worth the jump to Cornwall IV's from Forte IV's?

CW IV are good, no doubt. But LS are better. You might try to recalculate your available  real estate, lol.

Yes, but the Cornwalls are more full range than the LaScalas, right? No need for subwoofers. 

Yes, you are right. The CW IV is full range and the LS is not. But that horn loaded bass driver when mated to a good pair of subs is a thing of beauty.

I think the radiators on your speakers give you good low end response relative to the CW IVs. I haven’t heard the Fortes but I owned the CW IVs And they’re not bass machines. They will play loud and clear and with dynamics. They will not shake the walls unless you are really loud. They don’t go as low as less sensitive speakers. They just don’t. My current speakers have three 8” (92 dB) subs and they are noticeably better at reproducing bass (in the same system). 

Check your measurements again. The La Scala about the same width as a CW and  is only 10" deeper. It can also sit flush against the wall.

And as @ozzy62 pointed out, the sound is something to behold, subs or not (as in my case). My advice is to not sneak up on what you want; just plan and go for it. It will cost less in the end.

Keep the Fortes. An upgrade would be Volti. 

I have replaced Cornwalls with Audio Kinesis "Jazz Module" (you can see that speaker on YouTube in my system composed of Atma Sphere amplification and TEAC vrds CD player). That particular model is not in production right now but shall be available again in october. Few other models from AudioKinesis will do a better job than Cornwalls (namely Azel and Gina with subs) particularly in the rendition of the stage / space. More importantly, you can contact Duke (the guy behind Audio Kinesis) and discuss with him about your needs. A better amplifier may be something to look into, as sometimes good speakers like Forte's are underexploited by poor amplification. La Scalla and Volti are very fine, but too big for any room and, let's be honest, ugly. 

Volti Razz speakers are about the same size as the Forte IV so I dont know what the "dolphin" guy is talking about.. Lascalas weigh twice as much as the Cornwallls (200 pounds) so keep that in mind if you live alone. Floor space isnt the only consideration. Forte are a pain in the ass to set up properly and are the least forgiving speaker in the Heritage lineup. Poor recordings (like ROCK) will make themselves known. If you can afford the Volti’s its a definite step up from the Klipsch. Better parts, crossovers/wiring etc and you dont have to do any work to them to make them sound great. All Klipsch speakers need Dynamat placed inside the cabinet to yield the best results. Ive had ALL of the Speakers mentioned above except the La Scala’s and Heresy.

Check out Andrew Robinson's channel on Youtube on this very topic:

I agree that Cornwalls don’t plumb the depths but they have very defined bass down to the upper 30s. I used subs with mine, but they weren’t necessary to get very satisfying bass. And as @mwjones stated, the bass of the LS can be surprising too. I can certainly see why some people don’t use subs with them depending on your musical taste.

I’m thinking of upgrading from heresy to forte, what is your specific feedback on this? In my other room, I upgraded from cw to la scala-oh my my!!! La scala are the only 3-way horn loaded speakers (with k-horn), and it’s so unbelievable!!! Do it.

Aside from being an incorrect blanket statement, do you see your second sentence is a non sequitur to the first?

"All Klipsch speakers need Dynamat placed inside the cabinet to yield the best results. Ive had ALL of the Speakers mentioned above except the La Scala’s and Heresy."

My Forte IV, La Scala II (two pairs) and Heresys never resonated or needed anything from me to sound great. 50 year old Klipsch (like any other old speaker) may need some acoustic treatment for best performance, but the op is discussing new speakers. I don’t think Ozzy or I have used Dynamat on our horns.

Greg makes several Volti speakers which are as large or larger than the Klipsch counterpart they are modeled from. They are great speakers in their own right.

I live alone and never had an issues moving any Klipsch speaker.

And its a problem the Forte is unforgiving for poor recordings? What the solution; buy poor speakers so you don’t notice or stop listening to poor recording? You chose.

Horns match best with horns full horn loading is the best way anything else is a compromise.

No clue what you Guys are talking about. I run CW4's with a 500W Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier and easily plumb the depths at around 30Hz (with in room gain/no eq bass boost applied of course). I definitely do not need Subwoofers in my rig. 

