Now that I have my Cornwall II's and Heresy's what do I power them with?

[Shodrewken]

Hi all, let me give you a little history of the beginning of my speaker obsession.

Just
before I began my fall last year, my brother and I visited our aunt and
uncle in Little Rock, Arkansas. BTW Arkansas is beautiful, nothing but
green hills with beautiful trees, and many big lakes.

Anyway, we
we're there for a week, and upon getting settled in my aunt had made us
lunch, so we all sat down and caught up with each other and what we had
going on. During the conversation I had mentioned to my uncle that I
was looking into purchasing some speakers for our living room back home
to start a HT system. I had asked him if I should get one of those
completed systems with the little satellite speakers and powered sub.
He said that they were all right, but if I wanted some real sound that
I should give his system a listen to. So we headed to the living room,
and low and behold he had a MINT, and I mean MINT pair of Cornwall I's,
not a scratch, ding, dent on them. He got them for a steal too. His
daughter-in-laws father is a A/V buff, and he actually had his last
house's entertainment room build around his four Cornwall's. Anyway, I
think my uncle ended up paying $800 for basically a brand new pair of
Cornwall I's. Just for the ones wondering what the rest of his HT
speakers consisted of, I think they were KG 4's in the rear, some
Klipsch sub, and a Klispch center channel.

Continuing on, he
had my brother and me sit down and have a good long listen to them, and
within the first 10 minutes I was hooked. I have never heard such a big
presentation with such clarity, a preciseness as these speakers were
able to produce. I know, people will argue that there are better
speakers out there, and I'm sure there are, but for this price range,
and in my own audio listening experiences I had never heard anything
quite like it. So after enjoying we week with my family, ( and the
speakers =P ) my brother and I headed home. As soon as I got back, I
put what spending money I had left for my trip in my bank account,
fired up the computer and started my search for my own pair of
Cornwall's.

From
last September I had found a decent amount of Cornwall's online,
however they were pretty much always out of state. And I didn't want to
pay a whole bunch of money for shipping, and risk them getting damaged
in the process. Well about two weeks ago, my dreams were answered. I found a pair of Cornwall II's on eBay, about 40
miles east of where I live. Cosmetically, they were in almost
excellent condition. Just one minor nick on the right side of one of
the speakers. I had contacted the seller and he gave me the history on them. Well the next day I drove out to his storage room, and he gave me a demo of them. Boy oh boy, the same clarity and full presentation was there, and best of all the pictures I saw online were right on, speakers were indeed in great condition. So I brought them home, and have been enjoying the heck out of them. Prior to the Cornwall's I had purchased a pair of Heresy I's I believe they are.

Well now that my story is done, ( or should I say my ranting, =P ) my question is, what type of amp? receiver? should I hook these up to? I've been looking at a Yamaha RX-V661 HT receiver. It gives 90 watts per channel . Will that be enough power for the Cornwall's and Heresy's. Is there a different type of amp I should consider looking at. I'm pretty new to this stuff, so everyones advice , insight is appreciated .

Thanks!

[LoudnClear]

Hi. I'm crazy about my cornwall II's as well.

So how much are you planning to spend on your equipment to power them?

What is your source material? CDs, DVDs, Vinyl?

You can go solid state or tube, many recommend tube for the utmost experience. I have not gotten there yet.

So in my long range viewfinder, is the following equipment, the owners of the companies are members of this forum.

Preamp: Juicy Music Audio Blueberry Extreme: about $1895, Mark D.
Power Amp: NOSValves VRD mono blocks: about $2700 for a pair, Craig

If you're interested in them you can search the forum about them.

Otherwise, if you don't want to go that far yet, you can get a good clean solid state reciever, I'm partial to Denon. If you spend about $900 - $1800 on a receiver by Denon, Yamaha, or Harman Kardon you can't really go wrong for solid state.

This is my viewpoint, and I'm sure there are others on here that are 180 degrees opposite in their thinking, so you'll just have to be open to opinions and consensus.

The most important thing is that you have fun with your Cornwalls.

[HarryO]

....and within the first 10 minutes I was hooked

Yep, Them Big Ol' Uglys will do that to you!

Denon or Yamaha would be my choice if I were to go SS Surround. Better out there but you pretty much have to "Mortgage the farm" if ya know what I mean. These two are hard to beat for the bucks.

Nice pick up on CWs. What, no pics? You gotta show pics!

Harry BTW, Cornwalls with hot, glowing, glass is another....and within the first 10 minutes I was hooked

[colterphoto1]

"within the first 10 minutes I was hooked."

Yeah, that's pretty much the stardard time period.

Welcome to the Madness!

