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My Klipsch-tory and New to me pristine Cornwalls


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INTERMISSION #2 SPEAKERS AND WOMEN, BUT REALLY JUST WIFE.. AND MOTHER

 

When I was a kid I remember there was a bookstore in the mall that sold a book in the humor section titled, “Everything Men Know About Women”.  This book was about an inch thick and medium size in stature.  It was blank.  Every single page… white stark blank.  That being said, before I get to the A.C. or After Crites portion of this story, I thought I’d respond to a question and give the current plight of my Dad and speakers in relation to my Mom, and the same in my household.  So yes, my Wife is quite different than my Mother.  Sure I love both my parents, but in my Klipsch-tory, I learned one very important thing growing up… find a woman who is ok with speakers, big speakers. 

 

Ok, so maybe things didn’t actually quite go that way.  I met a nice, good looking girl who grew up on a farm.  She had animals in 4H growing up.  Me?  City kid, well burbs kid, but always had quick easy access to a large city.  Camping for me… it’s called a cabin, or lol a really cheap hotel.  Don’t get me wrong, Dad grew up on a farm too.  He had a very white collar job, but there was no easy street growing up.  Now I don’t mean financially, I am talking chores here.  And no, I didn’t appreciate all the work he made me do growing up… until I got older, and more specifically bought a house.  Out of all the couples that I can think of, that we are friends with, maybe two other husbands in all these people know how to do stuff.  Everyone else it seems, has a knowledge base that ends at changing a light bulb.  So back to my wife.. and speakers. 

 

Well I will be honest, and nope I am not joking here one bit, every girl that I got a bit serious with, I covered two topics that I would be un-wavering about.  Early on I let my wife know that there were two things that I would never give up, unless for some un-foreseeable reason were suddenly became destitute:  1.  Sports Cars.  I’ve always had a sports car, toy if you will, but we’re talking “no replacement for displacement” big engine sports cars and nothing exotic, but I would never give it up.  2. Speakers, specifically big speakers, would be in my life, and therefore her life as a married couple.  See I never forgot about Dad’s KG4’s sequestered to that exercise room.  And I didn’t want that to ever happen to me.  Now when I met my wife, and eventually went to her condo for the first time, there was a detail in her condo that didn’t go un-noticed.  And, let’s be honest, this detail won her brownie points.  This condo was the former location of a former factory in the city, ergo it was brand spanking new to its tenants.  One of them being my wife. 

 

What did I see?  Bose speakers, full surround sound, 5.1, nicely finished off, with all the wires hidden, professionally installed.  Now I’m not going to fault her for the Bose angle.  But this is rarified air we’re talking about… a female with decent surround sound.  She also had a big screen tv.  She likes watching movies, and likes them to sound good.  And as mentioned, my wife has always been able to hear the difference when I have brought home some piece of audio gear.  Can Mom hear a difference to a point?  Yeah pretty sure she can, but, sorry Dad.  Now, in full disclosure, when I went off to go look at/ buy these Cornwalls, did I get real specific and descriptive about the size of said Cornwalls?  Nope, what do you think I am crazy?  “I was going to go check out, maybe buy, some vintage klipsch speakers.”  End of description.  I did mention they were large at some point, but was careful not to give any reference as to what kind of large we are talking about.  I did mention that they were actually smaller than the other set of speakers I recently put a bid on (La Scala’s)… but once again, I did not provide any sort of real world example or measurements of what large was.  She’s a smart lady, she knew there was a reason that I needed her car (SUV) to go “look at” these Cornwalls.  And to go further in my disclosure, sure I took out my handy dandy measuring tape using Klipsch’s specs to try and visualize the volume that both the La Scala’s and Cornwalls might occupy. 

