Klipsch Cornwall IV

My Cornwall experience:

I went from Harbeth SHL5+ to Klipsch Forte III and ultimately to Cornwall IV.

Going from the Harbeth to the Forte III, I immediately appreciated the increase in dynamics and having way more amplifier choices (in my experience, matching an amp to Harbeth is critically important--and not only from the perspective of power).

I drove the Forte with solid state and tubes, liked both. I enjoyed the Forte so much that I wondered what the Cornwall could add so when a pair popped up for sale locally I jumped on them.

Unlike the Forte, I wasn’t enamored right away. First, they are physically enormous--which I did not fully appreciate until they were in my room. They also required significantly more time and attention to properly set up.

I almost gave up after the second day, however, after a few hours of tweaking, and lots of blue painters tape, I got them dialed in. Finally, I was rewarded with the sound that owners rave about. The soundstage is absolutely massive, they are dynamic and I can listen for hours.

While not ruthlessly revealing, they are not as kind to poor recordings as the Forte are.

I’ve powered them with a Naim Uniti Nova and an Audio Note Cobra. Each have their respective strengths but I prefer the Cobra.

At the end of the day, the CW IV sound fantastic and I’m glad I stuck it out through the set up period.

For those with CW IV, how far from the speakers are you sitting? 

 My speakers are 9'8" from my ears. 

@ozzy62

After installing the speaker bars, I immediately noticed the midrange was clearer, voices more 3D. One thing I noticed, however, was that bass seemed like it had diminished significantly--that was until I turned on my subwoofer. I’m not sure why, but cleaning up the bass distortion on my main speakers made the subwoofer’s contribution sound so much better than before. The bass is tighter, cleaner and plentiful.

I have the Size 1 seismic bars and have them run from front to back. You can see them in my virtual system here on Agon.

Prior to the seismic bars, I had the following isolation pads that I got on Amazon. I liked the sound one these pads better than on the floor. I learned of these through a review for the Volti Razz. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075MMT68C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My CW IV are 4’ from the sidewalls, the tweeter is 32" from the back wall and my ears are 9’8’ from the tweeters. I have a slight toe-in as well.

I’ve also done a couple tweaks:

1) I’ve placed dynamat on the horns and woofer cage.
2) I placed the speakers on Townshend seismic bars.

Finally, I use a subwoofer.

@dbarger 

I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback on the new amps. I just picked up a Triode Lab 2a3 amp, just waiting for it to arrive.

Having a lot of flexibility with amps was one of the things that led me to the Klipsch heritage speakers, ultimately the Cornwall IV. 

My experience powering the CW IV with a 2A3 SET amp has been very rewarding, it’s the best sound I’ve had with the Cornwall so far.

The amps I’ve used have been a Naim Uniti Nova and an Audio Note Cobra--each sounded excellent and had unique strengths: the Naim brought prodigious bass to the table whereas the Cobra has a crystal clear midrange that makes voices sounds eerily real.

For me, however, the Triode Lab 2A3 provides the most pleasurable listening experience and plays to levels louder than I typically listen, without clipping.

Interestingly enough, both the Audio Note and the Triode Lab are dead quiet--possibly even more silent than the Naim.

I'll be receiving a Finale Audio 300B integrated soon and will share my experience with that as well. 

My 2A3 is an early EVO integrated model, which has James and Triode Lab P10 transformers. I have a photo in my virtual system here on Agon.

I’m also running 12AU7 in place of the 12AX7. They sound much better, even though the gain is considerably lower.

Also: I can take care of the Moth 2A3 if you're not using it ;).

My room is reasonably large and not evenly shaped. The largest part of the room is 20' wide x 30' long. I sit about 9' from the speakers. 

I do use a sub, it's a Hsu Research VTF-3--which has a 12" woofer.

I think what makes this work is that my DAC has a 2 volt output. 

@simao

Moth Audio has been closed for over 15 years. Craig Uthus moved on and started Eddie Current, which makes some very nice headphone amps. I believe certain models can drive speakers as well. 

I looked at Volti speakers prior to purchasing the CW IV. Greg said he considered the Rival to be more comparable to the CW IV than the Razz. 

Also, I got an email from Upscale stating that Klipsch will be implementing a 10% price increase to their speakers on June 17.