Anybody with specs on a Forte-44?

Well it looks like the Oddesey Stratos is out and the McCormack .5 deluxe is in. With no listening experience on the Forte or .5 I'm wondering if any A-goners with the same setup could help me with ic and spkr cable advice. As stated before my musical taste run mostly with jazz. I do listen to some (very little ) classical to relax at times. My spkrs are Apogee towers and I seek detail air and bass that is not bloated. Not asking for a lot am I :) Thanks in advance.

No problem, I am pretty sure you are going to be pretty happy with it.

Hi Lou, The Forte has been modded according to the owner. I'm hoping it will be a good match with the Stratos. After I posted this thread I did some research and found one review that paired a Forte(the model escapes me at the moment)and the Stratos. Good reviews overall. Thanks for your reply.

Hi South43,

I have modded a few of these, and I can tell you that while unmoded they are very popular, once moded they are way better. The timbre is slightly off on brass, but in it's price point, it's one heck of a preamp. It has a lusty visceral sound. The modded units retain that, but with RT or RTX caps to quite the DC, and Black Gates to act as interstage caps the preamp gets out of the way of detail, and will allow you to hear detail others do not. All too often when you do find a preamp that has detail, it is also bright, but not only is the Forte not bright, it is also warm, not exactly tube warm but close.

The only persons I have ever heard of who did not like it were comparing it to very expensive gear. If they had to stay in the Forte's price range I am sure they would have had a different prospective. It is not going to compete with the latest Spectral gear, but I would not say it would be completely embarrased by it either.

Of the ones I have modded, everyone still owns theirs, unless, as did I, they moved up to a $3,300 Coda 05r, which is not as visceral, but is more neutral. I am not sure that I do not miss mine already though... The Coda is nice to be sure, but there is just a little magic in a modded F-44... Jon Soderberg is now doing the mods to these units if you ever want to get one.