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Tube amp Friendly Speaker That Sounds like Klipsch Cornwall

Hi All, 

I am shopping for a tube friendly speaker after a long time with Magnepan 3.6's and then Thiel CS5i's.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with a broken-in pair of Klipsch Cornwall 4's. These were in a dedicated dealer space with corner bass traps and some treble absorption. They were driven by an all McIntosh setup (7200 Receiver and T500 CD player).

The Cornwalls were dynamic, and I loved the palpable sound of the 15 inch woofer. Loud rock in roll was great with them. However, I was less impressed at lower volume levels and finally decided they were not very detailed and a bit too much in my face, at least in that setup.

When I left that room, I wandered over to where some Magnepan 1.7i's were playing in a casually set up open space. I thought the Maggies were much more resolving than the Cornwalls and a lot more laid back.

Any suggestions on a tube friendly speaker with good sized woofers that is dynamic but with good weight and detail to the sound?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper
dsper

Showing 3 responses by james633

james633
904 posts
 
Video off the Cornwall internals for those that have not seen it. 
https://youtu.be/QD4_SqC0eeY
james633
904 posts
 
I was intrigued by the Cornwall IV and went to my local dealer that had the Forte 3 and the  la-scala on the floor (no cornwalls). I am also a long time Thiel owner (2.4). 
 The fortes were just hooked up to an integra reciver and sounded pretty bad to me. No life and lacked impact in the bass. Mids were nice enough, wide, and nothing stood out as terrible. Highs were clean enough but nothing but the facts kind of sound. As a whole the speaker did not impressive me in anyway at all.
I brought a small headphone setup as a reference (helps me demo, but I look like a total weirdo...) and switched back and forth as I often do at home (late night, kids and family life calls for headphones sometimes). Anyway the setup sounded bad enough my headphones sounded amazing in comparison (the headphones normally sound bad right after my home speaker rig). 
It turned me off enough I did not demo the   la-scalas. 
I am 99% sure the integra was most of the problem and could ask to have them hooked up to proper gear but I am not sure I will bother. I am still interested in the Cornwall iv. The build leaves a lot to be desired based on YouTube videos but could be something fun to play with regardless of the poor build.   
Not sure what to think as the Cornwall IV and to a much lesser degree the fortes have been getting universal praise more or less. 
The question I ask myself is, Are the Cornwall IV really a good speaker or does the build hold them back? 
I would be running them with duel subs using an active crossover but I think all systems need subs....
james633
904 posts
 
Oz,

Just lack of bracing is what I was thinking about. It does not seem like there is any side bracing that is typical for higher end speakers. Think B&W “matrix” bracing.

I have always rationalized bracing to be important in my head but have never tried bracing in isolation so hard to say how much it matters at normal listening volumes (I am not a loud listener. 85db Max)
Good point about the ports. I overlooked the value of that. 
Anyway I value dynamic (transients and impact) above all things and still want to hear these and possible buy them as a total step change to what I am used too. At $6k these are a cheap option is our crazy world lol. 
I follow your posts and many others that say they are good so I assume they are. 
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