boler Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 I am in the process of purchasing a pair of Cornwalls circa-1981 and I need advice on what manufacture amps would be reasonable to drive them. The price range would be $300-1500. The question that is also on my mind is, do Cornwalls sound better with a digital or analog amp? What are the price ranges for a digital amp and digital CD player? I have an option to purchase a circa 1970 Quad 405 power amp (100 watt /per channel) with the Quad-33 pre-amp with dual voltage, yet I would appreciate some informed input on what would be a good amp to drive the Cornwalls. What do some of you think about the Quad power amp /pre-amp combo's for driving a pair of Cornwalls? Other amps that come to mind are Macintosh,Denon, and Harmon Kardon? I appreciate all informed views as I am new to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boom3 Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 This is a perennial topic in audio. The vast majority agree that not all amps sound the same, yet there is great disagreement why that is so. I would stay with analog amps right now. Digital amp technology is not quite mature enough for high-resolution audio. Leave it to the boom car/"home theater in a box" crowd for the moment. I have no experience with the Quad amps, however, you need to be cautious about buying any product 34 years old, and a niche product at that. At least the Klipsch Heritage line has a solid foundation of factory and after-market parts support. Many folks on this forum drive Cornwalls and other Heritage models with tube amps. I will reserve judgement on that. However, tube amps do, and this has been proven many times, exhibit considerable variations of frequency response when driving real world loudspeaker loads. Some have pronounced all tube amps as high-priced tone controls. Again, I want to try tube amps with my Cornwall IIs, someday and make up my own mind. I am driving my 1986 Cornwall IIs with a Sumo Polaris power amp. It is rated at 120 w/ch RMS into 8 Ohms. It's an FET design, which was popular in the 70s but seems to have fallen out of favor. My experience-from 32 years of building many speakers- has been that bass-reflex speakers, like the Corns, need a solid-state amp to help control the low end. The Corns-as much as I love 'em-do have a bit of tubbiness in the bass, and I think a tube amp might exacerbate that. The Klipschorn is another animal altogether, so I can't (and wouldn't) make a generalization about how they interact with tube amps. Again, many K-horn owners are happy with tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 Several Forum members are using Scott Integrated Amps with Cornwalls. I often use a Scott 299 with mine and the combination produces excellent results IMHO. You could check with Craig (Nos/Valves) on the Forum and see what he might have available or what he may have knowledge of. Many of us have gone that route with great satisfaction. McIntosh seperates would be another excellent option to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 I actually have more vintage integrated amps then I know what to do with right now. A bad habit of mine caused the over flow. I just can't seem to say no to trade ins !! If interested send me a email I have some completely decked out with all my tweaks guaranteed to make your Cornwall's smile and others that are still stock if you like taking chances to save a few bucks. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 In general, recommendations for amplifiers for Cornwalls should be the same arguments for amplifiers for other big ole horns. Yet they are NOT. The more sensitive a loudspeaker is, the easier it is to couple it with an amplifier to provide the musical headroom. Twenty watts is all the power that most big ole horns need for many types of music in average size rooms. The lower the power requirements, the more important the quality of the FIRST FEW WATTS. Lower cost tube amplifiers can do just as well or better - with big ole horns as superlative Pass Laboratories Supersymmetry Balanced Single-Ended Class-A X250 monster amplifiers (http://enjoythemusic.com/magazine/archives/). The wider, flatter and most dynamic frequency response sounds the best in the long-run. Normally, low or wild impedance curves can indeed give a weak tube amplifier a hard time. The overall frequency response is shaped by the driver impedances the amplifier cant control the woofer. On the Cornwall, the lowest impedance value is 5-ohms at 20 and 100 Hz and the highest value is 75 Ohms. Nominal impedance corresponds to average "8 Ohms" value. But, according to the Belgium audio site, it might also be defined as "6 Ohms" as well. Nonetheless, this is NOT too bad for a good tube amplifier to drive. If it had NOT been for the high-frequency bounce at 5-9kHz, I might never have upgraded my Corns to classic Klipsch corner Khorns they sounded great, even at loud volumes in a large room with flea-powered tube Bottlehead 2A3 Paramour amplifiers (rated 3.5, 6.5 watts maximum). Yet, the big 15 vented woofer of my super-sensitive walnut-oiled Cornwall 1s, with their B2 crossovers, was something special. It gave a broad bump to the 80-100 Hz range. This bump should offset most impedance weaknesses of most tube amplifiers. Therefore, I think Cornwalls are EXCELLENT choices for low-powered, but great sounding, 70s vintage harmon/kardon single-transformer solid-state 330 series (or the twin-transformer 430, etc., versions) receivers and refurbished vintage integrated tube amplifiers. Ya see, horns LOVE tubes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 ---------------- On 12/15/2004 12:52:15 PM Colin wrote: Therefore, I think Cornwalls are EXCELLENT choices for low-powered, but great sounding, 70’s vintage harmon/kardon single-transformer solid-state 330 series (or the twin-transformer 430, etc., versions) receivers and refurbished vintage integrated tube amplifiers. Ya see, horns LOVE tubes! ---------------- Boler, welcome to the forum. I agree with Colin's comments here ... I love my Cornwalls with my 2A3 SET amps, but also find a lot of satisfaction with my NOSValves-rebuilt Scott 299B. I also agree with the Harmon Kardon HK430 recommendation, of which I own two (average Ebay cost: $75/each). They are great sounding receivers with good tuner sections. Get a $10 can of Deoxit and clean the front pots and you're in great shape. Can't hurt to give them a listen. _______________________________ Music Hall MMF-7 Turntable w/ Goldring Eroica H MC Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CDP with 24 bit/192 KHz Upsampling Wright Sound WPP-100C Phono Stage JF Lessard Pantheon 6SN7 SRPP Preamp w/ RCA 5R4GY & Sylvania 6SN7 JF Lessard Horus Parafeed Cobalt 2A3 Monoblocks w/ Tung Sol 5687 & AVVT 2A3 1976 KCBR Klipschorns with ALK Crossovers Gear Online: Two Channel & Home Theater Systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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