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New Cornwall IV's in the House


rgdawsonco

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Finally. Proud new owner of Cornwall IV's in American Walnut.  I should have done this a long time ago. 

 

Purchased from local dealer, ListenUp.  Though ListenUp is not a Certified Heritage Dealer, they sell the whole line and had them in stock.  Some 30 years ago I purchased a pair of Forte II's from this dealer, from a salesman named Gary.  Why I remember that, I don't know.  So I called them up, on a Thursday, asked for Gary (he's still there, though higher up in the food chain, I'm sure!).  "Can you have them at my house tomorrow, cuz I'm going out of town Saturday?"  He told me that he had to get them from the warehouse in Denver (I'm in Colorado Springs).  He guaranteed me he would get them to my house if he had to deliver them himself.  Next day he shows up in he own car, a Nissan Cube or something like that.  He laughed and said his car is apparently designed to perfectly fit a pair of Cornwalls.

 

These things are truly glorious!  My hopes/expectations were sky high.  They have been met.  This is the best sound I have ever had.  Ever.

 

 

225129063_CornwallIV.thumb.jpg.12d9723a1bb17cefbc14656056d2645b.jpg

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Great story!

 

So tell me; you chose to buy those Cornwalls without auditioning them?

 

This is not a criticism; I'm curious what motivated you to buy a pair presumably not having heard them. Tell us more.

 

For what it's worth, I'm a long time cyclist and have purchased high end bikes without having road tested them. I usually did this solely based on the specs or reviews. Didn't bother me a bit and I was always satisfied.

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20 hours ago, Peter P. said:

Great story!

 

So tell me; you chose to buy those Cornwalls without auditioning them?

 

This is not a criticism; I'm curious what motivated you to buy a pair presumably not having heard them. Tell us more.

 

For what it's worth, I'm a long time cyclist and have purchased high end bikes without having road tested them. I usually did this solely based on the specs or reviews. Didn't bother me a bit and I was always satisfied.

 

The closest Certified Heritage Dealer to me that has Cornwalls to demo is Tulsa, Oklahoma - long way from Colorado Springs, CO.

 

The first time I heard Cornwalls, I was about 24, so 36 years ago.  I loved them.  My brother has some original Cornwalls and raves about them still decades later.  But what put me over the edge, finally, was my son, who has been overseas since going into the Air Force 10 years ago, got stationed in the US and asked me what to buy for speakers for "Home Theater" since he finally had a room for one.  I advised him to get a pair of Cornwalls and not worry about multi-channel, yet.  He bought the Cornwalls and just raved and raved about them.  I read every review, as I have read every review of Klipsch products, but I even watched every YouTube review I could find.  Steve Guttenburg and Andrew Robinson both raved about them, including the modern Heritage line's "audiophile level" qualities.  Steve Guttenburg mentioned how great they sound at low and normal listening levels, too, and that they sound "large", which is what I was looking for.  If you have ever listened to, say, a Jazz ensemble in a small club, from a table about 15-20 feet away, then, then that is what I mean by large sound.  Anyway, I had a well formed mental idea of what I expected/hoped of them.

 

Then I asked myself, why do I not have these yet?  Well, the only room in my house that has room for them is the formal living room.  You know, the room that has the nicest furniture, that you look at and take prom pictures in, but never use.  It has hitherto been off limits for audio/video gear  (trust me the rest of the house is full of gear).  I had to dispense with that rule.  I used some KLF-20's to experiment with the room.  I also used some Paradigms Studio 60s.  Just to see how the room would sound and experiment with how I could arrange the furniture and keep the room looking nice.    After a week of this, my wife mentioned she likes music in that room.  She knows me and she knows one positive word and I'm going to do it.  That was all the encouragement I needed.  So I made the call.

 

Yes, I was nervous.  But buying from a local dealer meant I could recover if I did not like them.  They look beautiful, like nice furniture, so they actually work well in my room that has a piano and fancy white couches and glass tables.  Of course the wood work is great, but also a shout out to Klipsch on the grills.  Super perfect.

