It's been a long, not necessarily strange trip

[tyler8]

I responded not to long back to a thread in another forum titled something like "what is it about Klipsch". I spoke about a college roomate who had Heresy's and then upgraded to Cornwalls six months later.( Yes I did mention what a great roomate he was). We lived in a house with a little land so we could indulge the volume/speakers. Those Cornwalls stuck with me all these years, (from 1977), and have never had another set of speakers have the same impact on me. Thirty some odd years of festering in the back of my mind.

Curiously over the years I never purchased any Klipsch products while owning a wide assortment of other speakers. Closest I came was my wife bought me a pair of RF5's from Magnolia a few Christmas's ago and I had them long enough to open them up, carefully get them out of the boxes, listen to them and then send them back. Obviously she had heard me rambling about Klipsch from time to time. While they were very nice speakers I thought for the money I would rather have something retro, Heritage. Still never pulled any triggers.

A year or so later, a pair of Forte II's show up locally on Ebay. They were in very good condition and soon were playing in my home with multiple Crites upgrades. My first step into the world of Ebay/Craigslist. Had seen a good deal of Cornwalls all over the country but had also heard all the horror stories about damage and the shipping costs, so Forte II's it was.

Roll forward to two weeks ago. I was out of town on business and looking through Craigslist one night in the hotel and noticed a pair of Cornwalls less than five miles from my home, better than reasonable price, grainy pictures. Last time I saw them locally was last Christmas, a year after I brought the RF5's back. I thought I had laid enough hints around but my wife was obviously gun shy at this point and they slipped away to someone else. I saw these on a Monday and thought they would be long gone before I could take a look. When I got home on Friday I sent a message asking if they were still available and surprisingly they were.

Saturday morning my sixteen year old son and I pull up to see the speakers. The owner had them in his garage. He had told me he was moving to another house and his wife was sick of the size so he was downsizing. The guy was about my age, a doctor, and had them forever, 1977 as it turned out. He pulled the moving pad off them and I was struck by.........................................not the cabinets which had more than the normal amount of wear and tear but...............................................I forgot after all these years......................................the size. I was standing there w/o saying anything staring at a set of Cornwalls and for the first time wondering about space, size, wifes opinion, and...........................................size. Never done that before.They looked twice the size of my Forte's. The doctor said he would leave me alone for a little bit to listen and look them over. My son was mumbling something about their bigness and hernias. The doctor stepped back in and I mumbled something about not being prepared for the size and the cabinets could use some work and he said just make me an offer. I cut his price by $200 and in the midst of my trying to explain why he said deal.

Loaded them up and got them home in front of my Forte's. Big..........................damn..............................stand back............................no still big.........................But once I hooked them up..................................................Big/GOOD. My wife, one day short of her birthday came home and walked in. She stepped back and after listening for a minute or two said "so this is them". I said yes. She then asked if this "thing" was going to stop now, that this was it and there was nothing else to move up to. I made a few around the horn type comments about a couple of other............. and she looked at me odd, you folks have seen it, so I simply smiled. She said they looked nice and left the room. My son made another comment about something popping out of his lower stomach and spelling hernia, but they were where they needed to be and now just needed to figure out how to adapt them to my wall of built in stuff.

I am going to refinish them and have enjoyed all the threads within about various methods. Will probably do a few mod's but at the moment they sound great. The son got a pair of my older Infinities out of the deal, (everybody moves up), and my wife actually likes sitting down with a glass/bottle of wine and listening to our whole music library again like it's the first time. Win, win. I wrote a reply to a thread about a member who had bought a pair of Forte's a while back:

"Enjoyed reading your feedback of your Forte II demo. Paid $450 for a
pair on Ebay that I was lucky enough to pick up semi locally. I have
done a couple of Crites mods and quite frankly have never looked back.
Doesn't stop me from regularly checking Craigs List and Ebay for
Cornwalls locally but if it were never to happen would be quite happy
with what I have."

It happened and Cornwalls are in the house.

It doesn't stop here does it?

[dtel]

It doesn't stop here does it?

It's very simple ....." if you have to ask that question, the answer is NO "

Nice story and you did pretty good with the WAF " wife acceptance factor ", but the answer is still no, your not done !

