Klipschtastic

I use an SVS sb3000 with my Cornwalls, though it hasn’t been on in awhile. Lol. It has all the power you’ll ever need in your room. I would suspect the 2000 or even 1000 might be enough. Honestly there are folks on here who are a lot more experienced and knowledgeable than me on the subject. I can only relate what I have. Back to the speaker vs room size. I c did compare the JBL L100 classics and my KLF20s to my Cornwall IVs in my room. Even though the JBLs and KLFs were plenty of speaker for the room, the Cornwalls still had a bigger wall of sound that could be appreciated. Kind of like a 75 inch tv is plenty for a home theater for most but if you then put a 100inch screen in you’d still appreciate the larger image.

I have Cornwalls in a similar sized room. I’ve tried my RP160s in there as well. The Cornwalls fill the room with ease, probably could fill a room twice the size. The RP160s actually rock out pretty good in there too but they don’t have nearly the dynamic headroom and punch at moderate volumes and higher. Not to mention less midrange detail but that’s not a fair fight. I would imagine the Heresy’s would split the difference and maintain most of the midrange detail. With a sub I bet they’d be great.

Interesting observations. I have at times fought with the horns being too much as well. I find that most of the time I need some bass eq for things to sound right. On a really good recording such as Fleetwood Mac ‘Dreams’ or Warren Zevon ‘Werewolves of London’ they sound just right with flat tone controls. I hope you can find what you’re looking for with some more experimentation. If not I may have to get my ears on some Polks. lol. Edit: I just looked your amp. Very nice. 5 band eq will do wonders for the Cornwalls with small tweaks. Maybe try a mild u shape and see what that does for you.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions. Bump.

You may also want to post to the Steve Hoffman forums in the Audio Hardware section. Very active forum with lots of Klipsch people.

Perusing my playlist here are some recordings I consider good and can enjoy with no eq. Flat tone controls. Bob Marley ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’ Warren Zevon ‘Werewolves of London’ Metallica’s original Garage Days ep Weezer’s blue album Fleetwood Mac ‘The Chain’ Led Zepplin.s first album Chon ‘Ghost’ Most music from Delta Sleep Usher ‘Burn’ Actually most hip hop and EDM sounds great with no eq whatsoever. Primis ‘Tales from the Punchbowl’ album Boz Skaggs ‘Thanks to You’ excellent sound As for bad: The Melvin’s ‘We are Doomed’ REO Speedwagon ‘Take it on the Run’ recorded in a barrel? Electric Light Ortchestra ‘Showdown’ is thin and lacks body. Sinead O’Connor ‘Drink Before the War’ sounded pretty bad on my KLFs but decent on my Cornwalls. I could go on and on with good to great sounding stuff. Skim through some of these if you like. I’ll be back with some bad ones.

I recently listened to the entire Piece of Mind Album on my Cornwall IVs and found it to be quite good. I use an old Harman Kardon 730 with a WIIM Pro plus. I eq the bass up a little and the mids down a tad. If leaving everything flat it sounds a little thin and mid forward for my taste. I just tried ‘2 Minutes’ and I’d estimate it to be of similar quality. I do encounter some pretty bad recordings but find the Cornwalls are kinder to them than my KLF20s. The Cornwalls are considered to be pretty acurate so if the bass is light in the recording it will be light. If it’s there in the recording the Cornwalls will do it justice. I’m WAY less sophisticated than a lot of folks on here so take this from a layman’s perspective. I found an app called ‘House Curve’ that can measure your set up with your phone mic. I used this and set my Cornwalls up to where I’m plus or minus 3 db from the house curve using my WIIM eq. It didn’t take a lot of eq at all but I had to bump the mid bass up a tad and it has made most of my music sound better than with no eq. The Cornwalls can be hard on some bad recordings but gaining higher transparency will reveal this. I tried some JBL L100 classics and though they were a little easier on bad recordings but the Cornwalls still won easily overall with more instrument separation and more realistic and lively drums and guitars. More transparency will also reveal some warts. If you just keep this in mind and are not afraid to use the eq when needed these speakers are awesome. I listen to everything from classic rock, metal, EDM, rap, 80s pop, grunge, punk…. You get the idea. The Cornwalls play all genres well. The differences are more in the recording quality and all genres have good and bad. Save for maybe jazz where most of them are good to great. lol. I’m just rambling after waking up from a nap but as I listen this week I’ll post a list of what I consider good and bad recordings.

