My brother has a couple of these that he got for $500 a pair about 12 years ago. They were so cheap because the woman selling them was recently divorsed, got them in the settlement, and then unloaded them for what she thought was a bargin (women...).He had to upgrade to an audiophile grade CD player (ten years ago) because his old one skipped when he cranked the Cornwalls thru his 100w/pc Onkyo. They're as big as his TV, too. When he upgraded (if you can say that here) to HT, he went through 3 different powered subs before he found one that overpowered his Klipsch. I hope he gets his hearing checked regularly.
They have no imaging however, but then again, how can a speaker that ominous have imaging while producing near IASCA db levels. Besides, he has them in a surround set-up, so stereo imaging is a matter of electronis and not speaker design. They sound so dynamic, but then again that's a by-product of their sheer size and efficiency (98db). When you go from Bose 901's to Klipsch Cornwalls,(like he did) you'll hear more detail simply because its really alot louder than you've heard it before. These are the ultimate party speaker and/or R&R speaker because they'll sound like the last concert you went to. They won't shimmer with nuanse and detail, nor will they sound delicate with classical material.

I can't beleive my brother added a powered sub to these. His system is totally in your face. Forget CPR! Just crank these when you feel a heart attack coming on, that is, unless of course they caused the heart attack in the first place.

I had a pair of black cornwall Is (vertical horns) for about 4 yearsin the late 70s, and still miss them -- which is how I found this site.
Agreed with many of the comments here -- excellent transients, very
present mid range. Disagree about the bass though, I always thought
they were thin on real low end, sub 50hz. They also were short on
real high end > 12k or so. I swapped my pair even for a nice natrual
set of heresy's, which were vastly more portable. I'd think a set
of heresy's with a good sub woofer (with separate power)
would make a pretty good setup, with better imaging than the cornwalls.
But, I'm looking around, and if I can find some for $350, I may jump,
even if I have to keep 'em in the garage for a while.

-dB

I am interested in surround sound equipment

I have a pair of the Special Teac Wood CornWalls. The powerhandling on the bass possibly could be better, but overall: THESE SPEAKERS BLOW THE COMPETITION AWAY. They may have been out a while, but why change such a good thing? Live with the size, BIGGER IS BETTER!

I have a pair of walnut Cornwalls that I purchased about 15 years ago for $1250. They are flush mounted in my den wall about 12 feet off the floor. A Klipsch engineer spent about an hour on the telephone helping me design the enclosures (actually small rooms built into the wall to create an infinite baffle).
Even today, I appreciate the full rich sound. My "reference" CD is "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkle. The Cornwalls reproduce the high end coronet solo and the low end mouth harp.

Some reviewers mention looking for them (or finding them) at $300 - 500. I would fill my garage with Cornwalls at that price.

I have a set of kg 5.5s, if anyone wants to upgrade ill trade for corwall or 2s? There worth about the same pre 90s!! Look me up? These are two ten inch drivers wall shaking speakers> I just like older better?
100 watt 500 peak!!!
Thank you

I bought a pair of Cornwalls used in 1986 in birch for $900.00 (they were 2 months old from a repo) and the original owner had them custom ordered with the commercial 15" woofer. These speakers are indestructable. I sent a letter to Klipsch and telling them about the woofer and there reply was they will take 1000 watt peaks!!!! WOW! They have a wonderful sound stage and the transient response is down right scary (if anyone has a pair of these, listen to Elton John's "Don't let the sun go down on me" at whatever volume you can take) and you will see what I mean at about the 2:40 mark BOOM!. i have had these up to 125dB with no problems. They are powered by a Carver M 1.0t. They know have a pair of the KSW200 subs in the home theater (which I also reveiwed) and now the whole house shakes. As Ferris Bueller said "If you have the means I highly recommend picking them up." The best speakers I have heard for the money.
p.s. I think as with all speakers they need to equalized to help with the bottom end and the tinny highs (above 12khz)

cheap tweak

heavy and funny looking

Stereos as a strenuous sport: Sand bagging the sound

From the BobG, Webmaster at the Klipsch BBS, comes this inexpensive bit of tweaking advice; add sandbags to the top of your big speakers.

"The main concept, he writes, is to keep the speaker stock still. If the woofer moves back and forth, by Newton's laws of motion, the whole speaker will try to move in an equal and opposite direction.

