JBL 4349 or Klipsch Cornwall IV

The first time I listened to Cornwall's it was a pair of II's and I thought the highs were a little bit shrill and the overall sound seemed thin to me.

Last week, I listened to a pair of broken-in Cornwall IV's in a dealer show room that was 14W X 20L x 10H and treated with corner bass traps on the front wall.

The speakers were mated to an all McIntosh solid state front end including a receiver rated at 200 WPC into 4 ohms.

The speakers were two feet off the front wall with ten feet between their centers and ten feet to the listening position. 

My impression, after listening for about an hour and a half with 5 or 6 different CD's, was that the sound seemed veiled and not particularly resolving. I liked the palpability of the large woofer but kept thinking that I needed to sit further away from the speakers as I felt almost "overwhelmed" even at low volumes.

I am trying hard to like a highly efficient American made speaker and do not mean to disparage the Cornwalls.

Would a tube amp make that much of a difference or is it maybe I just do not care for horns?

Thanks for listening, 

Dsper

The “not resolving “ part is most likely due to the Mac equipment!  I owned their high end separates and although they had their positives, I could always hear a bit of a whitish veil over the music.

@dsper 

My first question would be how much toe in was used. Pointed right at you, the sound can be overwhelming. Positioned so that they cross a few feet behind your head seems to be the sweet spot. And you need to have a little distance between them and you for the drivers to blend.

As for the veiling, I can't answer to that. They seem to have very good resolution to me. There are other speakers that are more resolving and articulate, but those tend not to have the tone, texture and involvement that these do.

Oz

@mike_f Totally agree regarding soundstage and imaging, I actually preferred L100 over Dynaudio Confidence 20. They had both height and depth, as well as width. My ears are however sensitive to brightness, this was probably made worse by playing them quite loud. I did not really appreciate their sound at lower volume. 

The 4349 has better midrange, treble is not as fatiguing and they are engaging also at lower volumes. What they do not have is the kick of the L100 (the bass is not as fun) and I also think L100 was more enjoyable with jazz and classical music. No question though, from a Hi-Fi perspective, 4349 is a better speaker. But if I had not experienced fatigue with the L100 that would have been my choice as they are cheaper and fun. 

 @dsper I think I’ve seen a similar review on the Klipsch forum. Interestingly, my dealer had a visit by the Klipsch distributor last week. They demonstrated the Forte III and his impression (at least what he told me) was very much the same as yours. I know however that he prefers more analytical speakers so not sure what to make of it.