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Need Some Answers Building My First Home Audio System, and using Cornwalls

I have a few questions for you audiophiles out there. I am new to this forum, and I am a music hound and vinyl collector, but as yet not exactly an audiophile, and I definitely lack much knowledge.


I just moved into my first/new home and, in a stroke of luck way beyond my wildest dreams, my new neighbor - in order to "empty out his garage" - gave me two very old, 60's looking 100-watt Klipsch Cornwalls (floor speakers) from their Heritage line (see pic). These are the ones that are 35.75" H x 25.25" w (15.5" deep) and have a titanium tweeter, 1.75" titanium squawker, a woofer and a front-ported cabinet.


My living room’s dimensions are very large, as we blended our kitchen and dining room into it, and took down all non-structural partitions - about 60 feet in length by 35 feet at its widest point.


First I wanted to check on a few things, such as whether these speakers work at all, and I can do that only once I get a receiver (right?). I also need new, less dated grill cloth - I did locate a guy/make a call about that, but I am holding off until I know whether/how I can remove the frame from the front of the speakers. The frames appear nailed in at the front, but the back looks screwed in.

*My turntable (technics 1200-MK2) will be going through this pre-amp (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007DB5IDS/ref=ya_st_dp_summary)

*It’s important you know a.) I don't yet want a tube amp and b.) what besides the speakers will need to be powered through the receiver:

-4K TV

-1 Turntable/Pre-Amp (mentioned above)

-4K Ultra HD bluray

-cable box

-iPhone lightning cable and 3.5 mm adaptor for phone/other sources

-2 Klipsch Cornwall speakers


Questions:


A.) I don't need tons of power. All floors are hardwood, with some rugs here and there but can anyone recommend something around 100 W? (I called Klipsch to ask their tech specialist about my speaker details, and the guy said staying at the speaker wattage will be smart, so as not to blow them out) and he said they are 100w. Would like to stay between $200-$500 and get something like a Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha... I suppose it could be used...I obviously want to optimize sound quality. Perhaps your suggestions are contingent on my remaining questions:


B.) Recommendations on a particular Bluetooth-enabled AVR? As much as I love hifi sound from a record on the turntable, there are times when I want to walk In the room and play a recent track from my phone. Also, this is not my private set up - it’s for the whole family, so needs to allow for a range of things, as well as efficiency/convenience. However, I don't use Spotify, Airplay, Sirius, XM, Pandora, DLNA, TuneIn, Tidal, etc. I would only play from actual files on my phone or laptop. (as noted, I will also have a jack coming out of one of the AVR inputs to for my phone to hardwire it sometimes also (in fact, 75% of the time, unless I'm not home for long between work/errands. If you have recommendations on those cables, please let me know.


C) My wife and I got an Alexa for Xmas. Any AVR's work with them? I've read about Smart Home automation and will eventually do the whole thing, but for now it's just music and movies.


D.) i - How do I remove the frame from the front of the speaker in order to replace the cloth? The guy I called about the speaker cloth (Bob Crites, got his name from the Klipsch forum) could tell from the pics that somebody custom made them.


ii- Does anyone recommend removing the cloth altogether and not replacing?


E.) i- Are XLR jacks better connections than just regular wire, or did I misread this?


ii- If so, would the difference in sound be negligible to average ears, or substantial? FYI, I did buy 16awg copper flat wire from Monoprice (pictured) and I imagine that can be connected to XLR's by myself, yes?


iii- speaking of which, how do I actually connect the wires to the Cornwalls? It's a very basic question, but I've never had proper speakers like this, and I don't want to screw it up. Is there a particular technique or nuance?


F.) We may eventually buy a whole-home bluetooth and/or wifi speaker system to bring to our master bedroom and two other bedrooms, so it will have to allow for that.


I think that's all. Sorry if I've overwhelmed anyone.

Thanks in advance and happy new year.


128x128djniteline

Showing 4 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,008 posts
 
If a power amp like the ST-70 you would still need a preamp.

If your budget really is that severe then the NAD might have to be the ticket for a while.

