My personal love affair with Klipschorn speakers! Good to be here!

[GmanKlipsch]

Well, I have no idea why I never thought there could be a forum dedicated to my favorite speakers and a bunch of guys that adore the Klipsch sound as much as I do, but I am glad to have found it

Now that I have a biased and captive audience, I will kick off my forum newbieness by describing my Klipsh love story......

My dad had owned a pair of mamouth Klipschorns since 1976 but the few times I visited him (divorced parents) all I heard out of them was low volume jazz and classical music, sounded nice but never thought of it to much.

In 1980, during my second college spring break, I spent 3 days at his place and that is when I fell in love with Klipschorn speakers !!!

I was just back from a weekend run of Dead concerts and was jonesing for some good vibes and live music so, with my dad at work, I thought it was time I touched his audio system and see what it could do.

Took a couple of tokes out on the deck, came inside and popped in the tape deck the best show I had with me (GD 12/31/78 RM>C>C) and turned the Marantz power amp volume dial to +5db and sat in the sofa and.....

OMG, the music came alive and I jumped up onto my feet with my heart pounding hard....

I thought I was in the front row of the concert!!! Holy ****, I could barely hear myself think, the sound stage was there, the sound pressure was there, musical instrument transparency and tonality was there.... I was truly enveloped by the music I love, wow! bliss! yeah!

Though I became paranoid a few minutes later thinking everyone on the block could hear the tunes so loud I dialed it dawn a bit, I realized it was the speakers and the horns giving off this wonderful concert like feel, and for the first time it felt like really "being there".

Needless to say, I went through as much music as I could in those 3 days and upon returning to campus I was on a mission to get me a pair asap. What I didn't realize (nor bothered to ask) was the high price of these speakers (made even worse since I was a pennyless college student!) and of course the proper gear needed to drive them.

It took me 6 years to save up for them and in 86 I bought a pair of Klipschorns and a used Mark Levinson power amp to drive them (hey, touring, car and student loans + running after women didn't allow for much savings, hehehe). I finally had them crammed into my pre-war 9th floor one bedroom apt in NYC, yes!! I must say, thank god for those thick brick & cement walls 'cuse I certainly pushed the "noise" envelope as far as I could

Fast forwarding to today, my K-horns are in the basement (not being used, vetoed in 97 after marriage - size issue, tho trade off was a pair of Chorus II driven by a pair of dedicated MacIntosh 275 tube power amps w/Telsa KT88 matched quads, Conrad Johnson PV-12A pre-amp (rest of the audio gear is only decent) which is still today my set-up. Anyhow, I'm still infatuated as if it were day one, and am not speaking of the wife

Many things have been improved upon or have failed over the years. As with many things, love is in the eye (or should I say ear) of the beholder. I have listened to systems that put mine to shame ($$ wise) and have done many comparisons when I could (I always have reference material in the car) so FWIW, in my subjective opinion, the big Klipschorn speakers are my favorite, especially when married to an all "tube" system that imparts smooth richness across the board.

Now flame away if you wish, I could care less, it has been and still is gold to my ears!

Oh, yes, I see that many of you have these bad babies in your HT setups... and I will need to set one up soon, me likey the idea!!!

post edit: I just realized that what I have been referring to and calling "abbreviatedly" Cornwalls are in fact classic Klipschorns (V shaped back that fits into a corner).... post ammended appropriately.

[garymd]

Welcome to the forum from another Deadhead.

I bought my cornwalls new in '80 and many a Dead show has been played through them. The first being Estimated>Eyes, from Englishtown '77 (now DPs #15). Had to be the first thing I played when I got the corns home (I was at the show).

Now it's mostly old jazz LPs on the Khorns but still plenty of Jerry & Phil and still the cornwalls quite often. Keep reading. There's a wealth of knowledge here.

[kittybuddy]

when I was in high school I had a couple of friends that had cornwalls. I always said that if I every stay in one place long enough I would get a pair of klipsch. Well I am 43 and staying put and last year I bought a pair lascala's. They are worth the wait. They are in basement that I am remodeling and they well be the crown jewls of my cave.

[organ]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing your story. I agree with you about Klipsch giving the concert like feel. I was also blown away the first time I got to pump up my Klipsch. I thought that "concert sound/feel" could never be achieved at home until I got my Klipsch.

Maurice

[edwinr]

Welcome. Glad to hear you like the Klipschorn. There's nothing like them.

[maxg]

Cant imagine anyone on this forum finding anything to flame here.

Congrats on finding your sound so early and welcome to the forum.

[3dzapper]

Welcome aboard!