I don't claim to be normal BUT to give you an idea of how bad it can get, we just moved our Cornwalls into the bedroom because we put much bigger speakers in the living room, a little bigger than 3 or 4 Cornwalls for each channel bigger ! It was the wife's idea ! [Y]

[tyler8]

Read your thread on that. Was actually trying to size the Cornwalls vs. your door prior to this purchase.

[Dennie]

Great story Tyler8, I laughed I cried! LOL People usually underestimate the actual size and weight of Klipsch Speakers. They are big and heavy and that is a very good thing!

No, I am afraid that it does not stop there. Let's see... what could be next???

I had to ask an unwilling friend/neighbor to help me off load these one Saturday morning. He used words like ballbustering big A$$ speakers, they had better be worth it....grumble grumble. Well, there are now times I tell him that he has to leave, it is midnight and I have to go to bed. He often says.....just one more song....Please! LOL

Congratulations on the new speakers and welcome! I guess we will be seeing you around more! []

Dennie

[Marvel]

I had to ask an unwilling friend/neighbor to help me off load these one Saturday morning. He used words like ballbustering big A$$ speakers, they had better be worth it....grumble grumble

I picked up my LaScalas during a trip to visit my mom in Wisconsin. Got back home and was by myself, so I backed the Blazer up to the front door as close as I could get. put a piece of particle board from the Blazer to the front dor and put a blanket down. I slid the LS into my living room and moved them end over end until I could wiggle them in place.

Got them hooked up and ... THIS IS IT! The sound!

I've rearranged a couple of times, but am happy with the purchase. Built new crossovers, put in some of Bob's tweeters, switched to some outboard tweeters, but these things are GREAT! They image very well and sound sooooo good.

Even though I won't get rid of them, I am planning on some MWM bass cabs and components to go on top. It is a slow process, since my funds are extremely limited.

Bruce

[trashyrich1157]

That is a great story.

As a humble owner of KG 1.5 's , I am looking forward to progressing up in the Klipsch line.

Nuff said.

It is a great hobby/addiction/madness.

But I am loving every minute of it.

[Dennie]

I had to ask an unwilling friend/neighbor to help me off load these one Saturday morning. He used words like ballbustering big A$$ speakers, they had better be worth it....grumble grumble

I picked up my LaScalas during a trip to visit my mom in Wisconsin. Got back home and was by myself, so I backed the Blazer up to the front door as close as I could get. put a piece of particle board from the Blazer to the front dor and put a blanket down. I slid the LS into my living room and moved them end over end until I could wiggle them in place.

Got them hooked up and ... THIS IS IT! The sound!

I've rearranged a couple of times, but am happy with the purchase. Built new corssovers, put in some of Bob's tweeters, switched to some outboard tweeters, but these things are GREAT! They image very well and sound sooooo good.

Even though I won't get rid of them, I am planning on some MWM bass cabs and components to go on top. It is a slow process, since my funds are extremely limited.

Bruce

That's funny Bruce! It is amazing what we will do to get our speakers hooked up. LOL As mine were sitting in the back of my truck, I actually started looking for my spool of speaker wire. I figured if I can't get them into the house by myself, I can at least run speaker wire out the front door, to my truck and listen to them. That is when my next door neighbor walked outside! Ha Ha!

I am looking at getting new crossovers, even though mine seem to sound fine, but they are 1979 originals. The curiosity is getting to me. If they can sound better, I am willing to spend the $300 or so to find out. [] I understand the "extremely limited funds". Sometimes I think it is a good thing(for me), as I could be "one of those guys" with a house full of Klipsch speakers. Not that that would be a bad thing, but c'mon, these are not little speakers!

Thanks for sharing your La Scala moving story. I bet there are thousands of "stories" with these Heritage speakers.

Dennie

[Marvel]

My crossovers are pretty simple... the DHA2, designed by forum member John Albright. Dean gathered all the parts together for me and shipped them to me. I listen at fairly low levels, so these have worked out great for me. If you listen at higher levels with more high powered amps, something like the ALK extreme slopes may be better. I don't even remember what they cost.

I also didn't put in the light bulb for tweeter protection.

Type DHA2.pdf

[tyler8]

Neither you Dennie or Marvel are helping talking about La Scala's when I just moved into Cornwalls that I spent the better half of the afternoon sanding.

Very nice looking by the way. S*** . I only got a year out of the Forte's up front. Might be less..................