[oldbuckster]

www.vanns.com ..............Take a look there, compare units,,,,,,,,,,,,Home Theatre, make sure there is no drop off in power when in 5.1....If it's 90 watts per in 2 channel it should be 90 watts all channels driven...........

[Shodrewken]

Hey thanks for the quick replies everyone!

I'll mainly be using cd, and mp3, once I get a proper receiver. I have a connector for my iPod. I also wanted it to be able to pair my speakers up with my dads HD TV.

So, I guess I'm looking to get a solid state receiver, I don't think I'm up for the tubes yet.

I'm looking to spend maybe $500 max on a receiver, thats about as much as a college kid working at Trader Joes and going to school can afford at the moment. =)

I'm actually about to go to work right now, I'll try to get some better shots later tonight when I get home.

Thanks again all!

-Andrew

[IndyKlipschFan]

Trader Joes, love that place!!

You at some point will have to discover if your a 5.1 or 7.1 guy. (So 5 speakers in your room or 7 , the .1 is the sub whether you have one or 2 subs..LOL)

The optimal speaker for your center is another Conrwall. (So that when your watching a scene in the movie something goes from left to center then right... the sound is seamless...) The nivana center is what I will call an older Vertical Cornwall. (Usually placed on the side so the horns like the other Cornwalls are horizontal now.) The Heresies will make incredible side and back speakers. The sub will depend on the size of the room but at least a 12" if not a 15" for the booms and explosions to keep up with what you will hear through the Cornwalls.

As for your original question on a amp.. Do not loverlook what I call last years model discounts. Harman Kardon, Yamaha, Denon all good choices. You can find a receiver that is 2-3 years old still with ALL OF THE WHISTLES and bangs that was over 1,000.00 in it's day now for 500- 800 easy. (Ebay) (Audiogon) Even Best Buy, Circuit City, HH Gregg or Fry's Electronics. Look around, ask some questions in here too. Your in the right place to ask!

[IndyKlipschFan]

One last thing, make sure the watts per channel is the same for the sides and rears. There is a lot more info there than you think, no need to under power them..

At close to 100 WPC or more... you will be fine! It is that "dynamic power" your looking at to make the quietest moments to the crescendos sing!

[Frzninvt]

Firstly, those are Cornwall I's not II's. The II's had all the driver's flush mounted to the motorboard and the horns were composite not metal. They also had input cups on the back that had binding posts that accepted the banana jacks.

The lower line Yamaha's and the Pioneer Elite receivers have a tendency to sound bright and harsh when paired with Klipsch.

I would suggest Harman Kardon, B&K, Denon, or Onkyo. Check uBid for closeouts and AudioGon as well once you get an idea as to what receiver you will be using.

[Arky]

cviper: congrats & welcome.

Guys, another example of what proper set up Klipsch can do to the public.

[Shodrewken]

Thanks for the heads up that they're Cornwall I's not II's.

I had a chance to try two receivers this week, one Sony, and one Yamaha. To make a long story short, I didn't like the sound from either of them. I borrowed the Sony from my boss, its model number is STR-GA8ES. Its actually a older receiver, I think he purchased it in 2001. It had decent lower end, but I wasn't impressed with the mids and highs it had my Cornwall's throwing out. Then I tried my bro's receiver, it was the Yamaha with the model number of RX-V559. The high end sounded nice, but there wasn't really much bass to speak of. I was actually getting more lower end with my cheapo Philips receiver. Anyway, now I'm looking at a Onkyo receiver. Its model number is TX-SR703. To me it looks like a pretty sweet receiver, and its just in my price range. I've read nothing but good reviews for it online, however, not one of them were using "real" speakers, so I just wanted to know your guys opinion for this receiver and if it would go well with my cornwall's and my heresy setup. Thanks again, all the advice I'm getting here IS MUCH appreciated!

Oh heres my other Cornwall,

[Shodrewken]

Oh and one more question, how can I tell what year they were made? they're model numbers are 34Y328, and 34Y329. And my heresy's are 61S338, and 61S339. Thanks again!

[Islander]

S is 1978 and Y is 1983. See http://www.progressive-engineering.com/klipsch/klipsch_date_codes.htm

You're lucky that you were able to try out the receivers with your speakers before buying. Most often, people buy without hearing first and then get used to whatever they wind up with.

[Shodrewken]

So yeah, do any of you guys have experience with Onkyo receivers? If you do PLEASE share the wealth! = ), thanks!

[HarryO]

Nice CWs!

Onkyo doesn't have the best service name. I think I'd look up the failure rate and compare to Denon or Yamaha. The CWs will give some SS amps/receivers a hard life. Some can be very harsh with the CWs and Heresy models. Denon isn't bad. My son has a Denon 3600 with CWs and the sound is very good out of it. Pretty smooth for SS.

Harry