Congrats on the purchase! I love the black with silver grills. I’ve been wondering how the R700 would compare. Waiting for your take on it. No pressure. lol.

May as well go for the new ones with that little difference in net cost. Just the excitement of unboxing new speakers is worth the difference.

I can definitely confirm that the Cornwall IVs are great at low volumes. 60db is all I need most of the time to rock out and get the detail and dynamics. That is a major purchase and expense though so I’d either want to hear them first or buy used so I could recoup the money if they weren’t for me.

I own CWIVs but have noticed that the Polk R700 are well reviewed. Many say they’re the best at around $2000. I can’t say whether you'll prefer the Klipsch but I can say that they do what you’re wanting in regards to guitars. I haven’t compared my Cornwalls directly with any non horn modern towers but I did compare the Forte IVs at a Crutchfield store last year. They had the Fortes, some revel towers ($4000) and the Wharfdale Elyesions ($10000). I played Weezer’s ‘In the Garage’ on all three and there was no comparison for me. The guitars were unrestrained and just ripped compared to the other two. Not harsh or beaming, just ALIVE. The kid who worked there said the Fortes were his favorite as well. I would also be surprised if instrument separation isn’t better on the Cornwalls. That is a strong suit as well as drum realism and dynamics.

Hello and welcome! I’m not much help but I’ll at least bump your thread up. I ve never heard the golden ears or Magnapans. I do have an SVS SB3000 and Cornwall IVs. I know the sub you have will take great care of the bottom end with Heresey’s. You can find used Heresy IVs for around $2000 or even less if you look around. At that price you could buy and try and get your money back if they’re not for you. Personally I love the look of the Heresy IV. I think they’re timeless and I can vouch for the high quality veneer since it’s the same as my Cornwalls. I haven’t heard them though. This is a Klipsch forum but it’s not highly active. For more and quicker responses try posting on the Steve Hoffman forums. You’ll get several responses within an hour or two.

Awesome! Good to hear you’re happy with them.

I have a Marantz nr1200 and have used it with my KLF20s and Cornwall IVs before. Maybe aim one of those tin eared people but I think it sounded good with both. Definitely better than my Onkyo 9050 on the KLFs. I also owned a Marantz 40n for awhile and didn’t think it was worth 5 times the cost. I would however like to try a Yamaha as1200 someday.

I was just mentioning a4l to the OP. I look everywhere from EBay to Crutchfield to audiogon used.

I’ve had my eye on that one as well. Accessories 4less has them for $1900. I think they’re refurbished.

What are you running with them now?

Wow, no responses since Christmas. I also have Cornwall IVs and so far have tried. Marantz PM7000n marantz 40n Marantz nr1200 Harman Kardon 430/730 (1976) Yamaha rx450 (1990) sansui qr1500 (1972) The Pm7000n was clean sounding and had nice top end sparkle but the bass wasn’t great. It was kind of soft on the leading edge, not real punchy. NR1200 is similar but the d max feature helps some. The 40n had better and tighter bass. Very controlled and decent punch but pricey. The old Harman Kardon is where it’s at for most older rock and metal. Bass is weightier than any of the new stuff. It’s not quite as tight as the 40n but I like it. I actually quit using my sub with the HK receivers. The old Yamaha RX 450 is really good too. It has a bass extension button which is kind of like loudness but only for the bass. I use it sometimes when I feel the need. Honestly, I think most of these amps sound similar enough overall. Most of the differences that I have noticed are between how well they handle the bass since the Cornwalls can sometimes need a little boost to really hit stride. Maybe take a look at the rotel a11 tribute. It’s $650 at Crutchfield on sale and it has a bass boost function as well. I’ve even considered the Cambridge and Audiolab integrateds but I’m afraid I won’t like them for everything because they lack tone controls. I can listen to about half my music with tone controls set to flat but I like having the option to boost bass and cut treble if needed. I would also recommend the Marantz model 50. I think it’s the same as the 40n but all analog.

