stinger88 Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 I went to an auction today and bought two pair of very large speakers. After reading this board and other info on the speakers, I have purchased 2 1983 Cornwall I speakers for $40 dollars each. Serial numbers 33Y940 and 941. So far I love them. The wife thinks they are way too big and have to go. I am trying to convince her that they are not much bigger than my Polk Audio 8 RTA speakers. My question is this...I have a plain jane Pioneer VSX-D466S receiver powering them, should I start looking at Amps. If so, what kind? By the way, the speakers are in great working condition, the casing appears to be the Birch covered one and is in so so condition. Not falling apart but it has definitely seen some scrapes here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 What's to hate? I think you will find that the majority of folks on this board applaud your good fortune... and especially that fact that you have caught the "Klipsch Bug" and stand on the threshold of understanding what "the pursuit of happiness" really means. The first decision is whether you will pursue building a Home Theater that will covert your wife (and, no doubt, add more Klipsch speakers) or, perhaps, follow the classic two channel route to audio nirvanna. The amp path you seek will vary with your orientation (and your wife's willingness to accept life after her mate has been so bitten. Actually, listening to your new found gems with a quality amp may go along way to convincing your wife that when it comes to horns, beauty is never skin deep but ugly is always to the bone! You'll find plenty of caring Klipsch posters who will be happy for your good fortune and helpful to your migration into the revealing nature of Klipsch as you rediscover the audio/video content in which you have been investing your time. You have taken the time to discover the lineage of your Klipsch find, now , win a stay of execution from your wife and post what gear you have and in what direction you would like to go in the appropriate forum (e.g., Home Theater, Two Channel). Very quickly, you will find responses appropriate to your audio expertise. Welcome aboard the board... and wear your find as a badge of honorable fortune... and not a reason to hate. HornEd Say, if you would like to get rid of those wife abusing monsters at $50 each... ------------------ "HornEd Herd" Front Six Pack: KLF 30's R&L + KLF C-7 KSW-15 Sub, SB-2 Effects Side Surround: KLF 30 on KSW-12 L/R Rear Effects: KLF 10 L/R Rear Center: KLF 10 atop KSW-12 Speaker Support Systems: Mitsubishi RPHD1080i 65" Yamaha RX-V3000 Receiver ... and counting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 I'm not too far in front of you in this quest. I started a few months ago in search of just mildly improving my system that hasn't been used in 4 years (I moved out and it was still at my parents' house). O.k., I get the system set up to find that the eq is toast. Not too much of a problem, it was a BSR EQ-3100 (bout' $150 when new). Being tired of the cheapie boxes I went and got a dbx 1231 from a studio recording equipment store. Now where at $400 spent. Then I sent my Carver reciever for a good going over ($213) and new interconnects (RCA cables) from Monster Cable ($230). So now we're up to $843. Still not being totaly happy I went and ordered a pair of Klipsch KLF-20's in Mahogany ($1,100 with shipping)and those just made EVERYTHING sound different. Fried a couple of tweeters with all the eq settings at the levels for the old speakers. And messed with speaker placement for about three weeks to get the bass right. By this time I stopped asking my girlfriend if it "sounds right" after changing something. Decided the receiver still wasn't cutting it so I found a Carver C-1 preamp on eBay for $150. Using it as the preamp (duh) and the receiver as the amp only, found the amp section of the receiver was on it's way out. O.K......new amp. Heard some good things about Rotel being a nice match-up so I paid through the nose for an RB-1080 two channel (200 wpc at .03% THD). The C-1 still sounds really harsh so NOW I'm in the market for a McIntosh C-30 preamp (used but in great shape, about $1,000). By now the ol' Gusdorf 5451 cabinet/rack all this sets in starting to bow at the shelves pretty good. Found a cabinet from Studio Tech (model U-48 in Rosewood) for half price because they're closing out the old models (regularly $899 + $46 for casters). Then after all that it would be a good idea to get some sort of surge protector/line conditioner. I picked out one from Monster Cable (HTS-5000) which can be had on eBay for $370 + shipping. So now the grand total damage is $3,675 and will probably hit just over $5,000 when it's "done". So yes, this hobby can be very expensive and addicting. Have fun!! ------------------ Tom KLF-20 Mahogany Carver C-1 (But want a Mac C-30!) Rotel RB-1080 Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge Carver TL-3100 CD Yamaha K-1020 