Now, think of how little motion there is in your tweeter diaphragm or mid range diaphragm. If the whole speaker is rocking more than either of these two drivers move, what does it do to the sound? Well for one thing, it introduces Doppler distortion (a form of IM) that hurts the sound a great deal. The tweeter and mid are moving forward and back due to speaker movement while trying to impart their output to the air in the room - quite a confused mess.

Keep the speaker still and this distortion will go away for the most part. Spikes can help. I've heard of people putting bags of sand on top of their speakers. Crazy but good. I modified a pair of Forte's to have sand filled bases. Helped a lot."

This is a case where more is better. Use about 80 lb. of sand on each speaker. Be careful of your back and also watch for leaks in the bags of sand.

You'll hear better focus, detail precision and leading edge transients. You'll probably find the result more dynamic and you'll hear more at low volumes.

Following this advice, I hot footed to Home Depot and selected two 60-lb. bags of Bonsai play sand in stiff plastic bags for $5.49. Appropriately, the bags indicate they are for "recreation areas."

First impression was the bags were dusty and heavy. Second impression was that they improved the handling and feel of my little Mazda pick-up by holding down the rear end. If I lived in a snowy climate again, this is one truck tweak I would strongly recommend.

I sat the bags on the floor - be careful of the stiff plastic as it tears easily - and slid a pair of matching pillowcases over the bags.

The test track became Tracy Chapman's throaty and gentle "The Promise" from her 1994 New Beginning CD (Elektra). This was a recent CD I repurchased after my daughter discovered Tracy. I have not listened to the CD since it was missing years ago. I hefted the bags up on to the 2 1/5 foot wide tops of my old Klipsch horn loaded Cornwalls. I listened for tone and contrasts by alternating the bags on and off.

My Dynaco pre-amp uses a type volume control that closely approximates the power level of the amp. At 9:00 on the dial (higher than passive listening level), my wife covered her ears, saying it was too loud without the bags.

The sandbags did do something. I did not hear better focus, detail precision and leading edge transients. I did not find the result more dynamic or hear more at low volumes. But I did hear something and so did "miss sensitive ears".

I played selections from one of my all time favorite's: the amazing "20 Bit Taste of DMP" sampler CD (http://www.dmprecords.com/dmp_collections.htm). This is one of the CDs I carry with me to test other systems. It is clear - it is clean. There is more silence in the quiet passages than almost all of my other CDs, while the highs provide ice cold contrasts to the deep and rich bass plunks. I love every other song on this silver disc and play it regularly. All other systems always sound their very best when playing this CD. It has deep and fast kick drums, high and sweet chimes, smooth female vocals and resounding pianos.

But I heard barely perceptible differences with the sand bag solution and this CD. More "listenable" perhaps, but hard to lasso, tie down and put a brand on - after all, this CD is already a favorite.

With the bags on, Tracy's voice however, did sound slightly more 'solid' somehow - nothing measurable - but a little richer, as if the woofer was adding paper cone vibrations in with the metal mid-range horn.

I want to write that it was like adding chocolate icing on Tracy's chocolate cake. I want to write that, but it is not true. It was something added to the favor, but it was not icing. And it is not that the sand bags correct something that was missing - because they didn't.

My notes say the cheap tweak is "some of the alchemy where art transcends science - a taste of the audiophile magic." With the sand pillows, New Beginnings sounded 'lighter'. I did notice instruments playing farther apart on this CD, but I can't honestly say I notice such obvious differences on my usual test CDs.

It did not have a wonderful, brand new speaker effect. Wrapping my mid and high range horns with window putty did, but this tweak was not as dramatic. Nor was it as obvious as the clarity new Monster cables brought, either.

But it was there, and the bags will remain. I may add another pair of 60 Lb. bags, when my wife has four matching pillowcases that suit the living room.

With top of the line Dunlavy SC-IVs weighing 550 lbs., damping the speaker cabinet and making it more solid does have a positive impact on the sound. (Perhaps the new Klipsch Khorns will come with sealed chambers so owners can pour in sand after the speakers have been shipped and set-up.)

It is a extremely low cost, easy to do and a small, but yet strangely effective, tweak.

Recommended: Thank you BobG, Klipsch Webmaster.

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The cabinet looks faily strong

Sound

I have never heard a good Klipsh speaker. They all hurt my ears.

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a bullhorn

my favorite fun speakers

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As a recording engineer, I hear probably 50 sets of new monitors a year. I have always returned to the Cornwalls I have used for 20 years as my favorite fun speakers. You can feel the low bass from these speakers and not even feel a remote need for a sub-woofer.