In '77 I went to The Music Box to buy a pair of Corns, They delivered the Klipschorns the following Thursday.

The first album I played at home was "Europe '72". I was living in a thin walled duplex at the time. Sorry Hope.

Rick

[Colin]

Welcome! Horns love tubes!

[Mallette]

"Though I became paranoid a few minutes later thinking everyone on the block could hear the tunes so loud I dialed it dawn a bit,..."

Got news for you...everyone on the block COULD hear the tunes! One of the few times chemical-induced "paranoia" isn't.

As to 'horns in HT, I hope to experience that pretty soon. My listening rig (and I don't know how accurate my sig in equipment in use at the moment) is 'horns RF and LF, Cornwall center, and Frazier MKIV's in the LR and RR. Feed is two channel through a Hafler passive ambience recovery device for center and rears. However, I am about to "retire" my big Denon Dolby Pro Logic reciever that has served my video and seoondary listening system in favor of a Dolby Digital rig up there as I am beginning my DVD-A surround recording experiments and need a reference system for that purpose. Since the Denon is a pretty decent amp (and I've become somewhat less critical of such things as I find other issues, IMHO, have more impact on the sound) I'm adding to the main system wired discretely the the 5 speakers. Of course, I won't (at least without gyrations) have DDigital, but I will have plenty of Pro Logic from the dish to experiment with.

Should be fun.

Dave

[mark1101]

Wecome to the forum. I too love to listen to the Dead, and especially on my cornwall system. Phil's bass reproduction really retains that sustaining character very well on the corns. I hope to attend some more shows this summer so I can listen to them later on the Klipsch. Always exciting to me.

[laurenc319]

hi,

I listen to the Dead also on occasion ... great stuff. I didn't discover them until after Jerry G died, but at least I discovered them. Quite a contrast to the rest of the stuff I listen to ... Davis, Coltrane, Monk and about 300 other jazz CDs. Mix this in with Mahler, Mozart and Brahms and some bluegrass and blues and it's quite an eclectic musical experierence.

I have a pair of B&W Matrix 2s which were my preferred speakers until I came across a pair of used Fortes. This may have set me off on a quest ...Khorns or bust. I just have to hide them from my wife. Got any ideas how I do that ?

Larry

[GmanKlipsch]

Thaks for the warm welcome!

Yes indeed the Klipsch love tubes. I look forward finding out other ways to get even more out of them.

I myself have over 1,000 CDs of all genre and when it comes to Jazz and R&B my Klipsch make me feel like being in a "cozy, velvety and smokey" New Orleans or Chicago night club, they are a born match for all Rock & Roll and can even make the wifes' Heavy Metal or any outdor stadium venue come to life!

... of course after losing the count at over 250 shows, Phil's bass and Jerry's guitar always make me feel warm and fuzzy inside....

(one of these days will have to explore some classical as well)

[Audio Flynn]

From a fellow Chorus II owner

Welcome!

Cool story.

[jt1stcav]

Isn't the Klipsch forum great? Nice bunch of horn lovers here...welcome aboard!

My dad bought his new raw birch Decorator Cornwalls back in '79, and since then I've always been intrigued with their life-like presence and in-your-face imaging. I too, used to sneak in my dad's music room when my folks were at work and turn on his system (consisting of a Technics SU-8099 115 watt integrated amp, a Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, and a Technics SL-1700MK2 'table with a Signet MM cartridge)...Dammit if Pink Floyd, Led Zep, AC/DC, and Fleetwood Mac didn't sound as good as the Bach, Franck, and Widor classical organ music my dad played all the time (maybe even better, yes?)!

Almost bought a pair of '84 Cornwalls at the Robbinson Barracks Post Exchange in Stuttgart, Germany, but since I was in a little 2-man room, there just wasn't any place for me to set them up. So I settled on a pair of smaller JBL L112 3-way monitors that I kept for 20 years (the PX was fresh out of Heresys). Since then, I still longed for a pair of Cornwalls...as fate would have it, when our folks moved to CT in '99, our dad left his Cornwalls to my youngest brother; he, on the other hand had an eye for my Magnepans. He mentioned a trade of loudspeakers one day in passing, not thinking I'd even be interested anymore...I was, naturally, so we traded! Several years later my bro sold my Magnepans for a pair of used Klipsch KG 5.5s...and I still have our dad's Cornwalls! I'm not using them at the moment due to the tiny room my system's presently in, but once I can relocate the Cornwalls to our much larger livingroom, then my favorite Klipsch horn speakers will sing once again in a room that's meant for their sonic qualities!