Lemon string

Welcome! You're in for a treat. Enjoy the ride!!

I moved the cornwalls into another room but I don't think I'll ever let them go, they still have a special place in my ears

I didn't have to make any mods, the Ct-120's had z brackets. I did have to remove the "home plate" of the top hat to install though. The cross brace makes it too tight to simply just swap out the old and new tweeters.

I installed Bob Crites Ct- 120's and A-55-G's into the Khorns and my first impression is that they are a great improvement. Overall, the sound is tighter, more accurate, more detailed without being sterile or cold. I felt that the K-77 and K-55m weren't delivering everything that the khorn's were capable of. To my ears they just sounded a bit veiled and lacked high end detail, shimmer and sparkle. I would say that the mid range also suffered, they weren't producing the "in the room" quality that I expected when I brought the speakers into my room. I've had these speakers for about four months now. Like I said these are initial impressions as I just completed the install about an hour ago. I guess I would say that I am hearing an improvement of 15-25% overall. I realize that is perhaps a bit vague and perhaps to some not impressive of a upgrade. In my opinion the speakers were pretty impressive to start with to get another 15-25% out of them really makes a pretty significant difference. I can't really imagine where I go from here..... time will tell. A big thanks to Opus2K for setting me up, he has been very cool and a real mench. Excuse the redundancy of starting another thread on this topic, feel free to move if inappropriate cheers

Cornwalls are a great speaker! Enjoy.

where are you located Scott?

Yes we need to get a date on the calendar, been too long! Let me know a date that works Jim

I have to agree with HiFiNut's comments. I have 12 watts of SEP power driving Khorns, the combo will blow the roof off the joint with no lack of bass just beautiful, open and clean sound.

Grapples stereo Thought you might find this of interest: http://ampsandsound.com/products/amps/bigger-ben/ the guy behind amps and sound is a good dude and a forum member, Justin Weber. Another option might be toolshed amplifiers: http://www.toolshedamps.com/products/ I believe this guy is a forum member too. Cheers

To answer your question, my EL34 is an older version and has the PCB. I do have their Sterling KT88 anniv model as well which is driving a pair of Fortes. My Sterling EL34 drives my Cornwall IIs. I choose the Audion amp initially because of much of the info you found in the Absolute Sound article, such as, hand built by one person through production, hand wound transformers, Class A, Single ended and the company states their commitment is to create products that are musical. Another great source for info on their approach and philosophy is on their US distributors website: http://trueaudiophile.com/pages/Audion.html I think they offer a good value. They aren't cheap but they aren't any where near crazy audiophile prices either. An interesting note I'll add, about two years ago Audion and Klipsch did a event together, in London, demonstrating the synergy between the Heritage line of speakers and Audion's single ended amplification. I had bought both of my amps previous to the event so it didn't play any influence on my purchase but I thought it was interesting and somewhat confirmed, for me, that I had made well informed purchases. The Primaluna amps get good reviews and I think you'd be happy with the unit. I've spoken with the gent that is behind the Primaluna brand. He is very active in the audio community. His other company is upscaleaudio.com. To be honest he rubbed me the wrong way on one occasion. I ordered a pair of tubes from his website, the next day he calls me and asks what kind of amp I planned to use the tubes in. I tell him and he proceeds to tell me my amp is garbage compared to his Primaluna amps and that I should buy one of his. Personally I found this to be a bit offensive and a bit off putting. The company that manufactures my amp is small and hand builds their product not to mention that they've been doing so for over twenty years. Kevin had just launched his Primaluna brand that same year and they are built in China at a factory. Again his amps get good reviews and Im sure they sound good but it did rub me the wrong way as I mentioned. Good luck with your search for sonic nirvana. Be sure its out there. Your CWIII's are a great starting point. Honestly I think that the most important think to look for with your speakers is an amp that delivers good clean power, the first watt is the most important. For the most part you probably won't drive them with much more than one watt 99% of the time. That said you want an amp with a super low noise floor. Your CWs are sensitive, you want to hear music not your components. That low noise floor will create a black background that will deliver music in a holographic image in your room. Thats what I want anyway. The other thing that plays into this is how much does the amp require in terms of input?

personally I'm partial to single ended designs but the amps you're looking at will be great. I love both of my Audion amps.

yeah you'll be good, it will sound great. I would play with the speaker placement once you're in the house, i.e. place a foot off both walls so they're not directly in the corners. Other than that your system will sound great no doubt what so ever. Enjoy

