Klipsch Cornwall III or Tyler Acoustics PD-15

Can't comment on the differences or smoothness of sound but want you to also think about resale. If upgradeitis
hits, you will always be able to sell the Klipsch brand.
Tyler Acoustics...may take awhile! Just a thought.

A point to reckon because the upgradidtis has been happening a little to often to me. But am hoping a good horn will make me forget the gear and buy music instead.

I just bought some older cornwalls and love the death out of them. I really liked them in a smaller room. In a larger room I find the bass to be kind of bloated. For some reason the smaller room really helped this. They are not a whoa the crowd or demo speaker...they just play some great tunes and get you excited to listen to the music.

Macd - I hate to get off the subject of the thread but I saw your comments about the Cornwall in a small room. I have a bedroom-size listening room (11' X 13') and I was looking at a pair of Cornwall II locally, but I figured they were way too large for the room. Maybe I am wrong and would regret not trying them. Can you tell me the approximate size of the small room you are playing them in? Thanks, Jason.

I would try Tyler's speakers. He is a great guy to deal with and has a 20 day trial period. I would call and talk with Ty.

Rohitdev, these are two completely different animals. I have much more experience with the Cornwalls than with Tylers (PD-15s), but I will venture to guess that if you like one you probably won't like the other. You really need to find a pair of both speakers and take a good, long listen. Since Tyler Acoustics is an active concern, you should probably consult with a dealer regarding their products or an A'gon member with more experience than me.

A few words about the Cornwall: it's a great, classic speaker and they really rock! Macd says that his work great in his small room; maybe they do. My experience was not as good in my 10.5 x 13 room, even with moderate treatments. It's not that they didn't sound good, it's just that they were waaay too much speaker for the room. Maybe with a 2W amp you would be OK, but my with 12W SET it was not a good match. If you do elect to go with Cornwalls, I suggest late model Cornwall IIs and make sure that the crossovers are in good shape. You can buy repair kits or new crossovers here Critesspeakers.com

Another alternative in he Klipsch line might be the Heresy, Chorus or Forte speakers. Or the homebrewed and so-called CS-1 speakers (again, see Crites' web site). I have a pair of these and find they provide nearly the same midrange and top end as the Cornwall, but with significantly less bass response. They can be successfully used with a sub. If you are interested, drop me a PM and I'll hook you up with a friend that builds them and can answer any questions you might have.

If you are looking at Cornwalls you might also consider some of the Altec Lansing speakers that can provide similar performance. I have owned the Model 14, 15 and 17, and they all work pretty well in a smallish room. Although I really love the 604 driver used on the Model 17, the 14 works best in my room and that is what has stayed. They are big, but not as big as Cornwalls or the Tyler PDs. Great but controllable bass response, and the Mantaray horn can be tuned somewhat through careful application of damping material. Not necessarily a better sound than the Cornwall, but in my opinion it is more musical - smoother and less gritty.

The room is 12x12. You would not think its the best for sound...but the cornwalls sounded great!!!

How about the Cornscalas? They are supposedly having the bass of cornwalls and the open mids and highs of the Lascalas? Has any body built these by Bob Crites design? I have exchanged emails with him and he seems like a true gentleman. Since I havent heard either the Cornwalls or Lascalas I was wondering if sometime who has actually built / heard them can comment on their sound?

The Cornscala can be a very, very good speaker, depending on who built it and how much thought they put into the process. If you look carefully at Crites' site and read the many comments on Klipsch and other sites, it's apparent that this is very much a roll-your-own experiment.

The positives include that, properly constructed, the Cornscala can deliver a different (not necessarily better) sound than a stock Cornwall. Some would describe it as smoother. To me it's just different. The other advantages are that a Cornscala has almost certainly been modernized and cleaned-up with new crossovers and wiring. Also, you have choices in components (horns, high range drivers and crossovers) that will allow you to tailor the speaker for the room and listening distance to some degree, IF you have a builder who is savvy and will build you a unit to your specs and not sell you a pre-built pair of garage toys.

The negatives: it's still a friggin' huge Cornwall cabinet. Doing it right means that the original cabinet needs to be reinforced with bracing and/or thickened (1.5"-2" seems to work best for resonance control). And, to my ears, the Cornscalas I have heard and sounded somewhat less coherent at near listening distances than the stock Cornwall. I think that Cornscalas are better for larger rooms, but I'm sure that there are those who will disagree.

Thanks Br3098. So despite my intial skepticism about horns I decided to build myself the Wayne Parham Four Pi speakers with the upgraded drivers and stock crossovers. And I am not a skeptic anymore. The midrange and dynamics of this pair absolutely kills the Quad 22L2 that I am replacing. Very coherent sounding in my 18' x 22' living room. I have just been listening to them for a few days. The 4 pis are designed to be pretty flat from 16kHz to 50Hz after which they roll off quickly. F10 = 30 Hz. There is good usable extension down to 40 Hz in my living room even before the woofer break in. The speakers are seeing probably less than 1 watt most of the time. After the 2226 woofer breaks freq response from 50Hz to 30 Hz is supposedly to increase by as much as 10 db. So they are best when used with a couple of subs crossed over high (~ 100Hz) and barely audible to slightly augment and smooth out bass response. WAF in the living room is preventing me from getting subs currently. I have to figure out a way to awaken the JBL 2226 woofer by pumpimg ~ 60 watts or so. I am estimating that would be ~ 110 db at my listening position! Have to do this when the wife and kids aren't home!

Here's a cool way to mitigate the WAF re: a subwoofer:

Altec Lansing Universal Coffee Table Subwoofer

I have always wanted one of these, but always seem to just miss them on eBay and craigslist.

I think it might be an error to presume how speakers will sound based on just the "size of the room"; I think it's the dimensions (ie, the relationship (the ratios) between length, width, and height) of the room (plus the the shape of the room - if it's not all 90 degree angles) plus the surfaces/finishes (which absorb or reflect) that dictate the sound more than just the size (small, medium, large, etc.); and of course the quality of the sound will also depend on where/how the particular speakers are placed in the room, and also the location of the listening position. Some of these things can be easily fixed (by moving the speakers or the listening postion), or somewhat easily fixed (by adding treatments to the surfaces), but changing the dimension relationships and the angles of the surfaces relative to one another is generally difficult/expensive. In the end, you either have to be very good with calculations or you need to listen to the system in the room to really know what you are going to get.

The Cornwall speakers are very classy in a traditional way. Nice finish on the cabinets. And the sound is smooth and detailed. Better resale. While some people do not like the horn sound I find that horns are realistic. Klipsch speakers do provide a lot of detail. Too much for some. What is this bass, bass, bass obsession in the American market place? Whenever I have heard live music in an intimate setting, or small stage I have never noticed the bass being in the front and overpowering everything else. It is background, backbeat, keeps a beat. Cellos are nice, and so is a string bass, but neither should overwhelm a piano ,especially the upper notes of a piano. I think the Cornwall and La Scala speakers are excellent speakers. A great value too with all things considered.

Four years later. Do you think he is still shopping these two speakers?

Shakey