Hi everyone I'm new here but I have been involved in this industry for some time and thought I would try to put the response to the question of why would someone spend more money on the Klipsch vs Cornscala.
I agree with the other gentlemen regarding that most hobbies can get expensive and some choose to engage and some dont but perhaps I can shed more light on this subject.
The main reasons I think are two fold first of all Klipsch is large corporation vs a DIY kit, that in itself should provide the foundation of the reasoning.
Klipsch has higher costs including a responsibility to its clients, they are liable, they provide warranty, they provide jobs = this costs more hence they need to make a profit so they can exist. On top of that there are other aspects such as pride of ownership, brand alliance and within reason resale value. not to say that you can feel pride with a DIY kit but I think you get the point.
The DIY kits do not have any of these concerns hence they cost less.
Which brings to mind the other and most significant reason they are addressing to distinctly different markets DIY vs Established brands.
For people who want and have the skill to build their own speakers, amplifiers or cars, or motorcycles or fly rods etc, the DIY offers those people that opportunity what you receive is the satisfaction of doing the job yourself and potentially a cost savings if compared to similar products manufactured by relevant companies.
So for that question if you want to compare costs of apples to apples when it comes to why one speaker vs another is more money
A more relative question is would potentially be comparing the Cornwall vs lets say a JBL horn speaker of comparable specifications.
I hope this answers this particular question.
On to the initial questions which sounds better?? unless anyone has those two products and tests them under the exact conditions no one can really answer you. Not too mention that unless you know this persons rooms acoustics and are intimately familiar with their gear and personal tastes. Anyone's review including professional reviewers are actually difficult to base your opinion on. They can offer objective info such as measured performance, reliability build quality but any subjective perspective is impossible.
But if I can make a best guest scenario having owned the Klipschs and looking at the Cornscala models I would say they are more similar then not, as well some of the Cornscala models use better quality components the Cornwall which leads me to believe they should perform better but for the price would take the chance as it seems like a great project. I would probably go for either the two way using the Faital drivers they are top notch no compromise performers. The other one using the large Selenium mid range also looks serious too.
Finally one other area that is interesting building a kit is the ability to do a fully active system and bi amp.
One suggestion is a traditional active x over and using two of your fave amps or another idea which I have done on several projects to great success is buying two IPD 1200 by Lab Gruppenhttp://labgruppen.com/view-model/ipd-series/ipd-1200
They are very inexpensive (yes compared to traditional amps of similar power) and have a the ability to create many xovers and a full parametric EQ which can provide extensive customization.
I have used these often and the results were incredible.
In any event enjoy
