Matching equipment with Klipsch Forte III Speakers

Hi @Vivek Batra

We had also interacted before in your threads....am also an owner of RP8000F, here are some feedbacks from my side:

1. For a very good sound from the speakers (any speakers i suppose) I consider the first fundamental thing is to have superb quality source. And by this I consider very high quality recording a must (master type).

I was also in a somewhat similar camp like you....i.e little underwhelmed with the initial impressions of the speakers. But then I chanced upon some very high quality FLACs. I then realised that it was NOT the speakers. I was simply floored.....nay elated. So now my collection drive is veered towards high quality recordings.

2. Towards having a good source, I consider a DAC necessary. And for flexibility sake an external DAC is the best option... especially with all possible inputs/outputs (like usb/opt/coax/rca/XLR/balanced). Also a higher end DAC (not necessarily exhorbitant/boutique type) is better with better decoding features (for me flagship chips of ESS/AKM are good features). More the better if these DACs have features of DAC+preamp.

3. And then having a good amp be it Class A, AB or the newer Class D from Hypex Ncore et al with features of very minimal noise/distortions would be the next prudent choice. (In fact I am already planning two Hypex Ncore n450 monoblocks).

4. Then managing the listening room acoustics. Starting with measurements using REW....and correcting the errors.

5. And choosing all these need not entail huge budgets or very expensive gears. So I guess one needs to research quite widely. (Please do check more forums and choices available even including DIY stuffs)


I find my RP8000F which is currently powered by my Denon 2500H in the range of 'quite good' category. I have listened to some of my friends gigs with more Hifi stuffs ....compared to them ,mine is in no way sound 'inferior'. I have now a Sabaj D5 DAC which is acting like a preamp...and play hi res FLACs through usb pure direct mode (surface pro using foobar WASAPI exclusive). I also have a R610 Floorstanders.....which when compared to RP8000F hardly differs 5% in SQ (I know it's my personal subjective opinion ..yours might differ :D ). My listening room (living room) is 18x21 and have some 'acoustic treatment' in form of heavy curtain and a wall of bookshelf (which kind of act like a disperser).

These are some of my few cents as a fellow Klipsch speaker owner.

Best wishes in your journey.


Btw you have to go beyond Spotify premium for high quality source. Till Spotify caters masters....or amazonprime music ultrahd launches in India, I guess you have to somehow collect good hi res music. When given a choice i find my Hi res FLACs better sounding.

Hi Enkay

I remember you very well. I completely agree with you on all the points you have mentioned above. My biggest distatisfaction came from my expecations of superb sound quality literally from every track irrespective of the source. This myth is no more there in my mind.Streaming can be good but not the best period.

As a bare minium purchase, I would spend my moeny on an external DAC and Integrated or Pre/Powers amps and then a universal disc trasnport and so on as budget allows.

I see that we have similar room size and may be similar layout as well. I somehow did not like to RP-8000F, may be my expecation is different than users but by no means RP-8000F is inferior to others, its still a premium product.

Thanks for your suggestions, I am extremely patient this time and won't like to repeat any mistakes that I did previously. I see it coming that the speakers would arrive and would be sitting at my home for a while without any amp ;)

Regards
Vivek
 
Thanks for your suggestions, I am extremely patient this time and won't like to repeat any mistakes that I did previously. I see it coming that the speakers would arrive and would be sitting at my home for a while without any amp ;)

which is why i would look at Lyrita from Delhi

They are closer to you and make amps which i suppose are cheaper too

You can start using your setup asap as well.

Once you get a flavor of the Forte's and of the tube sound - you can decide to plonk your money on "better" things.

I suppose Lyrita products will be easier to move on as well - should you decide to.

Understand that Lyrita can tweak their offerings customize in case you need better trafos etc... which a few FM's have done i think

As you rightly pointed out - your expectations that you get the same excellent music reproduction from every track you might play - is a fallacy.

The output really depends on the quality of music pressed into the record or CD or the streaming source.

And this is independent of the hardware really - which is a Garbage In Garbage Out - kind of thing.

regards
 
Hi @Vivek Batra

We had also interacted before in your threads....am also an owner of RP8000F, here are some feedbacks from my side:

1. For a very good sound from the speakers (any speakers i suppose) I consider the first fundamental thing is to have superb quality source. And by this I consider very high quality recording a must (master type).

I was also in a somewhat similar camp like you....i.e little underwhelmed with the initial impressions of the speakers. But then I chanced upon some very high quality FLACs. I then realised that it was NOT the speakers. I was simply floored.....nay elated. So now my collection drive is veered towards high quality recordings.

2. Towards having a good source, I consider a DAC necessary. And for flexibility sake an external DAC is the best option... especially with all possible inputs/outputs (like usb/opt/coax/rca/XLR/balanced). Also a higher end DAC (not necessarily exhorbitant/boutique type) is better with better decoding features (for me flagship chips of ESS/AKM are good features). More the better if these DACs have features of DAC+preamp.

3. And then having a good amp be it Class A, AB or the newer Class D from Hypex Ncore et al with features of very minimal noise/distortions would be the next prudent choice. (In fact I am already planning two Hypex Ncore n450 monoblocks).