Cassette (maybe being mothballed) dbx 1231 EQ H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer Monster Interlink 400mk II Monster Interlink 300 mk II Original 12ga. Monster Cable This message has been edited by tblasing on 05-21-2001 at 10:10 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 sting, congrats much as, sans getting them free, that's the best corn buy i've seen yet on here & i've seen a few. & at that price/value ratio they may as well have given them away heed the words of ed & tblasing though - that $80 could end up costing u thousands have u tried using the corn tops as furniture as a possible wife pleaser? of course guys like ed & me look to the tops as future stands for wdst, i.e. more, speakers, but for now i've found i can put pictures & lil statues on mine (& they don't even fall over). they are big units which is also a big reason why they were discontinued by klipsch. because of my space limitations & room layout i have to have mine in the rear of the room. was a real shame until I plucked out another large for a new marantz sr8000 receiver. w/ the high power of this unit & especially using 5 channel stereo mode for music, my corns have regained their life. don't know much on your pioneer, but as I figured & now have found, the cornwalls thrive w/ high quality amps w/ high power/current. i found the marantz gave the corns as well as the other 3 speaks the full rich warmth i was looking for; similar to tube amp seperates. but of course the cornwalls are so efficient at 98.5 db they sound pretty darn good w/ about any amp. but as the lil voice keeps saying, we know they can always sound somewhat better ------------------ Klipsch KLF 30 (front), KLF C-7, Cornwall I (rear) Velodyne HGS-18 sub woofer Monsterbass 400 sub interconnects & Monster CX-2 biwire & Z-12 cable Marantz SR-8000 receiver Sony DVP-C650D cd/dvd player Sony Trinitron 27" stereo tv Toshiba hi-fi stereo vcr Technics dual cassette deck Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital cable box Boa's Listenin Lounge: Klipsch RF-3 (front), RC-3, cheap little Technics (rear) Monster MCX Biwires Sony STR-DE935 a/v receiver Kenwood KR-9600 AM/FM stereo receiver (vintage 1975) Russound AB-2 receiver switch to RF-3 Teac PD-D1200 5-disk cd changer Technics direct drive turntable Sega Genesis game player Sub: None yet rock on! This message has been edited by boa12 on 05-21-2001 at 12:11 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaddict Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 I would have to say, not only Might cost you thousands of dollars........... It WILL!!! Good luck with the wife! ------------------ Sony 333ES Receiver Sony 36" Wega Sony DVP-C650D cd/dvd Klipsch RP-5s Front Klipsch RC-3 Center Klipsch KSB1.1 Rears Boston 10" sub Hughes DD Sat Receiver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 wonderful buy! best I have heard! Cornwalls are not so big - most good speakers have to be 3 to 4 feet, yes, feet, from the wall, although the big old horns are two feet wide, they could be as little as one foot from the side walls, and about 3 to 4 feet from the front wall, so you see (honey) that Cornwalls are not to big for most rooms ... besides classic Klipsch speakers are so sensitive that you can easily spend 3 or 4 times their price on front-end components ... in this case $120!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted May 21, 2001 Share Posted May 21, 2001 Stinger, Congratulations!! Today must've been a lucky day for people buying Klipsch. Today I was lucky enough to find a pair of Klipschorns in oiled walnut for $500. That's for the pair, not each. I still can't believe it. They are in very nice condition too. I just got them home. I wasn't in the market for Klipschorns, but I just couldn't pass it up. It was like they were giving them away. As far as your Cornwalls go, they are excellent speakers. You will notice a difference if you use a good quality amp. I have owned Cornwall I's and they definitely sounded better with quality amplification. The best they sounded was with a tube amp. Get good amplification, and you will be AMAZED at how good they will sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 Don't forget to contact Al Klappenberger for a ALK cross-over upgrade .... see various threads under the "Updating Older Speakers" forum ... Being out $80, you'll be able to upgrade the crossovers and still be hundreds of dollars ahead! Chris ------------------ Denon AVR-3800 McIntosh MC-2105 (Fronts) Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Klipsch Cornwall I's (LF/RF) Klipsch KT-LCR © Klipsch Heresy (RR/LR) Klipsch KSW-12 sub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Excellent buy! I usually shy away from auctions due to lots of junk. But I hear about the treasure... Old, heavy Pioneers used to crank out some good sound. Do some research before you give it away, if it still works good. Some users complain about harshness. To me, it's clean reproduction and I