Klipsch Forte ii too bright, or is it my room ?

Here is the Pioneer receiver I had in 1980, the SX450.  It had only 15 watts per channel, but it could play loudly.  Andrew Robinson on YouTube said it is a good match with Klipsch speakers, with treble rolled off a bit.

He said he only got it professionally cleaned and the bulbs replaced, which cost only $150.  That is all it needed.

So, your Pioneer receiver may be a good match with your Klipsch speakers after all.

Someone in the area could have another amplifier or another set of speakers.


Then if the pioneer was fine on other speakers that points to it “having been” ok. (Sure it could have changed)


If the Pioneer was on those speakers in another room and “all was well” then we know the mechanism that is at play here.

There is a thing called REW that the OP could download onto an iPhone/ipad, and that would give us some measured. info.

The idea of moving the speakers back to tyhe walll was mentioned earlier. I would also try moving them further into the room so one gets a more near field direct sound, and that would diminish the relative level of the reflected sound, and diminish the room brightness.
And like @wilderness eloquent post (a few posts ^above^) mentioned ... “It is free”.

For many Klipsch speakers are all much too bright and voices sound like megaphones.

I recently got a pair of Cornwall IV's and the first thing I did was follow the mods that are posted.  The horns have a plastic housing that I dampened with dynamat and I also braced up the cabinets.  Nice change and took some of the harshness out of the speakers.  Do it.  It works.  Then you need to soften your room up.  And last...let the Pioneer rest in peace.
I had a Carver Crimson 275 laying around and I popped in some NOS signal tubes and fronted it with a Don Sachs pre and DAMN!  The Cornwalls really sing!  I completed the Klipsh mod by changing out the cheap caps in the crossover and easily heard everything smooth out.  Tge Fortes are nice but the horns in the Klipsh horns all have plastic housings that definitely resonate.  The Cornwalls are crazy good with some simple mods and tube amps.

I have the original fortes.  Amp is fisher x202b restored…l replaced the original crossover with alk crossovers (not of klipsch design) and upgraded the tweeter horns with Crites diaphragms….much improved…

Go with a tube amp and the noted upgrades and you will not be disappointed