Tom Adams

<tongue-n-cheek mode on> WARNING: By ceasing production of the Cornwall, Klipsch has deprived the world of a truly wonderful speaker! Shame on you Klipsch, LLC. <tongue-n-cheek mode off> Well gang, I'm the proud owner of a pair of Cornwalls with vertical horns and all I can say is WOW! First of all, if gpstrackman is listening, thank you very much for a allowing me the chance of being the second owner and for a wonderful purchasing experience. You're truly a class individual. The wife & I know how much these speakers meant to you, so you can be sure they'll be treated with the same care. It was pleasure meeting you. Next, a big thanks goes to Mike Lindsey for allowing us to invade his house and use his electronics to demo the speakers. BTW Mike, you'd better hope that water ring from your beer bottle comes out. Ok - for those of you who've not seen Cornwalls, there is nothing, I mean nothing, that can prepare you for their size. I remember them being big, but OMG, these are some big a** speakers. To some degree, I can understand why Klipsch might have killed production for they do require some real estate. And lets's face it, nowadays there's lots of competition in a living room for space. And FWIW, if you like the sound of Cornwalls, you'll be pleseantly surprised with the new RF-7's for they sound a lot alike to my ears. Anyhow, I digress. Had a chance to listen to them for only a few minutes last night, but man am I pleased. Subwoofer? I don't need no stinkin' subwoofer. Actually, my KSW-15 seems to be at ease with the Cornwall although the crossover is a bit <ahem> lower than what my Heresy's required. Everything is much more mellow and fuller than the Heresy's. Highs are crisp and detailed, yet none of the harshness of the Heresy's tweeter. And soundstage?? Sheesh, a wall of sound. My wife commented how she was hearing things on recordings she hadn't heard before. To her ear, she prefers the RF-3's to my Heresy's, but said these Cornwalls were in a different league. She kept asking how can a speaker that's that old still play like a new one? Magic , I said. It's Klipsch magic. Interestingly, I was watching a DVD in 5.1 (Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense) and noticed that there didn't seem to be much bass coming from the Cornwalls. Naturally, I haven't had time to re-balance my system with my db meter, but I was shocked when I pushed the "STEREO" button on the Denon's remote. BANG! These puppies came alive! There was a substantial increase in bass and that's got me rather puzzled. I'm telling ya, Denon and others may say 100 watts/ch. x 5 and 125 watts/ch x 2, but there's a big difference in what the amplifier is capable of delivering in stereo. And I'm not talking about just loudness - I'm talking about punch and detail. Anyhow, once again, I digress... For those who care, I hope to get some pics up this week of my new (old) Cornwalls. BTW, anyone know how to get grills off Cornwalls? Or can I assume that since they've never been off since 1971, they're not coming off? Tom Adams

Hey Mike - Thanks for the preview of your system. :-) Can't wait to see it in person! Mmmmmm....SVS!! :-) Tom Adams

Well....I would definitely give the Cinepro a serious listen. My first good listen to RF-3's had a Cinepro driving them and the RF's were tight. But as Ray has pointed out, I've witnessed speakers really develop some punch when driven by a quality amp - regardless of its power rating. OTOH, I perceive the Cinepro amps as being more of an "industrial" type amp for large HT applications or when using multiple speakers that aren't as <ahem> efficient as out beloved Klipsch's. The one thing I'd like to know about amps that size is how quiet are they when things get to rockin' - i.e. how loud is that cooling fan? Personally, if I were gonna spend that kinda cake, I'd look at Krell or some mono blocks. And one of these days I'm gonna get to listen to an ATI amp or find someone who has. Don't know why, but I'd love to hear one of their products. Tom Adams ps: I almost forgot. When it come to big power amps, "Resistance is futile". This message has been edited by Tom Adams on 07-31-2001 at 03:55 PM

Hey John Warren. Thanks for making me feel like I was back in materials science and advance materials class - NOT!!! So...looking for a job. We pay big bucks for folks like you (and I'd get a cut too). On second thought...nah, you'd never get any work done cause we'd be BS'ing too much about important shite in life like Klipsch speakers, copper colored cones and mo'sickles. Tom Adams

