What's so good about Cornwalls??

The only issue I have with Cornwalls is the woofer is asked to reach to high into the midrange area. That's because the midhorn is to small to reach down further. In a large room where you sit more than 12 ft or more from the baffle of the speaker, the sound can become less detailed than the La Scala or Kornerhorn. I love the bass of a Cornwall 95% of the time over any other Klipsch speaker. Only a Kornerhorn that has been voiced with a room EQ can surpass a Cornwall in dynamics and accuracy in a well damped room. .
 
yes Cornwall crosses over a little higher than a LaScala or a Belle or a Khorn but it still manages a 650 Hz crossover point to the mid driver which is no problem at all in any way for this driver you could cross the K55 at half that frequency given that the appropriate horn was used. I would say that the slightly lower crossover points of the of the big three Klipsch speakers is of benefit but that the real difference that you are hearing is much more likely to be the additional efficiency of the LaScala Belle and the Khorn over the Cornwall not the difference in crossover point. The K33 is fine up to well above the 650Hz crossover point in fact the latest Cornwall 3 crosses over somewhere between about 800Hz and 850 Hz. Just as a matter of interest given a very large mouth horn the K55 have been used for home playback crossed as low as 100 Hz in some non Klipsch designs. The K55 is a very capable driver.
 
Well they are ok speaker.
Nice looking cabinets.
Sound, typical Klipsch horns, even Crites Band Aids are of minimal improvement, high ESR crossovers with transformers(!?).
Best thing I did was sell my and go back to the Heils.
All the detail, imaging (without drilling a hole in your head), air and near perfect tonality, without a bit of harness.
The nice thing is the Cornwell sell fast, people always get excited about the cabinets...more then the sound I suppose.
There is a reason you see a explosion of AMT designs of late.....
 
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^^ lol ^^
Heils are worthy speakers. Though some Klipsch are bright, I have never heard anyone say the Cornwall are harsh. Not to help anyone thread jack, what Heil are you comparing to the Cornwall? The ones I read about don't go as low as Cornwall, require an amp that can handle a 4ohm load and require more watts.
 
AMT3-specifically, but AMT's with the Great Heil, they can run with about any amp, fairly efficient.
By nature a sweet sounding driver with correct tonality-it can image well without beaming.
Although even efficient speakers benefit from power and control (particulairly in the bass) IMHO-not flea watts, Klispch included.
The AMT3's are rated @ 40hz-my Mojo's go into the low 30's easily not including room gain for either.
Just was stating my opinions on the Cornwalls, and my experience with them and other fellow Klipsch owners I know.
I agree they are better balanced in the bass, then say the Forte, although the best bass I have heard from a Klipsch was the KG 5.5's hands down.
Not meant to be a knock-they are what they are-and these are my observations and opinions, and should be taken as such.
Depending on your music and/or HT taste, there is not a ton of information below 35-30hz, and it can be a determent with TT's and even some recordings, as the subsonic information wastes power and control over the bass your actually hearing.
I think a lot people get carried away with ultimate bass extension, sub bass from a full range speaker, at the expense of efficient tune full bass and mid-bass response, tight transient response, this range which covers the majority of what your hearing in recorded music.
 
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Thereis no way you are going to convince a point source speaker lover that a horn speaker is better. They just can't stand the detail a properly designed horn speaker or line array can produce. They want to hear all the anomalies the room adds to the signal. They don't want to have to worry about hole in the middle or frequency response issues caused by rooms. They don't want to deal with reflections off floors or ceilings. They want just enough definition to place them in a larger space than they are actually in. Horn speakers and line arrays place you right in the middle of the performance, reveal bad mic choices, improper mixing practices and normal recording engineer Tom foolery. Its difficult owning a pair of Kornerhorns or Mcintosh big line arrays. Even some JBL and Altec systems can be a challenge, to. But most of the time its the equipment and the source of listening material being produced in a compromised space that is the problem.
 
Quote twiiii "They just can't stand the detail a properly designed horn speaker or line array can produce. They want to hear all the anomalies the room adds to the signal. They don't want to have to worry about hole in the middle or frequency response issues caused by rooms. They don't want to deal with reflections off floors or ceilings." These statements are all arguments for and in support of horn loudspeakers. "They want just enough definition to place them in a larger space than they are actually in." I don't know exactly what this argues for. "Horn speakers and line arrays place you right in the middle of the performance, reveal bad mic choices, improper mixing practices and normal recording engineer Tom foolery." That's more good reasons for a horn loudspeaker. I can assure you that with a good horn system that there is no problem with centre fill. If you were to turn on the TV and the radio and open the windows and the doors and turn on the blender in the Kitchen then you get to enjoy even more sounds which are not on the recording just in the same way that room reflections alter what is on the recording and then inset that into what you are hearing when you play your favorite recording. I fear that you must have been exposed to some very poor horn loudspeakers or that you have a very distorted perception of reproduced sound. Your source material is what it is and it is in your best interest to alter it as little as possible if you want to hear it for what it is and mot what your room has turned it into. I know very well what point source and line source loudspeakers sound like and I know the issues that they have I have designed them built them and lived with them for very many years. Horn loaded loudspeakers have so very many advantages of which one can take advantage. The less directional your loudspeaker the more trouble the room will cause. Some room problems are simply the result of room dimensions and volume and they (reflection and resonances) must be dealt with and no matter the loudspeaker you use room treatment is your only recourse in such circumstances.