4. Then managing the listening room acoustics. Starting with measurements using REW....and correcting the errors.

5. And choosing all these need not entail huge budgets or very expensive gears. So I guess one needs to research quite widely. (Please do check more forums and choices available even including DIY stuffs)


I find my RP8000F which is currently powered by my Denon 2500H in the range of 'quite good' category. I have listened to some of my friends gigs with more Hifi stuffs ....compared to them ,mine is in no way sound 'inferior'. I have now a Sabaj D5 DAC which is acting like a preamp...and play hi res FLACs through usb pure direct mode (surface pro using foobar WASAPI exclusive). I also have a R610 Floorstanders.....which when compared to RP8000F hardly differs 5% in SQ (I know it's my personal subjective opinion ..yours might differ :D ). My listening room (living room) is 18x21 and have some 'acoustic treatment' in form of heavy curtain and Btw you have to go beyond Spotify premium for high quality source. Till Spotify caters masters....or amazonprime music ultrahd launches in India, I guess you have to somehow collect good hi res music. When given a choice i find my Hi res FLACs better sounding.

This ( the source, placement and room treatments) is the best advice that the OP should consider prior to blowing money on things that will not have such a drastic change. Also there is no speaker in the world at any cost that will make ALL music sound good. So you need to compromise.

Based on your listening tastes, you may be able to get good quality songs for classical, jazz but not others.

My suggestion is try placement and room treatment before going down the upgrade path with the expensive integrateds or DACs.

Get a sample of great quality recordings like www.2l.no for testing. Also tune your system based on songs and not frequency wavetones.
 
+1 for Lyrita
Recently acquired a tube preamp. Must say it is a lovely piece of audio gear.
The DHT uses 4P1L tubes that are quite "lively".
You may pair with a power amp, say from the Lyrita stable itself.
Delhi is not too far away from Chandigarh.
It may be worth making a trip there, taking your speakers along and have a proper listen.
Do give it a consideration.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
You won’t get this without high-quality room treatment (including significant soundproofing).
There was no sound treatment in the demo room apart from the carpet. One part of the room had Fortes on demo and adjacent to it we had Klipsch + Denon Atmos demo happening. The listening position provided was about 1.5M from the speakers. The speakers were placed about a feet away from the rear wall. They were lowering the volume of Prima Luna whenever HT demo was on. There was one senior citizen who requested the songs to be played at whispering levels and booked Roksan rightaway.
But you could be right, the catch was that there was no side walls nearby to have first reflections reach the ears. I might have been tricked at whathifi. Damn the conjurers!! Vivek, please set apart some budget for room treatment. Cables + room treatment need some attention from your budget.
 
There was no sound treatment in the demo room apart from the carpet. One part of the room had Fortes on demo and adjacent to it we had Klipsch + Denon Atmos demo happening. The listening position provided was about 1.5M from the speakers. The speakers were placed about a feet away from the rear wall. They were lowering the volume of Prima Luna whenever HT demo was on. There was one senior citizen who requested the songs to be played at whispering levels and booked Roksan rightaway.
But you could be right, the catch was that there was no side walls nearby to have first reflections reach the ears. I might have been tricked at whathifi. Damn the conjurers!! Vivek, please set apart some budget for room treatment. Cables + room treatment need some attention from your budget.
Good to know that you had a good experience without any room treatment. I can not have any room treatment as I do not own the place, though hunting for a house. So I Can have everything but room treatment.
 
Good to know that you had a good experience without any room treatment. I can not have any room treatment as I do not own the place, though hunting for a house. So I Can have everything but room treatment.
My Advice, please dont try to do too many things in one shot..all are moving parts and interconnected.

Focus on your Speaker and Amp as you are doing right now and later on its positioning once you get it installed. as that is the core and positioning of the speaker is Far more important than room treatment.

What you will find is that even a 1 cm position change can change the balance of sound and If you treat the room before you get it right it is counter productive.
 
My Advice, please dont try to do too many things in one shot..all are moving parts and interconnected.

Focus on your Speaker and Amp as you are doing right now and later on its positioning once you get it installed. as that is the core and positioning of the speaker is Far more important than room treatment.

What you will find is that even a 1 cm position change can change the balance of sound and If you treat the room before you get it right it is counter productive.

Agree. My focus is just to pick the right and bare minimum equipment.
 
My Advice, please dont try to do too many things in one shot..all are moving parts and interconnected.

Focus on your Speaker and Amp as you are doing right now and later on its positioning once you get it installed. as that is the core and positioning of the speaker is Far more important than room treatment.

What you will find is that even a 1 cm position change can change the balance of sound and If you treat the room before you get it right it is counter productive.

i understand audiophiles quibble over 1 mm ( leave alone 1 cm ) ....
 
I am not that sensitive :)

you know - if you want to hear every note as it was played at the studio ( as mentioned in your first post ) - then you had better be sensitive..

because in this scenario - everything matters - soundstage depth / height / imaging / transients / attack and decay and what not..

cant have it both ways my friend...
 
you know - if you want to hear every note as it was played at the studio ( as mentioned in your first post ) - then you had better be sensitive..

because in this scenario - everything matters - soundstage depth / height / imaging / transients / attack and decay and what not..

cant have it both ways my friend...
This is too much for me. I know what I am looking for but don't know how to achieve that.
 
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