mind putting in some effort but i took enough wood tech in high school to know that woodworking is not a strong suit of mine.
 
These things have made me a big Paul Klipsch fan. 
a friend of a friend of mine has a pair of 1977 Klipshorns that he MADE with PWK while working at the plant in Hope.  he says everytime he has company over he covers them with a table cloth and puts random crap on them so people don't set drinks on them.  They are probably the most incredible looking speakers i've ever seen.  And they sound well, great.  But much more intimate than i had expected.  they sound stupid good at moderate to lower listening volumes.  Which surprised me.  Not bad for a speaker designed 65 years ago.
 
 
but yeah, any ideas or insight on cleaning these cabs would be much appreciated.

 

[Silent One]

Quote:

Picked up these Forte II's a couple weeks back.  perhaps the best purchase i've made in a LONG  time.  Ranks right up there with my 45$ TS 5998 matched pair.
 
anyways, they were cheap because the cabinets are rough.  poor things were battered and abused.  Maybe the original owner didn't like horns?
not sure exactly what happened to the woofer.  why its discolored like that.  Accoustically I love them.  I just wish the cabs were in better shape.
 
anybody have any simple easy ideas i could try to clean them up a bit?
I don't mind putting in some effort but i took enough wood tech in high school to know that woodworking is not a strong suit of mine.
 
These things have made me a big Paul Klipsch fan. 
a friend of a friend of mine has a pair of 1977 Klipshorns that he MADE with PWK while working at the plant in Hope.  he says everytime he has company over he covers them with a table cloth and puts random crap on them so people don't set drinks on them.  They are probably the most incredible looking speakers i've ever seen.  And they sound well, great.  But much more intimate than i had expected.  they sound stupid good at moderate to lower listening volumes.  Which surprised me.  Not bad for a speaker designed 65 years ago.
 
 
but yeah, any ideas or insight on cleaning these cabs would be much appreciated.

 
A Klipsch fan here. Congrats on the pick up!

 

[Skylab]

Actually, those look like they will clean up GREAT with the following. Buy some Howard's restore-a-finish. Be sure to get the one that best matches the wood color (I use dark walnut on my Pioneer stuff). They get some 0000 steel wool, and apply the Restor-a-Finish with the steel wool (it must be 0000). Allow to set in, 30 mins at least. Then apply Howard's Feed-n-Wax. And then post pics of the after. You will be amazed, I promise.

 

[Rawrbington]

Quote:

Actually, those look like they will clean up GREAT with the following. Buy some Howard's restore-a-finish. Be sure to get the one that best matches the wood color (I use dark walnut on my Pioneer stuff). They get some 0000 steel wool, and apply the Restor-a-Finish with the steel wool (it must be 0000). Allow to set in, 30 mins at least. Then apply Howard's Feed-n-Wax. And then post pics of the after. You will be amazed, I promise.

awesome.  Do i want to kind of scrub the cabs with the steel wool and the restore-a-finish abraisively?  what do you apply the feed-n-wax with?

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

awesome.  Do i want to kind of scrub the cabs with the steel wool and the restore-a-finish abraisively?  what do you apply the feed-n-wax with?

 
You will see that when you apply a liquid with steel wool, there is only so much you can do.  It will become natural.  The wax goes on with a soft cloth.  There are detailed directions on the back of both products, I suggest to follow them carefully I have had GREAT results with them, and it's a very common treatment over on AudioKarma (where I learned of it).
 
Here is a before and after pic of my HPM-1100 that I did this to:
 
before:
 

 
After:
 

 
I know the lighting wasn't the same (the before pics were not mine), but you get the idea anyway.

 

[Rawrbington]

wow.  those results speak volumes.  Those HPM's are incredible looking now.  I'll have to pick up some of the howards this weekend.   The forte's are consecutive serial numbers and the wood veneer is matched.  hopefullly it will bring them back to a presentable form. 
Thanks again for the tip.
 
 
 
Did the top of one speaker tonight.  waiting for the wax to dry a little.  then gonna wipe off.
 
Interestingly enough my car died in the drive thru at a chicken restaraunte immediately after purchasing the Howards products.  Well didn't die just blew a fuse that let the gear shifter know my foot was on the brake.  so my car was immobile for about an hour in the drive thru.  LOL  i went inside, ordered food, called my brother, talked to the manager.  then sat at a window seat and ate my chicken as i watched to see how long it took people to realize they needed to go around my car. 
got a ride to walmart grabbed a couple fuses, swapped it in got the car out of park and it blew again.  So i def have other issues.  I did find a work around to the break switch park locking mechanism.  it requires a screw driver pushed into a hole i uncovered from around my gear shifter.  
 
tldr; Life happened tonight.

 

[Rawrbington]

Before:
Quote:

After:

 
HUGE improvement.  Still need to do some work on the right side corners front and back.  But yeah.  good stuff.  Can't wait to get the rest done.
Thanks again Skylab!
 
and the other speaker:

 

[trog]

Wow looks great 

 

[Skylab]

NICE! Well done. It really does make a big difference, doesn't it?

 

[trog]

Hmm just a suggestion : perhaps members could share what amp/receiver they finally settled for to drive their vintage beauties 

 

[Rawrbington]

For me I prefer marantz 2245 over everything else I've got. The pioneer 950 and sansui 8080 go back and forth.


Got a pair of jbl l110 the other day. Did a comparison of the jbl and klipsch forte ii with some friends who appreciate higher quality audio over just bassy audio.

I had them listen to one using whatever music they wanted through the pioneer 950. They each scribbled down a few observations for each and then after hearing both sets twice they wrote down which they would take home if they could.

Interestingly enough all 3 said they'd take the Fortes. everybody but one person felt the jbl had a little more resolution and detail. But that was trumped by the musicality and warm fuzzyness of the klipsch.

As for me I think I too prefer the klipsch. The jbl has awesome detail and instrument separation for days but they are a bit sterile in comparison to the klipsch. The klipsch can't quite pull as much out of the music but what it does pull out is so sweet. The sound seems to hug you and take you to a happy place.

Love both. But if I could only keep one the klipsch would stay right here in my living room.

 

[moodyrn]

I too love my forte ii's. They sound outstanding from my marantz 2325. I do prefer my fisher integrated with them overall though. A few suggestions though. There a many upgrades you can add. The first one is to replace the diaphragms in the tweets with bob crites titaniums. Trust me, you will thank me later. It takes them up 5 levels. You can also replace the mid horn diaphragm as well. It will be better, but the difference won't be as great as with the tweets. Also, you can either rebuild or replace the crossovers with bob crites crossovers with autotransformers. That's also a pretty significant upgrade. If nothing else, get the titaniums for the tweets. It only cost 60.00 and takes very little time to install.