Klipsch Cornwall IV
See my system profile for how I have them placed. I’d say they are pretty solid into the mid 30s but roll off pretty quickly after that. I am using an Aric Audio Super KT88/120 SE and the 14 watts with KT88s seem to be the perfect match. But it sounds like you get the gist of what these speakers are about. |
interesting thread... I have both Spatial X5 and a new pair of Cornwall IV that I have been playing with the past few weeks. Both are the best speakers I have had the pleasure of living with in all these years of audiophilia. I would be hard pressed to part with either of them. The X5 are the most tonally accurate speaker I have heard. For example, pianos sound more convincing than any other speakers. The integrated sub is perfect and very easy to adjust, at least in my large room. The Cornwalls only have about 100 hours on them. They are slowly coming into their own. I had a pair of original Cornies years ago that I bought used for cheap. I hated the honk of the horn so I put in Dave Harris’ fastrac horn and completely rebuilt the crossovers with much better parts. They were fun and had the horn jump, but ultimately, the so so imaging and slightly boomy bass just didn’t do it for me. I have several customers who raved about the new Cornwall IV and I had a little discretionary funding in the business (I build tube amps, preamps, phonos and integrated amps). So I bought a pair. I could hear the promise after 10-20 hours so I damped the horns and woofer frames with something similar to dynamat, and I am ordering VCap ODAM caps for the key crossover ones that are in series with the mid and high drivers. At 100 hours they are wonderful speakers (crossovers are untouched). Bass is slowly coming around and they are now pretty 3D. They always threw a wide and tall sound stage, but the depth is coming along nicely. I put some small rubberized cork pads under each corner of the footer. They are 2 inch thick, but I sliced them with the band saw down to 1 inch so as not to disturb the listening height. That immediately tightened up the bass response. That cheap experiment has me thinking about threaded inserts so I can use my soundcare super spikes, which are an enclosed floating spike and pad that are perfect for hard wood floors and isolate the speakers wonderfully. Plus you can adjust the height of each foot to level the speaker and slide them easily on the floor. Have had them for years and they are on the X5. To sum up... The Spatial X5 is a tremendous speaker with incredible tonal accuracy. It completely vanishes in my room. The Cornwall IV is VASTLY improved over any previous version. They maintained the horn jump factor that everyone loved, but fixed the boomy bass and the new mid horn and driver are light years ahead of the previous versions. The tweeter is better as well. They are inanely dynamic in a way that only horn speakers are. You can play them as loud as you want and they are never strained, and they sound great at low levels. That is true with my 32 watt/ch KT66 integrated or the separate preamp and kt88 amp. They have more of a personality than the X5, which simply vanishes. I would never say the Cornwalls are bright, but they do have a bit of a sound. That is not a bad thing. Most of us love the sound. The Spatials really don’t have a sound in my room. They literally just aren’t there. I would not call them polite sounding at all, but everything else sounds a bit polite when you compare it to a good horn speaker. I remember old Altecs years ago with huge horns and 15 inch woofers in refrigerator cabinets. The Cornwall IV is finally a really good horn speaker. It gives you that big horn sound in a smaller box with MUCH more of the hifi attributes of imaging and tonality than previous versions. Plus in my room I can put them 6 inches from the rear wall and they are fine. So they really don’t take a lot of space and they look cool. 10 ft apart and I sit about 10-11 ft away and they are pointed at my shoulders. The scale is immense. They portray everything accurately, but I would have to give the Spatials a wee edge there right now. I will not seriously evaluate the cornwalls until they hit 300+ hours though. I know better. The bass is coming along. It is not boomy, but it also cannot quite match that of the X5 with the integrated subs. As everyone says, the Cornwall bass is tuneful though. If positioned correctly with seriously good tube equipment ahead of them, the Cornwalls image pretty much as well as the X5 and that is steadily improving. They have a way of putting you in the bar or club with the performers. Put on a live recording of a small jazz combo like Bill Evans or the classic Old and in the Way recordings and you can be present in the venue in a way that even the Spatials cannot quite protray. Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with either speaker and a good tube setup. All will depend on your tastes, your hearing curve, your gear, and your room. If you demo Cornwalls somewhere they have to be in a good room with a good setup driving them. Some receiver or cheapo integrated amp will never let you hear what they can do. Also, they have to have at least 100 hours or so of run in or you cannot hear what they offer. Love both speakers......The Spatials are eerily accurate at portraying voices and pianos and really everything. They vanish. The Cornies do most of that, but will let you walk around in the club with a drink and stand in front of the band....... and of course if you really want to crank them.....you can be at the live Dead show:) It really depends on what you are after as to which you would prefer. I would add that the Cornwalls are an addiction... either you are prey to that or not, but they are most definitely an addiction and whatever they don't quite have you are willing to ignore because they have that "wall of sound" and it fits into a pretty small package given what it is. My 2 cents... happy listening. Don Sachs |
Thanks Don. That certainly carries weight. I don’t know them personally but Don and Bob are top cats in the craft: http://www.dsachsconsulting.com http://www.tubes4hifi.com |
