Yes, and I agree that is the difference. Tone controls.
When I first looked at the stereomour, I thought it would be a great match with the fortes given they are relatively high sensitivity. When I found the match a bit thin on the bottom, I initially thought it was because it's a low power amp. But it played plenty loud. So that's why got the preamp with tone controls and yes, that seems to work. Only downside is it limits my number of inputs and kinda defeats the purpose of an integrated.
Doc - it's no fault of the stereomour! It's a fantastic amp and I absolutely love how it sounds. It's just been a bit of a mismatch I think with these speakers that requires some additional fine tuning to dial in the sound I'm looking for. If anything, I think people should be reassured that it's plenty of power to drive these large speakers to ear bleeding levels
Paul - The passive shelf filter sounds like an interesting option but I will admit that I'm outta my league on designing something like that. I'll have to research it and see if it makes sense. Alternatively, I may have to try some new speakers