I can "shake the foundation" all day and night !

two dolphins, that's a nice system. Enjoy.

M

Please see my info post in "New Klipsch Forte IV" (almost the last post). It explains a serious design flaw in the Forte 4. After fix, it sounds like a different speaker (and quite wonderful).

As for bass, I put my subwoofer directly in back of the left speaker and it is exciting the 15-inch passive of the Forte! Pretty good bass!

As for the La Scalla II, I thought this speaker had the best midrange I've ever heard in my home. The bass performs quite well in lower registers but mid-bass was very polite. The tweeter (phenolic) was not up to the task and overloads quite easily.

Hello AudioCanada,

Towards your original question, yes it's worth the plunge man. Cornwalls work very well in a lot of different room configurations and you should notice a performance boost from your fortes if nothing else changes. Hope this helps and enjoy 

Gnu

I’ve had the Forte lV’s and now the Cornwall lV’s. The Cornwall’s aren’t near as fussy about placement as the Forte lV’s, and they have plenty of Bass. You don’t need 2 or 3 hundred watts. Low watt tubes or class A solid state is good. My First Watt SIT-3 is very good, with 18 watts.

As to the comment, “they’re not Bass machines”. Mine are very good in that regards, but I also have a well treated room, with very little cancellation.

did you a notice a significantly bigger soundstage over the Forte's?

would you consider the upgrade significant or simply a little better?

I know this isn’t exactly the same thing, but I had Forte IIIs, moved to khorns, then to Spatial Audio X3s to CW IV. I think the Cornwalls were significantly better than the FIII.

Better bass and soundstage. I would buy Cornwalls again for sure. I like the combo of the lumin u1 mini, BorderPatrol, Cary SLP 98 and SIT 3. I really enjoy the organic tone and texture along with detail this combination produces. I would love to try LaScalas, when I get a bigger place but I believe the Cornwalls have found a home for a long time.

Better bass and soundstage. I would buy Cornwalls again for sure. I like the combo of the lumin u1 mini, BorderPatrol, Cary SLP 98 and SIT 3. I really enjoy the organic tone and texture along with detail this combination produces. I would love to try LaScalas, when I get a bigger place but I believe the Cornwalls have found a home for a long time.

@audiocanada worth the jump to Cornwall IV's from Forte IV's?

I recently decided to go with Forte iv's over Cornwall iv's after a lot of listening sessiuons with McIntosh amplification. For me, I thought the Forte bass seemed tighter and the speaker sounded cleaner to me.

The Cornwall soundstage was bigger but seemed a bit too much in my face....but that could be just me getting used to horns...I have an 18' by 30' listening room. Due to logistics, the Forte's are about eight feet apart and 18 inches off the front wall. I sit ten feet away so I have about 17 or 18 feet behind me. 

My ears say that the Forte soundstage gets bigger with better presence as I increase the volume. Using a First Watt F7.

Having said all of that, I am thinking about finding a used pair of Corwall iv's just to see...

Thanks for listening,

Dsper

Yes!  I have had several editions of both over the years, and the Cornwall always sounds better in just about every way.

Having owned Khorns, Scalas, Herseys, CWalls, Fortes, and being a Heritage lover for many moons, in a simple word...YES....

OP,  I made the move from Forte IIIs to Cornwall IVs.  It is a definite upgrade, yet the Fortes are great in their own right.  Gutenberg described the CWIVs as a Forte on steroids.  I think that's accurate. 

CWs give you very accurate bass. I do, however, use them with subwoofers, which is not necessary--just a great next step to take the system to a higher level. 

They do great with tubes and surprisingly good solid state. They reproduce what you feed them.

The recommendations above about Volti are good too.  They just get super pricey when you option in the real furnishes and features. 

thanks very much all for the feedback

after much consideration including feedback from a dealer contact who sells Cornwalls I've decided against the CW's and will be seeking to audition the Paradigm Founder 120h's, Personna 3F's , and possibly acquire used Signature S8s

Wow,,,different as chalk and cheese.