 

So I’ve never seen the La Scala’s in person, but I’m not gonna lie, the Cornwalls were so much bigger than I could visualize myself.  And while I’m on the car subject just to further compliment my wife…  See when we knew she was pregnant, my wife wanted to move from a sedan to an SUV.  Oh!  I guess I lied by omission up above… there was a #3. That I was also un-wavering about, and yes these three things really came out of my mouth.  #3 Was NO MINI VANS EVER.  And thankfully she is not a mini van kinda lady.  But yeah, kid on the way, wife gets an SUV… and me?  I swapped my 2 door daily driver sedan… for another 2 door sedan.  Yes a kid car seat fits, and that’s all she cared about.  So on Cornwall day, I did call my wife and mention that these speakers in their original boxes just barely fit into her SUV.  Truth be told, if there was another millimeter or two to their size, they would not have fit.  If I had bought La Scala’s either I would have to rent a truck or take two trips.  My neighbor came over to help me un-load the speakers out of my wife’s SUV.  While we were outside, perhaps I did ask my neighbor to get all his “wow, these are huge” comments out of his system before being in my wife’s presence.  Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing subtle about more than a handful of Klipsch speaker models available.  And as mentioned before, we’re not talking about the gorilla in the room, we’re talking about the gorillas in the room. 

 

My wife’s only comment, “wow, those are big”.  Now I knew that was code for “Oh My God!, those speakers are HUGE”.  And I was not trying to have any direct conversation about that subject either, if I could avoid it.  That was Saturday, and on Sunday I knew I was in the clear when she walked in while I was listening and she said, “Ok, I get it know, the musicians sound like they are in the room with us”.  She also threw out a “I’m very happy for you”.  So yeah, my wife is very different from my Mom.  And I happen to think my wife is the Bee’s Knees and super cool.

 

Now, my Dad’s plight with speakers… and Mom?  Well, in fairness Mom has come along a bit when it comes to speakers.  Now while my folks may not be spring chickens at this point, but Mom loves her Spotify and whatever else music streaming services she uses.  And she likes movies.  So over the years, when they would visit and my home theater had been raging… Mom loved it.  And to help Dad, I continually have reinforced the fact to my Mom, that speakers need some degree of anti-decorating mass and volume to sound good.  (Yes I know there are modern drivers and DSPs now that make small speakers.. blah, blah, blah)  So at one place they do have big tall Definitive towers as the L and R fronts in a HT system… granted this is in the basement, so that’s still neutral territory.  But at another place and right there in the main open area is a HT setup that has what I would call medium size speakers.  So baby steps, Mom is slowly coming along, because she does enjoy the sound. 

 

Now for a right up to the minute update, my folks recently got a new place, not far from here.  And I have been trying to work on Mom regarding speakers and Dad.  I did very recently point out how cool Dad has always been, with things she wanted to do, or buy, over all the years.  And I mentioned how Dad really wants a set of vintage Klipsch speakers in this new place.  And I mentioned how such speakers would just float and waft great sound all over the main floor, and the adjoining deck outside if the sliding doors were open.  What did she tentatively, and I mean tentatively, agree to?  Well, to explain there are two rooms that would be perfect for a set of nice speakers.  The first is like a den but not the biggest room, the other is a fairly big room which would be best suited for “big speakers”  Klipsch of course.  So tentatively, the little room is green lit, the big room not so much.  I keep telling Dad he should score some big Klipsch speakers and ask for forgiveness later.  On one hand I think he would kill for a set of Cornwalls in walnut, but seeing my Cornwalls in person has caused him to take pause… due to their size of course. 

 

My recommendation is to find a set of Chorus II’s as a more toned down speaker size without giving up too much, walnut of course in his case.  Plus there are plenty of folks that prefer them to CWs.  So maybe you’re reading this thinking, “Hey didn’t you get a set of Cornwalls, and place them in the room the KG4’s were in?  The ones your Dad gave you.  Are you even still using your Dad’s KG4’s?  Shouldn’t you give those back to your Dad?”  Well, to be honest, those KG4’s are probably more special to me, than they are to Dad.  And I did put the time and money into fixing them up.  But yes, the other day I told him when we were no where within any possible ear shot of Mom, that I would if he wanted to, “loan” him the KG4’s indefinitely if he wished, and as long, lol, as he took real good care of them.  But I also let him know that I have never ever discussed any sort of detail regarding what I am doing, or going to be doing with the KG4’s to Mom, and that I would never discuss this offer of the KG4’s with Mom.  Why?  Because I want Dad to have a fighting chance at getting a set of Big Klipsch speakers.  Although, when my folks were over just the other day, Dad actually showed Mom my speakers.  Her comment was something along, “The wood is pretty, those are big!  The size alone let’s you know there is something impressive about them.”  So we’re looking (ok, he has me looking for him).  I’ll keep you all posted.  Keep your fingers crossed for Dad.

