Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

As I played different recordings, I kept thinking the low end should be better defined, given the woofer's high cutoff frequency. The Forte III's thin footers practically embedded themselves into the floor, so I slid four 2" by 2" by 7/8" Anti Vibration Isolation Pads (ribbed rubber with cork center, Amazon $6.99/4) under each cabinet. General focus improved, as did low-end definition.

A drummer (in his spare time) who well understands how bass frequencies can bloat, Delgado gave me his blessing to go further. "You don't want the speaker to couple too much to the floor because it will cause some things to resonate that you don't want to resonate," Delgado said. "Raising them up will tighten the bass."

I sourced six BXI Anti Vibration Isolation Pads—these measure 6" by 6" by 2" and weigh 12 ounces apiece (Amazon, $22.99 per two-pack)—and placed three of these chunky rubber-and-cork squares in a triangle pattern under each Forte III. Experiencing one of those epiphanies that occur when the Gods must be crazy, everything snapped into focus. I could now hear minute differences in bass-frequency textures, with some recordings presenting finely layered slabs of well-defined bass drum, acoustic bass, synthesizer, or Hammond B3 organ. From classic rock to modern electronica, the Forte IIIs forged beautiful bass waves, defining what seemed nearly subsonic frequencies with ease.

Listening
Pianist Russ Lossing's Motian Music (CD, Sunnyside SSC 1532) pays tribute to master drummer Paul Motian, joined by the pianist's longtime compatriots Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Billy Mintz (drums). Like Motian himself, Lossing's interpretation of Motian's music is playful, even rambunctious. The Forte IIIs revealed the excellent engineering of Paul Wickliffe and the acoustic space of his Charlestown Road Studio in Hampton, New Jersey. Panned right, the entire drum set had its own distinct stage, each decay, cymbal ring, and drum resonance part of a larger percussive whole that poured forth from the Forte IIIs with exhilaration. Casting an immersive soundstage, the Fortes resolved all level of microdynamic interplay between the three musicians. Far from isolating each instrument in its own space, there was considerable bleed between piano, bass and drums, creating a fully alive sonic experience.

Discovering talented jazz vocalists is always a kick in the head: Ashley Pezzotti's We've Only Just Begun (CD, Ashley Pezzotti Music AP0001) is a spirited performance, the Miamian powerhouse equal parts Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and Diane "Deedles" Schuur. Via the Fortes, in the album's speed-demon opener, "It Only Takes A Moment," Pezzotti soared as drummer Kyle Poole popped his brushes and bassist Bob Bruya traced a superfast walking line. The upright bass sounded so rich and palpable it was irresistible.

The Schiit Ragnarok/Klipsch pairing produced consistent magic in terms of bass reproduction, some CDs or LPs creating visceral yet agile, creamy yet forceful, sculpted low-end frequencies; Kruder & Dorfmeister's beat-heavy G-Stoned—CD, Quango 162-448 011-2—was ballistic in that regard. Bass like buttah!

The Fortes were also consistently transparent to the source, sometimes painfully so. Bad recordings were undeniably bad. The Parasound Halo HINT 6, which leans toward the cool side, could make the Fortes sound tonally light, while with other recordings it seemed the III's horns were muted or shut down. But those concerns were swept aside by great recordings like pianist Greg Reitan's West 60th (CD, Sunnyside SSC 1542): With that disc, the Fortes disappeared, leaving Reitan's grand piano reverberating in what sounded like a large space (LA's Concept 2 Studios). And again there was no sense of boxy, shouty, or spitty upper-frequency colorations. (Maybe the Mumps were doing their job!) Approaching the see-through quality of electrostatic speakers, the Fortes seemingly vanished as the trio joyously swung. And on Jersey by the Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet (CD, Motema MTM0233)—Guiliana was a passionate and popular jazz drummer long before working with David Bowie on Blackstar—the music emanated from well beyond the confines of the speakers: The soundstage was wide and deep.

I'm a drummer. Percussive sounds always capture my attention. I'm aware, for example, of the difference in sound between felt and lamb's wool bass drum beaters. Felt beaters create a harder, more direct bass drum sound, while lamb's wool is like soft cotton swooshing the head, moving its internal air more gently to create a softer sound. On Jersey's title track, I heard the soft, warm sheen of a bass drumhead being driven by a lamb's wool beater. The Forte was wonderfully transparent to this detail buried deep within the music.

Klipsch meets Shindo Laboratories
I switched to vinyl and to my beloved Shindo Allegro preamplifier and Haut-Brion power amplifier, which I suspected would be a winning combination. ($20k in amplification might seem like overkill for a $4k pair of loudspeakers—and indeed I would expect less expensive tube components to also lock in well if carefully matched.) Good friend and hi-fi guru Steve Cohen visited not long after the Klipsch/Shindo pairing was in place, and we sat and listened in silence to this mighty system: Good sound, good friends, and good music make for joyful living.

Playing a perennial favorite LP, Poll Winners Three! with Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, and Ray Brown (Contemporary Records S7576), the Fortes reproduced the essence of this natural-sounding recording. Through the combination of Forte IIIs and Shindo amplification, I could easily hear the moments of contact between Ray Brown's fingers and his bass strings, Marine's sticks and drums, Kessel's pick and guitar strings—those instants when action becomes visceral music. The super-efficient Klipsches reminded me that the Shindos are unique in their absolute faithfulness to what I take to be the spirit of every recording I play through them: When I fire them up, it's always like returning home.

The Forte III bared the Shindo's natural, honest beauty of sound.

Conclusion
The Klipsch Forte III didn't rise to the majestic peaks of the Volti Audio Rival. It lacked that speaker's ability to describe the richest, densest tonal complexities. Yet, otherwise, it achieved the same results: Used with the best recordings and associated gear, it disappeared in service to them. Likewise, the Klipsch lacked the generous warmth of the DeVore Fidelity O/93 but surpassed it in terms of dynamics, transparency, speed, and low-end extension. And it was uber-sensitive to every piece of gear upstream—only the relatively soft-sounding Auditorium 23 speaker cables would do, and it didn't take kindly to the lit-up signature of the Parasound Halo HINT 6. It was, above all, a truthteller.

Designer Roy Delgado's words came back to me: "It's like a magnifying glass."

For sheer elation, for joyous jumps and shouts, for exhilaration of hi-fi enjoyed and music revealed, the Forte III is a one-of-a-kind loudspeaker. It gave me serious bliss and musical insight. Somewhere, Paul W. Klipsch is smiling.