<the aircraft mfg. engr. comes out> Cast al-you-min-ee-um (as the Brits say) is a rather inexpensive method of forming however, in general terms, castings are typically brittle. Therefore the sonic fatigue cracks that John Warren speaks of on old baskets. Machined AL parts used to be expensive, but the recent developments in high speed machining have brought costs waaaay down. In fact, we use castings only when there's no way a part can be machined. Machined parts allow you to take advantage of the materials strength properties thereby making a light weight part with no loss in strength. The old world method of drop hammer or forging is still a viable and cheap process, but requires big forming tools and huge presses. The resultant parts are equal to machined parts. Not fully versed in plastics, but I can tell you that everytime I get a quote for an injection molded part I gag - big time. Roto-molding is a cool process and is cheaper, but injection molding is just plain expensive due to the very high initial tooling costs. Of course, if you're make 1,000,000 widgets, you can amortize that tooling cost and it's no big deal. But how many 10" woofer baskets will you be making? OTOH, one could make the argument that RF speakers are more enviromentally friendly since you can recycle your woofer baskets. Tom Adams

I too am in the no DSP effects camp. However...when my system was powered by an older Sony Pro-Logic reciever, I would use "Stadium" while watching Monday Night Football or the Superbowl. That was pretty cool. Tom Adams

It's me again gpstrackman. Thanks for the updated info. So what's the deal??? I thought I was in the running for your Cornwalls and now another message saying "still for sale"?? Anyhow, I sent you a private message. Tom Adams

I too wanna say congrats Ed. From the first time I heard a pair of Klipschorns, I have always had this notion of one day owning a pair and I'm sure it will happen. For now, I'm building for the future and if gpstrackman and I can strike a deal, a pair of Cornwalls will join my Heresy's. After that, the only missing piece of my HT puzzle will be a pair of K-Horns. Tom Adams

Ok gpstrackman...you posted this message looking for someone to purchase your Cornwalls and got me all excited and hot-to-trot to buy them. Where you at??? Please don't tell me you've changed your mind. I promise they'll have a loving caring home. Really. I'm serious. Tom Adams

Sorry Ray - I meant to answer you sooner. Anyhow, you asked: >What kind of dog? Hot Of course! Tom Adams

gpstrackman - I too am very interested in acquiring your Cornwalls. I'll give you $800 cash for them (sorry Jim Cornell)and will pick them up at your place since I'm closer than Steve P. Tom Adams

Jo-Jo When I sold my KV3 to a fellow lister here, I didn't have the original box so I (actually, my wife) took it to Mail Boxes, Etc. to have it packed & shipped (Georgia to Seattle). She said it looked like they did a good job packing it, but to be honest, I was skeptical. The new owner emailed me to let me know it had arrived and in his message he commented that he couldn't get over how well it was packed. YMMV. Tom Adams

I second the good advice from Mr. Blorry. And as a point of reference - I paid that much for my Heresy's. In 1979! Tom Adams

You know Ray...that's why it is that I so love the "Klipsch sound". I mean, I've played music (trombone) since I was 12 years old and can be classified as a classically trained musician. I've played, and listened to, an awfull lot of live classical music with an odd stint playing "big band" music (Art Cissle and the Stardusters - long story...maybe some other time ). So for my horn trained ears, the Heritage series relates closer to my live experiences. The year...1978 and I'm attending Miss. State. I've begun getting interested in audio and hear about a place called Ideal Acoustics. I stop in one day and meet the owner (Dr. Sheppard) who I find out is also the Dean of the school of Aeronautics. After being there a couple of times and wearing out his ear with questions, he decides to demonstrate these huge speakers that are sitting in the corners of his back room. He said they were made by Klipsch and were horn loaded speakers. I asked him to explain and he said, "First you listen, then we'll talk". A Thorens turntable hooked to a Crown amp & preamp supplied the signal. The music? Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overature complete with real cannon shot. I listened in total awe and when the cannon fired, it scared the bejeesus outta me! I guess you could say that on that day I became a born again Klipschian. Tom Adams