 

COMING SOON – CORNWALLS – FIRST IMPRESSIONS – Part 1 A.C. (AFTER Crites)

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7 hours ago, willland said:

Love your writing and very descriptive stories but brother, you must put some paragraph breaks in all those words.:o;):P

 

Kind of gets me dizzy.:blink2::emotion-41:

 

On a lighter note, speakers and room look incredible.

 

Bill

Duly noted and paragraph breaks arbitrarily added.

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  • 4 weeks later...

FIRST IMPRESSIONS – AFTER CRITES – BURN IN PERIOD

 

Ok, its been a while since I have posted an update.  The beginning of this I wrote at the time of the crites updates to my Cornwalls.  I am still including my thoughts at the time, but likewise as a believer in burn in, I will later include how things have changed since.  So yet another section in which I wrote some stuff a while ago, and some today.  Ergo, its gonna possibly be some confusing reading, but that’s how I roll.

 

I’m thinking based off of the results of what I saw after I replaced the caps on the KG4’s that these Cornwall’s capacitors were quite done.  There have been many moments specially using vinyl as a medium, where certain aspects or frequency ranges that are, I don’t know how to describe this, but I would say subtly dull or muted that normally aren’t. (I think there are multiple spots or bands in the spectrum doing this)  So after replacing the capacitors on the crossovers, and the rubber washer on the mid horn (Mine where actually in decent shape, just super compressed) lots of things changed. 

 

The uber sensitive volume issue I had where I barely touched the volume knob was tamed quite a bit and now falls more in line with what I experienced with KG4’s… sort of.  Don’t get me wrong, the potentiometer in the volume control is still crap, but we can’t all afford step ladder resistor attenuation can we.  That harshness of sound pressure levels has gone away.  And all the drivers are doing now what they are supposed to do.  The 3D “Live” effect is still there, but it’s subtler.  And MORE importantly The Beatles Love album on vinyl is special again, as is everything else.  Now in comparison to the KG4’s there still isn’t quite that laser focus of things, but there is more focus with the new caps.  I did notice that the old metal caps were just a tiny bit leaky.  The Cornwall tweeter comes off more subtle like.  Which is some regard ends up being more life like, but its still muted in comparison to the KG4’s.  But this is to be expected in the comparison of small monitors vs large monitors, not to mention the horn is considerable larger, and I replaced the tweeters in the KG4’s with the titanium tweeters.  All of this really has made me even further appreciate the KG4’s.  Its actually pretty amazing all what those speakers can do.  Yes all speakers come with trade offs, and many of these trade offs are ones of omission.

 

  Unless were talking about those Wilson speakers hooked up to four Dan D’Agostino’s in bridge mode at AXPONA that I saw and heard earlier this year.  Something like 2200 watts was happening in that room, and I never have, nor never will hear anything as crazy as that. And we aren’t talking cheap watts either.  That was maybe the craziest most magical setup I have ever seen and heard.  The depth and clarity and POWER of that system had its own gravitational pull.  My buddy who came with me to AXPONA and I decided to end the show with that room.  I was still in awe leaving the venue, and my ears where recovering from those SPLs for 20 minutes afterwards. 

 

In the KG4’s for example, the bass sounds great, but obviously in comparison to the Cornwalls there is something omitted with the KG4’s, but this particular omission you don’t notice say as much as the omission of the laser focus in certain recordings on the Cornwalls.  Is a tweeter in my future?  Quite possibly, but not one that would require me to cut or drastically alter these Cornwalls.  I know some of you essentially just have Klipsch cabinets at this point and for some even that statement is a stretch.  To each their own, I just want to keep things semi original.  I’m not a purist (these are the same folks running 40 year old capacitors).  But I’m not in the change everything camp franken-klipsch camp either, sorry “modified”.  And if you haven’t caught on yet, yes I am full of contradictions because yes I have seen pics of some very cool looking franken-klipsch with outboard horns etc.  And yeah if I heard some of your gear, there is probably a very good chance that I would agree with you that these more severe mods sound better.  But, that is just not my cup of tea at this juncture.  Give me a minute and I may change my mind again, lol.  Perhaps the bar that I will eventually set for myself will just be “no cutting of any wood or material in the Cornwalls”. 