check the sources, looking for the "noise." Yes, there are bad solid state designs. Marantz was owned by Superscope for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 hic-up double post demons... This message has been edited by sunnysal on 06-02-2001 at 11:07 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 first question...do you like the way the cornwalls sound with your old receiver? if so...enjoy and don´t worry about "upgrading"...some of us found that the Klipsch speakers forced us to look for upgraded electronics, but not all. I found that my adcom amplifier sounded way too bright and bothered me over long music sessions with my Klipschorns, so I began looking for new preamps and amps...now I have a $500 pair of Dynaco monoblocks which sounded much better to me with the k-horns and a marantz 7T preamp ($300), I am still in the market for a tube preamp and maybe someday a SET tube amp...however part of this is the "hobby" aspect of classic audio gear, not a dire necessity...I would say that these horn speakers do tend to match well with tube gear, though they can be ruthlessly revealing of noisy electronics...so...you can use the cornwalls as the cornerstone of a audio collecting hobby (which you wife may curse me for suggesting)or simply establish some upstream electronics that sound good to you and enjoy! Best of luck and welcome to the klipsch family. BTW if you decide you will not keep these "wife unfriendly" big speakers, I will guarantee you a 100% profit! Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stinger88 Posted June 2, 2001 Author Share Posted June 2, 2001 Thanks for all the advice. I have looked on the internet for tube amps, just to get the feel. I have been trying to play with the receiver to see what sounds best. I am wondering if I can correct some of the sound with an equalizer. My receiver only has the bass and treble knobs and I seem to want to adjust it more than it allows. ------------------ Cornwall I - Front Polk 8RT - Rear Pioneer vsx-d466s -receiver Yamaha turntable Hitachi HiFi VCR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Stinger, you may wish to search this forum on the key word "equalizer" ... My recollection is that there's a lot of downside to that approach. The contributions were from people far wiser and more conversant on the subject than I ... ------------------ Denon AVR-3800 McIntosh MC-2105 (Fronts) Toshiba SD-3109 DVD Klipsch Cornwall I's (LF/RF) Klipsch KT-LCR © Klipsch Heresy (RR/LR) Klipsch KSW-12 sub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted June 2, 2001 Share Posted June 2, 2001 Yes, big downside, e.g. boosting HF into the clipping range of your amp and blowing speakers. Spend your money on the right amp (especially with an exchange warranty if it doesn't sound right.) Just looked at my old Pioneer and it's the VSX-D407. I meant much older Pioneers. Yes, a new receiver or pre-amp/amp will be necessary. They're decent, but not great. My LaScalas revealed the HF distortion when I got over 1/3 volume, though 1/4 volume was clear and could be heard a block away. This message has been edited by Pete C on 06-02-2001 at 11:32 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q-Man Posted June 3, 2001 Share Posted June 3, 2001 I think I too got a good deal on ebay. I just bought another pair of Klipschorns. They are 8 years old and I got them for $1950.00 . I have to go pick them up Thur., a 200 mile drive from where I live. I've never seen a pair with the AK-3 networks go so cheap. Q ------------------ Q-Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonelobo Posted September 15, 2002 Share Posted September 15, 2002 I guess you've got money to spare. I paid $20 for my 70's era Cornwalls. That's $10/per speaker minus the pennies I found inside. So from my experience you paid 4 times too much....wink, wink, nod, nod...Just picked up a pair of Heresys in great shape for $175 and it made me sick. No speaker should ever cost more than $10. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For those who followed the original thread, I'm making progress on the restoration. Only have one corner left to touch up, then on to ebonizing and shellacing. Congrats on your purchase. But I believe your wife is right and you should send those monstrosities to the Cornwall Disposal Facility in Argyle, Texas. Email me for the address. ------------------ If it don't rust or glow, I don't trust it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin_tx_16 Posted September 15, 2002 Share Posted September 15, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Lonelobo: send those monstrosities to the Cornwall Disposal Facility in Argyle, Texas. Email me for the address. Actually, they have to go through the holding center in Houston first... ------------------ -justin SoundWise promediatech@Klipsch.com /1-888-554-5665 - RA# 800-554-7724 ext 5s> Email Me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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