PS: to Polarbear, yes you are correct in a previous post I was in error the Chorus uses a K601 horn the exact same mid horn as used in all Cornwall which did not use the K55/55m, I was mistaken to say it used the K701 which is the horn used in the Heresy and Forte and now the CW3.
 
The only issue I have with Cornwalls is the woofer is asked to reach to high into the midrange area. That's because the midhorn is to small to reach down further. In a large room where you sit more than 12 ft or more from the baffle of the speaker, the sound can become less detailed than the La Scala or Kornerhorn. I love the bass of a Cornwall 95% of the time over any other Klipsch speaker. Only a Kornerhorn that has been voiced with a room EQ can surpass a Cornwall in dynamics and accuracy in a well damped room. .

This is interesting..I just picked up a pair of Cornwall II's, and would like to try replacing the stock 15's with Eminence Kappa 15C, which is supposed to be the same specs as the stock 15", but with some extra range up top. So it may blend better with the horn & fill the lower mids?

Meanwhile I am really enjoying the sound of these things!! fantastic speakers
 
It's ok Automojo. The AMT 3's are wonderful, they aren't going anywhere:rockon:
The Cornwalls have their own sound, very nice of course, picky on amps that drive them tho.
 
What I was saying is a properly designed horn system is vastly superior to most consumer point source speakers placed in the average room. Yes horn speakers don't have to have the whole in the middle and they maintain definition while consumer point source speakers don't. If you like point source get your self a set of Altec 604's Urei monitors with 604 or JBL Drivers or Big 15 inch Tannoy's and do it right. But you have to raise them off the floor and sit very close to them in an acoustically controlled environment. Where with a horn speaker with controlled dispersion you can fudge on the acoustics and sit at an increased distance for more folks to enjoy faithful reproduction. And you don't need to invest in 1000 watt amps when a nice 75 watt amp, either tube or SS will make you very happy. PS you realize this discussion has been going on full steam since AR started building AR-1, 2 and 3'.
 
Upon further thought a midrange horn is much more efficient and accurate reproducing midrange sounds. So the lower you can extend the midrange horn the more accurate your midrange sounds. My favorite midrange horn is an Altec 311X 90. Place a 290 driver and operate it from 300 to 5,000 and then add a pair of altec 950-uHF -ring radiator or a MR-902-16 HF and you have an amazing performer. With this low of crossover, you can choose either horn loaded boxes of various types, folded, w, etc etc or even make a hybrid like a cornwall. A 15 inch woofer only operating up to 250 to 300 hz is a much better performer. Units having the shorting coils, have a magnitude less distortion and that really makes a difference. 20 db is 20 db less distortion. I'm amazed how Magico and B&W brag about how they can produce 120 db at 50 HZ with less than 1% distortion. How about 30, 25, or 20 hz.???? I realize 115 db is all you really need to produce 99% of authentic live un-amplified performances, but 120 db has been sort of the standard set for so many years. Most of the time my system runs at 97 db with 2 watts and at 16 ft the level drops down to 88 db because of the room acoustics. with the occasional 20 watt and 50 watt peaks for 98 to 103 db concert levels. I feel sorry for the guys with 84 to 88 db speakers who are having to use 200 to 500 watt amps to get the same levels and they don't have any head room. I Still have another 7 or 8 db. Of course Korner horn guys are coasting along at 2 to 5 watts. Its great to be a Klipsch Heritage speaker owner! Of course owning the right JBL, EV, or Altec system isn't so bad either.
 
Wow, just came across this thread I started a few years ago. I no longer own the Cornwalls and have moved on to more modern gear (Monitor Audio, Harbeth) but I would like to own another set one day.
 
Wow, just came across this thread I started a few years ago. I no longer own the Cornwalls and have moved on to more modern gear (Monitor Audio, Harbeth) but I would like to own another set one day.
It seems it is the rare thread that ever truly dies.
 
All horns are not honky, only ones that aren't designed properly and integrated properly when used as hybrids. If the woofer section of a Corn wall had the same directivity as the Horn at the crossover point and were integrated properly that honky you hear wouldn't be an issue. That's why I lean toward line array speakers. When designed properly the highs and mids blend properly and the line of mids frequency response extends low enough that the natural widening of low frequency dispersion blends smoothly with the mids. Something that doesn't happen with a Cornwall. That said with a precision processor and Tef analyzer a lot of those issues can be corrected quite easily, Two to 6 db correction hear or there, no more honky, better definition and all the advantages of speakers with high sensitivity and controlled directivity. Or you could use a Lyngdorf or McIntosh Men 220 processor and push a button for an amazing revaluation. Maybe not a total cure, but you would really be surprized.
 
Saying all horns are Honky is like saying all point source speakers are in-efficient or lack definition and there fore must be placed directly on either side of your head up close to your ears. By the way JBL 4430 and 4435 owners would be very offended as would be the DD 67000 and 65000 owners. Those 4 speakers are definitely not honky. Even the old Harkness was not honky. Now a real honky speaker is the mighty JBL paragon. But again with a little care, not so.,
 
I will concede that I need to roll the highs off a little bit, or the Cornwalls can take your head off!
 
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