I find this interesting. I shared my journey with my Cornwalls at the beginning of this thread. There are several factors at play here.... speakers, amp and pre. I believe its all about matching the impedance and input sensitivity of each in the chain. When I started my journey I had a Yamaha AVR on RF-82's it was an exciting sound but as time went on I noticed the noise floor was always present, not a black background, I could hear the system at my listening position between songs. I then went to a Emotiva UMC-2 powered by an Adcom 2565, Dramatic improvement! The background became darker presenting the music with more detail and better dynamics. As time went on though I thought that the music could sound more open and transparent, the system didn't sound as natural as other systems I had heard. I decided that Cornwalls would be the upgrade that would deliver the sound I wanted. A three way with higher efficiency. I bought a pair of CWII's and yep the sound stage was wider, deeper and produced a phantom center speaker unlike any I had heard before, as well as a fantastic mid range. The CW's though with their higher efficiency revealed the noise floor. I decided to venture into tubes. I decided that Class A power would be an important factor for the sound I wanted and an amp with a low signal to noise ratio. I bought a 12wSET that fit my wants from a small manufacture that makes amps for high sensitivity speakers and dedicated to producing playback that is full, transparent and reveals what the artists intended. The upgrade was the most significant to date. A/Bing between the adcom amps, with 65w a side, and the little 12w SET amp was mind blowing! No contest. Still I noticed a bit of a very faint high frequency hiss from the tweeters when the system was not playing music. I removed the Emotiva from the chain. The tube amp I bought has a line sensitivity for full output less than 200 MV RMS and doesn't require any gain from my source. I removed the Emotiva and the system became dead quite. I can turn the gain up all the way with no music playing put my ear to the speaker and hear nothing at all. I concluded that the Emotiva is fine and good its just not the best match for my speakers that have such a high sensitivity especially when paired with my amp that doesn't require the input gain. In my opinion the real issue is matching components and speakers isn't as simple as assuming that if a manufacturer makes quality products they will work with every other component, speaker and system out there. Different tools for different jobs. I believe that the majority of electronics being produced today aren't being made with our horn loaded speakers in mind and therefore matching the components is that more critical if one is really interested in hi fidelity. I firmly believe that with our speakers the first watt truly is the most important. Thats my two cents

Audion Sterling EL34 on my cornwalls. Audion Sterling KT88 20th anniv edition on Fortes

I have cornwalls like the OP and run them with a SE amp. I have had the amp for three years now and still love it. It has a very musical presentation with my speakers and room. Most visitors always comment that my system has" a very natural sound", "The instruments sound as they should". I feel like the combination has given my set up the best sound stage, the strongest phantom center and most holographic rendering of music out of any that I have tried with my cornwalls. For me I looked for an amp that had a black background, a dead quite noise floor because the speakers are so efficient. Previous to the SE amp I had a couple SS amps that I could hear between tracks so I knew that was contaminating the music. Perhaps subtle but it was present. The SE amp I own is dead silent even with the gain at 100%. I noticed a difference immediately when I first auditioned the amp in my system. Good luck on making your decision. I'll be interested to hear which direction you choose.

I spoke to some guys that were there. They said the room didn't do the speakers any favors.

I used to be neighbors with specimen products. Ian the guy who is behind Specimen was not a pleasant neighbor. That said Im sure his amps are as good as any. He is considered to be a brilliant designer and builder by many. Andrew Bird continues to collaborate with Specimen on his horns for live performance. If you listen to Mr. Birds recordings you will find them to be in a league of their own. I never had the fortune of listening to Specimen's amps other than through the walls of my studio. I have heard them at a local stereo shop but never with Klipsch heritage speakers which I have no doubt would be a good match based on his philosophy on amp building. I have heard them on his own horn speakers (the little ones) which I think are designed more for their visual appeal than their sonic performance but what do I know. I don't know anything about the other companies you listed. I continue to be a devout fan of Audion amps, which I own two of their products. They deliver exactly what I am looking for and they sound fantastic to my ears on both my Cornwalls and Fortes. The Cornwalls are driven by their 12w EL34 sterling amp and the Fortes are driven by their 18w KT88 sterling amp. Sorry if this viewed as a plug or attempt to highjack the post, not my intention, just sharing my experience.

Sounds like it was a great GTG! Im sorry I wasn't able to make it, I would've loved to hear Derrick's room and see everyone again. Hopefully next time.... that said Im always happy to host. If you all want to start thinking about a next possible date Im game. Cheers

it appears to be point to point wired, so built by hand.... the transformers appear to be substantial. I don't know a thing about KT100 tubes however. Did I miss the price? I like the green cages remind me of the Shindo amps. I say go check it out and if it sounds good and it doesn't break the bank snag it. It looks like its Push pull. I prefer single ended but thats a personal preference.

I started this journey four years ago with,with rf-82, rc 62, RW 12, RS 52 and RB 61's powered by a yamaha 667, same set up you are describing. Run quick!! I still have, the RF system but with different components, plus three other klipsch systems now. This is basically the equivalent to Audio anonymous in here. Welcome to the club! You've been warned.

Hello where are you located in chicago land?

nice amp!

Hey Derrick Im not an expert but I would guess the pre tubes to be good for a long time, like up to ten years (10,000 hrs). I might be way off on that. Glad you found the remedy none the less.

Cane Grills Zebra, walnut, Mahogany thats my $.02

Mine produce a really big low end. They're I's and placed a foot off of each wall in corners of the room. Im running them on a Sansui AU-555a 35 wpc. I'd check the wires from the networks to the sqauker and the woofer, could be you have the leads on the wrong terminals. I made this mistake when I hooked up my new crossovers in my Cornwalls. I had zero midrange because I had both the negative and positive running to the same side of the driver. The mid driver in my CW's have separate terminals on each side, both with two tabs, hence the confusion on my part.