 

I have not turned on the TV since they arrived.  Music-only is so much fun now, especially with no TV screen involved, for some reason.  I really love these things and I'm thanking my lucky stars to experience them.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Bubo said:

 

Congratulations

 

What gear are you using to drive them, and any CDs or Vinyl recordings that sound better than others on the CWs ?

 

How big is your room, photo ?

 

The room is 14 feet wide by about 17ft deep.  The ceilings are 9 feet on one side and 12 ft on the other.

 

2002580488_CornwallsintheLivingRoom.jpg.b409d70e459a9072a1fbf54d411db8d8.jpg

 

That table is temporary, but has the dimensions I'm looking for in a wooden media cabinet.  After days of searching I found a piece and that has been ordered.

1628053431_benchwright-media-console-o(1).jpg.edc9480050dd43ad7c295b9a9da7bed9.jpg

 

Now, I'm looking for the perfect listening chair

 

I am currently driving the Cornwalls with a Denon AVR-X6200W.  But I am considering dedicated two-channel options, such as the Benchmark AHB2 amplifier paired with some sort of Pre-amp DAC.  Also considering a Hypex nCore or Purifi Eigentakt based amplifier kit that can operate in an enclosed cabinet like this, at this altitude (6500ft) and not get hot.  I may use the AVR as a pre-amp for some time as well, so one step at a time.

 

I stream all my music from Spotify, or maybe Pandora for casual background music.  I use a Logitech Squeezebox to deliver the digital stream to the AVR and I have a little Surface tablet to control what I play from the chair.

 

 

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2 hours ago, rgdawsonco said:

 

The closest Certified Heritage Dealer to me that has Cornwalls to demo is Tulsa, Oklahoma - long way from Colorado Springs, CO.

 

The first time I heard Cornwalls, I was about 24, so 36 years ago.  I loved them.  My brother has some original Cornwalls and raves about them still decades later.  But what put me over the edge, finally, was my son, who has been overseas since going into the Air Force 10 years ago, got stationed in the US and asked me what to buy for speakers for "Home Theater" since he finally had a room for one.  I advised him to get a pair of Cornwalls and not worry about multi-channel, yet.  He bought the Cornwalls and just raved and raved about them.  I read every review, as I have read every review of Klipsch products, but I even watched every YouTube review I could find.  Steve Guttenburg and Andrew Robinson both raved about them, including the modern Heritage line's "audiophile level" qualities.  Steve Guttenburg mentioned how great they sound at low and normal listening levels, too, and that they sound "large", which is what I was looking for.  If you have ever listened to, say, a Jazz ensemble in a small club, from a table about 15-20 feet away, then, then that is what I mean by large sound.  Anyway, I had a well formed mental idea of what I expected/hoped of them.

 

Then I asked myself, why do I not have these yet?  Well, the only room in my house that has room for them is the formal living room.  You know, the room that has the nicest furniture, that you look at and take prom pictures in, but never use.  It has hitherto been off limits for audio/video gear  (trust me the rest of the house is full of gear).  I had to dispense with that rule.  I used some KLF-20's to experiment with the room.  I also used some Paradigms Studio 60s.  Just to see how the room would sound and experiment with how I could arrange the furniture and keep the room looking nice.    After a week of this, my wife mentioned she likes music in that room.  She knows me and she knows one positive word and I'm going to do it.  That was all the encouragement I needed.  So I made the call.

 

Yes, I was nervous.  But buying from a local dealer meant I could recover if I did not like them.  They look beautiful, like nice furniture, so they actually work well in my room that has a piano and fancy white couches and glass tables.  Of course the wood work is great, but also a shout out to Klipsch on the grills.  Super perfect.

 

I have not turned on the TV since they arrived.  Music-only is so much fun now, especially with no TV screen involved, for some reason.  I really love these things and I'm thanking my lucky stars to experience them.

 

 

You picked the right version to jump in on. These are the best by far of all the CW's.

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