I recently moved my RP160m into the living room to compare to my Cornwall IVs just for fun. The 160s are good and enjoyable in their right but the size of the soundstage and instruments within are life like in scale with the Cornwalls. In the 160s they are much smaller as if a doll sized drum kit is being played, even at lower volume. The Corns depth of soundstage is also much greater as well as the detail in the mids. If the mids of the RP160 would be like sitting an apartment over a busy street at night, the Cornwalls are like opening the window and sticking your head outside. Then there is the dynamic slam you get from drum hits, turns of phrase and guitar riffs. I’ve heard the Forte is very similar in this manner. I sometimes think I should’ve just gone with Fortes because the Cornwalls are massive.

Do you have another pair of speakers you can hook up to the amp? Another amp or receiver to run the CWs with to try and isolate the issue?

I heard the fortes at the Crutchfield store. In my opinion they beat everything in there with the couple of tracks I played. Including the $10k Wharfdales they had. If I didn’t know speakers and had no preconceived notions I would have bought the Fortes no contest. I already had the the Cornwalls though. Either way you can’t lose.

I have always thought about trying other speakers and have tried a few. It all started with RF3s in the late 90s. I bought them locally because that’s what the hifi store mostly had where I live. I enjoyed them for 15 years and then bought some KLF20s. Wow! These things are beasts. Nice step up. They were my main speakers in my living room until last year when the fever hit me again. I was just so intrigued by those absurdly massive Cornwalls, I ordered a set from Paducah home theater. Even bigger sound with smoother and wider mids. The drivers are more seamlessly integrated. Another step up! I think this is the top for me. Out of curiosity since I haven’t heard much other than Klipsch over the years, I ordered some JBL L100 classics to see if I’d like them better. They were actually pretty good but the Cornwalls have better instrument separation, air and space. They also have a bigger and broader soundstage and nothing beats them on percussive slam. The JBLs would have been keepers if I didn’t already have the Cornwalls. Actually, check that because they still would’ve had a battle with the KLF20s. With no hifi shops around here anymore, I just got curious. My question was answered. I got an old Harman Kardon 430 to run the Cornwalls. I listen to a wide range of music but like you rock is central to my mix. Played the whole AC/DC Back in Black album last night and man it was absolutely perfect. At a modest 70db you get everything you’d want out of it. Bass, percussive slam, detail, layering and lively sound that’s not fatiguing or harsh. Unreal.

I have the RP160s and can’t for the life of me figure out how I got them new for $250. They go head to head with my old RF Towers until the volume gets really loud and the bass gets heavy. Amazing value. I also have Cornwall IVs and KLF 20s but if these were the only speakers I could buy, life would be just fine. Hell, maybe better because then I couldn’t obsess so much.

I second the Marantz NR1200. You can get one for $349 at Accessories4less. I have one powering my RP160s and it sounds great. I also have an old Harman Kardon 430 on my Cornwall IVs and it’s great too. I haven’t tried it on the 160s yet but if you don’t want to fool with vintage I understand. The NR1200 is great!

Just got the 730 in yesterday and hooked up. Not sure I can tell much difference if any from the 430. Didn’t really expect to but now I can hook up the sub through the pre outs. Thing is, I’m in no hurry to hook it up because these receivers make great bass! For the first time since I bought these speakers, I’m just listening and enjoying without analyzing everything. I swear these things were made for my Cornwalls!