>PWK must be saying "This is not my beautiful speaker! This is not my beautiful company! My God! What have I done!"<Text Uhhhhh....."Into the pool again, after the monies gone" Tom Adams

First - the disclaimer: This message is in no way meant to bash or take sides. Ok, now that that's out the way. From my lurkings about this whole issue, the one thing that stands out to me is that only when the question about delays in the delivery of some Heritage products was directly asked (IIRC the question was more along the lines of a rumor of the Heritage series being discontinued), was information disseminated about what was happening. Now, although I feel the info that came forth was open & honest, it nonetheless had to be solicited. And therein lies what I feel is the weak link in the communication chain and quite possibly why wired1 is PO'd. What I would hope is that Klipsch would take this bump-in-the-road as an opportunity to look at how they interface with their dealers and how they can get accurate, factual information to them quickly so the dealers can better inform their customers. My aircraft company has customer advisory bulletins that go out routinely about our aircraft and parts. Certainly a similiar process wouldn't be too much to ask. As for no updates cause there's nothing to tell....well, I'm not sure I totally buy in to that. Personally, a short blurb to say that there's been no significant progress or that we still can't commit to a delivery date wouldn't hurt. I would hope we'd all agree that you can't communicate too much. Klipsch does a very good job of communicating with their customers, however, there's always room for improvement. Who knows....maybe a "click here for updates to Klipsch Heritage speaker production" button on the website might be enough for wired1 to become un-wired about this issue. Tom Adams

I hate to answer an obvious question with a question, but here goes..... If you were peddling down the street on your motorcycle and your doors fell off at the same time you saw someone go in an 'out' door, how many pancakes would it take to shingle a dog house? Tom Adams

djk - I did something similiar to your project. I made an apartment move several years back and one of the last items I moved were my precious Heresy's. At the time I had a Honda 3-door Accord with a Nakamichi amp driving a pair of ADS 300C's. As I was loading the Heresy's in the back, I thought, "Hmmmm....I wonder..." So out came the screw driver, I disconnected the 300C's and hooked-up the Heresy's. Man-oh-man, what a sonic experience! And loud?? Ohhhh yeah. Couldn't close the hatchback, but what the heck. It was hard as heck to disconnect those Heresy's and listen to those 300C's. Tom Adams

Is it just me or has anyone else notice the total void of discussion concerning the Klipsch RF-5's?? I mean, there's plenty of comparison discussion about RF-3 vs RF-7 and there's plenty of dialog about RF-7's. Hell, even the negative can't get them or dealer is stupid kinda messages are about the RF-7's. So what's the deal with the RF-5? Is there some kinda message here? Will the RF-5 be the red-headed stepchild of the Klipsch family? Just curious....... Tom Adams

>this would make checking for optimal sub-placement prior to these events a very non-exact science.< My feelings exactly Dave. That's why, in my circumstance, I made some educated guesses and even FAX'd a sketch of my room to Tom Vodhanel @ SVS to determine about where to place the coax jacks for the sub. My thoughts were that after the house was finished out, I could tweak the sub's location from one of the three different locations. Tom Adams

Davec - When I wired my home during construction, my local audio store offered to let me have a new roll of the wire they use in installations. I could use what I needed and they would just charge me (per foot) what I used. You might wanna explore that option. As for wire, I used above said wire which is two single 16 ga. conductors inside a sheath. I had a concern about it only being 16 ga., but was assured that was fine for surround speakers and the short wire runs. This store does a lot of custom installations, so I believe their opinions. The wire is also UL listed. Concerning wire runs - I think what Quenten meant to say is that if you have to cross any 110/120v wires, make sure your speaker wire crosses them at 90 degrees (right angle). Running parallel to 110/120v increases chances of hum. The actual path your wire takes is up to you. I just bored thru studs like the electricians. I was unsure which of three possible locations would be best for my sub, so I ran RG6 coax to each of the three locations. I now have two unused coax wallplates but what the heck. Tom Adams

