Dawson's Ridge

How far is 'outside the audible range' where you don't hear the resonances?

Klipsch used cast aluminum woofer baskets in their premium Palladium offering (as opposed to stamped steel in their standard Heritage line) for several reasons, casting produces tighter tolerances, results in a stiff frame without adding unecessary weight to support a heavy magnet structure, eliminates ringing and cabinet resonances, serves as a heat sink to dissipate heat without any reflection of the back wave, more... 2x4's are needed in the Cornwall IV because the weak baffle won't support the 15" woofer.

As a beginner, I am still learning, as my system reflects, only been at this since 1963.

As a matter of fact, I am very much aware of what is inside and outside my Palladium speakers. Modern 30mm custom curved non-parallel 7-layer dissimilar laminated wood cabinet walls with extensive internal architectural "H" bracing throughout, 1/4" aluminum plate for baffle and high-mass aluminum and steel base plate to decouple cabinet from floor, heavy duty die cast aluminum baskets, magnetically-shielded, sealed and insulated enclosures for HF and MF drivers, highest quality air core inductors and capacitors with advanced fourth-order and separate X/0 networks and military-grade boards for bass and mid and treble, acoustically-damped proprietary carbon-infused thermoset composite material for horns, low mass hybrid sandwiched aluminum/Rohacell/Kevlar mid-bass and bass cone units with over-hung 1.5" voice coils, inverted half-roll low density foam rubber surround gaskets, thick copper and gold plated jumpers, more...

With most makers, aspects of their premium products trickle down to their less expensive offerings. With Klipsch it seems just the opposite, aspects of their less expensive offerings trickle up to their more expensive products. (Yes, ground chuck.)

Not a pretty sight. Now I know why the Cornwall IV is so heavy, it is the used 2x4's placed inside to keep the front baffle from caving in. Inexpensive horn material and low-grade x/o parts and cheap stamped steel woofer basket.

Kind of like Timex and Rolex.

If you don't think McIntosh is best with Klipsch then maybe you should swap amp for one of the 'blue light' specials often recommended here.

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If you want Cornwall IV to sound best then you need McIntosh. Otherwise you are just working around the edges. https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/integrated-amplifiers

Recommend either a McIntosh D100 or D150 Pre/DAC. Get the company's latest signal and digital technology ~$1,800 - $2,000. Check with Audio Classics. A considerable move up from Rotel.

The late Wes Phillips of Stereophile evaluated the Palladium P-39F against the $100k+ YG Acoustics Anat Reference II Pro and came away favorably impressed with the Klipsch speaker. He gave the nod to the YG Acoustics speaker on bass, since it actually had built in subwoofers, but favored the midrange on the Klipsch speaker. Is anyone surprised, "the midrange is where we live".

I notice you have some NAD gear. I recently added the new NAD C 268 class D amp to a second system and am very impressed with the Hypex technology and resulting sound quality. There is absolutely no noise or heat build-up with the amp. A high-value product. ps. When I go to the theater and dinner I wear a Rolex, when I go to the gym I wear a Timex. I don't have to be on time at the gym.

You could be right, there are many who are happy with a Timex and claim it keeps just as good of time as a Rolex. It might.

I wish you could have gotten a Palladium pair at the special close-out prices. You and your wife would now be happy campers. https://www.klipsch.com/blog/klipsch-palladium-series-a-masterclass