Klipsch Cornwall IV

After having rejected a couple of pairs of speakers recently (and another pair of well regarded speakers a couple of years ago) I have to emphasize how utterly important it is (to me anyway) to listen before you buy. The speakers I like (and currently own) do exactly what I seem to need, all the time, and they've earned their home. Curiosity has lead me astray and hey...you sometimes  learn from mistakes, although sometimes not so much. It's weird when I get excited for something new and after break-in compare them to what they are trying to replace and think UH OH...damn.

@wrm57 assume I’m ignorant of what you’re saying, even when 20 years experience in this hobby. My line magnetic 518 has taps for four, eight, and 16 ohms. Would that make a difference with those triangles?

I mean simply that a 102 db horn-loaded speaker with a relatively flat load of 8 ohms is going to sound different than a less-efficient speaker that has a deep impedance dip and is made with cones and domes, especially on a lowish-powered tube amp. Not necessarily worse but different, especially in dynamics, which are a primary horn strength. These are different categories of speaker, each with its own virtues to offer. The various taps on your LM will certainly help to match it to the Triangles. They might well sound fantastic together, better than the CWs in some regards. I am by no means suggesting they won’t. But I’d wager the listening experience would be quite a bit different. I, myself, will be experimenting with the Klipsch specifically because I’m looking for a different sound than mid-efficiency cones and domes, which is what I already have in my main system, not as a replacement but another flavor. So it all depends on what you’re after.

Ozzy62 & Schw06,

I do have my Cornwall IV’s toe’d (towed?) in fairly aggressively.  I’d say their axis cross about a foot in front of me. I also raised the front of the speakers about an inch, the idea being to reduce floor reflections.  Plus, it gives the speakers a more jaunty appearance. I like that. :). But, that could be screwing with frequency response in the crossover regions. I don’t recall my old ‘85 cornwalls being so revealing as the IV’s.  But they sounded good with about everything. 

@wrm57 Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense especially with the vacillating impedance from the triangles. I've had triangles before, but they were powered with much higher powered amplifiers, like an arc vs 110, or rogue m180 monoblocks.

@wolf_garcia luckily there’s a triangle dealer right across the river in Collinsville. The nearest Klipsch Heritage dealer, I think is up near Springfield Illinois? That’s not too far for me either, relatively speaking. So I could definitely log the line magnetic to either place to see what the sound would be like.


I know the feeling you mentioned. Because when you hear the new speaker there is an instant visceral reaction to the new sound; like tasting a new flavor. And hopefully you like the taste, but if you don't you know it pretty soon