Davec - When I wired my home during construction, my local audio store offered to let me have a new roll of the wire they use in installations. I could use what I needed and they would just charge me (per foot) what I used. You might wanna explore that option. As for wire, I used above said wire which is two single 16 ga. conductors inside a sheath. I had a concern about it only being 16 ga., but was assured that was fine for surround speakers and the short wire runs. This store does a lot of custom installations, so I believe their opinions. The wire is also UL listed. Concerning wire runs - I think what Quenten meant to say is that if you have to cross any 110/120v wires, make sure your speaker wire crosses them at 90 degrees (right angle). Running parallel to 110/120v increases chances of hum. I was unsure which of three possible locations would be best for my sub, so I ran RG6 coax to each of the three locations. I now have two unused coax wallplates but what the heck. Tom Adams

I'm glad you asked this question John because I've been re-thinking lately what I did. I hope my thoughts about this are clear (which is a tall order for me sometimes ) and that it helps your decision making. When my home was in the initial stages, I too made plans for audio in various rooms and for outside. And like you, my choice was to use Klipsch speakers. At the time, my focus was stereo, not sure why I didn't consider mono, but I didn't. As a result, due to cost constraints, I paired back my house audio to just having speakers in the Master Bedroom and outside. My logic was that most other rooms in the house could be filled by sound from my main system. So, the house gets built and SCW1's are mounted in the MB ceiling. Being blessed with perfect 20/20 <ahem> hindsight, I now wished that, for the same money, I would've used a single mono speaker in the MB and a single mono speaker in the MB bath. Don't get me wrong, the stereo sound is great from these speakers, but the only time you can enjoy the stereo sound is when you're lying in bed and how many of us do our critical listening in bed? And for the record, by critical listening, I'm referring to music and not our spouses speaking to us. . MHO is that for the vast majority of us, our main system is the one we use to really listen to music & whatever. And the music for other rooms is background music. And in that regard, mono's would be a better choice and allow more rooms to have audio given an equal budget. BTW, installation of my SCW1's was a snap. A bit messy having to cut sheetrock - but a snap nonetheless. Tom Adams

Me again Jo-Jo.... Here's what I did many moons ago and hopefully this will provide some direction. My mentor suggested that I buy speakers that would stand the test of time. His philosophy was that many changes would come & go with regards to electronics and so too would my audio gear. Therefore - buy speakers for the long haul. And to him, there was only one of a very few in that category...and that was Klipsch. So, I listened and bought the only thing a bologna & cheese surviving college student could afford - a pair of plain jane Heresy's (unfinished birch). I did have a few bucks left over and purchased an inexpensive (PC for cheap) Sherwood receiver that on a good day could deliver 15 watts/ch and a Dual turntable (yes - I'm old). This fairly modest set-up was perfect for dorm life and it was always great fun to "out-run" some guys 50 watt/ch Pioneer or Kenwood rig with my Heresy's. As long as I didn't send the poor Sherwood into clipping (wasn't hard to do in those days since most vinyl recordings didn't have much in the way of dynamics), three to four watts would have guys holding their ears and the RA hollering at me to turn that sh*t down! Anyhow - I digress..... My mentor's prediction has indeed come true. Many pieces of electronics have come & gone, yet my Heresy's keep on keepin' on. The best part is that I've yet to meet a piece of electronic gear that my Heresy's were not worthy of and I doubt any exists. MHO would be to not get too wrapped around the axle about what you're hooking up to your Klipsch's. What electronics you have now will not be as good as what you'll have 5 years from now and on & on. In time, your speakers will see many pieces of gear come & go. Tom Adams

Slightly off-topic, but since I'm a Heresy I owner (1979 models)...... JLounder - Can you tell me who did your crossover rebuild and would you mind me asking the price? I'd also like to hear what you notice before & after. Marty65 (or anyone else) - Regarding the high cutoff point of the Heresy I woofer, any ideas how to get the better bass response of the Heresy II's outta the Heresy I?? Tom Adams