Klipsch forte II what league are they in?


Read some good things on the net about these. Fine, but do these play in the same league as the likes of harbeth, proac and reynaud or are they just a really good, middle of the road, fun, plays loud, good bass, economical, musical, party speaker? Are they a serious audiophile speaker by comparison with the others?
catsmeow
I have a pair of Fortes I bought when I was in the army in teh 80s. I love those speakers. Can't bear to sell 'em. I've had a number of pairs of speakers since then but the Fortes are not bad. Mid-fi is about right. I think you have to like the horn sound. But I use them in my second system now and everyone says Klipsch sound good with tubes so I'm thinking about buying tube amp for them. Still for what good ones go for on ebay 500~700 dollars you can't really go wrong.
Ok, took my whole system to a guys house who was selling a pair of forte 1's. Relative to harbeth super 5's, hplp3's, nautilus 805's, merlins and de capo i's, regrettably i was disapointed. Their strong point was pace and timing but their timbre seemed off to me and they also seemed to be "noisy", probably due to the unbraced cabinets and materials. Other things too but i wont mention them. Based on my listening experience i would say they at best are midfi. Not for the serious audiophile. Having said all that they did have some decent qualities to them.
You haven't heard how good Klipsch speakers can sound until you've heard them with upgrade xovers. It's not even close! I liked my stock Klipsch speakers and lived with them that way for 6 years. I then upgraded the xover networks with better parts, a simple and straight forward upgrade that takes me an evening or two, and these speakers now are in a completely different league. I would never own Klipsch speakers without the xovers upgraded with better parts.
Everybody sell your merlins,harbeths and b&w's and get the klipsch's with the modded crossovers!