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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
62 responses Add your response
djniteline's avatar
djniteline OP
21 posts
 
@mesch Bought them, thanks.

I did not disconnect Aux input, because I wanted to see whether my circuit/amp isolation worked. It seems it did, at least for the time being. I played a song from a record ("CD") and then turned off the turntable and switched to the TV ("Aux"), which is where I usually experience the hum.

There was no hum. I will see whether it occurs in any other scenarios.

I will have to stick to my current amp for the time being. I have a big trip coming up and don't want to incur any other expenses until I'm convinced the tube amp is the best choice for me.
djniteline's avatar
djniteline OP
21 posts
 
one more thing - do you recommend I use either of these features of the amplifier:

-soft clipping
-tone defeat
mesch
3,412 posts
 
I use tone defeat, less in the signal path.
I leave soft clipping off however it depends on how hard one drives the amplifier stage. Try it both ways and decide. 


mesch
3,412 posts
 
I should add that I sincerely hope your 'hum' issue is solved and you find yourself happy with your NAD integrated. I believe you have put together a very nice system based on a gift pair of classic speakers.

Please keep us posted.
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
I know you don't want to get into tube gear; however, if you really want to hear how good those Cornwalls are you have to put low powered single ended tube amps on it.  It can be done reasonably in your price range too.  

I used to sell Klipsch speakers at retail many many moons ago and we always had SS mid fi gear on them and I never really liked how they sounded.  Then years later I bought a 5 wpc SE tube integrated amp and it was like magic.  Klipsch never sounded better.  The Cornwalls are very efficient so 2-3 wpc will get amazingly loud.
djniteline's avatar
djniteline OP
21 posts
 
@lou_setriodes thank you very much!

A.) Can you recommend a model or a quality brand? What is "SE"?

B.) is the tube amp in addition to (as in, not replacing) my NAD integrated amp? I guess so, as I still need to get audio for my cable/TV
mesch
3,412 posts
 
Though it is true that the older Klipsch speakers may sound best when driven by tubes, the question is how do yours sound to you driven by your newly purchased NAD?  Even if one was interested in trying tube amplification, I am not sure one need restrict oneself to a single ended (SE) tube amp. This is especially true when one is playing into a room as large as yours, and is working with your budget. A quality EL34 based tube amp purchased used might be nice to try.

Should you wish to try a tube amplifier, you could use your NAD as a preamp, as it has pre out to amp in jumpers. WIth that approach the possible issue that the NAD pre becomes a weak link arises.

If I owned your speakers, driven by a SS integrated amp, and found I desired to go the tube route, I would consider the purchase of a tube integrated. Likely one providing ~35wpc. Would likely check out Jolida or Prima Luna.  

So, what do you think regarding the sound of your system as driven by the NAD considering you have been provided with a free set of speakers and have a high quality budget SS amp?   

 


lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
SE stands for single ended and yes I guess you would need something different on your tv.  I'm sorry, I haven't read thru all the comments on this thread; so I don't know what you are trying to achieve on the video end.

I've never been much of a video / surround sound person.  I figure I probably already watch too much tv as it is and if I had surround sound/thx/7.1 or whatever the new thing in video sound is these days, it wouldn't be good, plus I didn't want to have to get all the gear that goes with it.

Over the years, I've always had tube amps with volume controls so I could use them as an integrated amp and then I have a little source selector box ($50) and phono preamp to allow me to play my tuner, cass, cd player, lp's and any other source.  

A single ended amp sounds different from push pull.  With the horns of the Klipsch, SE sounds more real, pure, and organic.  An analogy would be this:  SE is like a sweet delicious grapefruit, no sugar is needed because it tastes delicious all on its own.  PP is a grapefruit with the extra sweetness of sugar added.   SE is a beautiful naked woman, PP is a beautiful woman in a bikini.  PP is more accentuated but with the immediacy of horn speakers, the SE amp sounds better, IMO.  I prefer both SE and PP tube gear to solid state gear.

And the lower the power the better it usually sounds.  Any tube can be made to run in SE mode, but the true 4 pin triode tubes (2a3, 300B, 45, 50, 10, 845 & 211) sound way better than other tubes.  They will be more expensive too and the 845 and 211 will be of much higher power too.  To keep costs down, I would look for a SE amp that doesn't use one of these tubes.  

In the past, I've owned a 5 wpc 6BQ5 SE int run in pentode (a little higher power and better bass) and also a KT88 int that ran in both triode and pentode (5/15 wpc) and the triode was sweeter sounding.  I now own a couple custom SE 45 amps and a custom 3E29 amp that I recently inherited and selling 2 of them as soon as I can get them looked at by a technician.  I imagine they will all sound pretty spectacular as they were built by the chief amp designer from the old Lafayette Radio Corp.

Running your sources thru an NAD preamp will also degrade the sound as well.   A source selector switchbox might just be the best remedy.  Use it for your audio sources directly to the tube amp, and then when you want to do video, have the NAD preamp plugged into the switchbox too.  
djniteline's avatar
djniteline OP
21 posts
 
@mesch and @lou_setriodes  thanks again for your helpful input.
As for the time being, I am still having trouble connecting my speaker wire to the back of my speakers. Somebody recommended spade plugs to me, and then I bought them, and they were too thick. They don't fit on either the back of the speakers or the back of the amp.
To remedy the connection to the amp, I have now come across these banana plugs, but I still need a solution for connecting to the speakers, unless the naked cable is fine the way it is. 
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=2801
lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
Bare wire to the speakers is fine, sometimes spades don't fit onto the amp or speakers and there are larger or smaller spades to fit exactly as you need it.  No problem using bare wire to your speaker or amp.

lou_setriodes's avatar
lou_setriodes
673 posts
 
For fun you can try the $180 Gemtune APPJ PA1501A mini from Amazon on your speakers. At 3.5 wpc, it uses 2 - 6AD10 tubes which they are saying sound better than EL84 or 6V6 tubes. I really like EL84’s and have owned both single ended and push pull tube amps utilizing this tube.

I think you would be very pleasantly surprised at how loud your Cornwalls will play with this amp and how good it sounds. If for any reason you don’t like it, this amp would be easy to sell and you haven’t spent a lot either. This would probably be the lease expensive way to get a single ended tube amp.

I disagree with Mesch in that you don't need a 35 watt push pull tube amp for Cornwalls, these speakers are plenty efficient.  I also prefer EL84's over EL34's as I think it is a more neutral sounding tube with better bass, and less expensive too.
mesch
3,412 posts
 
As Lou stated, bare wire is fine, just be careful that all wire remains under screw. Wrap wire in direction that screw turns to tighten. You can also fine spades the correct size.

For bananas I purchased these: "Gold plated copper spade/Banana fork plug adaptor". Available from China via E-bay. Set of 10 for $10. Used then on my Dynaco st-70 and on a friends Klipsch Heresy speakers. I purchased mine last summer, have not looked then up lately, just assume they can still be had. 

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