Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes.

Posted by Rdc on January 22, 2003 at 18:12:29

Sorry Klipsch fans, but today I tested out my mint condition Cornwall II's acquired on Ebay for $730 and quite honestly was very disappointed. I developed listening fatigue within minutes. A lot of people use meters for qualitative and quantitative measurements. Not me. Aside from my own sharp ear pains and headaches, my cat is my independent evaluator. Almost always my 20 pound, six year old, black cat will settle in to listen to music with me. When I fired up the Klipsch he sauntered away with his ears down and hid in the far end of the house. He won't even look at me right now. Although he has never done it to date, I am worried that he may crap in the house tonight.

In all fairness I may not have the proper electronics or listening space to do them justice. Maybe it takes a triode running vinyl with a shag carpet, heavy drapes, and long hair over my ears. That's too big a lifestyle change for me. I ran the Cornwall II's on a solid state 220 watt Legacy high Current Amp (A\AB) with matching passive Preamp (engineered and built by Coda based on the Continuum Series). I use an Adcom GCD-700 player connected with Elco gold IC's and the same between the amp and pre, a Monster 3500 power center, and shotgunned Kimber 4TC. I stayed away from my Elco silver IC's and speaker wires because I did not want to sizzle. My listen room is 20' x 25'with a Persian rug on oak flooring, large overstuffed feather sofa, and drapes on a bay window. Hair cut is above the ear. Normally I run this setup with two matching Legacy Amps, using the preamp's balanced and unbalanced outputs, to a pair of Fried R\4 on Elco silver ribbon speaker wire and a pair of Fried R\5 on the kimber 4TC shotgunned. With this set up I crank it with both me and the cat smiling.

One of the problems I have with the Cornwall is the big 15" woofer just sits there while the squaker and tweeter scream away. So size isn't everything! My 12" Fried woofers punch out as much or better bass. Maybe it would be good to have a pre with tone controls to back the highs and boost the lows.

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Topic - Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - Rdc 18:12:29 01/22/03 (34)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - H/K900+ 12:25:05 01/26/03 (4)

Thanks for the advice. - Rdc 14:20:31 01/26/03 (3)

Re: Thanks for the advice. - H/K900+ 16:27:04 01/26/03 (2)

Re: Thanks for the advice. - Hornborne 22:55:25 01/27/03 (1)

Re: Thanks for the advice. - H/K900+ 15:17:31 01/28/03 (0)

Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes with this brief exposure??? - mobile homeless 20:40:29 01/23/03 (3)

Thanks for the good points. - Rdc 05:12:59 01/24/03 (2)

Re: Thanks for the good points. - Hornborne 08:58:10 01/24/03 (0)

well, I wouldn't mind having a pair of Magneplanars, either... - mrh (Mark Hardy) 07:05:21 01/24/03 (0)

I'm not surprised - Dean/Klipschead 18:21:15 01/23/03 (3)

Sound is improving - Rdc 19:28:00 01/23/03 (2)

The important thing... - Dean/Klipschead 04:07:51 01/24/03 (0)

Re: Sound is improving - Cerametallic 20:43:18 01/23/03 (0)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - HiFi Guy 10:28:28 01/23/03 (2)

The elusive slam factor - Rdc 11:02:32 01/23/03 (1)

Re: The elusive slam factor - HiFi Guy 12:59:10 01/23/03 (0)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - ka7niq 06:22:47 01/23/03 (6)

Wires tamed the beast. - Rdc 10:46:33 01/23/03 (5)

I use CAT5 speaker cabling and 30-ga magnet wire I/C's... - mrh (Mark Hardy) 12:42:06 01/23/03 (4)

Still experimenting with wires - Rdc 13:50:15 01/23/03 (3)

Re: Still experimenting with wires - Deon C 05:16:44 01/24/03 (1)

Thanks for the cable info Deon. - Rdc 07:50:27 01/25/03 (0)

exceedingly low-tech... - mrh (Mark Hardy) 17:43:07 01/23/03 (0)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - mrh (Mark Hardy) 06:19:20 01/23/03 (0)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - cerametallic 03:30:45 01/23/03 (0)

Re: Klipsch Cornwall II not in my tastes. - tuneman 20:15:47 01/22/03 (8)

I have no experience with tubes. - Rdc 20:59:19 01/22/03 (7)

There in lies the problem.......... - Cut-Throat 05:15:41 01/23/03 (4)

I heard good SS sound with Klipsch - Rdc 09:59:36 01/23/03 (3)

Re: I heard good SS sound with Klipsch - Tom Brennan 14:03:41 01/23/03 (2)

Re: I heard good SS sound with Klipsch - Ceramatallic 15:19:38 01/23/03 (1)

Re: I heard good SS sound with Klipsch - Tom Brennan 19:02:19 01/23/03 (0)

Re: I have no experience with tubes. - Hornborne 23:22:10 01/22/03 (1)

Nice try. - Rdc 11:10:32 01/23/03 (0)

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