 

Have I heard volti’s on more than one occasion and thought they have sounded great?  I sure have.  As far as this particular pair of Cornwalls go, I don’t have any driver that sounds harsh to me.  I like that with the size of these speakers that I am not trying to defy the laws of physics.  What do I mean?  Well as a car guy, we have a saying… “There is no replacement for displacement”… and guess what?  Same saying holds true for these Cornwalls.  Are there other speakers that go lower?  Yep, sure.  I know with DSP’s and what not (or ice power modules fueling bass desires), that one can achieve great base with a series of smaller sized drivers.  But these do bass quickly and it sounds tight and full.  Ah here is where I should have paid more attention to words and phrases used to describe audio equipment in all my years of reading hifi publications, so I could describe my experiences with these speakers better. 

 

Transients!  Coincidently I was reading something in my first day or two with these Cornwalls, and the result was I had to go google the word “transient”.  And my take away is, it is that fast, quick, and extremely brief rise in energy or volume say right when a string for example is physically attacked.  Something you definitely hear when you, yourself are playing an instrument.  Meaning you actually hear the attack.  Guess what?  I GOT TRANSIENTS!  And I’ve never had them before quite like this.  I’m sure I’ve had them, but they were just not quite as noticeable.

 

  And this just further lends its way towards creepy live in the room with you, realism.  Now yes I know that there are those audiophiles out there that turn their nose at Klipsch, but there are still plenty of us who know the real deal.  Its funny, in my obsessive compulsiveness of doing a little post purchase research about Cornwall speakers, I found quite a few arguments online.  Flame threads!  Perhaps there are just too many people out there who need to justify their uber high cost drivers made out of un-obtainum, or their $25K speaker cables that consist of a thin thread of a wire wrapped in cellophane tape, or their $1K usb cables (yep I giggled out loud as I typed), or their $14K (giggle) audiophile network switch, or the Dac /server type device (I wont name the manufacture) that is essentially the guts of a $250 Squeezebox touch that has been hot-rodded and sells for $14K.  (Ever wondered why that last bit of stock of squeezebox touches all but disappeared right at the end of the product run?  And they then started trading on the private market for double the $$ because no one could get them.  Now you know why they all disappeared). 

 

So maybe the whole Klipsch, you love it or hate it thing holds true to the masses… but I am loving them.  Maybe it just plain makes some folks nervous that a speaker that was invented 70 years ago in the case of the Klipschorn, or somewhere around 1957-1959 in the case of the Cornwalls, actually competes with these mega dollar speakers.  I have actually had a couple of conversations about Klipsch speakers with the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins about Klipsch speakers (I just didn’t type his name so it doesn’t show up in google searches) and their so called colorations, or as he corrected me… “Musicality” of the speaker.  He’s a fan btw, in case you were curious.  Actually the first set of speakers he bought when the band started making money were Klipsch Fortes.  Little bit of trivia, he still has them, he still uses them at a place he owns.  Actually the entire reason that I got to speak with him was that I recognized or thought they were Fortes.  Klispch was the conversation starter.  Yes he now owns crazier gear for his main system as he should.  So yes these speakers have a musicality.  Sure I can go in my other room which is more neutral and airy.  But the listening room with either the KG4’s or the Cornwalls is more lively, more enjoyable. 

 

I’ve been moving the Cornwalls around again the last 3 nights.  The first night I played a bit with the toe in, more toe in, and a little bit more off the wall to reign in the bass a little bit.  The 2nd night was just an off night.  If I’m in that room and have a chance to be alone, which is the norm, I’m probably always “critically listening”.  Sure I enjoy the music too, but I never can help myself looking for those little details, effects, or straight up realism.  By the 3rd night they came a bit more off from the back wall.  Lets be straight here, most of the time all these speaker placement adjustments are not like leaps.  They also got spread out more.  The couch even got moved back and forward within a certain area to approximate varying the toe in.  These Cornwalls are sure a pain in the something or another to move placement around.  Plus with using my cheapie rubber puck thingys (Keep up with my technical terms ok) I need to tilt the speaker and release them from gripping the wood floor before I can get the speaker to move.  Its not like the KG4’s were light per se, but I could give them a lil tappy tap at the base and control their movement. 