There are integrated tube amps from the classic period (1958 to 1965 or so). Most of them are 30 watts/channel or less, and go for a surprising amount of money if in good shape. But your speakers were built for amps exactly like that...
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,008 posts
 
What is a tube amp you'd recommend for $400 or less?
Well that's the thing about tube power, and why there are high efficiency loudspeakers. I can't think of where you would find a $400 tube power amp, unless you are able to find one on Craigslist or at a garage sale.

Sometimes you find Dynaco ST-70s in such places. Usually they need to be refurbished, but if the price is right, they are totally worth it.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,008 posts
 
Also, @atmasphere - interesting. When I called Klipsch, the man discouraged tube amps. Maybe that's because I prefaced our conversation with the word "affordable". (I'm still outside of year-long complete house remodel.)

What does "clean" sound mean? Why is what a tube amp can do better than clean, or more desirable?
I imagine you didn't tell him the speakers were from the 1960s, and I'll bet he wasn't even born by then.

'Clean' means 'not distorted', but to understand what that means the first thing you have to know is how the human ear works!

To that end: the human ear brain system uses higher ordered harmonics to figure out how loud a sound is. In this regard its not using the fundamental tones. If the higher ordered harmonics (5th and above, so for a 100 Hz tone, 500Hz and above) are altered by the electronics, the ear will perceive the sound as louder than it actually is and will also assign a tonality to the sound. Higher ordered harmonics are perceived as 'brightness' (and also 'harshness', particularly in the case of the 7th harmonic).

Low distortion on paper is meaningless unless we also know what it is that makes it 'low'. Its one thing if we can see the lower orders in the harmonic distortion spectrum. But if we are to take how the ear perceives sound into account, the higher orders should really be a lot lot lower than they are currently with all 'low THD' amps. And by that I mean **at least** 2 orders of magnitude!

Just being 'low THD' doesn't cut it. Now it happens that tube amps in general make less of the higher ordered harmonics than transistors do (this is why tubes are still around BTW); so as a result they don't sound as bright and tend to be smoother. (Tubes often make more of the lower ordered harmonics but apparently the ear does not care so much about that- back in the 1960s General Electric did some testing that showed that people would tolerate 30% of a 2nd harmonic in the sound, but objected strenuously if the higher orders were present at levels less than 0.5%.)

The measure of this is easy enough- when you turn it up, the system should not *sound* loud. It should sound relaxed, despite playing a higher volume. Nor should you get any 'sound of horns' (honkiness); it should simply sound relaxed and a lot like real music. If, especially when you crank it, that it gets uncomfortable (brightness and harshness is indeed a coloration) then you will have a good understanding of why tube amps are still around decades on after being declared obsolete.

Again- a good find- people are always on the lookout for earlier Klispch speakers- they have a reputation of being better than the later ones. I don't mean to cause any undo concerns either- this hobby is supposed to be fun after all :) Have Fun!

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,008 posts
 
For the most part it seems you've had some pretty good advice- given that you don't want to use tubes.

Here's something to think about though! The Cornwall was designed to be played with tubes (the speakers made in the 60s were the same as the original late 1950s design). If you use solid state, you may find that the crossovers don't work as designed. this is one of the reasons that older horns are often thought as 'honky' and the like; if the midrange driver is operating outside its proper frequency band honky is what you get when you turn it up. If you experience 'shouty' or any other unpleasantness at volume this is also an indication.

You don't need much power- the whole issue with tubes since the beginning of time has been that tube power is expensive- so a tube amp of moderate power will be plenty. 30 watts will do the trick and if the amp is in good condition to begin with they really are not that hard to live with!

If you are really set on solid state, you might experiment with a bit of resistance in series with the speaker- 1 or 2 ohms for starters. This will reduce the damping of the amplifier and may well help out in the bass. Its common with higher efficiency drivers that you can overdamp the woofers fairly easily (high damping factor is not recommended). You might get thump but no definition as a result. The series resistor may help with that. Keep in mind though that the resistor will be dissipating amplifier power so it should be rated for a few watts!

The speaker has a good reputation. Its a lucky find- have fun!




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