Klipsch vs. Dynaco A25

I have an Onkyo TX-SR705 as my preamp with a 200w B&K 3 channel powering my Forte's. I think they sound great together but a friend of mine is bringing over his vintage tube amp for a demo soon. He says I will be blown away by the crispness and accuracy of tubes with Forte's.

Bill

any quality ss or tube amp will drive any klipsch including fortes just fine. too much is made of pairing with tubes. mac ss with klipsch has long been as good a pairing as peanutbutter and jelly. creek and other integrateds too.

I have a friend who's a bit of a vintage enthusiast. He has a stack of restored Dynaco tube electronics including an ST-70 amp, whose power rating would be similar to your Marantz. He has pairs of both the Dynaco A-25s and the Klipsch Heresies. He switches back and forth from time to time because the Heresies have the sensitivity, transparency, and dynamic jump, but they're bass-weak. When he plays through the A-25s, he gets more bass and more top-to-bottom smoothness, but he then misses the dynamics and transparency of the Klipsches.

The Heresies were created to provide center fill for a pair of corner-loaded Klipschorns. Paul Klipsch named them the "Heresy" because it was his first speaker design not to use a horn-loaded woofer. Bass extension was not a design priority.

I'm trying to get my friend to go for a pair of Klipsch Fortes, as they provide the Klipsch strengths of sensitivity, transparency, and dynamic range, plus the bass extension lacking in the Heresies.

A modern-day possibility might be the Cerwin-Vega CLS-12 or CLS-10.

A British magazine called (I think) Hi-Fi World has been doing an ongoing series on building a modern version of the A 25. The writer's been using an original A25 as his ongoing A-B reference. The magazine also has ads for someone selling a kit version of this "modern" A25. You might want to get the latest issue and e-mail the author of the article. He's certainly worked with the design enough to have a feel for its strengths and weaknesses.

Good Luck

Marty

If you like Klipsch, look at the Forte or Chorous, or, if you have room, the Cornwall. Much more bass from each of these. FYI, the Forte II has an improved midrange horn.