 

Dad also came over for a demo during this time period.  He mentioned how impressive the size of them were.  More importantly, he mentioned how it sounded like the performers were in the room with us.  This evening (at least at the time I wrote this) Tame Impala – Lonerism – Vinyl was not only producing a decent sound stage, but sounds were floating around the room with depth.  Leaf Hound – Growers Of Mushroom Vinyl (An original copy of this sold on Discogs for 3,581 British Pounds, yeah, no.  I have the reissue that looks like a green bowling ball with a cost a mere fraction of that) I felt like I went back in time to the early Seventies, granted I wasn’t born for a few more years but who’s counting?  Fuzzy guitars in a Led Zeppelin meets Pink Floyd sorta way.  It was great. 

 

Jimi Hendrix – Axis:  Bold as Love Vinyl  I have to admit that while Jimi’s guitar did float around on the beginning as it should, It floats and swims around the room way, way more on the KG4’s.  But perhaps that’s the new titanium crites tweeter vs the original K77M.   Now here is one that I didn’t see coming.  AIR - Premiers Symptomes Viny: So, sure, listen to something that is half totally digital on vinyl because that makes perfect sense.  There are parts that are inherently low fi, mixed with hifi and all this has always been more dare I say lackluster, more background music or just mere ambiance on the KG4’s.  On the Cornwalls, whoa!  All sorts of things are happening and the album is so much more present and engaging.  The Oscar Peterson Trio Vinyl Japan Limited Edition (God I love getting to the used bins before store employees do!) was SICK!  It was so amazing.  The plucking of the bass and the attack in doing so (Transients!) and everything else was so real and out of this world.  I could even feel the percussion almost like plucks coming off the bass. 

 

I also jumped over to Tidal for some MQA’s and otherwise.  Gary Clark Jr Live North America 2016 MQA… Yeah this got played twice.  I actually saw a show on this tour in Chicago in an old theater (remember those, the ones that actually have acoustics).  This was like being at the show again.  Not that boxed in canned live sound, but live!  The second time it played half the time I was out on the patio manning the grill.  Oh yeah so that’s the thing about horns.  So of course there is that sound in the room directly listening.  But its like the sound turns corners, goes down hallways, and enters other rooms… and still sounds quite good.  In this case a sliding glass door was open and music very clearly and still with heart, floated not only onto the patio, but I was curious.  Yep it travels quite nicely into the backyard.  I’m generally more picky with tunes when it can be heard outside the house, I will let my neighbors judge me for other reasons, not my taste in music.  And no the neighbors have never complained.  In my case with either the KG4’s and definitely with the Cornwalls, there is no reason ever for me to have outdoor speakers.  Klipsch horn loaded speakers in the listening room take care of that quite well, provided that sliding door is open. 

 

I could go on and on with more tracks, but overall I’m quite pleased at the moment.  More placement adjustments in search of the holy grail spot will continue, but I feel like I am close, maybe.  I’m toying with the idea of tweeter replacements:  ct 120? Ct 125? B&C DE 10,120, or 110?  Though I am a bit confused there as I comb the other websites as well as this forum the things I read is more contradictory than normal.  I say this vs when I did the same searches for the KG4’s, what I found was more of a linear “they’re great, what an improvement” type of reviews of upgrades.  Yeah I know I should just listen a little more.  And I will, but I know something is missing with that tweeter.  Some of what I am missing can be found in my KG4’s which is inherent to smaller speakers like that.  I know, no, I think that I can’t find all of that I am missing, but I am pretty sure that I can find the majority of that in another tweeter.  But it has to be a tweeter that can just be placed into the CWs without any modifications to the cabinet or the B-2 crossovers.

 

Next Up:  I think I am burned in and Placement, Placement, Placement searching for the grail 

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